Secularism 1.1

These are just how various institutions/sites/persons define secularism :

• Answers.com:
• Religious skepticism or indifference
• The view that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education.
  

• WordNet :
  
• a doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations

• Wikipedia:
• Secularism is the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.

• Wikitionary:
• A position that religious belief should not influence public and governmental decisions
• The related political belief in the separation of church and state

I find skepticism, indifference, rejection all too caustic to define secularism.

Secularism is not about outright rejection of religion like our dear Communists do. Its not about separation of religious beliefs and ones thoughts. This is not refining but sheer destruction. What is a man without religion? Its the fabric that protects him from the coldness of Ignorance, corruption, etc. Religious skepticism or indifference is the negative way of approaching secularism. Its not about denying justice to majority community to show sympathy towards the minority. What I find today happening worldwide in the name of secularism is outright rejection of religions and religion bashing.

Many have a feeling of rationality and religion never going together. Its wrong. Every religion goes through a phase where it needs revision to adjust to the world scenario. When this fails and when the religion sits rigid stubbornly refusing to change, the gulf of division between secularism, rationality deepens with religion. Its then, religion appears to do more harm than good. But is it still justified to throw out the religion ? No. You be the change to change others. Religion is not a conglomerate business where it can be led by certain people and diffusion of freshness is considered abhorrence. Every religion is open for scrutiny and revision. So secularism is about taking religions along amicably.

One must understand when there is a talk of revision of religion, its not much of change that is needed but little tweaks from time to time. When change is needed means not change in the religion but the way we see it, the way we interpret it. I strongly believe the foundation or the philosophy that enshrines every religion is similar be it the Abrahamic religions or Hinduism or any others. Its universal.

Separation of state and religion is somewhat people wish for but rarely seen. It simply means doing ones karma without buckling under any pressure. Isn't it what all religion speaks of ? So you wish for their separation while every religion speaks of it. Its never the fault of the religions but their erroneous interpretation as majority of the religious scriptures are also excellent rich works of literature that always remain open for fresher interpretation. Separation of State-Religion is what Church needed during the Dark ages, what Indians needed after the Old Vedic era. Religion and State are both potent, powerful and the mixture of both results in an explosive nitrate mixture unless handled carefully. History has always been witness to their union and it simply proves their separation is not easy and not the modus-operandi for secularism. What is needed is more like a controlled explosion where more religious freedom must be there, where diffusion and assimilation of thought are needed. We need to create awareness about what religion means and what is the use of its philosophies. People must know, what is the actual thought of the religion and how sciptures and objects that represent religion are just simply props to convey the actual essence that is hidden deep inside the realms of literature. Then the question of separation wont arise and both state and religion will live side by side amicably.

In Indian Political scenario itself, every party anoints itself as secular while lambasting others as non secular. Every political party is everything other than being secular. Every party is guilty of minority or majority appeasement, bribing and threatening them. Be it National parties like Congress, BJP or regional onels like Left, RJD, LJP, SP, BSP, etc. I consider preference over justice also as a denial of justice. Reservations exceeding 50% is in itself a show of degenaration of secularism. Its more than half a century of Independence and still the goals of reservation remains to be achieved. People forget, reservation was supposed to be a short time impulse boost to the neglected to attain parity. Instead now there is parity in disparity. India finds itself in unique contrasting position where it breaches its own constitution by preventing application of Uniform Civil Code. I find the Pseudo secularists Congress and their allies guilty of it. One must understand the Political system of India is guilty of asking and restraining the majority under the chains of secularism while preventing seepage of secularism to minorities. LJP had recently commented to raise a complete dalit batallion in the army. Look at Mayawati, who wishes tp become PM just on the credential of being dalit queen. This is the disarray in Indian political system where secularism is of negligible importance.

What secularism we see today is a complete sham and I must say its just pseudo secularism People must see through this. We need a political renaissance.

Who will become the PM ?

Prime Minister or PM is the humongous country India's top notch position or I should say was.
"Humungous" not just geographically but the extreme diversity unseen anywhere else but still holding itself together along with all problems a developed, developing and under developed nation faces makes India's position unique and important. It is a strong and weak nation where pluralism and singularism co-existing amicably and a country full of youth but run rigidly by olds make it a rare and strange combination.
&
"was" because nowadays the projected prime minister rarely displays a strong personality, reflects qualities of leadership, clarity, strength. Nowadays, the voters hardly know who their prime-ministerial candidates are. I doubt, the parties even fathom over it until the elections results are declared. Its now a post reserved for the most faithful stooge of the party who will go by what the party wants.
So,
Running such a country with population second only to China with so many differences, opinions, wants, demands, suggestions and over all these things many parties makes the throne a thorn. So can any Tom-dick-hardy be allowed to be the ruler ? when so many things are at stake ? Definitely Not!
This time around, almost every party has an aspirational prime ministerial candidate. BJP has their aging but still fiery leader Mr. Advani while Congress(I) has their steward Dr. M. Singh who seems to be filling the vacuum until their Yuvraaj assumes complete iron power from his mother. BSP projects Mayawati as their candidate or is it herself projecting her as their candidate ? Does that matter ? No. Then we have the RJD (Lalu P), LJP(Paswan), NCP(S. Pawar), AIDMK(Ms. Jaya) among the others. I don't consider, Left - a force to recon at least in this election. If predictions and the anti-incumbency, multitude of corruption cases during their rule in Kerala, the CPI and CPI-M split in seat sharing, split between chief minister and party Secretary, Nano & Nandigram atrocities are to be considered they will face almost complete swing in Kerala as also earlier unseen public retribution in W-Bengal.

Those days have long left us when every party had a clear ideology and the prime ministerial post was a post for doing service to nation and its people. Those days have long forsaken us, when lust for power never over powered national interests. Today, Indian politics is a lucrative business where fame, power, money and respect are at stake and the odds of profiting is higher than the speculative bear markets. Also unlike any other field, accountability is feeble and the articles in the constitution insulates against action over serious lapses, crimes etc. For a small investment at the time of election in terms of political canvassing, freebies and goodies; the politicians break even very fast with margin of profit that is limited only by ones ability to gloat and justice.

I pity for the school children & for India, as we nowadays rarely produce any quality leaders who are successful in capturing center-stage. School children still need to look at leaders pre- 1983 and even 1947, when they have to write essays about "My favourite Indian Leader". Our school history books are forced to teach history till our Independence (1947) , as then there begins massive detoriation of our system and consciouness of our politicians.

I am still shell shocked over Mr. Paswan's portrayal of deep concern for dalits by suggesting new regiment for dalits. For few days, the tamil issue seems to be quite rocking the Indian political scene. Almost all political parties seem to be jumping the wagon to show their soidatory for the tamil elam movement in Sri Lanka. I hope the Tamilians do understand the hollowness of these lip service gestures and punish those who are trying to earn a goal over the issue. <I suppos I will write one new post on this issue>

Somehow the shoe throwing incident seems to be the best thing to come out of this year's election. It seems to be quite effective in sending message. Suddenly the common man - the poorest of poor can make a statement. He has no weapons but a simple rugged slipper to project his feeble voice across the table. Nice, someone must create a machine gun and cartrige for slippers so that many one after another can be sent to deliver the message.

Yes, Vote but to whom ?

Its election time in India and the people of this largest democrazy in the world will decide which oldie can sit in the thorny throne in New-Delhi for a max of 4-5 years (ie. if the oldie doesn't wither or his/her supporting allies doesn't back-stab or an early election is needed to prevent anti-incumbency factor shadowing the positives)

The Major power houses at the centre are Congress and BJP. Unfortunately their power domain has been steadily decreasing while regional powers gain at their expense. As a result it has been a very very long time since any individual party has surpassed the magic number to form its own government. Coalition governments has been the mantra for an irritatingly long time. Thus the formation of UPA coalition of Congress and NDA of the BJP is seen. Coalition gave rise to politics of adjustments and compromises, where even the smallest fraction of the coalition could hold the government to ransom over petty personal issues. The thought that coalition would bring moderation and result in better welfare/administration has been dashed long ago.

Regional parties are many and I can confidently say its definitely more than the states of both US and Canada. Every state has at least 2-3 regional parties who align themselves at the centre either with the BJP or Congress.

Left and their allies have formed the third front and hopes to present an alternative to Congress, BJP lead governments at the Centre. Their alliance partners are so colorful and myriad which includes Tamil Nadu's amma, andhra pradesh's Mr. Naidu, NavinPatnaik's BJD from Orrisa, Deve Gowda JD from Karnataka and some more. I am not sure whether BSP supremo Mayawati will stay after polls.

For many of these parties, its still Castes, sects, reservations, concessions, religion, freebies, goodies that dominate their manifesto. Development and socio-economic upliftment, judicial and defense forces modernization is hardly an issue. Leave alone these issues, for a starter just check how many young candidates are given tickets by parties. Its all oldies and oldies. How can Indian public remain mute over this when there is always demand for fresh young blood to be given chance in cricket? For instance, Congress poster boy Rahul doesnt seem to reflect the party in Kerala where hardly any ticket has been issued to the youths.

• Every party in India lambasts BJP as non secular. Why ? Congress, SP, RJD always play the majority-minority card but still gets tagged as secular. Why? There is hardly any party that cares for any religion or region.
• BJP accuses Congress over the anti-Sikh riots of '83 while its own hands are not clean in Gujarat.
• I find the Left as the most corrosive party as they in the name of secularness admonish every religion. I find it infuriating when Kerala Left leaders visit Sabarimala on Jan14th and stand in front of all devotees denying them darshan and nonetheless say they have come to check security arrangements.

I want to vote for a party/canditate :

1. which believes in separation of State & Religion
2. believes in conducting community meet programmes unlike people like Govinda
3. declares his aim, vision and leader before polls
4. which believes in true socio-economic upliftment and refrains from giving away color tvs, rice-wheat or resrvation soaps.
5. shuns political horse trading and dilution of its principles just to come in power and wont enter into post poll alliances (Its not right for voters as this dynamic action doesnt have the blessings or say of the common public)
   

Is it possible ?

able was i ere i saw 'in to the bag'.

Its a week since my camera went MIA. It was Thursday afternoon when i put my hand in my bag to feel my camera in college. A sudden vacuum filled my stomach and adrenalin shot up as I knew this is serious. My camera was no where to be found, even after 15 minutes of frantic searching. Thorough search was initiated in my house for recovery of my camera though in vain.

The feeling of permanent loss was strong this time. Somewhere down deep in the heart, I knew this was irreversible. The emotional and economic loss is immense and intense for not only me but many in my family.

Wednesday was the day the camera met its downfall; a day before I sensed its loss. The accuracy and precision of the heist makes it an insider job. A job done with such accuracy and stealth that it points to people who knew where I safely secured my camera in my bag.

People ask me why in the world would you bring it to college and my reason is, there is photo worthy life in between college and house which i wish not to miss. Photography for me is not about simply catching holiday pics but to capture emotions and life in its natural form that do not give prior intimation of its arrival and departure. Things that represent randomness and unpredictability attract me. I wish not to lose even a single day in learning new elements of photography for every lost day is a lost step in my ladder. So was it worth the risk ? Yes and no. Loss is still loss and it hurts especially when you have spent your last year and half entirely with the camera; hand in hand, thoughts together for a result that gave me satisfaction none else could provide.

so what next ? As the show never stops, life must move on though scarred. I fear not for the crucifix held by my friends or others who glee at my misery for that's the way world works. Presently, I got an exam at the pedestal to worry more about. May be it is time I move from auto focus to manual focus. However it will be long long before I again own a wonder called camera

Goa UnOfficial Trip - March09 : 3

←Goa March 09
Post 1
Post 2

We had touched Mapusa and were readily bundled into a taxi - Maruti Omni converted into a Taxi and the cabbie readily agreed to smuggle in more than 4 of us for off course some extra incentive or I must say higher fare. Anyways, it was still cheaper for us as our per person contribution would drop while the cab driver would get higher than his normal fare. So a win-win situation if you consider economics! The taxis started moving when they felt their graph and ours met at optimum.

The ride from Mapusa to our Hotel was a new experience to me. Not only were the roads unknown but also the destination hotel. Luckily the driver nodded when we said the name of the resort. We were going through some nondescript tinsel town-villages with fields and intermittent houses showcasing the famous liquor bands. I dunno how Oka was sitting at the back of the Omni meant for baggage. I am sure my ponch would have disapproved of it! After passing fields and fields and fields and some houses and many winding roads, we finally reached our destination. I was praying this time at least the hotel is more nice and respectable unlike the one in previous trip. The present destination hotel boasted of swimming pool though it is not a factor for a non swimmer like me. I hoped for more clean rooms and having at least satisfactory basic amenities !
The Wild West Gang and Rakshas Gang( Nagu(c) ) had already reached a day earlier and were already acclimatized to holiday living. Some of them had just got up while many were still in their beds. We had to wait more than an hour to get rooms and settle. While others waited in the lobby for their rooms, Codec, Lebedev and myself decided to check out the beach nearby.
Finally we checked in, regenerated and did our brunch in Indian Spice hotel. We hired Honda Activa bikes and a maruti 800 for rent and bought some local petrol that looked wose than crude.

More to write but no time right now. Later on !
Meanwhile check the pics and the web album

View Album

Get your own

Goa UnOfficial Trip - March 09 : 2

← Previous 

So while the movie went on painfully, I tried my best to look out and kill time gazing the sky for signs of any star. However the moon ensured that I could not! Finally the movie ended though it would be long time before many of us could catch a wink of sleep. The ghats and hair-pin curves (CCR enlightened me to this term) along with some rough driving ensured that we continuously slip from our seats. Even the seats in front lacked anything to hold onto in case of a jerk or a sudden turn. All that was present was a small mutilated lasso bottle holder that reminded me of rodeos and their wild horses. We talked over a multitude of issues and topics that included even Monica Bellucci! Finally tiredness overcome many of us and peace and tranquility prevailed in the bus. While many slept like Kings, some like Codec and myself were denied sleep. Codec was sitting in the middle seat of the last row with just the narrow bus walkway in front and more seats to the sides. Poor guy had nothing to hold onto and couldn't sleep even an iota. I was sitting next to him and found myself being dragged along with the forces of the bus. After a while the bus made a pit stop at a derelict canteen for early morning tea. The only nice thing about the place was the soothing music being played on the loudspeaker. It was like Kenny G special but some instrument that I don't recollect. The canteen owner surely has a nice taste!

The bus started moving again and like Jason Bourne I fail to recollect anything next. Next I remember waking up to daylight and the bus is about to make a brief pit stop for a morning tea. I remembered the place from my first Goa trip with my parents. The long stretch of highway dotted with conical trees on both sides, the same canteen and tables and the TV. Speaking of TV, India-New Zealand match was going on and we were hooked onto it. I don't remember whether I had tea or coffee but the match was nice!

We were closing on our destination, Mapusa and the change was visible. The laterite soil, flora-fauna was all different. Not that I have not been to Konkan regions or Kerala or even Goa but the change was quite visible and pleasant. Better than the smog, SPM filled Mumbai skylines and the chemical stink filled Navi Mumbai skies! Sawantwadi whizzed past us and finally we reached Mapusa. We were already sweating in Goan summer heat and we bundled ourselves into taxis. The Omni taxi meant for 4 was ready to carry more than that for higher rentals. Though it was a win win situation for both of us, I dunno whether we were testing the Taxi to its limits. I Dunno; but that's the way it works in India especially outside Mumbai.

View Album

Get your own

The Photos are under a Creative Copyright Licencing.Please read the Licence before using the pictures.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Goa UnOfficial Trip- March09 : 1

This weekend I made a brief trip to Goa (Saturday to Wednesday) along with many of my fellow Chemical BEs. The Official Goa trip during Third Year(TE) left much wanted. Also, much of Goa cannot be explored under the pretext of Industrial visit. So as many others we decided to revisit Goa!
Mumbai To Goa Journey - March 09    Next→

• Start      
  5:00 pm 7 March09, Saturday from Neeta Travels, Borivali(W), Mumbai.
  
• End      
  Around 9:30 am 8 March09, Sunday at Mapusa Bus Stand, Bardez, Goa.
  
• Mode     
  Non AC Bus.
  
• Agents
  Taj Travels / Neeta Travels
  
• Cost    
  Rs 400/- per head (includes body and the luggage)
  
• Route
  Borivali to Goregaon via W.Expressway, then Powai and LBS Marg and finally on NH17

We had made reservations with Neeta Travels for Mapusa from Borivali for 13. The 13 includes SBF(myself), Labaad brothers (Labadoku n Lebedev), Red Indians (CCR, Spidy), Oka, Vivek, SriRam, Stegaya aka Bansi, Codec aka Ashish, Swati, Kiran and Siddika. Our seats were reserved on the last rows, much to the disappointment of many. However the cacophony and pandemonium that comes along while travelling with friends makes one forget of all such trivial matters. The bus was supposed to leave at 5 pm from Borivali. However, Stegaya and Swati ensured that the bus leaves only by 5:30 pm. This left Ashish, our spear header at the receiving end of fellow travellers' ire and of the driver's outbursts.

Finally Modek aka Swati and Stegaya arrived and the bus moved forward. We were then informed of last minute change in bus route. The bus was earlier supposed to go via Ghodbunder Road and into Thane. Due to feeble booking response on that route, the bus was now going to go through Western Expressway - Goregaon - IIT Powai - LBS Marg -Thane - Navi Mumbai. The bus crawled through the slow and sick traffic along the Powai and LBS Marg routes throwing us behind of schedule by hours. Bhandup, Mulund all seemed to stretch miles and miles along the LBS Marg. The bus started picking up pace and we were going through the industrial zones in Navi Mumbai and Stegaya quickly corrected us about the smell in the surrounding as that of fertilizer chemicals.

We constantly changed the seats as some seats were very bad (I will avoid Taj travels in near future). My seat had lost its reclining power while CCR's was stuck at complete recline position. The last row sitters were constantly tossed up, down, left, right, lurched forward and backward. I must say the Sigma mixer in our Nuke Bunker (SFMO lab) comes no way near to this mixer cum Bus! After Navi Mumbai, with fast approaching night; the temperature began plummeting. I was hoping the bus would make a pit stop at Hotel Visava, Mahad. However Mahad seemed too far and the Bus stopped in some Ghost Town cut directly from a Clint Eastwood Wild West Movie. The Dinner was better than my expectations. However the loo seemed like a NH4OH storage tank and repelled many. Only the brave survived! Dinner was followed by a movie session in the bus. The movie was Ghajni, a Hindi adaptation of Tamil version which in turn seems to be an adaptation of Hollywood movie, Memento. The movie began with a statuary warning like the FBI warning for Hollywood movies, warning against screening in Buses/coaches. Ah! Its India where IPR is still Intellectual Property Rips and where Copyright is understood as it is right to copy! The sub-quality speakers blared at max decibels driving me crazy many at times. The movie began and ended after a painful maybe 2 Hrs. It was painful not only because of the movie but the sound speakers, stiff chairs and the bus wish to turn into a sigma mixer of high efficiency made it a painful experience!

Much more to write but later. Meanwhile enjoy a batch of pics from the journey! Next→

Unlike College feedback forms, mine accepts all sorts of criticism. So do comment!

Click on the pics for larger size downloads

   

   

   

 

   

   

The Photos are under a Creative Copyright Licencing.

Please read the Licence before using the pictures.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Kerala Train Trip : a trip that tripped me !

..contd from prev.

Afternoon changed into evening and night and still the tunnels were far from over. I had a peaceful Malayali dinner of Lemon Rice and Kaiypekya Theiyal, to which I silently protested but ate minimal to survive. It was late for many and the lights in the coach were quickly going off. Being a nocturnal Mumbaikar, I prefer to stay wake at nights and gaze out of windows upon the starry night sky - pure and unpolluted by city light until I fall asleep. I was determined to utilize the night hours and use it to reflect upon the credits and debits of my life and meditate upon the my decision to shift to IT from Chemical. I had plugged my ear phones and connected it to my Motorola SLVR L7 mobile cum MP3 Player to reduce ambient noise and disturbances.

It was around 11 pm and my brain had pressed the log off button. I fell asleep in no time being softly rocked by the train. It was unusually cold and I had to adjust the thick blanket to maintain warm temperature. However my face was badly exposed and I was directly under the cold air blower. My nose was as cold as ice! In an hour, my body started giving indications of uneasiness and discomfort. It was 12:15am when i found myself shivering but my neck and brow were sweating. I was too sleepy to make sense of this anomaly and was busy trying to think of what is wrong and apply relative temperature stuff. ie. whether my hands are icy cold or is it my neck that's heating up ? Either could give the same sense or feeling. However I had neglected the shivering and sweating. In half an hour, i was shivering very badly and my stomach had started aching due to the violent shivers. The pain in stomach robbed me of the remaining sleep throughout the journey. My past experiences with gas trouble and stomach aches due to my sedentary life had made me hyper on even a slight stomach ache, making me drink all possible syrups and tablets. Suddenly my fever started shooting up and I panicked. I had a Crocin and hoped my sufferings would subside. I was praying for the dark hours to pass off swiftly. However the time had come to a screeching halt and I found it crucifying to see that only five minutes had passed since my previous observation! My disaster management board in my brain activated Operation Valkyrie to prevent chaos and panic mask my better senses!

I popped in an another tablet and exchanged my berth with my mother's. She was more than happy to exchange as she found the region around her berth to be extremely hot. I thought it must be another of her usual notions she has due to her thyroid fluctuations. I was more than relived to be away from the icy cold Arctic like berth of mine. However my joy was short lived as this berth was indeed getting hot and I started sleeping without any extra insulation. However the shivers started again and my tummy started paining again. I started understanding the seriousness of the issue and started thinking of whether it could be an appendix inflammation or hernia as my friends have described it? However my shivering was still unexplained for!

I decided to relive myself in the loo and went out of the Ac cabin. Just moving out of the cabin itself was a relief. Somehow, the constant cool air step input on my face initially triggered a body rejection of the temperature condition inside the cabin. I spent most of the night outside of the cabin like I was on vigil while others pondered at my decision to spend money for the Ac and spend the night outside. I still do not completely know what possibly went wrong but my parents point at my nocturnal study life as the culprit. I dunno!

I had pleaded with God before commencing the journey to make it eventful and it seems He ensured it in His own way! My idea of clicking pics next morning of the beautiful Kayals and back-waters on North Kerala failed as I had lost all energy and enthusiasm with the events of previous night. I simply wanted to reach my Uncle's place at the earliest!

Finally, a solution for winamp 5.541 and gtalk music track status clash

Aha! Finally I have put to rest an issue that has been dogging me for some time.

Whenever I played the latest updated version of Winamp along with GTalk (Google application) with its status kept as "Show current music track", my GTalk used to freeze and refuses to work in tandem with Winamp. This was untill I came across a nice tech site (unfortunately I forgot the name) which suggested me the solution. The site author writes he recently chanced upon the solution provided by another man on the net.

The solution is so simple that it may seem stupid bit it works and is nothing less than magic!

Solution:

1. Goto the winamp installed folder
2. Create a file called winamp.m3u

• Goto windows explorer menu and uncheck the hide file type before creating a new file and renaming it as winamp.m3u
• 

Voila! Thats it. Now start the winamp and gtalk wont freeze when status is kept as music track!

Passing emotions and thoughts.rar

This Monday, I woke up to the loud noises from TV. Before I could make sense of the din, suddenly the noise level amplified exponentially and my mom rushed in to tell me that Rahman had won an Oscar. I was not even slightly amused as everything else has lower priority to my sleep.

It was Oscar morning(in India) and much of India was glued to the Idiot boxes praying for Oscar that has eluded Indian work or Indian theme for a long time. Smile Pinky and Slumdog millionaire were the Indian connection films/documentaries nominated for this year's Oscars.

I got off my bed and managed to watch the ending few minutes of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood which was being masked by Bollywood. Danny Boyle and his fellas were frequenting the stage a lot. Well, they had won or I must say sweeped the Oscars with 8 awards. Smile Pinky had won award in the Documentary section. My congratulations to Danny Boyle and his entire team along with the people involved with Smile Pinky.

SlumDog millionaire - I was thinking of its Hindi counterpart and the word 'jhoppadpatti' - a term commonly used with slums and shanties came into my mind. It has 'patti' at its suffix which in Malayalam means dog and I ponder whether jhoppadpatti actually means slumdog ? Anyways if you ask me whether the film was worth the Oscar ? I haven't watched the other movies in contention but have watched movies of yesteryear's that have won oscars. Slumdog millionaire feels more like a regular cliche filled bollywood movie rather than a Oscar Movie. It has nothing new for me or anything that inspires me except the randomness and 'anything for love' style. I find the initial dialogues of police constable played by our own "kallu-mama" in English very odd. The strange ascent and the fact that pandus are speaking in English looks artificial to me. Also, the thick British ascent of Dev Patel is quite evident. However the movie has helped in bringing the Bollywood into Hollywood which I hope will result in better and more collaborations between the two Goliaths. I would love to see more sensible movies made in Bollywood rather than the item songs injected masala movies.

The previous semester I created a personal record. I managed to finish around 90GB of Movie -Documentary watching and am still cruising ahead with no side effect on my academics. Whoa! I recently bought 3 National Geographic Society Magazines(Old editions) for 50 Indian Rupees from Matunga. Though old, still it is worth reading and gazing at the excellent photographs. My Flickr free account photo limit is nearing and Flickr has started threatening me with deletion of my initial photos to accommodate new photos unless i pay and upgrade. I dunno whether I should pay or reduce pic taking while increasing the quality of photos.

Help Gaurav Tandon!

Hello there, Earthlings and Orkians! Kayo!

Its just the hangover from wiki-ing (like googling) about the old American sitcom Mork and Mindy lately and my personal favorite. Used to watch it in my school days on Star World.

A few days back, a fellow musketeer from our band of four; informed me of Gaurav Tandon and his hardship. Gaurav suffers from a rare disease (Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer) and needs immediate medical attention or treatment. The costs of the treatment would surpass a crore Indian rupees and is beyond the financial scope of his family or his relatives. His wife teaches in an Engineering college in Mumbai and thats where my fellow musketeer studies.

He is suffering from AML and needs bone marrow transplant which might require treatment in US or UK or Singapore. The treatment initial cost is being estimated to surpass 1 Crore Indian Rupees. His regular health and news updates are constantly being put up on the http://helpgaurav.com website.

More Details about the person, his health, contact details, Reports, Updates and others can be obtained at,

http://helpgaurav.com

So how can you help ?

1. Donate money yourself


2. Spread the word and request people to donate money


3. Help us find right Donor for Bone Marrow Transplant


4. Help us sale Gaurav's Flat at Thakur Village in Kandivili, Mumbai.


5. If you have, share information such as important contacts


6. Pray for speedy recovery


7. If you have time or resources at your disposal and still do not know how you can contribute, please write to Vishal Kekre at vishalkekre@hotmail.com.

Money can be donated through various institutions, wires, and even paypal.

Tragedies can and will strike anyone with no prior intimation. Though we have little control over it, we can make a difference by ensuring Gaurav gets the treatment he needs. People speak of encountering such appeals everyday and every hour and face a dilemma of whom to help. We must help all possible people we can help, as someday the roles can get reversed and we could become the pleaders. Like a doctor, we must not loose hope or loose vigor and must help those in need in all feasible ways and leave the rest with the Providence. Please help him and help bring back happiness in their lives

A day after ...... and a day before .......

4th Sunday, Jan 2009 : It is Sunday morning and many might be still in bed, deep in their sleep seeking solace from the daily grind. Many of my B.E. chemical engineering friends might be enjoying a hard earned sleep and rest. After all it is the next day after the Semester exams got over. They might be slowly clearing their accumulators & immediate-use registries in their brain of the Sem VIII processes and subjects. However the day didn't seem like any Sunday to me. I was already sitting in a train bound for Churchgate to appear for the XAT exam with negligible preparation as my semester exams had just ended yesterday after a month long exam carnival! Anyway the only relief was that, I had a chance to visit Churchgate and Fort area after a long period. I could gaze for hours and be completely taken over by the Victorian era architecture and the art-deco style. Meanwhile, I had got a new novel to read and seemed enough for the train trip to Kerala. The exam went as expected and before dejection could fill my heart and brain to brim, i detoured to Fountain with an accomplice to check on the second hand novels and pirated ones. My friend's quest for Bourne Triad novels ended in disappointment while i continued scouting for books on history, geo-political books and biographies of selected few. After tanning ourselves in the afternoon scorching sun, we decided to refuel ourselves before commencing on the journey back home. My friend enlightened me of the existence of a railway stall in churchgate station that specialises in Frankies and which according to him is "one and only". Anyway the frankie was nice, though I must say the place is not clean and customers wish to keep it that way! :-(

It was a special day as it was a day after my Semester exams had finished and a day before commencing on journey to Kerala - my native state!

The rest of the day passed in planning and packing the bags. As usual my camera and swiss knife along with necessary ID cards were my high priority items apart from Maps. Well this would seem odd when you travel with your parents but thats the way I travel ! I decided to carry my portable internal but externalised SATA 320Gb HDD to minimise use of DVDs and maximise data transfer.Though my wish to have a traveller's back pack remains unsatisfied, I was ready to travel. My bag was full of wires and cables and chargers apart from some warranty cards and a spare mobile to change over as my mobile suffers from quick discharge.

It was bedtime and was thinking as to how fast time has passed. Years had passed since I held some of my cousins back in Kerala in my hands and stood hand in shoulders over some cousins. I was thinking of the new faces that might have emerged and of the many I wont be able to meet anymore!

Packing my bags and ...

Ola 10.00.00.1001!
My New year truly begins today or after my XAT in noon to be precise.



I am packing my bags and getting ready for the catalyst regeneration trip to my parents' native place- Kerala. Fish is already enjoying in Bengaulru with his friends and hopefully clicking pics. Finally, my Semester exams are over and I can sigh relief. Today i gave my XAT sadly with no preparation as I was busy till yesterday with my Engineering exams. The think-tank inside took a while to crank up! The essay at the last was a breather. The exam got over at 12:30 pm and I decided to stroll around the nearby Churchgate-Fountain area scouting for second hand books and novels along with my buddy. My friend bargained and extracted some nice deals for 2 novels while his search for Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum remained a search. he is now convinced the books are jinxed for he has the deja-vu, "out of stock" answer every time. My serach for some cheap history related books or treatises went in-vain though I did find hard coverbooks on Jinnah and terrorism and its social causes-fallout sort. They were beyond my immediate reach, though I have placed an eye on them. Menawhile I have to content with Mario Puzo's Omerata and Sicilian and Pervez Musharaff's autobiography. it seems enough for the train journey.

I hope there will be plenty of things to shoot and capture. Coconuts, greenery and Kayals; here I come!

Rest in later posts!
bye!

All in a night's work!

Every day, when I wake up there has always been a group of special friends to greet me regardless of the climate, temperature or time.

For 21 years I have seen them grow and they have seen me grow, play and throw tantrums. These special friends are the trees that surround my building. Every tree occupies a unique position in my heart. They are the shelters for many birds and squirrels which I wouldn't have seen and understood so closely had it not been for the trees. It is much more than reading about them in books or in a Zoo(No guarantee you can see them in Mumbai Zoo!). I still remember and cherish the childhood adventures of looking for hours at the birds' nests for sign of life and I can still feel the ecstasy of seeing hungry mouths competing for food. Binoculars and Patience were my only tools but the reward was nothing less than a treasure.

Apart from these, just imagine I have never thought of putting up a curtain in my room. Never needed to! The trees provided enough cover for privacy and dust and dirt almost never existed. The cover was so thick that a Full Monty would never be caught!

Past 1 year, the landscape and mindset of the people has changed drastically. Suddenly, many trees have started collapsing and withering; some naturally others due to the ulterior motives of many greedy men! Land prices have sky rocketed and all lands are now sitting gold mines. Redevelopment and demolishing are the new mantras and quick money is in every ones mind. The land opposite my house is being redeveloped and the former school is making way for a new humongous Tower Complex.

At night, I hear sounds of iron hitting wood and next morning I find a friend of mine is no more. I have silently cried at the loss of my friends and mourned with the many birds over the loss. Birds have shifted houses and the chirping has mellowed. Squirrels find this invasion threatening and have been forced out of their natural habitat. Many days I see them dead on road mauled by stray dogs while others try to salvage something from the nearby apartments. Today, many of my friends have left for heavenly abode while many wait for their turn. The landscape has changed, everybody is suffering from dust related illness and respiratory ailments have sky rocketed.

Will this stop ? Can anyone stop the muscle men of Builders , those who are infamous for their underworld and police nexus ?

One more tree has almost perished by their carelessness and recklessness.
Their wish to provide nets at the building perimeter to ensure safety to neighborhood has left the tree brutally hacked!
Attempt 1 : The nets got tangled with the tree branch (left one) and a dumper who didn't see the nets pulled along the nets thereby breaking the left branch which finally had to be cut to prevent it blocking the road.
Attempt 2 : Yesterday, the whole day there was high activity around the tree with the workers beaming with high motivation to finish netting. Today morning, I find the other branch mortally cut and the tree reduced to a tiny-winy shrub!

Earlier,

The Rightmost tree near the Right Gate Lamp. It has two branches emerging close to ground (left and right branches)

The Left Branch has been hacked while Right Branch has been cut and reduced

Left Branch after hacking has been covered up

All for erecting a net frame? This must be seen as tree hacking for billboards	From SBF - Voice of India

All in a night's work!
When and where will they stop ?

End of 08 : My last thoughts about the year

Its the last night of the very eventful year 2008, a year that will go in the history for the beginning of the decline of western economic and their political credibility. Events in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Palestine to name a few have proved that political will among the World Leaders and powers has diminished. Nobody wishes to involve in neighborhood affairs when their own house requires dusting and cleaning.
The cyclic fall and rise of US economy is common. US economy has faced growth and decline once in every or two decades. US economy has enjoyed its best years between 1989-2000 and as the saying goes anything that goes up has to come down! but this time the effect is felt world wide due to globalization. First Sub-prime Real-estate then Financial & Investment services then Auto Giants! (Analysts expect a L curve on economy but even they cant speculate till when!) Economy giants like US, UK, Germany are in red while others are in slowdown mode. It is unbelievable as to how rapidly the market and industry has changed from one of strong, hearty, cheerful to somber, sad, ailing, depressed one. In such turbulent times, we as students face a terrible dilemma. Should we accept the campus job offers and hope for the storm to pass off in the near future or go for further studies and avoid job market for the time being? Many have dropped off ideas of MS in USA for job prospective in US are also diminishing. Many in core engineering fields like Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical feel that they are better insulated than the IT and its auxiliary fields. However, India's industrial output figures are in red and show a drastic drop. These are tougher times and no definite answers or predictions are possible, making the situation more precarious.

The Mumbai terror attack brought the whole country together and forced the politicians to change their callous attitude and drove the caste, religion, region based political gimmickry to backseat. The small silver lining of the terror attacks was the uniting of Indians and emergence of a sudden need for change and the want to a part of the change. It has draw attention to the sorry state of the Police establishment and lack of co-ordination between various Intelligence agencies. I seriously hope that things do change for good!

The India-Pakistan Cricket clash doesn't interest any Indian anymore. Australia has replaced Pakistan as our traditional rivals and the Perth-Sydney tests acted as the foundation stone for the extreme rivalry. I am happy India has ended on a winning streak (I include draws also) against the Goliaths of the Game. Sports seems to be gaining focus again as India won an Individual Gold for the first time as also a medal in Boxing. Suddenly sports other than Cricket like Chess, Boxing, Football seem to be promising for many. A nice change!

Ah! Now my class has changed as well. Many might remember the IPC lectures. Oh it was remarkable! Paper balls, Rockets, Planes, Navy Carriers, Sabotages to name a few. It was a complete Balck Ops! - A coup d’état. Boy! Initially I was against the coup but then the ops became justifiable and well deserved! I cannot reveal much but it was fun, exciting, and a struggle which brought us at par with our seniors.! Full stop!

Change is the only thing that doesnt change!
This year it seemed to be exceptionally strong. US prez in wait - Barack Obama has strengthened my feeling! So be it Change!

This year I will welcome new year watching the Pirates of Carribean-III and then go back to study Entrepreneurship Management. I hope I get a tripod for my camera and also learn new stuffs about photography.
Resolves are there but not for revealing!

Happy Peaceful New year !
Happy
10
00
00
1001
:-)

My penultimate closing thoughts for 2008 - (1)

Oh! My Antulay, you vouched for infamy! When you could have simply kept mouth shut and let the present generation not know of your shady past and the oldies forget your heinous crimes; you simply couldn't ! Now every Indian knows your past and your present. Indians feel that the Union Minority Affairs post is apt for you, as your contributions to the minority is negligible.(This has been vouched by the minority leaders and statesmen alike). Seems like, he has done justice to his post as a true IP. Its stands for Inert Politician or Indian Politician, doesn't matter. I hear of his noble works for the destitutes(pension schemes) and others but infamy is a permanent dye that stains the noble deeds.
I am amused to know he was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra during 1980-82. Well, such a short tenure for an IP? Does one have a chance when you face heat after Bombay High Court ruling Jan 13,1982 pronouncing him an extortionist. Guess who was behind the expose? None other than the Indian print-media jewels: Indian Express (Goenka, Arun Shourie,Manu Desai) and Maharashtra Times(Govindrao Talwakar). Many buildings were built like mine during the Money for Cement Quota scandal. Maybe the cement in my building might have a lot to speak on it!
I
My take on Karkare-Gate : In a democracy, every person that includes Mr. Antulay also has the right to speak ad voice his concern, be it through the blog or through the parliament. However, Mr Antulay must have synchronized himself with the government. In such tender times, its better not to have conflicting views emanating from the cabinet. Antulay must have had discussed his suspicions with the cabinet before going gun blazing before the parliament and media. Every cabinet minister or leader must hire a PR to assist him/her. Its better to raise the hypothesis and prove its falseness rather than leave it around for the rumour mongers. The Opposition made the issue the most important and left the parliament thereby making it easy for the UPA to clear record no. of bills in least time. The ruling government must have officially clarified this earlier itself that there is no saffron link.
Karkare-Gate Outcome: Antulay's own goal has costed his party Congress, though the opposition has not been awarded the goal while Antulay's personal record shows the goal as his achievement!Pakistan is happy with the outcome, as Congress Vs BJP vs Antulay tussle has resulted in Pakistan leading by Goal difference!


Has anyone heard of President Mrs.Pratibha Patil lately? Looks like she has disappeared into oblivion! Lately, I hear of no media reports of initiatives/activities from her office. . During Dr. A.P.J. Kalam's tenure, there was a lot of activity to hear about in the media. Aah! Well, the presidential post seems to have normalised back into inertia after a high efficiency and yield tenure of Dr. Kalam.
Recently, the President had visited the family of slain decorated police officer, Vijay Salaskar in Goregaon (E). The roads were re-tarred and cleaned for the presidential entourage. This reminded me of the Mahim Railway Station being white-washed after the 7/11 Train blasts before the arrival of the then president. Seems like every place the president steps foot is cleansed, bathed and beautified. I would suggest that every president must visit rural areas devoid of basics (road, water,house,electricity,sanitation etc). Maybe then the politicians can focus on issues other than Roti, Kapda and Makaan!
My friend, SilkRoute15 clicked pics of the tarring in Goregaon(E)

Mumbai Terror 1: Enough! We had it!

One more terror attack!

While I write, Indian Elite commando units are engaging terrorists at Taj-Mahal Palace. Every Tourist i have seen visiting Mumbai, visits Gateway of India and Taj-Mahal Palace (If from outside or at least for a coffee) for sure. Its what Statue of Liberty is for New-York and what Eiffel Tower or Arc de triomphe is for Paris or India Gate is for New-Delhi. Even the ones with less on pocket wishes to sit in and sip a tea or coffee. Its the only heritage hotel of Mumbai and is a century old.

Terrorists have carried out the most daring, planned and coordinated attack on the very symbolic hotel Taj-Mahal Palace along with Trident-Oberoi and also indiscriminate firing at many places which are tourist hot spots.

Terrorists are getting more bolder and the body count has risen exponentially from previous one.
So what has changed ?

• We : Every time Mumbai is attacked, everyone speaks of resilience and the spirit of Mumbai that cannot be touched. This time, Mumbai has decided to speak out!
• Why should we be the sitting ducks, all the time ?
• Why should the Financial Hub of India be turned into a Punching Bag or Dart board for the terrorists ?
  
• How can we allow ATS chief, a sharp shooter, a dignified IPS officer, an elite commando major, a jawan, dozens of constables be killed ?
• Why should the Israeli kid be an Orphan on the day of his birthday ?
  
• Why should a boy doing Internship shuttling between Haryana and Mumbai die away from his parents? Why should his ambitions be killed ?
• Why should I hear the same old Pakistani conspiracy theory with no result ?
• Why should I wait for Centre to sanction forces from Delhi for an operation in Mumbai?
  
• Why should I have to hear Shivraj Patil speak out the same words that he has been iterating for many past terror attacks ?
• Why should I have to hear the PM give out a speech that was the most boring(i must say BORING and UN-INSPIRING !) speech I have heard over a decade? Our PM can't even inspire people who are shaken to the core ? Its a pity that the PM and opposition leader couldn't make it to Mumbai on a single plane. These are times when every gesture speaks out much more than it means!


• Mumbaikars are thinking and thinking hard, as to how we can prevent such attacks in future. Debates about leadership, crisis management are happening at all places on the island. Debates on how to get a effective leadership and better politicians has started. THE DAM HAS BURSTED ! Mumbaikars wont forgive the leaders for letting them down for the last time. Things will change for sure! One thing Barack Obama campaign has done is inspired Mumbaikars to go for change! and YES! We can change and will bring change!

Many are wishing for our neighbor's annihilation. But that wont still help us ?
The rot is also amongst us ? Our display of helplessness is taken as our resilience and stockiness. We must make our leaders understand that this must change. We will not swallow this time. We need and mean change. We need a change of attitude, the way our external and internal affairs is run, our members of parliament must face the public. They must be accounted for every penny they spend or siphon in most cases. They must be fired if their attendance is found to be poor and barred from contesting if their performance is meager. Corruption must become capital punishment!

The National Security must be unified and under a central control which reports its actions to a Union minister and takes suggestions but not orders. Stop using the intel for spying on rival parties. Establish NSG at every state such that they can fly to any required position in an hour. Otherwise, I will call it New-delhi Security Guards. All parties irrespective of region, religion, no matter if you are a Red or Saffron or Green or White; must blend together like our tricolor flag to bring Peace back!

Its getting late. Rest in next post.
Thought the post ends for today, the anger, resentment and fire remains !

Shobhaa De has acted as an catalyst for this and for many! Her interview on NDTV was path breaking and inspiring.Check her blog at http://shobhaade.blogspot.com/

and her NDTV interview at http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=QRTZ8-K0jiE.

Beetles and Wasps Photographs

My assumption that all Wasps are dangerous and have a sting was thankfully changed by this yellow wasp. The tail or sting sort of part is actually a egg laying tube which it uses to lay eggs on leaves or if it is a parasite, it will inject it on some other insect.

This Beetle looks beautiful in its green armory. Its an assassin bug or shield bug.

Month after Insect photoshoot and tagging

What a Month! I created Profiles and did Photoshoots for many.

Many of them were 6-legged, 8-legged and of classes and sub classes that spin my head! Many had antennae and sting like tube at the back for laying eggs.

Now, before you start imagining, let me clear the air!

I was chasing around Insects and capturing them onto my Sony DSC Cybershot W80 camera. Well many would ask me, "Got nothing else better to do, Eh ?" Well, it seems I am an Insect lover who likes to take their pictures without troubling them!

Macro mode of the digicam is my favorite as it lets me explore fine details of insect body structure from their photos.

Dragon Fly resting on my pencil.

This comical and cutest Insect is a Dragon Fly. The best part is they eat mosquitoes and hence generally live near water.

Their Body structure reminds me of Helicopter and I must say their wings are large and strong!

More insects in further posts.

Meanwhile check all of them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prashantmaxsteel

Pakistan : Friend or Fiend ?

I am forced to ponder, when and where, India will draw the Line and say "Pakistan, this is it. One more step and pay the price". I am no extreme rightist or nationalist, but a peace loving countryman wishing to live alongside Pakistan amicably. However, I am deeply concerned over the growing ISI and Pakistan sponsored militancy in India. Not a month passes when an Indian common-man or armed personnel is not killed or hurt by I.S.I. sponsored activities.

Pakistan is my country's biological sibling who left the family in 1947 after years of spilling blood over separation and ownership. In 1947, after the old, stubborn tenant - Britain was evicted and the old house was brought down; two new houses were constructed next to each other, namely India and Pakistan

Partition or division of ancestral wealth was not enough. Pakistan wanted the princely states to side with Pakistan and went to great lengths to accomplish so. Kashmir is one such example. When Hari Singh of J&K princely state was not willing to side with Pakistan, it dispatched Pakistani tribal warriors and rangers to capture Kashmir by force.

Pakistan has never grown up or matured. It envies India's glory, diversity, liberalism, democracy and stability. Pakistan always blames India for the religious, political, social, economic unrest in Pakistan. Pakistan fails to differentiate a friend from a foe. It considers India as its foremost enemy in all fields. All its policies are meant to act as deterrence against India. It spends a whooping portion of budget on arms & ammunition meant against India when its economy is crumbling. It uses the double edged sword of terrorism against India when conventional wars couldn't succeed. This terrorism is now backfiring. It has virtually lost all control over North West frontier provinces, SWAT, Waziristan, Baluchistan to name a few. It faces Al-Qaeda menace after decades of supporting and harboring their activities in Afghanistan and westen regions. It faces constant brutal suicide bombings by rival Muslim sects. Pakistan has always acted against the Geneva Conventions. It never recognizes Human rights and brutally treats POWs. Infact it still hasnt reclaimed bodies of rangers and of armymen who had fought the Kargil Proxy war. Its ISI has constantly beaten Indian consulate members and has implemented diabolical acts of terrorism. against India.

Pakistan's democracy is a failure. Multiple Military coup is the proof. It is a country where Army is the king maker and major player. It fails in the field of IT and other fields while India flourishes. Indians and Pakistanis have the same blood running in their veins. Both speak same dialects, languages, follow same traditions, customs and culture and share the same PAST. Indians and Pakistanis share the same brain and soul, after all we are brothers! Then why is Pakistan in such an horrible mess ? The country faces an ever lasting dillema as to who is the actual head ? Why is India excelling while Pakistan is plumetting to new lows?

Pakistan suffers from skewed vision. It fails to reconcile with India and come out clean. It misinterprets Islam and has misused the wonderful religion to spread hatred. It needs to alter its constitution to prevent another democratic miscarriage. It needs a complete religious, social, political and economic make over. It must focus on Industrial revolution rather than terrorist revolution. It must stop interfering in Indian matters and start minding its own matters. It must change its attitude and strategy to prevent an all out political, social, religious and economic turmoil.

But will it ?