Have the English Finally Arrived!!!

The English were a dominant political and imperial force across the world for a very long time. They know how to be at the top and stay there. It was for this reason that after reading of the British dominance, I could only be surprised that they have not really dominated in one of the most competitive arenas of the present era and that is sports. The English were also one of the founders of the game of cricket but it was only in the year 2010 that they won their first major title, the T20 World Cup. The kind of history the game has in England, you can only imagine that the players, fans and administrators all know that a World Cup title in the newest and shortest form of the game, does not justify its legacy in the country.

It is only after the year 2012 that I believe the English have finally arrived at the world sports scene as a dominant force. The cricket team reached the pinnacle in Test Cricket and won the mace after beating India and held onto it by overcoming one of the most difficult tours in present era, that of the Indian sub-continent. This team is being led by one of the most prolific batsmen the world has seen in Alastair Cook and one of the best swing bowlers in James Anderson. The ICC also recognized Jonathan Trott as the cricketer of the year in 2011 and in Graeme Swann they have the best off-spinner in the world. This team has many match winners and everyone is looking upto them to win major titles in limited overs cricket as well.

Being an Indian, I took cricket as the first sport but the English have excelled many a miles in many other sports as well. Hosting the Olympics 2012 at London and making it a grand success has added many a stars to the crown of the sports fraternity of this nation. The performance of the cycling team, with Chris Hoy leading from the front, Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France in 2012 and then Chris Froome this year clearly shows that this sport is being comprehensively dominated by this island nation. I could never recall names of famous English athletes but in the Olympics again Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis achieved huge feats, not only to be decorated with gold medals but have now put the name of British Athletics in the eyes of sports lovers.

In the field of Golf, Luke Donald held onto the number 1 position for quite sometime and remains in the reckoning to be there again amidst a very competitive field of players like Rory Mcilroy, Mickelson, Tiger Woods etc. In the field of professional sports, it is an Englishman who runs the sport of Formula I in Bernie Ecclestone and in Lewis Hamilton, they have a driver whose potential is second to none.

The greatest feat that every Briton today will be proud of is Andy Murray winning not only the Olympic Gold but finally coming good and winning the Wimbledon, 2013 after a tantalizing wait of 77 years. He finally looks to have come off age and the English can now look forward to this Scot to win many more titles for them.

In team sports again, the English Hockey team has been one of the teams that have shown the fastest improvement over the past couple of years. The English football team, with stars spread across teams in the EPL, has always been a crowd favourite and we all hope that in the current era of the English sports dominance, this team also will prove its worth and gift the crowds something more to cheer about. 

The Mechanics of Hypnotism- As I See Them

Hypnosis! The very word brings in a picture of a person dangling an object in front of another one, saying repeatedly to concentrate, followed by words like, "you are
sleepy", "your eyes are drooping, "you are now going to sleep" and done! Magic performed! I have always thought of this as an act of magic, and though this actually
is a technique used often in psychological treatments, sometimes in criminal cases but it has never been a thing I have been anxious to unravel for myself. It is only
recently after I have read a few books on spirituality, heard learned people talk about openness of mind, conscious and sub-conscious etc., that I am trying to find a
path which the act of hypnosis follows. I may be nowhere near the actual mechanism, but from the knowledge I possess this is what I figured out.
It is a scientifically proven fact that the human brain is divided into two halves, each performaing a distinguished function. There are many different functions but on
a very high level, the two can be divided as, the left brain, which is the thinking part or the conscious part so to say and the right brain, the sub-conscious which
stores images and helps us visualise things (not that visualising is not same as seeing or watching). It is again proven that as kids we are like a blank file and large
portions of data can be written on the inexhaustible storage of our brain. Kids learn by seeing and watching more than by reading or listening (this holds true even at
an older age, we tend to remember more what we see than what we hear). The reason being, as kids, the conscious brain is still developing and majority of what we learn
is through the right brain which relies on things visible and on what we visualise. This part of brain is used less and less as our conscious brain grows and becomes
active, more often than not conscious blocks the sub-conscious. We start questioning things, compare things with what we seem possible and discard many things which our
conscious mind does not accept and hence block things from entering the sub-conscious. For example, when years ago people didn't even imagine one could fly, Leonardo
da Vinci came out with the painting of a prototype, because he could visualise, he didn't say it's not possible but just gave it a try. The same visualisation and
overcoming of conscious, has resulted in major inventions and discoveries made which were against the general norms and practices of society over the years.
Another very simple example which establishes this divide and also conveys the power of the right brain is the fact that we often remember the faces of people we have
met but forget their names. This I think is what a person practicing hypnotism builds on. Through the act of making us concentrate, he just makes sure that our
conscious barin is stable, devoid of thoughts, then lethargic and is finally put to sleep. That is just the moment when the right brain is still awake and we are in the
sub-conscious, the words then spoken are not obstructed by the consciuos and enter directly the sub-conscious to stay there. This is how I believe people become
controlled by their hypnotizers.
This is also what is actually being done through the various meditation courses, calming ourselves down, relaxing the mind and putting the conscious to rest so that
pure thought goes into the right brain, the feeling of peace and calm which then stays and helps us be in control of ourselves. I have also been told that even as we
sleep, just before we are completely asleep, the sub-conscious is awake momentarily and any thoughts then thought or visualised can actually become a part of our
existence and be realised. This is how we may try and dream our dreams, so that one day they may come true.
I am thinking now that can this also be related to deja vous? I believe I have got more to read on and search to come up with any theory on that.

Stalinism vs. Nazism

The world situation changed markedly after the first world war. The inter war years saw many uprisings, social unrest, the most devastating economic crises till date
and also the rise to power of two of the most ruthless leaders the world has known. These were Joseph Stalin in Russia and Adolf Hitler in Germany. The two have been
compared on many occasions and the scholars have often rated the two as being similar in their methods towards achieving their goals. Some scholars though have found
that their basic ideologies and so the methods did differ quite a bit. In the final analysis it generally seems that Hitler was much more barbaric and ruthless, more
absorbed into power as compared to Stalin.
Stalin came into unquestionable power after the death of the founder of Bolshevik movement, Lenin. Lenin till then had been considered a heartless ruler, and one who
committed many atrocities against the rich peasants and land owners of Russia, to favour the proletariat. The world hadn't yet seen Stalin make use of his power. Once
he took power, he realised that Russia due to internal rebellions and also being an agriculture dominated country had lagged behind its Western counterparts. He
mentioned that the country was fifty to sixty years behind the Western developed nations and should strive towards covering that gap within a decade. He didn't just
say it but actually started working towards large scale industrialisation, used harsh measures against the workers (who were once supposed to rule) to make them give
their best and followed the policy of 'gulags'. Gulags were camps where a large number of workers were made to work under drastic conditions and the sole purpose was
to get the most our of a person, even if the person lost his life in the process. Many rich peasants of the past, 'kulaks', were put into these camps and what did
follow was a marked increase in the Russian growth rate. This continued even beyond the World War II years, making the Soviet Union a fierce competitor of the USA.
Hence, Stalin policy of torture was to take his own country on the path of development and his methods though were atrocious, leading into mass killings, more loss of
lives in the world war and wide spread unrest, which didn't materialise as there were many supporters as well of this new form of communism, 'Stalinism'.
Adolf Hitler, on the other hand, migrated from Austria to Germany and saw the country mauled in the First World War and then further humiliated by the Treaty of
Versailles. He saw an opportunity of realising his thirst for power and also took an oath of making the Allied powers pay for the apparent injustice done to Germany
through the treaty. Even before the First War, Germany was the only imperialist power which could not proclaim foreign territories and after the war, it was completely
ousted from the system. The economic depression of 1929, further instability in the society gave an ideal platform for Hitler to come into power. In 1934, he gained
complete control and his Nazi party became supreme with ideology of 'lebensraum' (that is they wanted to increase their territory to the maximum) and treating people
other than Aryans as 'untermanschen' (sub-humans). This led to large scale killings of the Jews and also the unhealthy Germans themselves. Hitler embarked on a journey
of unprecedented growth of industry and military power which he tried to use to the utmost during the Second World War, He sent the 'infidels' and people of other
nation into gas chambers just because they were of no military use. There was not even an intent to use the abilities of these people in anyway and millions lost
their lives due to this non rational policy of Nazis.
It can easily be seen that the basic ideals of both these leaders were very different and though they both committed atrocities even on their own nationals but again
the causes and reasons were different. They were both dictatorial and though both countries flourished industrially under them (Russia for greater period after the
World War, Germany's progress was back tracked after the war ended), but both will be remembered for the bloodiest chapters their respective countries and the whole
world has possibly seen.

The NDMA

In the aftermath of the devastating Bhuj earthquake, the Indian think tank came with a quite a few proposals on how to deal with such natural disasters. As one of the
steps, in 1999 a committee was setup to look into the feasibility of setting up an organisation dedicated towards disaster management and preparedness in the country.
Hence, the National Disaster Management Act came in 2005 and as a consequence, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) with Prime Minister as its Chairman was setup in
2006.
The NDMA was founded on the principals of Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness in the pre-disaster and Response, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in the post-
disaster phase. Over the years, with recognition of new possible disasters and with growing nature's fury every year, a few changes to the structure came across. Right
now there are around 8 functionaries of Cabinet Minister level, leading different threads of disaster management across different states. The whole country which has
79% of it's coastline prove to cyclones and tsunamis, 28% land prone to earthquakes, 39% prone to flooding and 68% prone to drought, has been distributed among these
members. Over the years, specially from the 12th Plan, a separate amount of money has been dedicated towards proper functioning of NDMA and also towards the running of
National Institute of Disaster Management (setup in 2009), which produces people educated and trained in specific disaster management related activities.
An analysis of disaster preparedness and response in the country, the floods of 2009 in Mumbai, earthquake in Sikkim in 2011, the Uttarakhand tragedy recently, clearly
suggest that the performance of the NDMA has barely been satisfactory and so even the NDM Act seems to have not served its purpose.
Disaster prevention is a big step and can easily be implemented by assuring that any construction in areas prone to disasters like floods, earthquakes, land slides have
controlled human interference. Regulated construction activity like in Ecologically Sensitive Areas needs to be the mandate and only after proper approval from the NDMA
should such activities in these areas be taken up. It also then entails the requirement of more scientists and professionals who can come up with upto date data about
the fragility of these areas and provide clear analysis on which activities can be taken up. Also, these states should anyway come up with their own disaster management
authorities under the overall prefecture of the NDMA, involving even the locals who may not have the required degree and technical knowledge, but the local knowledge of
terrain which proves to be like gold dust in such cases. We have implemented a few precautionary steps, but we need to further emulate the technologies used in
different nations like earthquake preparedness in Japan, because though we cannot stop or restrict natural phenomena from acting, but can surely reduce their impact on
living population and resources, and hence reducing its disaster character.
Rehabilitation and reconstruction entail the most significant part for people affected by the disasters and NDMA has again been found wanting.The govts. need to ensure
that the state machinery is ready to take up steps as per the recommendations on NDMA, because expecting NDMA to do the ground work with the available human and
economic resources, is an unrealistic expectation. The states specially in disaster prone areas and also otherwise, should prepare proper infrastructure facilities
to store relief material when need be, have enough transportation resources to be able to use whatever mode of transport, rail, road or air available after a calamity
has struck. Also, the PHCs and CHCs shold have enough medication available everytime, to cater to a disaster struck population. This may mean a little more burden on
the exchequer, but the realisation when these facilities are not available, in terms of losses of life and property is much more.
We need to realise the importance of human life and property, ensure that the livelihoods of people are restored as soon as possible, only then can we say that the NDMA
will start moving on the path towards meeting its set goals.

Disaster Preparedness- A sad story

Tragedy struck the state of Uttarakhand, specially the pilgrimages of Gangotri, Yamunotri and Kedarnath on the 16th of June. These areas were devastated by never before
seen floods and landslides, resulting in huge losses of life and property. The loss in property will take years to be estimated with roads, bridges having flown with the
gushing waters, houses vanished and towns being buried under silt upto 8-10 feet high in some areas. The official death toll has crossed the 500 mark but the final
numbers can be much more with many people still missing and are presumably dead. The rubble and debris from the gushing waters, which even carried huge boulders and
rocks, loosened due to landslides are strewn all over the towns and what were once commutable roads.
The Uttarakhand state has been held in part responsible for the tragedy and the disaster management capability of not only the state but the whole country has come into
question yet again. Disaster response mainly comprises of three important stages- preparedness, mitigation and rehabilitation. It is when taken as the judging grounds,
the state and our disaster management have been found wanting. As the reports are now coming out as to what led to the sudden flooding and walls of water running into
the Kedarnath shrine, the IMD and the state can barely be held responsible (in terms of immediate causes, the illegal and unsafe constructions, the disaster in waiting
due to negligence towards the ecology of the area are causes which were in the making over the years and require a different platform all together to be discussed).
The monsoon in India were progressing at almost the average rate (a little slower than normal to be precise), covering parts of central India and eastern India on
June 14, but in an unprecedented phenomena, the winds suddenly covered whole of the country in the next 24 hours, with rains reaching even Northern India. Another
factor which aided the monsoon trough moving up north-west was the shift of the Arabian Sea branch of monsoons from Pakistan to North West India due to a sudden surge
in the jet streams in the upper atmosphere, pushing the rain bearing winds into India and the low pressure trough from Rajasthan to Northern India. Monsoons in
themselves are very difficult to predict and this sudden change made it even more so. Hence, string warnings which could have led to the pilgrimage being stopped did
not come in with the kind of urgency needed and also the suddenness made it almost impossible for the state to make people aware of what was coming. In fact, in
hindsight, it seems even the state got a feel of the enormity of the situation only after it actually occurred. The reports suggest that the moraine lakes around the
Kedarnath shrine, due to torrential rains were suddenly filled up, with water flowing over the moraine walls, leading to a breach and hence copious amounts of water
running over the whole region. Such was the ferocity of incessant rains that the usually unstable rocks (made more so by the continuous constrution activity in the
ecologically vulnerable region), became apart of the flowing waters increasing the damage exponentially. The state and disaster response teams hence were not prepared
for the immediate effects of a sudden flood but then the preparedness towards landslides in an unstable area, the absence of flood control measures in an area where
glacial lakes are continuously building, and the lacklustre approach towards the possible effects of ablating glaciers in the summer months deserves to be catered to
and on a war footing.
The disaster has clearly shown that once the tragedy struck, in the absence of proper mitigation preparedness, which is a responsibility of the state machinery as well
as the NDMO, the effects only increased exponentially. The terrain of the area has always been rugged, the roads often inaccessible and the region prone to landslides,
hence these should have always been taken into account in planning any mitigation efforts, but as the response right now is, it shows that may be these things and
factors were never made a part of the plan.
The rehabilitaion again is very slow and the state has again been found wanting. If not for the armed forces of ITBP, BSF, CRPF and CISF , many pilgrims would still be stranded.
The state now needs to make sure thatwith the weather improving, therescue operations are taken up on a mass scale and people made to reach safer areas. The relief
products in terms of food, clothing, blankets have been made available in abundance and the state machinery should take up the responsibility of sending them to areas
where they are needed. Taking care of pilgrims is only one part, the other major effort would be rehabilitating the thousands and lakhs of residents who have lost their
houses, life earnings and sources of income. The help is coming in from all quarters and the Indian prepared towards post-disaster action will again be tested, in
avoiding plagues, taking care of dead bodies and quick, appropriate rehabilitaion of those who have suffered unbelievable losses.

The West Indies Cricket epitomizing a Positive Attitude

The Caribbean spirit, the outrageous dance moves, the foot tapping music, the ever enthusiastic team-men is what is epitomised by the West Indian cricket. West Indies
is a group of many islands, each with a significant difference in its culture but the Caribbean spirit, the love for dance, music and most importantly fun runs right
through all of them. The teams that have come up from these islands have seen it all, from heights of glory to the dungeons of repeated failures.
The game of cricket was initially dominated by just two teams, the inventors of the game, England and Australia. New teams started coming in and it was only around the
late 1960s that competitive international cricket really began. It was then that new forms of game came in and we also moved from the multiple day matches of tets cricket
to one-day cricket.It was then that another dominant team came forward and took the world of cricket by storm. It won the introductory world cup in 1975 and then
followed it up with another triumph in 1979. In the meanwhile, the team studded up with stars like Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall,
Joel Garner, Viv Richards started dominating all forms of the game and did so for a very long time. One thing which always stood out was the jovial spirit around these
guys, with Malcolm Marshall even getting the nick name as the silent killer, making no noise while running in and then subdues celebrations when he ran through batting
orders. This group of gentlemen brought a new kind of aggression to the game, what with players still recounting how the opposition would go numb seeing Viv Richards
coming out to bat and the gait that he had, made his authority look like a given. This was the kind of dominance they had over the game and opposition teams, unfounded
since then.
It is when talks of best players across the world come in, we seldom hear of West Indian greats being blessed with technique, but often hear of their belligerence,
aggression and infectious attitude that ran through the team. The team during late 80s and then 90s, went into doldrums, again producing individual greats, but the
West Indian cricket lost its aura and dominance. Many captains came up, but none could revive that spirit again. Individual brilliance shone through the likes of Brian
Lara, Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but the whole team suffered and one thing which I observed missing was the fun the earlier teams always had on the field. The
positive attitude and aggression came in moments of brilliance of Curtly Ambrose or Courtney Walsh, but again  it did not infect the whole team. One could make out
players like Keith Athurton, Jimmy Adams etc who though individually good, could not bring smiles to their faces, so to say, no positive spirit running through the camp.
The present team has found that energy, those fun loving cricketers back, with the positive spirit running through the whole squad. You can even see the poker faced
Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narine sharing a smile here and there. Players like Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Keiron Pollard have revived that Caribbean spirit, which have
made even oppositions react in weird ways (Brad Hodge's celebration at winning a game against Sunrisers in IPL, 2013 is only one of the examples). This team has many
players common with the team say five years ago, additions being Sunil Narine, Johnson Charles and a few youngsters and has lost great talent in Chaderpaul, Ramnaresh
Sarwan, an inconsistent though dangerous Fidel Edwards. The thing which has changes is now these players play as a team booming with attitude, aggression, confidence
and you can see that they are out there to enjoy themselves, the results just follow. Chris Gayle no more needs to shoulder the whole burden of scoring and can express
himself more freely, Darren Bravo is the most stylish player and provides solidarity, players like Dwayne Bravo, Pollars, Samuels provide immaculate balance through
their all round abilities.
This transformation needs to be carried through and soon we will be able to see the team performing at the test level as well.
This team to me makes the best example of the importance of sticking to your strengths, your original attitude, positivity, right amount of aggression and a self-belief
which can make teams create wonders on the field.

The Mid Day Conundrum

India since independence has tried to get over some of the major social inadequacies. The biggest of them being illiteracy. Over the past 60 odd years, we have seen a
marked changes in numbers and at present, 74% of our population is literate as per the Census 2011 data. Our country is a young nation, both figuratively and
demographically, and in order to utilize the demographic dividend we possess, education is going to play a pivotal role. The learned representatives of our people
realized this by the beginning of this millennium and there have been a spate of schemes towards encouraging literacy and education, specially amongst the youth and
children.
The greatest hindrance towards children from rural, poor families being sent to school has been the family's dilemma over losing an earning hand and also the extra
expenses towards financing education. The Rashtriya Saksharta Mission started what has now culminated into The Right to Education which is a milestone achievement
towards framing a policy guaranteeing free and compulsory education to children upto 14 years of age. The govt. recognized the immediate need of increasing the
enrollments in schools and came up with the Mid Day Meal Scheme as early as the 1960s . The scheme by guaranteeing one time meal to the students, became a success with
number of students enrolled and attending schools rising exponentially. The scheme meant huge amount of expenditure for the govt. exchequer but then the dividend to be
realised is much more.
The recent incidents though, starting from Neyveli where 170 girl students fell ill to food poisoning, to the very recent deaths of 23 students in Saran district of
Bihar and then yesterday's case of 40 students falling sick in Panaji after consuming Mid Day Meal food, point to a major folly in the implementation of this mammoth
scheme. The scheme is of monumental proportions aiming to feed 12 crore mouths across 12 lakh institutions and was progressing well, but the recent incidents have come
as a black mark on the scheme. The reasons have been common, inadequate storage facilities, poorly paid cooks, less support staff and no means of audit towards the
quality of food being served in the schools. The central govt. sanctions certain amount towards every state taking into account the number of students enrolled and a
figure of Rs.4 per student at primary and Rs. 4.65 for upper, respectively towards cost of cooking. The actual implementation has then been left to the state govts.
The figures which are staggering are that the Bihar govt. returned more than Rs. 450 crores last year, the Andhra Pradesh govt. utilized only 61% of funds allotted to it
for the scheme and other glaring examples of states not being able  to utilize the full quota of funds at its disposal. Over the top of it we see inadequate storage,
cooks being paid a paltry Rs. 1000 for a month where they also do the cleaning ( compare that to a cook in cities who charge anywhere between Rs. 350- 700 per person
depending on which city you are in and that seldom includes cleaning). The incentive for such an underpaid worker to devote time to provide tasty, well cooked food is
minimal. No wonder, most of us would find a mid day meal food barely edible. The inadequate storage and insufficient funds for ration also result in poor grade media
for cooking, makes food prone to infectious organisms and hence the various problems affecting our demographic dividend in a very negative way.
The people in Andhra Pradesh, in the district of Chitoor last year, started social auditing of the scheme and that has borne very positive results. Such audits need to
be supported by state govts. and should be implemented across all states and institutions, making the system more fool proof, accountable and safer for our children.
The funds are available and now with the Food Security Ordinance being passed, more funds will be available towards feeding people. We need to make sure that these
funds are utilized properly and parents through the social audits, support of educated families can ensure that their children are being served proper, healthy food.
We need to address these on a war footing, as CAG also called out in his audit reports to ensure that the iconic scheme delivers its intended results.

Tennis- The Changing Game!

It is said that change is the only constant part of our existence. As a corollary, nothing exists around us that doesn't change. When we get into the arena of sports,
again the way they are payed, the equipment, the training schedules etc have changed, only corroborates the saying. The game of tennis, or lawn tennis as it came to
be known, has epitomized this theory.
I have to admit that I have not always followed the sport and neither am I an ardent tennis game watcher, to have seen how the game was played in times when Jimmy
Connors or John McEnroe played. My interest in the sport began during the 90s, the era of American dominance with Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang holding
the fort. Sampras was cynosure of most eyes then, and his game of serve and volley was a sure shot recipe of success, with only few exceptions with Agassi showing
exemplary base line game. The number of titles won by Sampras as compared to Agassi then shows as to which was the more successful style then. As changes came in with
players'being fitter, surfaces and balls getting faster, rackets becoming stronger, the way the game was played had to change. One thing though remained constant, the
game always respected players with big, booming service. Sampras always had a large number of aces and a big first serve percentage. Then came the players like Mark
Philopossis (the scud), Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Pat Rafter, Goran Ivanosevic, all had one thing in common. They all had excellent service and huge first serve
percentages.
I believe it was Marat Safin who brought in the era of long games, longer matches with base line play. Though he himself struggled with injuries throughout his career,
but his style of game caught on. Then came the era of Roger Federer, who took the stylish form of the sport to another level. He was of the Sampras league with
excellent serve and volley game. The new generation then with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro caught on and with Rafa taking control
of more matches against Fedex through his unflinching baseline game and unbelievable levels of fitness, the game changed for good. Today, the power players, with
extreme fitness levels and unprecedented baseline play are dominating. No wonder the length of games, sets and matches has now got longer, but for an interested watcher
the finesse still remains. It has in fact now become a game of making a momentary mistake or a fraction of a second towards loss of concentration, that you can lose a
point, game, set or match. One thing though that has again stood out is people with booming serves still springing upsets and surprises. Milas Raonic, Jancowicz etc
fall in that league. But the conservative style of baseline play, with ever new innovations is here to stay.
The WTA (Women's Tennis) has also seen its eras changing. From the deft touches of Steffi Graff, to serve and volley of Martina Hingis to then power play of Ameli
Mauresmo, the Williams sisters etc. It is though always good to see players like Agnieska Radwanska, Kvitova who still hold that deft touches and smart play can still
take over powerplay.
The game will keep changing and it would be interesting to see what new comes up in the next few years.

Did he Possess the Elder Wand??

In the International Cricket Council's world of wizardry, his "Patronus" was the flick past the widish mid-on, midwicket fielder,his hooks and pulls would "stupefy" you and seeing him lean into those cover drives and standing tall to play the cut shots,the opposition bowlers would hear the death knolls and know that the "Avada Kedavra" has struck.

This is not a batsman who was feared for his atrocious stroke play, but for being the master of the art of defending, yes it is the Indian cricketer to have boasted of the maximum female fan following, it is the Jammy boy, the Wall- Rahul Dravid. If he is "the wall" then why start the article with some of the most aggressive strokes played in the game of cricket. It is

just to acknowledge the fact that this cricketer had more to him than just being an occupier at the crease, being a superlative exponent of the defensive technique and being a slow scorer, he was one of the most accomplished hooker and puller of the ball the game has seen, he was, for a considerable time, the best finisher the game of ODI Cricket has seen.

It was way back in '94-'95, that while watching a Ranji Trophy match on the TV, I saw Rahul Dravid bat for the first time, I had just started watching the game and so wont call myself a follower till then, and then the next day, woke up and sat in front of the television waiting for the next day's game to start so that I can see him carry on his innings for the state of

Karnataka. Such was the magic of his batting prowess that a 7 year old kid was enchanted not miss a single moment of what this to-be stalwart of cricket had to portray. I was wondering then if this guy plays for Team India and my question was soon answered when he accompanied the Indian Test team to England in 1996. This tour marked the entry of two of the greatest

batsmen we have seen, one a masterclass offside player and the other showing a fair bit of liking for the onside play, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

Dravid had already made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka by then, but hadn't quite announced himself as well as he did in the Test arena. He never did come across as an aggressive player and people were already starting to write him off as a no show in the shorter format of the game. It was during the South Africa tour of '96-'97 that one actually saw the aggressive side

of this genius. In one of his test match innings, he dismissed one of the balls from Allan Donald over long leg! Now, who pulls a bowler bowling at 90-odd miles an hour, over long leg in a test match, even the most proficient players would just glance the bowl to fine leg to earn and easy boundary, but Rahul had other ideas. He was out there to prove something and

this single shot from him was a proof enough that he could be an asset in the shorter format of the game too. It was from the next ODI series that Rahul Dravid never looked back and accolades kept pouring in, records started to tumble.

World Cup'99 saw Rahul Dravid emerge as the leading scorer, with his innings of 150 against Sri Lanka at Taunton touted as one of the best innings played in a supporting role (you may recall, Sourav Ganguly scored a 183 in the same match). He would then be looked upto everytime to score runs for India and he added a fair bit og guile to his strokeplay, also his running between the wickets and was one of the busiest player in the middle, especially in the Indian team which

traditionally has been a side depending on boundaries to get their runs. I will not be exaggerating if I say that it was Dravid who instilled the importance of keeping the scoreboard ticking through singles and doubles and of treating the deliveries on their merit in the Indian squad, something which we now know is the most important aspect of middle overs batting in the shorter format of the game.

I am not aware of the exact stats, but seeing the bat in his hand, I can easily say that he used one of the lightest sticks available in the game, probably only heavier than Md. Azharuddin's. He used it to cast his spell, always keeping a soft bottom hand, dropping the ball just by his side and scampering across to keep the scorer busy. Such was his command over technique and control over his feet, hands and body that when required to innovate, he added the reverse sweep, the paddle, the lofted shot over mid wicket and the lofted straight drive, to emerge as one of the greates finishers the Indian cricket has seen (probably next only to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh).

His record of not being out on a duck for 120 innings straight, of representing Indian in 93 consecutive test matches, of keeping the wickets for more than 80 matches and being the player with most number of catches speak of his stupendous concentration, unprecedented fitness and attention to detail towards the demands of his body. This player with an aggregate of over 10,000 runs in the 2 more played formats of the game, is truly one of the greatest who has served the Indian cricket even in the shorter format of the game.

Did You Touch Someone's Feet Today?

This happened in my 7th Standard, while going through one of the chapters, one of the most respected faculty in my

school, came up with a piece of advice on touching someone's feet. Her words were, "Jab bhi aap kisi ke charan sparsh karein,

toh unke pair ke anguthe ko chuyein, isse aap unki urja ke ek hisse ko apni urja mein shaamil kar payenge".

I was probably too young to actually relate to what she meant to say that day, but down the years, with exposure to the

world and with apparently an enhanced of how the Universe works, I think I can now draw a fair bit of understanding of what

she meant then.

We are all aware that the only driving force for the universe is Energy. If there was no energy, there would be no existence

of the universe, of earth or of life on earth. It is energy which is considered to be the driving force behind all the

natural or man-made phenomena. Gods are considered to be beings of energy, many of us do not actually believe in the

existence of God per se, but then I believe we all do have a general understanding that there is something beyond our

understanding which runs in the nature, and any logical explanation would lead into it being a form of energy.

In the same light, it has been found that every living organism also radiates some form of energy. We are all aware of the

thermal energy radiated in form of IR radiations, but I am not referring to that here. There is a constant flow of energy

which may not be visible to the naked eye, but as energy is everywhere around us, we keep interacting with it in certain

ways, which we are seldom aware of. This only gives rise to an individual's hues or aura, as many learned people may call

it. It must have happened with you or you would have heard people say, that they get positive vibes in presence of some

people and negative in the presence of others. It is again the presence of an individual's aura and our interaction with

the same that results in these kind of responses.

If we all somewhere are beings of energy and keep radiating same through our interactions with the omni-prsent energy across

the universe, then is there a certain law which this flow of energy follows. Again, as many science students must have

studied and others may have read that any charge carrying body, has the maximum accumulation of charges at it edges and from

there these are dissipated in the largest amount. Similarly, flow of energy from our body or aura follows the same law and

the maximum impact of the same can be felt at the edges of our bodies, that is, the toe of the foot will have the maximum

concentration of this energy around a person.

In our lives, all of us have faced and continue to face a certain dilemma, specially when asked to touch someone's feet as

a sign of showing respect. Most of us have at times argued saying that "I cant do it unless I feel it from inside" or "Is

touching feet the only way of showing respect" and hundred other arguments that we as thinking beings can come up with. If

we go into a little history and try to analyse as to why would have the tradition started in the first place, a logical

explanation may be derived. When we bow down to touch someone's feet, it is a mark of showing respect (as has been

followed for ages across all cultures, people bowed in front of kings, emperors, rulers as a mark of respect). The idea

where probably our culture or tradition stands out is the actual act of touching the other person's feet (most Western

cultures are aginst this overture into someone's personal space) which when followed by touching the other person's toe,

allows you to gain a part of his aura, his energy.

The dilemma of not actualy getting the feel of showing that kind of respect requires a certain amount of introspection and

reasoning on our parts. We need to accept the fact that every individual born is different, there are certain features in

every individual, which you may not have. These features are both negative as well as positive. In the human tendency of

becoming perfect, we somewhere deep down, strive to possess those positive qualities and get rid of the negative ones.

Now, as no individual is perfect, we all should accept that there is something we can learn from any individual standing

in front of us. This actually is the difficult part, specially for our generation which has been brought up in an

environment where they have been given independence to take their own decisions, and which many of us have mistaken as

meaning that we are omni-potent and do not have enough shortcomings that we need to learn or in fact that every person can

have enough ability to be able to possess something which we dont.

Once we accept this fact and get the humility to show enough respect to every human being for the fact that he is different

from us, the tradition of touching his feet will come as a natural action. We are actually gaining a part of his aura, his

personality by doing that and hence actually aiding the strife for getting the positives out of his personality and

inculcating the same in ourselves, proceeding on our paths to becoming perfect.

And for those who may not agree or have other ideas about the aura thing, just bending down in itself is a good execrise

(something most of us are in dire need of) and then, when you show that respect to the other person, the joy that you give

him is unprecedented. The feeling of being respected or gaining respect is a strong urge that many of us feel in our daily

life and if you can give that felling, that happiness by a mere bowing down and touching his feet, you are actually doing a

major act of spreading happiness. As the Art of Living patron, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, "There is already enough suffering

in the world, if each one of us can spread a few moments of happines, it will only make the world a better place to live

in."

Do not forget the blessings you get once you actually show someone your respect through touching their feet. Again, many of

us, logical, rational beings would say that the good things wont happen just because someone said it, but then dont you like

listening to good words spoken around you!!!

So next time you face the dilemma, just think of how different the other person is from you, respect him for that fact and

bow down to touch his feet. You have everything to gain here (yes gain is an important consideration, we are all ought to be

in a materialistic mould to better survive in the world :)).

Food for Thought!!!

This was when the price for petrol was hiked by as much as Rs.5/litre.

Just a thought which has been lingering in my mind for the last couple of days. We have had quite a few car launches, (considering the small Indian market in the specific automotive industry in question) in the past couple of years and a few lined up for the next couple, in the Diesel Automotive industry. In the same period we have seen spiraling prices for the Petrol fuel. Can the both be related?

Pretty obviously yes. One way of thinking would be that as petrol prices go up, petrol cars become more difficult to afford esp for the Middle Income Group and companies seeing this are now launching new cars which run on the cheaper Diesel fuel and in the small car industry, hence solving the fuel cost problem for MIG group and making profit in the process.

I am thinking a little differently. Is the rise in price really the cause for more Diesel cars being manufactured or are the cause and effect a little opposite here? In the manufacturing industry (now I may be wrong here but am certain to a larger extent), the decisions about launching a product in a new market (in this case Indian small automotive market),takes years of planning, strategizing and other plethora of activities before a decision is reached. This when then applied to the current market and the cars being launched, would mean that planning for same should have been in process well before the Petrol prices actually went up. Now thinking from a manufacturer's perspective, I have a huge market in India with the huge population growing day by day and more people joining the MIG group and looking out for better automotives to suit their needs and also be cost effective. Just in order to make an entry into the market, it would be ideal if this large group of customers has nothing else to look into but my product, my Diesel car. Best way to achieve this, if somehow the industry prices for the other fuel (petrol) go up.

Now from an average citizen's perspective, we can imagine how much profit this manufacturer is looking into given the huge potential market.

Food for thought now- Is it not a possible scenario and very probable at that, that at some higher level of planning, using the industry contacts and other ways we know of how things can be made to work for you in the market, a huge manufacturer ready to spend a lot knowing that he can make much more in profits can convince the higher level of mgmt and affect the prices of a fuel which internationally is getting more expensive (hence, no direct bearing as it is for policy makers?)? Why otherwise would I be launching a new product in a market already struggling and with the world economy already facing a downturn?

Doesn't this look like a very ripe scenario for another scam already made or in the making? Can we have an inquiry done into this not after but before a scandal actually has taken place?

Just the thoughts which came to my mind and where I would want to know how others amongst us think.

Woh Kaun Hai??

Rahul Dravid recently said in his post retirement speech, "One should understand where he is coming from to know where he is going"

Just sharing my thoughts on similar lines...

Woh Kaun Hai??

Aaj bahut dinon baad yeh khayal aaya

Ki kuch likhne ki koshish kari jaye.

Likhne baitha toh yahi sawaal saamne aaya

Ki woh kaun hai jiski badaulat yeh yantra hai jispe main likh paa raha hoon?

Woh kaun hai jisne yeh aasan banaya jispe main baith paa raha hoon?

Woh kaun hai jiski badualat yeh ghar hai jiski chhat ke neeche mein baitha hun?

Woh kaun hai jiski badaulat yeh shehar, yeh desh hai?

Woh kaun hai jiska karishma yeh srishti, yeh vatavaran hai?

Inhi kuch sawalon ka jawab dhundhte hue main sochta hun

Ki woh kaun hai jiski badaulat main hoon?

Ki main yeh sab mehsoos kar sakta hoon, samajh sakta hoon aur phir main apne antar-mann mein jhaankkar yeh poochta hun

Ki kya mere hone se hi yeh sab kuch hai??

Tabhi mujhe mere saare sawalon ka jawab milta hai ki agar main hi nahin hoon, toh mere liye is srishti, vatavaran, ghar ka kya mol...

Mujhe banane wala hi woh hai, jiske karishme se yeh sab hai

Wahi hain jinki wajah se mera wajood hai

Aaj ka insaan apna khud ka wajood banane ki kawayad mein kahin na kahin yeh bhool jata hai ki uska wajood us din se hai, us paigambar mein hai jiski wajah se uska janam hua

Hum jab tak apne Parvardigar ko samajh nahin payenge, apna wajood hamesha khojte hi reh jayenge.

Insaan ko aaj zarurat hai toh bas pehle apne astitva ko pehchanne ki

Uske baad hi woh apna wajood ko sahi mayenon mein dhoondh payega aur apne pairon par khada ho payega

Sach hi toh kaha gaya hai "Mujhe nahin pata bhagwan hai ya nahin, aur agar hai toh un pattharon mein hai ya pedon mein hai ya nadi, neheron mein hai jinhe hum poojte hain?....sach toh yahi hai ki dharti pe roop maa-baap ka hi us vidhata ki pehchan hai"

THE DEPARTURE

It was one chilly morning
And he went out jogging
He shouted he would buy milk while returning
The mother inside the kitchen was hurrying.

It was a special day
With the father's hair turning gray
The son would take all responsibilities today
And would soon leave for Leh.

A dream many individuals would ensue
But still try and feign their kids from its pursue
Had finally come true
And the father finally found blessing his son, who had his hair cut in crew.

The mother had tears in her eyes
Her feeling no one can surmise
It was God in his most revered disguise
And when she talked, she said she would summarise
"Son! You start on a new journey
You have been bestowed with this duty
You are the one who would ensure that the fragrance in our gardens always remains fruity
And it would be you who would ensure that everyone else can enjoy life's full beauty."

"We are proud of you!!"
And with heavy hearts, they let him continue.

Oh great son of the country, continue the saga many people have written in blood and flesh and gore
And let every individual today realise that this is the best you could endure
The duty to a land so pure.

Its today that we should all rise
And leave the world in surprise
That when mother of even one Indian soldier cries
It makes us all realise
That it is to ensure that we live, that departed soldier dies!!!

The Lady of the Night

hey!
Just thought of coming up with a poem this time. I wrote this a few months back, something, a book I read had a lasting effect on me and so I came up with this. Hope you appreciate the effort:)

There once was this lady and her son
And the two of them had lots of fun.
The child used to hide and run and run
And the mother used to find him calling him a bum.
Nothing used to stop their happy life rolling like a drum
And it never really mattered that they lived in a slum.

Test times were coming on the head
And the mother realised it when the child grew upto her forehead.
She was a lone parent, the child had no dad
And she could see that soon they would be struggling for bread.
These were the times that any mother would dread
And soon she took a path which very few dare to tread.

And as I said very few could dare think
But this lady did have something
The courage it took for her to do it was something only a mother could bring
She though of what society would say but then the eyes of her kid did make her have this fling.

People started talking when they did hear
That this lady had done nothing but bare
Yes bare she did but she didnt care
Because all was done for her son to prepare

To prepare to fight this ugly world you see
And so that one day he could be free
From the claws of this vicious circle in this world of Thee
But then if he was absolutely free, wont he become the Lord All Mighty!!!!!

Let Them Live!!!

Hi!Well the recent incidents in the city of Mangalore, I am sure everyone is aware of, have really moved me and should move anyone who saw video footage of whatever happened that day, and so I am witing down some of my views. You may tend to disagree with some of my points and any criticism and suggestions are welcome. Kindly bear with the length of the article, coouldnt stop the flow. I hope in the end you would be moves a little too.
India, the land of cultures, the land of unprecedented values, the land of mystic grandeur and the land with the ability to absorb any culture that comes its way, the land of the most intellectual people born on earth, the land of the most devout servers of humanity..well the list of adjectives any Indian can think of, for his holy motherland is endless, but one thing which really now does intrigue an individual is that does our country or rather its grand people, its leaders whom we have chosen to represent ourselves and to frame our homeland's future, really stand for and justify the superlatives just used.
Talking of the Indian culture and values, there has been a very pertinent question, which has hit the base of our social solidarity eevry now and then is the status of women in the society. The status of women, in the present era, unlike the ancient times, does not only include the economic and social capability and freedom of this section of the society but also the liberties they enjoy, the way they are accepted in the society and the way they are judged( though that is a very cliched phenomena) as beings who can and should consolidate our moral value based system.
The women in ancient times were highly respected individuals and the framers of our religion, those who wrote the Vedas, always saw them in the highest echelons and with utmost respect. Rigveda mentions, that a man's religious duties, his practise of "yajnas" and other activities were not considered complete, unless and until his wife was a part of the duties and in fact he wasnt allowed to perform the duties without the presence of his partner. The wife was truly the heart, soul and the sole pillar of a man's religious solidarity and social well being. Such was the might of a woman and they enjoyed a God-like acceptance in all spheres of the society(though there werent many spheres as yet).
Then came the Later Vedic age and the situation began to change. The respect was not lost but yet there was an inclination which now was towards a patriarchal society. The concept of "Ardhanhgini" came into existence though now performing of religious activities became an individual phenomena. The woman though still held the right to property and any indecency against the fairer sex was considered a social taboo.Slowly things changed and though all the great scholars of time, Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Bhaskaracharya advocated high respect and care form women, and great women thinkers like Lopa, Mudra, Tara emerged, but certain sections of the society now, those which kept coming up with greater divisions in the society, had taken a downslide in terms of the ways the women were treated.
The Golden era for the women was now ending and with lesser people now able to read the Vedas and with the scholars following the flow of the society and calling it right to make this once most respected section of society as mere "objects of pleausre" and "servitude", the situation accelerated in the downward direction.It was a meteoritic fall for the society and while falling through the friction of the opposing sacred texts and the natural order, the once mythical and sacred Indian society shunned its protective sheath, which got burned away just before we hit the surface. What now remained of once glorious past was just reference in the texts, who most wont ever lay a hand on in later generations and a very patriarchal, maniacal society with all respect, rights and pleasures for just one half of the society.
All the great historians and scholars have always said that "it is the state of the women in a civilization that signifies how advanced it is" and well India has now lost the right of even being called a civilization. it is often said that India was once a Golden Bird and that the British took away all our wealth and grandeur, but as any sane person would suggest, physical wealth can never be enjoyed in a morally poor environment and what once used to be a country embedded with Diamond-like jewels of an equal, moral society had already turned it all into coal, through the acts of self destruction and with the atrocities committted against one half of the society by the other half.The British though took our wealth away, but they also gave us back that little moral element which was once lost, with anti-sati laws and other legislations, trying to uplift the situation of women in our country.
As already mentioned, we and our land is made up of such elements which absorb any culture and in fact create a potent environment for any culture to thrive upon, we could adopt the western system in terms of women upliftment and our society began the uphill task of reaching those days of basking in the lustre and glory of shining diamonds.The situation vastly improved and though discriminations remained lurking here and there but with the dawn of 21st century, it seemed that we have made a huge progress.
The state of Rajasthan put up a great example with all 3 major political posts of The Chief Minister, the governor and the Soeaker of the Legislative Assembly being women, something unprecedented inIndian history and clearly showing the rise in might and respect for the emotionally stronger section of the society. We appointed a lady President and one female politician won 3 consecutive state elections in the capital to become Chief Minister, again unheard of earlier. The women today are heading many organisations, they have become CEOs, Astronauts, have barged into the domain of other industries once considered a male dominion like extreme sports and mining industries and undoubtedly are doing extremely well and excelling.
Well if evertything is just so rosy then why am I writing this blog??Because its not all that rosy, some intelligentia of our society are still unable to come to terms with the status of equality and freedom, the women are trying to enjoy. Why call them intelligent? these retarded morons are unable to realise that the weight of social morality and national culture does not rest only on a woman's behaviour but when we talk of equality, its shared. Male sections is as mush responseible for whatever should be taken care of in the society as is the female section. And in fact when tehre is nothing wrong which is happening, why are we creating such an issue.
Alcohol has been an integral part of any era, be it "Somaras" for the Gods or Vodka for today's generation, what wrong is there in it as long as people remain sober and enjoy a few momnets of being with friends and dear ones and have a sip!! And if we rather our "intelligentia", the "political elite" think that alcohol is such bad a thing (which it certainly isnt if consumed sanely and hence it has never been banned completely), then why blame only women for mutilating our culture, when more males are taking to the habit. Why do our rules and regulations change under certain circumstances and still we keep referring to articles 12-25 of our Constitution which provide our rights, and more importantly Article 14, the right to equality, when there is no ****ing equal treatment of opposite sexes on even such a minor issue.
The members of one religious cult, calling itself the saviours of our culture, barge into a pub and inhumanly beat and molest women and the might of our media and police is such that these hooligans can then come out in open and claim the responsibility of carrying out such heinous acts of utter devil like instincts on those who cant defend themselves, what with 45 people coming and attcking 8-10 women and then they find an alliby in saying that it is aginst our culture for women to be in pubs and enjoying themselves. What shit are these people talking about, is it against our culture to live freely? Is it against our culture to enjoy remaining within the specifications of being sober in behaviour? Are these ***holes out of their mind to be saying that its only one half of the society that should look to preserve the culture and the other half carries out the act of utmost insincerity and irresponsibly illtreating and molesting women.Does a woman face so much for just being out with a friend to enjoy? Isnt she a human being, doesnt she enjoy the right to do what she wants and do what she aspires to??To add to the ignominy, the head of the state cabinet comes up with a statement that the pub's private security should prevent such acts. Doesnt he realise that maintaining law and order is a state responsibility and which private security can prevent 45 youths barging into ones territory and masquerading with the property. To think of it, a full force of a major metropolitan's police could not prevent 10 armed youths( though I know this should not be compared, but still...) from causing havoc openly in the city and still he comes up with such a statement. Is he suggesting that maintenance of law and order be privatised? I am sure many private players are licking their fingers on the prospect of getting such a contract!!!But is that a solution? No, as another high post minister states, the solution is not this, but closing down pubs and going back to the Stone Age by stopping all modes of modernising is a sure way.
He states that "when there are pubs, people drink, they get high and then can do anything and if a drunk male finds a girl, who is by herself ,he can do anything in his state of being high,cos heis not in his senses its the girl's mitake that she went in his vicinity." What bullshit!!! This is how our leaders, the once we chose to reperesent us think.Even more scary are the comments of Ms. Shiela Dikshit, ( I couldnt stop myself from using this name, what she said is truly gruesome esp. her being a woman herself), she tends to agree with the forementioned minister and well what more can one expect from a person who feigned away from taking any responsibility when one female journalist, Soumya Vaidyanathan, was killed in her city at 2 in the night and Ms. Dikshit very insanely suggested that women should not be out late in the night!!!!! What has happened to our politicians??? Have they heard that there is a thing called as police and that it is responsible to maintain law and order in the city??? Or are they too busy shoving up all the security up their own ***es, just in case a terrorist strikes??The situation has become really pathetic and when now there is such a hoopla around this topic, it should be interesting to see finally what our "representatives" do.
There is no way a woman deserves any from of disrespect. She is the source of our existence, she has been bestowed by God to be able to make human life continue on this earth, only she has the ability of bringing a new life into existence and certainly deserves gratitude and respect of the highest order from all sections of society and for those who still cant agree and say that a woman cant give birth without the involvement of a male (true, but for those who use this argument to show and support male dominance), at least treat this "should be" sacred section of our society on equal terms as you do your male counterparts.

SAFE......are we??

Hey Everyone!
Been a long wait and this blog took some 6 months coming after the last one........I have missed this part of the life, the blogging and thinking of taking in a plunge again.....

This article I wrote for some assignment and was written before the 26/11 attack, came out pretty well so thought should post it here.....

Hope this wont bug you much, more and better and humour is in the line after this probably....rest assured

.
INTERNAL SECURITY AND SOCIAL HARMONY ARE THE PREREQUISITES FOR A COUNTRY’S OVERALL AND FAST DEVELOPMENT

“Non violence is the foremost duty of an individual.”
Lord Mahavira

Imagine a scenario where you are one of the few survivors on a very big territory, on a place which used to be lively with sounds of children crying and chuckling, of parents shouting on their kids, of words of wisdom by the elders, and of chants of hymns and prayers in mornings and evenings and of buzzing activity all around. Be present in a hypothetical situation like Will Smith in the movie I Am Legend, what kind of feelings do you conjure? One of ultimate disgrace, of helplessness, of being dead rather than facing such a situation, well do not feel something is wrong with you, any normal human being will be responding exactly similarly. Why am I making you think of such a dreadful situation? Well believe me, we actually are heading towards one and the factors which make me think in such a depressing manner are the two major curses the Indian nation is facing today, terrorism and intra-nation social disharmony.
Terrorism has been a major problem ever since the partition of Hindustan in 1947 and for those who say that India is not facing any social hatred, kindly explain me what would you call the killings of Christians in Orissa and Karnataka (a massacre in words of the French President), the rage being portrayed in Jammu and Kashmir, the riots in Assam and the very long existing and now growing even more threatening problem of the Maoists and the Naxalites. What have the recent terror attacks in Jaipur, Bangaluru, Ahmedabad and Delhi contributed to our nation’s growth? Well any sane person will agree to the fact that whatever they have given is in negative, its only a loss of human and materialistic capital coupled with a loss in the feeling of security that one individual feels in being a part of a nation state. Similarly, the mass killing of Christians, riots in Kashmir and the actions of ever growing groups like the Naxals and the Maoists have led to a feeling of hatred, dread and fear from fellow human beings.
All these factors have affected our growth physically, as we can all see in terms of life and property loss and even more emotionally, if I can use that word, by killing the feeling of security, harmony, love and comradeship among the inmates of the country, which are quintessential for peaceful existence and hence planned overall growth of the nation. If one doesn’t feel safe and secure in his surroundings, he cannot contribute constructively to whatever he does because he can only think of being insecure and also no proper economic activity, like commutation, transportation and value addition can possibly take place. When person isn’t sure if he would be dead or alive in the next instant, how can he not be overprotective for himself and his family and
do something which may be against the law and hence it forms a vicious circle of hatred leading to hatred and that leading to the downfall of a nation as a whole. It is said that only a healthy mind can be innovative and what these attacks on fellow beings are doing is to demoralize people and are now becoming an epidemic, hindering the constructive growth of a person’s mind individually and the society’s soul as a whole.
Statistics reveal that almost 1000 people have died and many more injured in the terror attacks since Mumbai blasts in 1993 and the data for recent years are even scarier with at least 607 people dead in the past 8 years, as reported by the Defence and Security of India magazine. The editor of the magazine, Sonia Shukla writes that with the threat of terrorist strikes now a chronic condition in India, the demand has never been greater for a coherent institutional response across the state’s jurisdiction that empowers local first responders. To quote Ajay Sahni, the Director, Institute for Conflict Management, he says, “The bogey of intelligence failure masks the deeper infirmities of India’s counter terrorism apparatus. There is a complete absence of strategic vision, of the capacity to assess and prepare for challenges at all levels.” Given the manpower deficit in India with only 126 policemen per lakh population, whereas the major powers have a ratio of 250 -500 for the same number of people, and with only 3,500 professionals in the Intelligence Bureau for this country of 1.2 billion people, it can rightly be put that for all her great power pretensions, her rampaging multinationals and her seven to nine percent growth rates, India is a tremendously fragile state, deeply vulnerable to threats of subversion, terrorism and conventional warfare.
It is not only the cross border or now the more territorial terrorism with groups like Indian Mujahedeen coming up which form our cause of concern but also the inherent situation of communal tensions within the regions of our country. The land of Heaven, Jammu and Kashmir was cut off from the rest of the country for almost two months due to the land transfer deal to the Amarnath Yatra Shrine Board and the ensuing violence portrayed by the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti and the Separatists in Kashmir later. Scores of people died, many got injured and due to the cutoff, the economy of whole state went in a slumber. Similarly, the killings of Christians in the villages of Orissa and Karnataka, by the Bajrang Dal, under the pretext of killing of the Hindu leader, Swami Laksmananda, and conversion, which in all probabilities is wrong, wherein according to All India Christian Council, 4,400 Houses burnt, 50,000 people were rendered homeless, 59 People killed including at least 2 pastors, 10 Priests/Pastors/Nuns injured, 18,000 Men, women, children injured, 2 women gang-raped including a nun, 151 Churches destroyed and 13 Schools and colleges damaged, point to a morally week social system. The violence targeted Christians in 310 villages, with 4,104 homes torched. More than 18,000 were injured and 50,000 displaced and homes continued to burn in many villages. There have also been also been riots in the North eastern parts of the country, between the local residents, the Bodos and the illegal migrants from Bangladesh, regarding their rights towards the territory and supply of work, with as many as 23 villages torched, scores of people killed and thousands rendered homeless.
All these factors, not to mention the Naxals and the Maoists, indicate towards a highly fragile and week security system which is now being exposed completely and been found excruciatingly short of meeting the least requirement of safety of life and property of the habitants and citizens of the state.
We need to deal with this threat and now its high time that our efforts be agile and more directed towards curbing the problem rather than bereft with the problem and take our hands away from it, blaming the venality in the system as the cause for everything that happens. We need a whole set of concentrated efforts from politicians, in terms of policies, laws and incumbency and from the public, in terms of attention, awareness and fearlessness in dealing with the problem. An IIM-B professor, Trilochan Shastry, insists on removal of criminals from politics, Bhikhu Parekh, professor at University of Westminster and a Labour Member of the House of Lords, suggests lampooning erring politicians, and many more give other actions which will help our development in the long term, but what we need now is to deal with the threat of violence and that requires immediate steps. As Ajay Sahni suggests, we not only need more number of policing officials but also better technology, more concerted communication patterns and better detective services to be able to gather the actual amount of force and manpower we are fighting against today, because as of now our intelligence is unaware of whether it is fighting the IM or the ISI or some other new terror group and all our major proceeds have been on the basis of assumptions. The decisions by the government should be fair and free, like if one bans SIMI as a terrorist outfit, Bajrang Dal after its villainous acts in Orissa and Karnataka deserves much more.
We also need better centre state relation to deal with federal problems, imposing Governor’s rule in any state under crisis is not a solution to its woes, and local political parties must understand that. Also, people should now show the feeling of nationality rather than fighting on communal lines. The states should consider themselves as a part of federal structure and we should all stand united against this threat of terrorism and if the setting up of a Federal Police Base hits on the autonomy of states then the politicians and officials should be ready to compromise if it helps the nation throw out the evil of foreign terror on our soil, guaranteeing the freedom to roam about freely and to work in a healthy environment for our citizens.
A country’s major resource is the human resource, because of its ability to think, feel and innovate but that resource needs a peaceful environment and a surrounding of nature like harmony, a sense of being ultimately secured against any threat and only then, our country, which has an abundance of this resource can progress on the path to becoming the supreme power both in terms of economy as well as in terms of morality.

LONELINESS, ALONENESS and SOLITUDE

Hello Everyone!
I am just digressing a little from the stories of yore and writing this blog about the three words most of us , I believe comprehend to mean the same but actually that is not the case. i was quite intrigued to read about them and would like to write down what I learned and what I could understand about these 3 very often used words, specially in the lives of teenagers and those who are new to the world of adulthood.
I would like to write this blog a little metaphorically and my prop for comparison is water, the elixir of our existence. U take ice, water and steam and show them to a person, who isn't much aware of things and perceives things as they appear physically, a rarity to be found these days (such beings lacking in common knowledge), still they do exist and they do form a very large chunk of the ignorant part of our society. Now when he observes the three things, he is unable to link the three and according to him ice is ice, water is water and steam is steam, ignoring the fact that they are the same thing, just in different states. Whereas, when a well informed or even a person having just enough knowledge of states of matter is shown these and asked to relate, he can easily say that they are just the three forms of same thing, water, boil it and u get steam, freeze it and u get ice.
Now, we as readers and visitors of these sites online are not like the former person but in some way or the other either like or even better than the latter one and hence as readers of language, we must be aware and be able to relate the 3 words, loneliness, aloneness and solitude. As most of us till now believe that they more or less give the same meaning of a condition or situation of being alone, friendless and probably a negative phase of life. But as technocrats, we are bound to get to the roots of anything dicey and when we do that with these three words, the situation is very different. Aloneness is actually a neutral state of being alone with neither positive nor negative energy related to it, whereas loneliness is the state of being alone when not wanting to be and hence is actually the negative state and most ill-conceived by us all is solitude, which actually is using the absence of people around you to ones advantage, and doing or thinking something constructive.
My analogy with water says that if one adds some positive energy(like heating) to water (the neutral) state, it gets into a highly vigorous state, workable, steam, which has a lot of energy and can then be used for various purposes, on the contrary if u take out some energy from water(again the neutral state) you get,a very rigid, cold and highly energy consuming, ice, which physically though has its uses but thinking a little abstract, esp in terms of energy, it is a waste. This is exactly the case with aloneness, u add negative energy, that is in form of negative thoughts, ideas and actions and what you get is a spoilt, cold, emotionless individual who if not attended to properly can become a threat to his well-wishers and on a bigger scale to the society. This state is what is "loneliness".
Now u add positive thoughts, work force, and ideology to aloneness and then u enter the phase of solitude, which actually is highly effective and efficient way of doing positive work. Aren't all the great scientists and inventors of the past considered as being insane for being alone and lonely always? But the fact is that Archimedes, Einstein, Edison were all anything but lonely, they were serving themselves and the society in their solitude.
So next time u see a person fiddling with only himself around, don't think him to be lonely and be sympathetic or think him to be insane and neglect him because who knows the next day he is ready with one of the greatest mood-elevating inventions the very next day.!!!!:):)

"The greatest of achievements are made in solitude, the crowd just gathers to be a part of history being made!!!"

The Story of Sacrifices ;);)

Hello Everyone!
In the last story about an inseparable, unconventional couple, it was mentioned that it was a story of unprecedented sacrifices. I am sorry those sacrifices were not brought to your notice n the story, but it had a reason. The sacrifices were not made by the heroes of our story but by someone else. I will call this someone else as RA2. Well no guesses required as again the coincidence undertaking holds.
The story begins in one of the most beautiful, extremely scenic and abundantly sought after, the city of dreams, the city of rivers, the city of gardens, everything to the extent of virtually being the Capital of INDIA, the Punjabi city whose vivacity made a whole group of ultra-talented musicians name their band on the name of the city. Yes this was the kind of image RA2 had about his native place and no wonder he was as possessive, as awed by its existence, as is a mother for her child. Any notions u spoke about against this city and RA2 was silently cursing you, that is how he was, silent, polite, soft and amiable. Peace loving guy, he never got involved in any brawls and was always to be found among a chick group of friends enjoying himself in the old city. He was a born sportsman, a virtuous cricketer and a very passionate footballer, whose heroics on the field were unmatched, in school, in colony and in college where he was soon going to be. RA2 was a very responsible guy, very friendly, always keeping away from trouble (remember Imran Khan of Jaane Tu fame?) and was never involved in any acts of abusing, abusing people or his rights as an individual. There was no deeds which would make his parents think that they need to keep an eye on him. Such was the aura, the image and the respect of this sagacious being.
This almost perfect example of living had just one short coming and that was his hesitation in starting a new conversation with a stranger and his reserved nature, which though won him many silent admirers,specially in the female fraternity (what with his ultra cool looks and radiating personality), but he couldn't get that someone special in his life, though many craved to take that spot.
It was then that after completing his schooling, he was to move the new house, the new place, the place where he was to spend the last few years of his teenage, the place boasting of producing one of the most intelligent and hardworking technocrats ever, the institute famous both with the locales of Rajasthan and Haryana, the same college where RA and BA also enrolled along with RA2. Put again in this world of hostility, what would have our very reserved, very timid and extremely gentle RA2 done to overcome his inner fears . But, as is said "the one who is virtuous never laments" and RA2 got a perfect roommate in RA, two people vastly varying in their visible nature, like poles of a magnet but yet connected by that thin veil of similar inner soul and by that profound fondness for making friends specially with one you have to stay for one full year. They became excellent friends, RA at his best as he always was at making his male friends feel comfortable in his company and RA2 slowly coming out of the shackles of self control he had put on himself.
RA probably for the first time didn't have any indecent intentions, what with his eyes already saying oodles about his affection for BA but he couldn't avoid being gentle with his roommate and RA2 probably fell in for this, as never before had he experienced such affection, care, advice and love from a friend. Unknowingly, RA2 started to take RA for granted and would always go back to him with any of his queries about life and the various tests it puts it into. They were both enjoying themselves and RA2 now changed into a very different person, enjoying himself to the fullest, making friends easily and he was loving the change and probably in the hindsight the person who brought the changes as well.
It was then that one day, their neighbour, JT came and slept between them, probably on RA's insistence and thats when RA2 realized what he should not long for. He soon tried to get back to his normal self, trying rid himself of the special feeling he had harnessed for RA and it was then that he made his first sacrifice of keeping distance from the person he liked the most on campus. The shock was not yet over, a few days later RA2 learned of the feelings RA had for BA and that is when he was shattered. But again, being a fighter, he made naother sacifice and encouraged both RA and BA to get on with it.
RA2 then, being as thoughtful as he always was, made his life turn a little bit and fell for a girl, most of the campus admired for anything but looks. RA2 was too depressed to go in for the looks and though he didn't come out with it, but his friends observed that shine in his eyes whenever her name propped up in any conversation and it was then that RA2 was renamed to P.RA.
P.RA was not ready to mingle yet and hence in order to keep himself occupied and keep his friends from nagging him, he started getting close to another friend, two great friends put together again, P.RA and RSS.
RSS we will get to know in the next blog to come. I hope my readers are waiting for it to come, kindly let me know.

PS: Pls take this all in good humour and if anyone finds it offending, kindly let me know.

After All Its Love of "A MAN FOR A MAN"

Before I write this blog I would definitely like all the readers to note that "All the Characters and Sequences in this piece of writing are purely fictitious and bear no resemblance to anyone dead or alive and if any resemblance found, it is Coincidental."

It were the hot summers of the Land of Desert, in one of its most intellectual town, a gem in the crown of Shekhawati region that this fantasy yet so real love story of love stories, a story of unprecedented sacrifices, of nerve cracking drama, began some three years ago. You must have heard of all the epic love stories of Romeo and Juliet, Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranjha, Rekha-Amitabh but this one counts them all out. Its different in two major aspects:-
First, This love story unlike all others has a happy ending.
Second, this does not involve a XX and a XY chromosome, but two XY chromosomes.

When they came to this town of famous "pedas", knowing not much more about it then the fact that they would be spending next four years of their lives, learning in this new place they have never heard of, before its admission test details appeared in the newspapers. But yet these two epitome of success had no qualms, no worries about this new place because they were sure that people like them, though less and though not encouraged much, did exist in the lands of grandeur. Let me introduce you to them first. The first one, was a tall, healthy, way too strong BA who hails from the city of planning, a land divided between two states, a city boasting a lot about its modernity though factually it has just one shopping centre, celebrates Valmiki Jayanti as a holiday, a clear dominance of Scheduled castes and tribes, but yet he was proud of the place he belonged to.

The other guy, RA, was equally proud of his city of Sunrise, the city famous for its white coloured, mouth watering, sweet delicacy but yet the city of most dense human population also boasting of one of the largest "red light" areas ever known. But yet, these people find solace in their highly modernized, very social party which is highly appreciative and possessive about its comrades.
So we already see that they had this one thing of eternal love for their places of origin which ws to remain forever in the hearts of these juveniles, who really werent aware of the territory they would be venturing into very soon.

BA was a smart guy, with girls hovering around him in his native place and his Priya automotive encouraging him to not be going around with more than one of them at a time. RA was the stud in his days, all the school staff and students drooling even on the mention of his name, but again he had his own tastes and preferences and kept most of the droolers, be it of any chromosomal configuration, at bay.

One thing was common again, they were not completely satisfied with what they had and always craved for that something more, something stronger and ... It is said that "Bhagwan ke ghar mein der hai, andher nahin" and this so aptly came true for the two of our heroes, when they were alotted adjacent rooms in what was to be their first step into the hostel life, into the world of solitary existence, into the realm of self sustenance. So what that no one cared to observe that BA was always staring into nothingness, so what no one ever observed what kind of lights he read under, RA was always there to note even the minutest of details and put it in front of his friends so tactfully that everyone just laughed at the joke, not knowing what was cooking under the mask of unforeseen innocence and unprecedented cunningness was never unmasked.

We know "Birds of same feather flock together" and no wonder, RA soon recognised who his bird is going to be. Hostel life is never easy, you are suddenly put into the real world, coming out of the shackles of parental guidance and breaking the invisible bars of rules and regulations. It is then that your heart craves to be free, to roam under the sun, to fall for anything that comes your way, of the opposite sex for sure. But then, here comes the irony of engineers all over the country, there is no opposite sex, its just that there are people not of same sex. This travesty of life took its toll on BA and finding no pastures to graze on, he was lured into the act of loosing self control and in the end the tactics of RA worked and it was then that what was to be another epic was constructed and though probably, the fire did burn out after some 2 years but still u can see flares coming up at times and though BA feels cheated but he should not be disheartened yet because "yeh toh woh koyala hai jo jal kar raakh ka roop le chuka hai, is raakh ko hatkkar dekh manushya tu aag ki lapton mein sama jayega". ;);)

It Continues

Hello Everyone!
Now that everyone is commenting about the kind of language used in the previous blog specially the comment by Hardeep (loved it ;)), I would just like to pay a tribute to him through the next few lines
"ab jab aapne hamein hidayat di hai,
ki hamne angrezi ko chodd kar
kisi aur bhasha mein likhne ki himakat ki hai
toh hum yeh bhi aapko batana chahenge ki
hum jaante hain aapne is himakat mein chupi
shararat ki nazakat ko samajhne ki bhi koshish ki hai
jismein humne apna dil khol kar
vicharon ki dhara ko bhagirathi ke samaan bahane ki zarurat samjhi hai"

Well sorry guys if its getting too heavy but I am just writing the way its coming to my mind. In the end of my last blog I said that I chose to be independent in a dependent way. The days when I began my engineering at the campus were not that easy for me. I have always loved my friends and group and parting from them was not easy for me when I stepped into this new world and hence had a tendency of choosing the safer option of being with people I already knew. No wonder I was seldom found in the wing and well all the inquisitiveness about me being a nerd, with my specs, a huge bag at my back (though only the bag was huge,there was seldom anything inside it) and my not being much talkative or rather being reserved from people I didnt know much ,was surely inevitable.

It wasnt until about the end of the semester that I was much known amongst my wingmates ,though I was well known in Sankalp's wing as the major part of my first semester had been with him being schoolmates for years. The factor which played the barrier-breaker was cricket again,something I can talk about to anyone anywhere. I just happened to overhear Bharat talking about the match next day against the Alpha-Qs and came up with the idea of playing the next day. I had to give a kind of an ability test towards the field to people of the team and to my surprise, even with my mediocre abilities (thats why I was nicked Gulli), i got through in the team.......speaks a lot about the team...hehe. It was a great experience for me playing that first match with this group of people and by the time we won the second match after being comprehensively beaten in the first, we had already thought of a name for ourselves. Many ideas did come up like The Titans(a movie all my wingies had just seen) and what not but what was finally decided was "The Jinxd" (hum unke liye manhoos hain jo hamare against khelne wale hain) and then began one of the most memorable journeys of my and in fact undoubtedly of our lives. The founding members of the group became Karan,Ritesh,Nikhil,Raghav,Bharat,Harshit,Ishan,Manav,Arjun,Ranjot , Chintan,Hardeep and though the last member of the group but yet a founding member of the Jinxd me that is Chinmaya.

It was then that I was accepted in the group like a light hearted, die hard cricket freak but yet a nerdish person and the icing on the cake was the first semester Workshop exam where I could stop Karan from cross questioning others because he had no answer to my questions,,,,hehe...that was on a very lighter side and well everyone knows that it was the last time that I studied in my first year. After that all was like a dream come true, once we realised it wasnt much worth scoring big in the exams,we were all out into enjoying ourselves. So what that I wasnt a part of all the amazing things which happened in the first semester but as second semester came,all of us came as a group and it was then that the picture took its full colour. Then it were the endless hours of volleyball,movies,talking,leg-pulling and what not and most importantly for me, I was apart of it all.

As is true "the darkest hour of the night comes just before the Dawn" ,the day I became a part of this group the darkness of a solitary existence went away from my life and it was all bright for me and I am sure for everyone who came around us :)

There is a lot more to come bhaiyon....philosophy gets over here...........ab masti karenge;);)