Monday, November 23, 2009

25th wedding anniversary

The occasion: My parents' 25th Wedding Anniversary
Date: 15-11-2009
(It was on 16-11-2009 but we celebrated it on the 15th as it was a Sunday.)
Venue: Rangoli Banquet, Vaibhav Plaza, Kolkata

me & my sis starting the proceedings


my maasis danced well too...


the delicious cake :)


Cutting the cake....


Me & Neha after the party. It was a rocking night :)

The party had been planned well in advance but the surprise was the dance programme which we had secretly organized and the efforts did not go in vain as everyone present there appreciated us so much. The smiles on mom-dad's faces said it all... :) :)

Lots of love to my bro Tushar for anchoring the programme in the most awesome manner-You rock dude- and my sis Neha without whom nothing would have been possible. She put in her heart and soul into making the celebration a wonderful one.

All in all it was an awefome night :) :) :)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Awefome Kameenapan!!!!



Firstly forry for the late blog...but better late than never...

As I sat down to watch another VB (yaar apna Vishal Bhardwaj) flick in Fame Lido, Bangalore I was expecting another good movie from the brilliant VB but he proved me wrong. It was not good it was fcintillating, fuperb, awefome!!!

From the starting monologue "ye duniya badi kutti cheez hai aur if duniya mein kutton ka firf ek hi jawaab hai.....Kaminey" to the end "naam hai Fophia aur ye 'f' ko 'f' nahi bolti" Kaminey is a masterpiece, a roller coaster ride where you don't get time to catch a breath. Story, dialogue, acting, music, lyrics, cinematography, editing, everything is awefome in this Kameeni film.

Kaminey is about Shahid Kapur as G...g..g.. Guddu (he stutters) and the awefome Charlie (he lisps..bachpan fe hi 'f'(s) ko 'f' bolta hai..). Charlie is a gangfter who dreams of becoming a bookie at the race course whereas Guddu works for an NGO and is in love with Sweety (Priyanka Chopra is great in the role of a fiery Marathi girl) who is the sister of another gangfter cum aspiring politician Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte delivers an outstanding performance) who hates immigrants in his city especially from UP. For Guddu, Charlie is as good as dead and for Charlie, well this line says it all-kaali billi agar rafta kaat jaaye to thik hai par agar uf manhoof ka chehra dikh jaye to maiyyat pakki hai... Kaminey is also about Charlie and Mikhail. Chandan Roy Sanyal is just fantastic as the coke addict mental best friend be it the friendly mini-fight scene before the dhan te nan song at the discotheque or the scene where he calls himself Tope Bhau. Kaminey is about that fateful night when the lives of all these characters get entwined in an absolutely Kaminey way.

VB has done an awesome job with the script based on an idea by Cajetan Boy, a writer from Nairobi and keeps viewers clued to the screen with the twists and turns. The dialogues are just mind blowing. Charlie says "ye life badi kutti cheez hai", "pefa kamane ke do raafte hain, ek fortcut or doofra chhota fortcut", "Vaat tab nahin lagti jab tum koi raafta chunte ho, vaat tab lagti hai jab tum koi raafta chhodte ho". Sweety says "to kya maine tumhara rape kiya hai?"

The music and background score as expected from VB is awefome. Starting from the superhit Dhan te nan to the title track Meri aarzoo kameeni, mere khwaab bhi Kaminey and the ballad pehli baar mohabbat ki hai, the music is superb. Gulzar saab as usual has penned down outstanding lyrics be it the title track or Fatak, the song about aids awareness. The background score uses Dhan te nan to good effect and even the peppy song duniya mein logon ko..dhoka koi ho jaata hai. Tassaduq Hussain's cinematography is brilliant. The way he has captured the rain-drenched Mumbai adds to the entire experience of watching this superb flick.

All i would like to say is go and watch this movie in the theatre to enjoy the cinematic brilliance of Vishal Bhardwaj and you will come out singing Dhan te nan.......

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Samvatsari Aaj Kal..!!!

August 24, 2009 : I observed a fast on Samvatsari like every year. My sis, cousin and I were sitting idle at home watching Love Aaj Kal which was about Love of the past and Love in 2009 when I decided why not write a blog on Samvatsari Aaj Kal becasue so much has changed in the manner in which Samvatsari is spent. So here I go......

Samvatsari Kal -
Samvatsari is the last day of Paryusana(or colloquially Pajushana) - the eight or ten day festival of Jains the day on which Jains observe a complete fast. The whole day was spent in prayers and contemplation. A yearly elaborate penitential retreat called samvatsati pratikramana was performed on this day. After the pratikramana Jains seeked forgiveness from all the creatures of the world whom they may have harmed knowingly or unknowingly by uttering the phrase— Micchami Dukkadam. As a matter of ritual, Jains personally greeted friends and relatives Micchami Dukkadam.

Samvatsari Aaj -
Cut to 2009. Samvatsari is the last day of Paryusana(colloquially Pajushana) - the eight or ten day festival of Jains the day on which Jains are supposed to observe a complete fast. As a matter of fact many don't observe a fast and instead observe an ekyashana (eat once in a day) and so many others don't even bother to observe ekyashana. The whole day is spent watching tv, movies, chatting with family and friends and waiting for next morning when we can finally eat/drink. This is the story of most of us, exceptions being elderly and religiously inclined people who spent the day in prayer and perform samvatsati pratikramana like my Grandma. After the day is spent doing nothing we go off to sleep to get up exactly at sunrise(sometimes even earlier) to break the fast and then we eat to our heart's content. The fun part is normally we might never get up this early but then the empty stomach can do wonders :D As a matter of ritual, we still personally greet friends and relatives Micchami Dukkadam and/or Khamat Khamna but the personally usually means sms/phone calls instead of personal visits of yesteryears.

I am no staunch follower to question what is right and what is wrong in Samvatsari Aaj..but what the heck of a difference in Aaj and Kal !!! and yeah...if i have knowingly or unknowingly hurt you or your feelings by this blog...Khamat Khamna !!!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Bangla Bandh!!!!

Friday July 17, 2009. First time in 400 days the office was closed for an unofficial reason. The reason - a Bandh called by Congress to protest against the attack on its MLAs at Mangalkot. Buses were burnt, roads blocked, vandalism was the order of the day with the police just watching the tamasha like impotents. The city has become a playground of political clashes, even as reports of vendetta and violence pour in every day from other parts of Bengal. The 24 hours that i had to spend indoors caused me to think a lot about this brouhaha and I have got certain questions and answers (from the administrators of Bengal) :

Q: Why could not the police stop the vandalism?
A: The police say they did not have any instruction (so expected of the Calcutta Police) to deal strictly with the vandals.

Is it not the constitutional duty of the police to protect the public and public property? or is the bandh like an emergency for the police force where constituional laws stand dormant and the law of the President (here the party who called the bandh) is the law of the land. why are you being mere spectators to such lawlessness?

Q: How were the Congress MLA's attacked in the first place since adequate police cover must have been there?
A: DG, Police Bhupinder Singh says,"maybe police were outnumbered".

(Bravo Mr. Singh!! what a million dollar answer!! huh :| how much more incompetent can the police force become?)

Q: Why did public owned buses not ply as promised?
A: "Yesterday, so many buses had been damaged and set on fire. So we decided not to bring out state transport buses today. There was insecurity."-Sumantra Chowdhury, transport secretary.

Great job CPI(M). if you are afraid how the hell will you protect the citizens of West Bengal who have been electing you for decades?

Q: Why did the Congress resort to violence to protest against violence?
A: ------------

Reason unknown as even the Congress cannot justify this one. After all who can justify such vandalism which cripples the entire state machinery?


Q: Why did not the Govt. take a proactive stand?
A: “The people’s recent mandate (Lok Sabha polls) didn’t empower us to take strong action to ensure peace and normality. Let voters now judge the worth of those they have invited to replace us.” - a secretariat member.

So are you taking revenge for your loss in the Lok Sabha polls? I believe you don't want to win the Asssembly polls either because some more incidents like these and the people will surely elect a new Govt. after decades.

With a brave Govt. and even braver police force like ours, Bengal will surely prosper beyond measure... :|

Wait!!!!! I have been blaming the state machinery all this while but what about us citizens? Why are we sitting quiet? Why are we so afraid to step out of our houses during bandhs? Do you think the vandals can actually harm lakhs of people if we all step out? Why are we electing the same stupid Govt. again and again? Don't you think its time for a change of ideas and ideals?
Watsay people????

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Consultancy Services



KOCHAR EXIM PVT. LTD.
We consult, create and manage businesses

We at Kochar Exim Pvt. Ltd. have a team of excellent professionals active in International Trade for the past two decades.

Our excellent team of professionals is well versed in international practices and is regularly serving a broad spectrum of clients in various fields. We provide facilitation services for import & export and venture consultancy deals. We are successfully handling Garments, HMS, LMS, GC Sheets, TMT Bars, Seamless steel pipes, Billets, Raw wool, SMC, FRP Electrical Utility Products, etc.

We are authorized distributors/marketing representatives for various Companies like:

Weldtech Metals (USA) - for secondary metal & metal scrap
3M India Ltd. (Indian arm of 3M,USA) - for Corrosion Protection Products
Macedon Vinimay Pvt. Ltd. (Kolkata, India) - for FRP products
Lal Baba Seamless Tubes Pvt. Ltd. (Kolkata, India) - for seamless pipes & tubes
Zhejiang Yongtailong Electronic Co., Ltd. (China) - for energy meters
Changshu Dongyu Insulated Compound Materials Co., Ltd. (China) - for FRP raw materials, etc.

We have an excellent network of associates, principals and customers worldwide.

We are sure that at Kochar Exim Pvt. Ltd. you will always get the best of services and guidance to crack a profitable deal.


For more details Contact:
Nilesh Surana
Manager, Business Development
Tel: +91-33-2243 9678/79
Fax: +91-33-2231 0600
Mobile: +91-98318 46026
E-mail: nileshsurana@kocharexim.in
MSN: nileshsurana@hotmail.com

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Truth or Lie ...don't know but very interesting

"the following piece is not written by me. it is composed from excerpts by other writers"

Very Interesting History!!!!!

At the very beginning of his book, 'The Nehru Dynasty',
Astrologer K.N. Rao mentions the names of Jawaharlal's father and grandfather.

Jawaharlal's father was believed to be Motilal and Motilal's father was one Gangadhar Nehru.

We all know that Jawaharlal's only daughter was Indira
Priyadarshini Nehru; Kamala Nehru was her mother, who died in Switzerland of tuberculosis. She was totally against Indira's proposed marriage with Feroze. Why? No one tells us that!

Now, who is this Feroze? We are told by many that he was the son of the family grocer..The grocer supplied wines, etc.. to Anand Bhavan (previously known as Ishrat Manzil) What was the family grocer's name?

One frequently hears that Rajiv Gandhi's grandfather was Pandit Nehru. But then we all know that everyone has two grandfathers, the paternal and the maternal grandfathers. In fact, the paternal grandfather is deemed to be the more important grandfather in most societies.

Why is it then, nowhere, we find Rajiv Gandhi's paternal grandfather' s name? It appears that the reason is simply. Rajiv Gandhi's paternal grandfather was a Muslim gentleman from the Junagadh area of Gujarat.

This Muslim grocer by the name of Nawab Khan, had married a Parsi woman after converting her to Islam. This is the source where from the myth of Rajiv being a Parsi was derived. Rajiv's father Feroze, was Feroze Khan before he married Indira, against Kamala Nehru's wishes. Feroze's mother's family name was Ghandy, often associated with Parsis and this was changed to Gandhi, sometime before his wedding with Indira, by an affidavit.

The fact of the matter is that (and this fact can be found in many writings) Indira was very lonely. Chased out of the Shantiniketan University by Guru Dev Rabindranath himself for misdemeanour, the lonely girl was all by herself, while father Jawaharlal was busy with politics, pretty women and illicit sex, the mother was in hospital.

Feroze Khan, the grocer's son was then in England and he was quite sympathetic to Indira and soon enough she changed her religion, became a Muslim woman and married Feroze Khan in a London mosque. Nehru was not happy, Kamala was dead already or dying.

The news of this marriage eventually reached Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (better known as Mahatma Gandhi) . Gandhi urgently called Nehru and practically ordered him to ask the young man to change his name from Khan to Gandhi. It had nothing to do with change of religion, from Islam to Hinduism for instance. It was just a case of a change of name by an affidavit. And so Feroze
Khan became Feroze Gandhi.

The surprising thing is that the apostle of truth, the old man soon to be declared India 's Mahatma and the 'Father of the Nation' didn't mention this game of his in the famous book, 'My Experiments with Truth'. Why?

When they returned to India , a mock 'Vedic marriage' was instituted for public consumption. On this subject, writes M.O. Mathai (a long-time Private Secretary of Nehru) in his renowned (but now suppressed by the GOI! ) 'Reminiscences of the Nehru Age' on page 94, second paragraph: ' For some inexplicable reason, Nehru allowed the marriage to be performed according to Vedic rites in 1942. An inter-religious and inter-caste marriage under Vedic rites at that time was not valid in law. To be legal, it had to be a civil marriage .'

It's a known fact that after Rajiv's birth Indira and Feroze lived separately, but they were not divorced. Feroze used to harass Nehru frequently for money and also interfere in Nehru's political activities. Nehru got fed up and left instructions not to allow him into the Prime Minister's residence Trimurthi Bhavan.

Mathai writes that the death of Feroze came as a relief to Nehru and Indira. The death of Feroze in 1960 before he could consolidate his own political forces, is itself a mystery. Feroze had even planned to remarry.

Those who try to keep tabs on our leaders in spite of all the suppressions and deliberate misinformation, are aware of the fact that the second son of Indira (or Mrs .Feroze Khan) known as Sanjay Gandhi was not the son of Feroze. He was the son of another Muslim gentleman, Mohammad Yunus.

Here in passing, we might mention that the second son was originally named Sanjiv. It rhymed with Rajiv, the elder brother's name. It was changed to Sanjay when he was arrested by the British police in England and his passport impounded, for having stolen a car.

Krishna Menon was then India 's High Commissioner in London. He offered to issue another passport to the felon who changed his name to Sanjay. Incidentally, Sanjay's marriage with the Sikh girl Menaka (now they call her Maneka for Indira Gandhi found the name of mythological Lord Indra's Court dancer rather offensive !!) took place quite surprisingly in Mohammad Yunus's house in New Delhi. The marriage with Menaka who was a model (She had modelled for Bombay Dyeing wearing just a towel) was not so ordinary either.
Sanjay was notorious in getting unwed young women pregnant. Menaka
too was rendered pregnant by Sanjay. It was then that her father, Colonel Anand, threatened Sanjay with dire consequences if he did not marry her daughter and that did the trick.

Sanjay married Menaka. It was widely reported in Delhi at the time that Mohammad Yunus was unhappy at the marriage of Sanjay with Menaka. Apparently he had wanted to get him married with a Muslim girl of his choice. It was Mohammad Yunus who cried the most when Sanjay died in the plane accident.

In Yunus's book, 'Persons, Passions & Politics' one discovers that baby Sanjay had been circumcised following Islamic custom, although the reason stated was phimosis. It was always believed that Sanjay used to blackmail Indira Gandhi and due to this she used to turn a blind eye when Sanjay Gandhi started to run the country as though it were his personal freedom.. Was he black mailing her with the secret of who his real father was? When the news of Sanjay's
death reached Indira Gandhi, the first thing she wanted to know was about the bunch of keys which Sanjay had with him.

Nehru was no less a player in producing bastards. At least one case is very graphically described by M.O. Mathai in his 'Reminiscences
of the Nehru Age', page 206.
Mathai writes:
'In the autumn of 1948 a young woman from Benares arrived in New Delhi as a sanyasini named Shraddha Mata (an assumed and not a real name). She was a Sanskrit scholar well versed in the ancient Indian scriptures and mythology. People, including MPs, thronged to her to hear her discourses. One day S.D. Upadhyaya, Nehru's old employee, brought a letter in Hindi from Shraddha Mata. Nehru gave her an interview in the PM's house. As she departed, I noticed (Mathai is speaking here) that she was young, shapely and beautiful. Meetings of Nehru with her became rather frequent, mostly after he finished his work at night. During one of Nehru's visits to Lucknow , Shraddha Mata turned up there and Upadhyaya brought a letter from her as usual. Nehru sent her the reply and she visited Nehru at midnight...' Suddenly Shraddha Mata disappeared.

In November 1949 a convent in Bangalore sent a decent looking person to Delhi with a bundle of letters. He said that a young woman from northern India arrived at the convent a few months ago and gave birth to a baby boy. She refused to divulge her name or give any particulars about herself. She left the convent as soon as she was well enough to move out but left the child behind.

She however forgot to take with her a small cloth bundle in which, among other things, several letters in Hindi were found. The Mother Superior, who was a foreigner, had the letters examined and was told they were from the Prime Minister.

The person who brought the letters surrendered them...'I (Mathai) made discreet inquiries repeatedly about the boy but failed to get a clue about his whereabouts. Convents in such matters are extremely tight-lipped and secretive.

Had I succeeded in locating the boy, I would have adopted him. He must have grown up as a Catholic Christian blissfully ignorant of who his father was.'

Coming back to Rajiv Gandhi, we all know now that he changed his so called Parsi religion to become a Catholic to marry Sania Maino of Turin , Italy . Rajiv became Roberto. His daughter's name is Bianca and son's name is Raul. Quite cleverly the same names are presented to the people of India as Priyanka and Rahul.

What is amazing is the extent of our people's ignorance in such matters. The press conference that Rajiv Gandhi gave in London after taking over as Prime minister of India was very informative. In this press conference, Rajiv boasted that he was NOT a Hindu but a Parsi. Mind you, speaking of the Parsi religion, he had no Parsi ancestor at all. His grandmother (father's mother) had turned Muslim after having abandoned the Parsi religion to marry Nawab Khan.

It is the western press that waged a blitz of misinformation on behalf of Rajiv. From the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, the big guns raised Rajiv to heaven. The children's encyclopaedias recorded that Rajiv was a qualified Mechanical Engineer from the revered University of Cambridge . No doubt US kids are among the most misinformed in the world today! The reality is that in all three years of his tenure at that University Rajiv had not passed a single exam. He had therefore to leave Cambridge without a certificate.

Sonia too had the same benevolent treatment. She was stated to be a student in Cambridge . Such a description is calculated to mislead Indians. She was a student in Cambridge all right, but not of the University of Cambridge , but of one of those fly by night language schools where foreign students come to learn English. Sonia was working as an 'au pair' girl in Cambridge and trying to learn English at the same time. And surprise of surprises, Rajiv was even cremated as per Vedic rites in full view of India's public.

This is the Nehru dynasty that India worships and now a foreigner leads a prestigious national party because of just one qualification being married into the Nehru family.. Maneka Gandhi, though Indian, herself is being accepted by the non-Congress parties not because she was a former model or an animal lover, but for her links to the Nehru family.

Saying that an Italian (or any foreigner) should not lead India will amount to narrow mindedness, but if Sania Maino (now Sonia) had served India like, say, Mother Teresa or Annie Besant, i.e. in any way on her own rights, then all Indians should be proud of her just as how proud we are of Mother Teresa. OR
Saying that any other party which comes to rule India is better is again equally worse. The point is Indians who nominate the people to stand in these elections; and the people who vote their rulers (i.e. the authorities) must know that truth eventually come out some day. Don't allow the famous land of India (our motherland) to be looked down by others.

JAI HIND

Thursday, March 19, 2009

deadly ice-breaker

hi friends ..first of all sorry for not blogging for such a long time ..was too busy working. as i write now i feel a sense of frustration inside me. i don't know what the frustration is about but i have not been feeling content these days. i guess it is because of lack of quality work due to the ongoing recession. anyways leave that frustration aside and lets think about the pain and frustration a family is bearing everyday as they mourn the death of their son at the hands of 4 of his seniors at a college in Himachal Pradesh and at the same time feel guilty for not paying heed to their son's plea for help. yes friends i talk about Aman Kachru who died during a deadly ice-breaker session which we call ragging. the four perpetrators are in police remand and the principal and the registrar have been served showcause notices for not adhering to the court orders against ragging. but the question that lingers is "could Aman have been saved?"

I believe he could have been alive today if only for certain measures taken by the college authorities, his parents and his seniors. his parents have a big hand here as they did not pay heed to his repeated pleas to return home as he was not being able to bear the ragging sessions. in today's world parents have also become a part of the rat race and in the process they forget that their child is not just a student who has to make them proud by the laurels he/she wins at college but he/she is also their son/daughter. if only Aman's parents would have understood their son's plea for help they would have saved him. the college authorities are equally responsible because they have not adhered to the court orders against ragging. well we all know the court orders have been there for quite a while but still so many colleges have not enforced the orders and in the process guys like Aman get injured/become mentally unstable/die every year. if only the colleges could be more strict and vigilant they can prevent such dastardly acts. a question that comes to the mind is if Aman had complained to his parents did he not do the same at college. did the college authorities know about the harrasment he was going through and what about his friends and classmates-didn't they try to help?  

And now coming to the main culprits of this heinous crime-the senior students at college. they are insane, more mentally unstable than the inmates at an asylum and there are quite a few answers which are to be unravelled about them.like what joy did they get in beating up a junior to death in the name of ragging? did they commit this act in their senses or were they under the effect of alcohol or drugs? have they commited similar dastardly acts previously but have not been caught? did they actually want to kill him or was it culpable homicide? well these answers will perhaps come to the fore when the police finishes its enquiry or maybe like hundreds of other cases the answers will remain buried for years but there are some answers that we need to find fast...RAGGING is supposed to be an ice-breaker session for juniors to know and bond with their seniors better but is ragging just that today? is it fast becoming a sadistic act for insane people like those 4 guys who killed Aman? how to prevent the youth of today from intentionally/unitentionally committing this heinous crime in the name of the deadly ice-breaker called ragging? this are questions that need immediate answers to prevent more deaths like Aman's.

friends do comment on how to prevent ragging in colleges, how to create awareness about the fatal consequences of this cowardly act and many more unanswered questions that i have raised in this blog. await your views. do pray for Aman. may his soul R.I.P.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Dasvidaniyan

Hi guys … hope you people had a great weekend. I watched Dasvidaniyan over the weekend & to be true was deeply touched by the movie. What if I was to die after 3 months? What would be the last 10 things I would want to do before I die? I pondered a lot over the question which was the central theme of the movie but realized in the end that 10 is too small a number. There are umpteen number of things I would like to do before I die and for which 3 months would be too less a time. And I believe like me each one of you has a big list of things to do before you say Alvida. But will you do those things within your lifespan. I think for the majority of you that answer would be a “NO”.

You get so embroiled in the day-to-day happenings that the things-to-do list becomes blurred beyond recognition. As you grow up, you lose touch with so many of your bosom buddies, your childhood dreams remain dreams & are rather blown away like dust particles to some faraway land, you forget your main goal in life & get so busy in making the present likeable that in the process you don’t realise you have ended up announcing the doom of your future because your future depends on that main goal in life. You are so persistent in chasing the dreams of the present that finally there comes a point in life when you are forced to ask yourself why you are there in this world & then you realise what you have missed out on.

You realise you have not taken that vacation you had been planning since the past so many years, you realise you have not got in touch with your bosom buddy whom you have been wanting to talk to since eternity but never got the time for it, you realise you have not been able to save enough for your future because you were so busy in making the present better & at this juncture you feel like a loser because you had planned this in your mind all life but never executed these plans. You were so busy executing the small plans for the present that you forgot to see the bigger picture. But buddies remember one thing the bigger picture does matter because in the end when you are about to say Dasvidaniyan you will surely feel the pinch of not having executed the biggest plan of your life…

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Live to the point .

Robin Sharma has put forth a philosophy in his latest book “live like this pencil and you’ll have a fine life” which has been lying in the storehouse called my brain. So finally today I decided I need to address this dormant thought and what better way than blogging so that my friends can help me to further decipher the true meaning of the philosophy.

Let us analyze this quote. What does a pencil signify? The first thought that comes to my mind is the power of words. A pencil however small can write words that can move the hearts of millions be it Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” or Jawaharlal Nehru’s “tryst with destiny”. So I wonder how an inanimate object like a pencil can be part of such greatness and I find the answer floating before my eyes. The pencil knows only one job-writing. It has been made for it and it continues to do so till it perishes. 

The above answer further stimulates my grey cells and I realise we have been made by God for some purpose too but the question to be asked is-are we actually living for that purpose. The answer that I get from my heart and mind is a doubtless NO. We think about so many things at the same time that we lose our focus from those goals which are the very reason of our existence. And I now start to understand the meaning of the philosophy. We have to be like a pencil with sharpened focus and live to achieve our dreams/goals, to achieve what has been destined for us else we will forever keep procrastinating and end up with a duck on our life’s scorecard. 

We need to live to the point like a pencil and be focused on our goals and in the process fulfill the reason of our existence. We need to live life in the present because who knows how many tomorrows have been destined for us by God. So let us live to the point and live our dreams today…

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Time Management

When i wrote the last blog on optimism, I had not decided on which topic will I write next but as i sit idle now for a few mins in the middle of what has been a very hectic day...I thought why not write about time management. If i were to ask each one of you what is time management, some might say it is creating a balance between time for work and time for family whereas others might say it is managing all chores within 24 hours with ease. In my eyes time management is a simple funda -finding out time from the busy schedules to do what i love be it talking to my girlfriend or writing this blog or pondering over a cup of coffee or listening to music and releasing stress. 

It was the summer of 2007 when i realised what time management is about. I had just started CAT coaching classes and also taken up a part time job plus there was my college St.Xavier's. My schedule for the first month was something like this- 5.45am wake up, attend tuitions from 7.30-9.30 attend college from 9.50-1.00 (mostly bunked classes after 1.00), office from 1.30-6.30, home by 7.15pm sit to stdy at 8.00 and study till around 2.30am with a dinner break in between. I could not watch Tv, could not listen to music,could not hangout with friends and sleep used to chase me every hour. 

I had to find a solution but initially could not understand what to do. It is then my grey cells came up with a gem of an idea. If time was not available i must search for it like a lost treasure. You must be thinking what do i mean by this. Well the theory is simple-time is always there. We have to just look for it in the right way. So began my search for time, time to do what i like. And you know what in 2 weeks time i actually had time for stuffs i could not even think of earlier. I could listen to music when i was searching for articles on the internet, after my mock tests i could hangout with friends even if it meant we were discussing the mock test, when sleep chased me i could ponder over a cup of coffee and de-stress. My worries were mostly over and my schedule was still the same.I had finally found the remedy to my worries without use of more time. 

This phase of life taught me something important other than time management. That whatever we need in life is like time. We have to search earnestly for it and we will definitely find it. If i could find out time for my interests even though on paper there was not a second to spare i could definitely achieve goals that were more feasible. Moral of the story: if you want something badly, you can achieve even the impossible. With this thought in mind i will sign off till the next blog as the time i could spare is over. Back to more work now..you see it is still a hectic day ;)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Optimism v/s Pessimism

  Lets analyse this scenario.Indian superstar Amitabh Bachhan's entertainment company ABCL Pvt. Ltd. has closed down due to bankruptcy and he is reeling under the mighty weight of debts.At this dark hour of his life the Star India Network approaches him to host an adaptation of the hugely popular foreign quiz show "Who wants to be a millionaire?" which they are to name Kaun Banega Crorepati.
  Now Mr.Bachhan could have looked at this situation in two ways-one,he could have been a pessimist and declined the offer as it was a big gamble to undertake the journey from the cineplexes to the drawing rooms and second,he could have looked at it as a ray of light in his dark life and taken the challenge.As we all know he took up the challenge and the rest we know is history.The show became a runaway hit and propelled him to such great heights that he became the cynosure of all eyes.All the leading filmmakers lined up to sign him and since he has not looked back since.So if someone says,"It is to better to be a pessimist.Either you are proved write or you are pleasantly surprised.",I would cite this among many other scenarios as a riposte.I believe ,"It is better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right."
  A pessimist is always right as one who thinks negative has negative happening to him day in and day out.Positive incidents are almost extinct in his life whereas an optimist sees the sunny side of life and achieves success predominately.Another successful optimist is Mr. Ratan Tata who with his optimistic outlook towards life has scaled enormous heights.His company's acquisition of the European steel major Corus by outbidding Brazilian steel giant CNS is the mother of all acquisitions by an Indian company.Winston Churchill has rightly quoted,"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity,an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."Mr. Tata saw the opportunity and has thus become a pride for the nation and in the process he has put India on the global steel map.
  So i firmly believe that its far better to be an optimist and achieve success more often than not rather than be a pessimist and let go of opportunities for fear of failure.And to those who say that being a pessimist they have achieved more success than many optimists I have just one riposte-what matters is how you did and not what you did.

the sky is the limit

Who said living in an aeroplane is not feasible???
Check the interiors of an Airbus....









Sri Ram Sene:moral police or a political gimmick?

Every year as the day of love-yes my dear friends valentine's day or v-day as it is more commonly called by youngistaan these days-approaches, some group or the other starts protesting against it by means of rallies, posters,pamphlets,etc. This year it was no different. A group called Sri Ram Sene decided to act as a moral police and thrashed girls and guys in a pub in Mangalore for defiling the Indian culture and if this was not enough they picked up an MLA's daughter and her friend who were travelling together in a bus and interrogated them over their relationship. For v-day the group declared that their modus operandi would be to get any couple married off who are engaged in the outward display of love on Valentine's Day and if a boy and girl are spotted together as siblings, they would be made to exchange a Rakhi.

What i had been pondering over is are they actually trying to act as a moral police or is this just another political gimmick to get publicity and after much thought i have the following questions to ask Mr.Pramod Mutalik:
By beating up women have you not yourselves defiled the hindu culture you say you are trying to save from getting defiled?
By being against display of love and using violence as a means of protest in the times of terrorist attacks what are you trying to portray?Are you not being anti-socials?

Mr. Mutalik, i think instead of trying to protect the culture you should first yourself know what the culture is about. Its about spreading love, not trying to curb it. Its about respecting and protecting women,not beating them up in the name of moral policing. In my eyes all your events clearly portray just one thing you are here for cheap publicity, a clear political gimmick to garner votes. But the India of today does not think like you. Though you might say that you have received support from various sections of the society, the fact is that is a minority when compared to the vast majority who are against your thinking. Do not be happy that people were restrained in their activities on v-day because the fact is they were just afraid of their safety. You may have won the war but you will never win the battle because violence is never an option as George Bush must have realised by now. People's anger against you will someday erupt like lava and your Sri Ram Sene will become just another anti-social group voicing opinions in some corner of the lanes.