'Q' bole to....Quilling! ....part 2

If you missed my previous post ....... do read the earlier blog on Quilling

And its Quilling with double 'l's and not Quilting. If one searches Quilling on google, it asks back "Are you searching for Quilting" .

Well my friend keeps surprising me, and many others with her new Quilling creations :). Yeah Yeah.......it just gets bigger......better! The new designs have evolved from an envelope to photo frames to birthday cards ....... and who knows what next :) . Well, we can only wait and watch.

So as I had mentioned earlier, the wonder still continues :). And its so nice to see so many people ordering the Quilled artwork from her. Well, in this post i won't write much, but will leave you with many more pictures for you to enjoy and comment upon. If you have any creative idea, or would like to have any of the Quilling creations, do let me know. Enjoy the pictures of the Photo Frames , Envelopes (Ganesha and Rakshabandhan special), B'day Cards.

My personal fav here would be the Peacock design on the photo frame, but the Butterfly Park frame is also a close contender :)

Also one of the pic is of the Quilling art from my car, that's called a snowflake......as it has the shape of a tiny particle of Snow. (i guess writing a blog and posting pictures is much easier than Quilling :P .....pun intended! )

PS: I had ordered the frame with wooden finish, and the person whom I gifted it simply loved it ! :)

Jumping from a Plane!!!

Had written this article a long time back. Thought of sharing it on this blog....

Summer of 2008, Oulu, Finland

Heights have never been my strengths. Friends who really know me well can vouch for it. It’s not that I am afraid of heights, but kind of a phobia where in I get a tingling sensation in my legs when I look down from few feet above ground. And if I am standing on a rooftop and looking downwards, then I need something to hold on to, else, I’ll never go near the edge J

So here I was in Oulu during the winters and while exploring this new place, found out a skydiving school nearby. Upon enquiry, they told me there are two types of jumps:

1) Self jump, that needs a training of 7 hours and one can jump on his own from a height of 1 km’s above the ground. (3281 feet)

2) Tandem jump, needs just 30 min’s of training and one can jump along with the instructor, but from a height of 3.7km’s above the ground. (12139 feet)

That’s it. I just enquired and thought, let it be. Not something I should get involved in J

One fine summer day, few others who were working with me started planning for skydive and asked me if I would like to join in. They were just pulling my leg…….they knew my height disorders ;)

However, I agreed to their request. It later on so happened that the others where a little chickened out and I had to really convince them to go for it J. So out of so many of my friends, only 4 agreed to go for it.

Now the next question, Self jump or Tandem? I opted for a Tandem, simply because it was from a greater height. Well, it’s not that I was all brave to challenge myself. But the Tandem jump had a greater free fall time. Free fall as the term implies, is that part of a skydiving jump, where you just fall before opening the parachute. For Tandem jump it was 50 sec’s and for a Self jump it was 3 sec’s.

So I opted for 50 sec’s ;). I still don’t know why, but it was the best choice I made.

I made the bookings and visited the facility. The instructor was Petteri Korhonen, a Finnish local, who by profession is a Software Engineer, and does this as a hobby. He had done about 5000 jumps then. Wow! Could you believe that……..so many jumps and he has still survived. Guess that made me feel more safe and put aside all the nonsense thoughts I had in my mind.

Then there was a brief training session that had me lying down on my tummy on a skateboard with arms and legs in air so I could balance my body against the aerodynamics during the jump. A little bit of theory about the parachute and how it needs to be handled.

Cool, so training was over and we headed for the jump site. I had a personal camera man too who would jump with me and record it. We got into the small Cessna plane, ready to take off. My final instruction given by the instructor was simple…..”Roland….don’t do anything silly. Just Jump!” J

As the plane gained altitude, I started to have a strange sensation in my tummy. The pilot and my instructor kept asking me how I felt. I just smiled like an idiot and said I am fine, enjoying the view. In reality……..I was not fine. I was nervous and scared. I just pretended like I was calm. Thought of asking them, “Well, can we take a U-turn and go back please, I don’t think I can do this”. But I didn’t. And thank God I didn’t

I closed my eyes for few moments and talked to myself “Come what may, I will jump. With total trust, let’s jump”. Then I started to enjoy the awesome view around. There was land and sea all around. Everything seemed so tiny. The skies were clear with few clouds around. From the window, I could see the vast horizon. All I could hear was the engine of the Cessna, like the starting of an induction motor from 3 idiots.”DDhhurrrrrrrrrrrrr…..”

It took us nearly 20 min’s to reach the height of 3.7 km’s. They opened the plane door. My instructor did a final round of checking that the parachute was correctly attached to him. He checked the four hooks with which I was attached to his body. Yes, that’s all that would hold me until we landed……..those four hooks.

The altitude gauge showed a reading of 3.7 km’s and a temp of -4 C.

I slowly moved to the open door, one baby step at a time. The wind was gushing at my face. It felt refreshing but the fear I had earlier, returned. The more I moved closer to the door, the more my mind started looking for reasons to not jump. My cameraman was already out holding on to one of the plane wing ready to shoot my jump. I managed to get to edge of the door with my one leg outside by now, hanging in air. I had to gently getup and standup with my instructor behind me and move outwards near the plane wing. That’s when I looked down upon the earth. Well it did look all gorgeous and beautiful, but it didn’t interest me then. My feet were shaking, my tummy was tingling. Slowly, taking support of the plane wall, I managed to reach the wing.

I was facing my Ultimate Fear! Then I heard a count “1……2……3……jump”

And………… can’t explain

We somersaulted and I could see the plane fly past away from us. And I was falling at speed of 220 km’s/hr.

And that was it. Fear had been kicked out. Then there was total ecstasy during the fall. It felt like ultimate freedom. Everything seized to exist in those moments of free fall. I couldn’t feel my body though I was breathing, my mind was clear, and the intellect wasn’t doing anything, felt like there was no memory of anything before the fall. All I could feel was that Moment.

Everything felt like it just vanished. No thoughts, just being with the fall. It was bliss!

While having a fall from that altitude, one has nothing to lose, nothing to hold on to. All I remember I had was happiness. Yes I was scared before I jumped, but a small push was indeed needed for this experience J

Then I heard one more count “1………2…….3……parachute”

And Whooosssshhhh……the parachute opened and pulled us upwards due to the air pocket it creates. That’s when I realized the beauty of the skydive………”You fall first, and later enjoy the view J”

Everything around was serene and pure beauty. We guided our parachute to the nearby clouds, then moved swiftly over the nearby sea. I was still attached to my instructor with those four hooks J. We then made way to the landing area, and bump, we were on the ground. I looked up and thanked for this experience.

Summer 2010, New Jersey, USA

Again I got a chance to jump in New Jersey on 4^th of July. This time from a height of 5.4 km’s (17717 feet) and free fall extended to 70 sec’s J.

It’s not that my height phobia has gone away and that I am not scared during skydiving. I still am. And every time fear is only the moment I stand at the open plane door. Once I jump, it all goes away and it is freedom. The experience is worthwhile. :)

Check out the video:

Skydive in Oulu

Skydive in New Jersey

Attaching few pics.

'Q' bole to....Quilling!

Every once in a while, we come across people who put you in wonder! As in, they just make you go Wow! I have a good friend who often amazes me.

Well...this post is not about her. It’s just about a creative quality she possesses :)

If I ask you a question....Have you heard about Quilling? Your immediate answer would be, ….hmmm.......errrrr……..ummm…...Quill...what??

Well, even I had the same answer the first time :P

Quilling is a form of paper art, where strips of paper are rolled, shaped and glued together to create decorative designs.

Yeah I know it sound silly when I define it :) ..... but when one sees it...... it’s just wonder ! ....that Wow I mentioned earlier :)

And this friend of mine does it so beautifully.

I remember the first time she had showed me few of her Quilling art work. She had made few designs on an envelope.

And it looked so simple yet brilliant.

My first thought was......wow......we generally use plain lame envelops to gift something. So why not use the Quilling envelopes for gifting.

It makes the gift look so much more attractive and royal :P

Well the only downside would be people may consider the envelope to be the gift and neglect the gift inside it : P

And it’s just not Quilling envelopes that she does…….there’s a whole range of endless ideas she can play around with.

Enough talks...... just look at some of her designs. The Ganesha one is my personal favorite :)

I know what everyone's thinking !!!............how do I get my hands on them :) ........well....you just need to get in touch with her.

For now, if you need any of her fantastic creations, just let me know.

Horn............Ok.........Please?

For last few days, i have been travelling a lot by road. Mostly using the Western Express highway from Borivali to Andheri and back. Its actually after a long long time that I started riding my bike daily...........on the road ofcourse :P

To speak about the traffic, well, Mumbai traffic is the best among the worst traffic we get in our country..............isin't it? The roads are rarely empty.

While riding, one thing that used to irritate or bother me was the excessive honking by other riders / drivers. (we Ride a bike....and we Drive a car -- for those who don't know the difference!!!) . I am sure even you must have observed this. We are at a red signal, and people behind pressing that horn franticly. We are stuck in a jam packed traffic, still people behind us, to the right, left and in front of us keep honking. Yeah as if the more number of times they honk, that many vehicles will be reduced on the road........like the traffic would just vanish :). And to be honest, there were moments when this honking did bother me.

So i started playing a game :). And that was to simply ignore the excessive honking. And boy that did wonders. Like if there a car behind me honking desperately, i just ignore it. Infact i also reduce my speed for few seconds. Now its not that by doing so the car driver stopped honking. In some cases they honked even more. But simply by ignoring it, made me more peaceful. It made me enjoy my ride much better, even in the traffic, even in the pollution :).

People may not change............but i can surely change myself...........to some extent :)

I recommend that someday you too play this game when u ride........or drive :P

Space !!!

For past few days......i have been curious about sky , space, universe.......or whatever we call it. Its amazing that when one sees at a clear sky at night, with so many stars, planets and other objects, it expands one's consciousness.

So to take a look at the night sky, I bought myself a "Konus - Skyview 60" telescope last week. :-)

Assembling it was easy but i took my own time understanding it. Then excitedly went up my building rooftop hoping to see some space stuff :P.

And then, the big question.........where do i start looking? Which direction do i point my telescope to see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and all the other planets. Thats when my Galaxy-S android phone came to help. The Google Sky Map application was a beauty in helping me locate what i wanted to see in this infinite neverending sky above me (or rather i would say all around me).

It was 10pm and all that i could see then was Saturn as all the other planets, our Moon were on the other side...meaning, they were near the sun. So they wouldn't be visible at night for some more days now.

So i pointed my telescope up in the sky where my phone said i would find Saturn. And guess what..... i found it exactly where it said it would be. My excitement just grew :-). Technology makes things so easy :P

Now the next part was to adjust the scope and its focal length to see Saturn clearly. I was able to do that and adjust few scope parameters to see Saturn. And WOW !..........it was awesome. Saturn and its rings were clearly visible. Not like a huge image........but could clearly make out its round shape with the rings along its diameter. Looked gorgeous. I had only seen the images on T.V or the internet. But this day.........i was seeing it with my own eyes....Live ! :P

And after a while......a thought dawned in my mind. That was that Saturn there when i saw it? I mean yes it was Saturn.............but was it exactly at that same location when i saw it? We all know the fact that for light to each the earth it takes 8 minutes from Sun. So in this case, the rays of light from Sun, hit Saturn, and then get reflected from its surface towards earth. And that is how we see it. That is how we see all planets.

Saturn is 1 light hour away from Sun. It means it takes an hour for light to reach from Sun to Saturn. And then about 52 mins for few rays of light to reach from Saturn to Earth.

Interesting right ;-)

What that means is...........that Saturn what i was seeing with my telescope was not exactly there at that time. What i was seeing was Saturn that was there an hour back. Do you get my point :-)

So initially for me, the Truth was that what I was seeing was Saturn. But later I realized......that it was just a distortion of Truth, and not the actual truth :-) . (samajh ne waale samajh gaye !!!)

Space is indeed interesting. Reveals a lot just by being in the moment.

Here is the picture i managed to take from my DSLR cam...... to take a clear pic of Saturn, i would need a SLR and an adapter to attach it to the telescope!

Good Citizens

I live in India, and more so i live in Mumbai - that has the busiest yet narrow streets. The highways are pretty decent though :-). There's a junction nearby my home, where there's no traffic signal, the cops play hide and seek occasionally, and throughout the year, there's always some construction work going on. ...... (we Indians are so creative........ if there is no work, then we Create work ;-) )

Due to all this, it gets pretty chaotic during the evenings, with all the heavy traffic. Now since this is a junction, there's a four way traffic. And since there is no traffic control, the entire traffic movement is a Luck By Chance. Today also, there was a congestion of traffic and people sitting inside their jazzy vehicles were simply honking, thinking that the more they honk, the faster traffic gets cleared.

Then, few on lookers (guess 5 of them) quickly came together, and started controlling the traffic. Within minutes there was a free flow of vehicles. No traffic jam, but a smooth flow of traffic. Well, i guess thats what we call Responsibility. Simply having the ability to respond to a given situation. I am sure out of the thousands of people present on that road at that time, many must be having thoughts like:

• Yeah traffic toh roz ka hi natak hain. (this traffic is a everyday problem)
• Apni government kuch nahin karti hain re. (Our government never does anything )
• Yeah police waale bhi time pe kalti maarte hain. (Cops are never present when required)
• Kisko padi hain?. ( Who Cares ???)

But those people who came to help must have not thought about it...........they just did one thing, and that was to Act! Taking simple responsibility, how difficult can that be? Now these five people came to help, and there were still people saying "who will listen to these guys?". But within moments everyone did. And thats how they managed to control the traffic. Everyone was then listening to them, following what they commanded. Guess its really true then, Responsibility is equal to Power.

So here came thought to me, what if every Indian or rather, if every person on this planet would take some simple responsibilities around them? We often complain about things NOT being correct or right. But if we act responsibly , i think we all can have a better place to live in :-)

But seeing those 5 people controlling the traffic made one thing clear to me.............that there are still Good Citizens around :-)

Judge Not !!!

Hey guys........... its been almost a year and now im back. This blog is not an original one. Got this poem through a mail.......and just thought of posting it here. So enjoy !!! :-)

Heart Of Repentance

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

Is India really a Poor Country??

I got this mail from a friend. Liked it very much.........so thought of sharing with you all.

We all knew this existed, but the sheer magnitude surprised me. Do your bit to create the awareness and pressure.

IS INDIA A POOR COUNTRY?
by M R Venkatesh

Revelation of Swiss bank accounts

This is so shocking.... ...If black money deposits was an Olympics event.... India would have won a gold medal hands down. The second best Russia has 4 times lesser deposit. U.S. is not even there in the counting in top five! India has more money in Swiss banks than all the other countries combined!

Recently, due to international pressure, the Swiss government agreed to disclose the names of the account holders only if the respective governments formally asked for it... Indian government is not asking for the details..... ..no marks for guessing why?

So go and VOTE......and VOTE for CHANGE!!! The same party brought to power again and again means encouraging unabated corruption

Is India poor, who says? Ask the Swiss banks. With personal account deposit bank of $1,500 billion in foreign reserve which have been misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country?

DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS, IPS officers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $1500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1,00,000 each. This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them. Once this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India , the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, then also the Central government will be able to maintain the country very comfortably.

Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000 travel very frequently.. 'Obviously, these people won't be tourists. They must be travelling there for some other reason,' believes an official involved in tracking illegal money. And, clearly, he isn't referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who've been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into a tailspin!

Just read the following details and note how these dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians, corrupt officers, cricketers, film actors, illegal sex trade and protected wildlife operators, to name just a few, sucked this country's wealth and prosperity. This may be the picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about other international banks?
Black money in Swiss banks -- Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:


TOP FIVE
INDIA : $1,456 BILLION
RUSSIA : $470 BILLION
U.K. : $390 BILLION
UKRAINE : $100 BILLION
CHINA : $96 BILLION

Here's the interesting part.......
Now do the math's - India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947:

Can we bring back our money? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen.

The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear. What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world's best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of 'Swiss bank accounts,' the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.

In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe.

The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker -- in his widely celebrated book titled 'Capitalism' s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System' -- estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970.

It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world's population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens.. How much of this is from India is anybody's guess.

What is to be noted here is that most of the wealth of Indians parked in these tax havens is illegitimate money acquired through corrupt means. Naturally, the secrecy associated with the bank accounts in such places is central to the issue, not their low tax rates as the term 'tax havens' suggests. Remember Bofors and how India could not trace the ultimate beneficiary of those transactions because of the secrecy associated with these bank accounts?

The news channels a couple of days back said that Sonia Gandhi has assets worth of only Rs. 1.37 crores. :))) Do you really believe that ??

I repeat what i said earlier -Go and VOTE......and VOTE for CHANGE!!! The same party brought to power again and again means encouraging unabated corruption.

Are you sure the Media covers up the Entire Nation !!!

Lets look at some more facts about the current government ..........ready for few more surprises!! :))

How many states do we have in India? ............ are you sure u know the answer? or do you have to google it ?? :))
Well...... there are few states that do not get any attention from the media......... no matter how worse a condition exists there.

--> Situation in Assam
Our current Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been elected to Rajya Sabha for the past eighteen years from Assam… either as an MP or as the PM. And amazingly he has never spoken a word about the illegal infiltration of Bangladeshis which challenges the population structure in seven districts of that State. Maybe they are the guys that vote him in?!

There was a case in Guwahati High Court. A Pakistani infiltrated into Assam via Bangladesh and got included in the voters list after obtaining a ration card by paying bribe to the local officials. After that, he contested in and won the Assembly election on 1996!! In its judgment, the Guwahati High Court expressed deep anguish and said that only in Assam foreigners could come to power and even make the native people minorities. :))

The Pakistani flag is now being hoisted in five districts of states like Assam where the Muslim population has gone up significantly. 92000 Hindusand 6000 Christians are now languishing in refugee camps. The government has turned a blind eye to this. In the name of security, innocent people have been put in jails, whereas people like Yaasin Malik who has 23 murder charges on him, are moving Scot free and gathering their own strength. Is it acceptable to any patriotic Indian?

--> Situation in Andra Pradesh
Thanks to the Congress led Government, out of 36000 temples in Andhra Pradesh, 28000 have closed down in the last five years. Do you want the same trend to continue in other parts of the country?

--> Situation in Nagaland
Why have the minorities in Nagaland, Mizoram & Kashmir not got the similar privileges like the minorities in other states? Why is the Govt following different rules for different religions?

--> Situation in Arunachal Pradesh
Do you know that China is gradually trying to extend its boundries and accquire Arunachal Pradesh? Infact it has already made claims that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to China. Has the govenrment or the Media spoken or responded to China about this? Just imagine how China will react if India claims to accquire any land that belongs to China.

Read more about it here - http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1063888

--> Situation in Jammu and Kashmir
Well........most of us are atleast aware of the situation in J&K. But do you know that on 14th August Pakistani flags are hoisted in this region....... and more over......... on 15th August, the India flag is BURNT in most of the parts. Which country would allow such acts to take place??. I guess i shamefully have to admit that ..."It happens only in India!!"

Such is the plight of most of the states in Eastern India and other parts of the nation. And nothing has been done apart from generating vote banks by dividing the nation into Majority and Minority. Can't Hindu's , Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsi's etc. and all religions keep aside thier religion and think for a moment that we are all Indians :))

Well....... you can act. Go and Vote.........and Vote for Change !!!

Game of Education and Money by our Current Government

Some more facts related to the education system handled by over current government :))

--> Exceptional Rise in educational fees:
Back in 1991, at IIT , the semester fees were Rs 20! Yup, you heard it right… Then the government started withdrawing financial aid to the IITs and today the semester fees in IIT is to the tune of Rs 20,000!! Forget about IIT, the absolutely pathetic state of the educational infrastructure of all government run institutions hits you right in the face! That’s one of the reasons they have reservation maybe, to cover up their absolute inability to impart any semblance of basic education to the children of our country.

--> Donating Money to Harvard and Cambridge
Now while our own education systems are in a pretty bad shape, our government gives out money to Harvard and Cambridge universities!! And says stuff like we were not sure that they would accept the money, we are so grateful that they did!! How much money? To the tune of Rs 50 crores!! Just because Mr. Nehru studied from there. Instead had that money been utilized for Indian Rural University /College development we would had best infrastructure for lakhs of Indian Students. In last one year there has been increase by 25% or more in fees in all Govt. Indian colleges and universities, and Govt is generously donating that money to Foreign Universities. (You can read more about this here - http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1150356 )

--> CBSE status for Madrassas
While Pakistan and some other islamic nations are closing down their madressas, there is talk of granting CBSE status to Islamic madressas in India, which means that people graduating with an almost jihadi "education" now could apply for government jobs! Which will mean that we won’t just have criminals in the bureaucracy and ruling us, we will have terrorists! They can be anyone, a Police officer, a Bus driver, a muncipal employee. Easy access to terrorism to enter into our system-- Jai ho! (Read more about this here - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/madrasa-certificates-will-now-be-cbse-equivalent/404478/
and here - http://www.sanghparivar.org/join-madrasa-why-sit-for-tough-cbse-board-exam)

We say India is a secular nation, then why cant we promote Muslim students to study in the mainstream schools with the rest? Why seperate the muslim students and encourage them to study in Madrassas? When Pakistan Govt. itself has realized that terrorism is breeding in some Madarasa and is keeping close watch on activities or closing many Madarasa in Pakistan, Our Indian Govt. is doing the opposite. In many Madarasa , only concept of Jihad is been taught and wrong education is been given .To secure Vote Bank , Congress has made the law for granting CBSE certificate and Job in Public Sector / Government to students passing from Madarasa

--> Scholarships for Minorities
In the passing they handed out scholarships to more than 25 lakh students in India… ALL minorities! When we say we Indians are ONE, they why the funda of minority or majority? What about those who are not a minority? Is this the right way to give scholarships, on the basis of minority or majority status?
All these issues are not been highlighted by the Media. Its just a one liner news and then its over. So we can easily tell who has pocketed the media:)).

So you see......... we cannot really trust the Media. This time go and vote......and Vote for CHANGE !!! :)

PS: These points are just the tip of the iceberg :)) .

Our Money used in Pak & Afgan !!! - Media is quiet ...sshhh!!!

Here are some facts about our money - the money all of us cough up as tax and are threatened with dire consequences if we don’t pay on time, etc, etc… The money that the government is supposed to be using for the welfare of the people… Well, here is what they have done with it…

--> Remember the Mumbai train blasts? Well, around that time India gave financial aid to Pakistan for earthquake relief… Rs 150 crores of it! . Oh, you guys came and blew up our trains… Thanks a lot, we needed new ones anyways! Here is some money for your efforts! We have soooo much money, we really don’t know what to do with it! Using it for education or slum rehab, really didn’t cross our minds at all… :))

--> Rs 3000 crores to Afghanistan! for infrastructure development… and i quote from the website: "In this case, India is providing three million dollars worth of gear. This includes 150 bullet-proof watch towers, 2,500 protective vests, and a lot of mine clearing equipment. So far, India has donated $700 million worth of good and services to Afghanistan, mostly for economic reconstruction." (Here is the link -http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htproc/articles/20061223.aspx). Bullet proof watch towers and protective vests are economic reconstruction?!

--> After the 26th Nov mumbai attacks, government promised new weapons for the police department. Well, if you go to any police station and ask them, here is what they will tell you. "Yes, we have got new weapons. Previously we used weapons / Pistols / Rifles that fired only 2 rounds of bullets. But the current ones are 'supposed to' fire 24 rounds of bullets. Yeah, they are just 'supposed to' fire because these new weapons given to the police department are guns that are discarded by the Indian Army. So they look new, but who knows if they fire or not !!! "

This is how our current government is using the citizens money - utilizing it on countries like Pakistan and Afganistan that are already a threat to India.
And the best part is........ the Media does not highlight such issues. Thats the reason i said earlier.......the media just shows one side of the story ;))
Think about it. Vote for a Change !!!

PS: These are just some of the points that i have highlighted.......there are many such issues where our money has been utilized and not accounted for.

Vote for Change - Say No to Milli Jhulli Sarkar

The Election mania has started already. We all want a change in government. We all want a change in our (Indian) politics and politicians. However, the only power that we citizens posses is - " to vote ". I agree that 1 vote hardly matters. But nevertheless ........it does matter. I hope we all go and vote during this elections.

Since 1991, no party has won the elections with a majority. Its always been a coalition government (Mili Jhuli Sarkar). In such situations, the government spends more time, money and efforts in keeping the coalition together, so that they don't loose the majority; rather than serving / developing the country.

In the USA (and many other contries) , there are only 2 parties that contest the elections -
1) The Republicans and 2) The Democrats.
In India, i think there are hundreds :)) . And we all wish that we have only 2 political parties in our country..........don't we?
But if we look closely, even in India, there are 2 major National parties -
1) Congress and 2) BJP.

So if we neglect or avoid voting the regional parties, and keeping our Nation in mind, if we vote for either of the above 2 parties, then surely there will be a single government this time.

Agreed, both parties are equally bad, equally corrupt. But for the past 18 years, we have not had a single government. Lets kick out the Mili Jhuli Sarkar and vote to get a single government.
But which party to choose out of the two........... do your own research. And PLEASE don't believe the Media, News papers, TV Reports completely. They just show one side of the story :)))

Graceful white surprise ...

Its time for me to leave Finland for the moment and go back to India ;). So for the past few days i was involved in clearing stuff over here and also packing my bags. It has been a wonderful experience of learning and sharing. Lots of stories and memories :). 

Also, the winters are fast approaching, with temperatures touching zero degrees. (and even goes below zero at night). Till yesterday it was all green outside. The skies were cloudy, and the weather was windy. Nice and pleasent for a long walk with special people ;). But today, it started to snow in the afternoon. And it snowed heavily for about 2 hours, thus everything outside was all white. Everything was covered in snow..........the cars, trees, bikes and even people. The roads that were clear and visible till yesterday were covered under thick lush yet soft snow. 

The entire place looked different after the transition/addition of snow. I was all excited to see the first snow this year, so took out my bike and went for a nice chilled bike ride ;). And just looking around, observing everything, i could feel the soft snow falling upon me from the endless skies above. The wind flowing would ocassionally make innovative designs of the snow flakes floating in the air. And with everything so pure and white around me, i could only feel grateful to the Divine for giving me this oppurtunity to experience His abundance presence all around us. Truely Magnificent !!! :)

Here's a pic of the first snow fall that i clicked.

Happiest Person!!!

Hi Guys......... i have been living in Oulu (Finland) now for approximately a year now. And i have made many friends during my stay and work here. Each moment has been an experience. No need to label them as good or bad, but just experiences. And tonnes to learn from. There have been happy moments, some sad moments, lonely moments............ but right now when i think about them...........I feel, everything was so perfect.

Speaking about happy moments, a friend of mine from the same company is also working here in Oulu since last one year. He has seen the extreme winters (-30 degrees), the summer, the autumn. Played cricket, volleyball and other games. Visited Switzerland, Germany, Paris and Amsterdam. During his stay i have seem him get happy, angry and all the other emotions that teenage boys go through.

But earlier this month, this dude went back to India and got engaged. And after he came back, we all have seen such change in him. He is just so Happy!!! Would like to wish him a hearty congrats for his life ahead. When he went back, he has experienced many miracles and adventures. He tells us that the formula to his success statements are: No Matter What. You Gone Mad or What. At the Worst what Happens....Nothing Happens. (Those who were here in Oulu on they will understand this ;) ).

Congrats to him once again. His name by the way is Sheshukumar Cherukuri. Do mail him and write to him at seshucherukuri@gmail.com.

Tasty Surprise

I had been to Switzerland and Germany two weeks back. Both places are simply awesome with their own natural beauty, culture, tradition and people. Well, i am not going to give a detail explanation about my trip in this blog............may be some other time. But will share regarding the lovely food we had in Switzerland.

As we all know, Swiss is a place of high hills and valleys. (and lots and lots of cows. the ratio of cows to people living there is 3:1). The peak parts of Alps range is also in Swiss. So my friends and me decided to visit a peak Mount Titlis. Its at a height of 3100 m above sea level. And tourists are taken to the top via a cable car that takes 45 minutes.

When we reached at the base of Mt. Titlis we were excited to see the natural beauty around. High mountains with their peaks covered in snow. Clicked many pictures there. Before boarding the cable car, we decided to eat some stuff so that we won't get hungry later on. Now eating outside in Europe is a big trouble if your an Indian.........and even more trouble if your a Veggie Indian :). We spotted a take away joint near the base. Hoping that it served good food, we rushed towards it.

And to our delight........guess what it turned out to be. It was an Indian food stall.......yieppe!!!
And to top it all...........our Indian flag was hoisted there too. Well........it is so true.........we Indians have our presence everywhere...........even in the high Alps. The stall attendent was a noble man from Rajesthan but living in Switzerland for the past 30 years. When we looked at the menu............we were even more thrilled. They served Vada Pav, Idli, Pav Bhaji........and even Gajjar ka Halwa :) . We ordered all of them. And i ate it as if it was my last meal ;). I had not eaten these items for the past 11 months since my stay in Finland. So it was a treat for me.

aaaaahhhhh.........I just cant imagine life without vada pav....... ;) (pun intended!!!)

Control + Alt + Delete !!!

Computers have become a very essential part of our lives. And software engineers eat, drink and sleep computers. So much so that we sometimes talk in computer language.

For instance, two days ago my team mate was searching for his pen that he had misplaced in the office. So i go upto him and say... "Dude, do a Control F" (Ctrl+F ....command to search for a file on a Comp) .... ;).

And its not just me, people all around speak in similar lingo. If someone needs help.........he/she will say "F1......F1...." :). The picture that i have attached below shows another commonly used computer command.........used as a lingo..........with a simple yet effective meaning ;) .

If you find similar lingos...........then do post them in the comments section. Have a Great Day/Night ;)

Obama or McCain ?

Who should be the next president of USA? Well, only the people of USA can decide that :). The two presidential candidates are Barack Obama and John McCain. One of these will be replacing George Bush. Barack Obama represents the democratic party and John McCain represents the republican party. (McCain belongs to the same party as that of George Bush). The next president of USA will be declared in January 2009.............but the entire world is keeping itself updated about the proceedings.

Some of us may think, how does it matter to us who the next president of USA is? Well, it does matter a bit...........only a bit. Anyways, its the American peoples choice, and let them decide whats best for them. But what i liked the most is the method of electing a President in USA. You see, when the candidates are nominated for the post of president, they have to provide a full proof plan as to how they are going to sort out the various issues of the country. This includes education, health care, border security, taxation and other such issues.

Then they have to participate in a series of debates, that will be held by a chairperson and the entire debate will be viewed by the common people on TV. This helps them to decide whom they are going to cast their vote for. I seen the last presidential debate between Obama and McCain on youtube. And boy its a treat to watch it. The chairperson asks them such tough and direct questions. Both candidates had to talk on issues (as to how would they solve it if they were elected president) regarding the current fall in American economy, the War on Iraq, the relationships with Iran etc. Its not just that they had to say they would solve the countries problems, they have to present a detail roadmap with facts and figures.

On one occasion, both candidates had to talk about how they are going to solve the economic crises of the America. Both spoke for a while in highly technical terms. And after they had finished speaking, the chairperson points a figure at them and says "I haven't understood a single thing what you just said. It all seems a crap to me". (Imagine someone saying that to you in a debate. You had to change the method of explanation then right) Thats how tough the debates are. Poori tarah se nanga kardeta hain (It projects what plans your going to execute).

I wish even we could have such events during our Presidential or Prime Minister elections so that the common man can decide easily and be clear as to whom he/she will be voting.

But whoever becomes the next president of USA, one thing is for sure........more wars!!! Obama however says that he would remove the troops from Iraq and focus more on the terrorists that Pakistan is supporting. McCain on the other hand says that if he is the president then he will continue this war on Iraq.

I think this...........McCain is a photocopy of Bush. Obama seems more practical and tough. I would go for Obama.

Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy.......

Nathuram Godse is as famous as Mahatma Gandhi. Why? Simple……because he assassinated Gandhi. But what most people do not know is the reason why Nathuram Godse did it. This play that I seen today “Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy” reveals the story from Mr. Godse’s point of view.

For all those who do not know, let me tell you that Nathuram Godse was not a madman or a criminal to assassinate Gandhi. Infact, during his teen years, Gandhi was an Idol to Godse. And yet Godse assassinated Gandhi on January 30, 1948, approaching him during the evening prayer, bowing, and shooting him three times at close range with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol. Immediately after this, he surrendered himself to police, rather than running away.

It’s just that our history books portray him as the bad man who shot Gandhi. And no surprise in that as India after Independence was mostly governed (I prefer the term “mostly ruled”) by Congress. So most of the history that is been told in our education system is NOT the truth. Hence it’s best to investigate yourself using trustworthy sources. Anyways…..this blog is not to blame or accuse the Congress.

As I mentioned earlier, Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi (who was his Idol), three times and just stood there. He could have run away in the commotion of the crowd. He could have also shot himself in order to escape the punishment of assassinating the Father of Nation. Instead, he chose to stand there and get arrested. Now there has to be some moral reason to do this. Yes there is a reason to it. And the pity is that most of us are not aware about it. You know whom to blame for that :-). Well, the play “Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy” presents to us the assassination of Gandhi from Nathuram’s point of view and why he chose to take this drastic step.

This play has been banned and not available on cd or dvd (atleast I could not find one). But you can view this play on www.youtube.com. It’s banned for obvious reasons that some people who have written our Indian history do not want the common man to know the truth. Do also visit this webpage http://ngodse.tripod.com/. It shares a lot of information regarding Gandhi and the reason for his assassination. They mainly highlight Gandhi’s idea of non-violence and the partition of India into India and Pakistan. Check the play and the website and decide for yourself about the truth.

If anyone asks me, I don’t think Mahatma Gandhi deserves to be the Father of my Nation.

PS: Once you open youtube, type in the search field 'Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy' and you will get the play in parts. Its divided into 14 parts and its in marathi. If you want it in English subtitles, then go to http://ngodse.blogspot.com/, and download the files by copy-pasting the links given in a different browser.

And the actor who plays Nathuram Godse does a fabulous job in unfolding the character.

India vs Finland - Volleyball !!! :-) .... Chak De style.

There are so many stories about how a person who is considered as an underdog rises to his tasks and achieves his goals merely by his desire and belief to win. Take for example the stories shown in Chak De India and Lagaan. But these are just reel stories. What i have to tell is not a reel, but a Real Story. :)

The day was 29^th August 2008 on a beachside. That’s where a beach volleyball tournament was to be held for all Elektrobit (Oulu, Finland……that’s the company where I work) employees and sub contractors and all entries were to be given 2 weeks before the date. So we decided to participate and send in our entry. Total number of players in a team was 7 and all were Indians. The team name was selected as Just4Kicks!

Great, so we had our team we had a funky name, and now the big question was, how to play the game. Well, for those of you who do not know, the Finnish people play volleyball in their country as we play Cricket in India. So they are well versed with all kinds of tactics and strategies. And to top it all, the average height of a Finnish person is 6 feet 2 inches and they have a very strong and muscular physic. More like the WWE people. Now just imagine us standing among these huge dudes. Its like Rajpal Yadav standing among a group of Dara Singhs :). So it was evident that our team had no chance to win even a point in the game, forget winning a game.

For the next two weeks, we practiced regularly for 2 hours after office, thinking that its fine if we loose, but we will not loose without a fight. We learned a few basic tactics during our practice sessions and had a simple game plan – that come what may, we have to give our 100% and pass the ball to the opponent’s court. We all felt good about the practice sessions as we took it like a temporary exercise to this software body of ours.

So the day came, 29^th of August. It was a Friday and many employees were ready at the venue. Some to see the games and some to participate in their teams. There were 5 teams including ours, that made it 4 Finnish teams and 1 Indian team. And from the Finnish teams, there were 5 players who were national level players. While we were warming up before the games, our Finnish colleagues challenged us that we wouldn’t even win a Set. As a matter of fact, that’s what we all felt when we seen the Finnish people or Finn’s practicing. Their game was so perfect, and so strong. Unfortunately for us, the temperature that day was 7 degree Celsius. The temperature did not matter for the Finn’s as they are used to extreme cold temperatures.

Well, with all odds against us, we said to ourselves, let’s enjoy the game and win some hearts :). The games started with a huge applause from the crowd. Luckily, we started our game with a bang. We got 3 straight points on our serve. So we were leading from the start. It was a best of 3 Set matches. So the team who won 2 Sets would get points added in the table. We were doing very well in the first Set, and guess what, we actually won it. This gave us confidence that if we just calm down and focus on the game, we can do better than we expected. The match continued and we performed even better and won the firs match. Wow! But there was a weird silence in the crowd. The Finn’s never expected us to win, but we did. So this became a prestige issue for them. And they started cheering all the Finnish teams against us.

Our second match was against a team named Godzilla. And likely so, all players were huge:). But we had one thing in mind, not to go down without a fight. And fight we did. We won the first Set. Seeing us perform so well with such enthusiasm and high levels of energy, few of the Finn’s from the crowd started cheering up for our team. And we really liked it. The game went on. We lost the second Set, but won the third Set comfortably thus winning the match against the mighty Godzilla. And the crowd cheered even more for us.

Then was time for a third match. We stumbled at the start but won that match too in the end. So with 3 wins to our team, we were now going to play a last match, which was the final. Now could you believe that? Well, we couldn’t at that time. With no chance to win even a point, here we were winning 3 continues matches against some of the best players and now even had a chance to win the finals. That itself is some achievement, isn’t it?

The whistle was blown and the tournament finals started. We were playing good, but the opponents were even better. We gave everything, but it didn’t matter, they were just too good. We lost the finals. But it was still a close match, with just a difference of couple of points.

But too our amazement, everyone from the crowd was just saying our name Just4Kicks……Just4Kicks :). Most of them came and talked to us, saying that they liked our style of playing the game, it was unique and different. Even the Finnish players came and applauded us. Everyone was in total surprise that how could a bunch of Indian guys manage to give such a great performance when they had all odds against them.

We lost the finals, but it didn’t matter, as we had accomplished what we had aimed for – to win hearts! And we had done it in style:). We won the silver medal and we felt like winners, not the reel way, but the Real way.

Guruji in Helsinki......(contd again)

Everytime there is a Q&A session with Guruji, its going to be filled with lots of Knowledge, Simplicity and Humor. Sometimes while listening to the questions asked by people, few questions sound very stupid to me. (yeah yeah I agree that no question is stupid…….. but I do get this thought when I hear some.) I wonder how someone can be so dumb to ask Him such questions. But Guruji answers each one of them……in His own style :). Below is one such question …….and ofcourse its answer given by Guruji as well :)

Q: How do we prepare for death?
Ans: Don’t prepare for death. It will come to you whether you like it or not. ;) (followed by a huge laughter in the crowd)

Here’s one more.

Q: Which place do you like the most?
Ans: I consider every place as my home. Each place in this world is my home. Its like I am traveling from one room to another.

Jai Gurudeva :)

Guruji in Helsinki ....... contd

During the session, many people asked questions regarding life, purpose of life, how to deal with negative people etc etc......... one can call it as high level stuff ;).

Here's one question and the answer that Guruji responded with...

Q: Guruji, what to do if people who are very close to us are very negative and egoistic, and they do not listen to us?

Ans: I will tell you a story ............ There was a man, whose wife used to always do the opposite of what he told her to. For instance, if the man asked his wife to make idli sambhar for breakfast, she used to make sandwich. If he said that the blue dress looks good on you, she would wear a red one instead. This made the man very sad as the wife whom he loved so much would never listen to him and always do the opposite things.

One day the man met a saint. And he told the saint about his wife and asked for a solution. The saint thought for a moment and whispered something in the man's ears. The man was confused after listening to the saints advice, but decided to carry on with it. From that day itself the man observed that the saints advice was working very well for him. And his wife would do exactly what the man wanted her to do. He never had a problem with his wife thereafter :).

Now are you wondering what the advice was? Well, the saint suggested the man to tell his wife the opposite of what he actually wants. For instance, if he wants to eat idli sambhar, he would tell his wife that he wanted to eat sandwich. So his wife (who always does the opposite of what the man wants) would make idli sambhar. This way, the man was very happy as he could always get what he wanted from his wife. :) Smart advice right?

In the same manner, when people around you are egoistic and negative, they will never listen to what you are saying. They will always do the opposite of what you say :) . You must have observed this in your life as well. Ego is shown by words. So what are you going to do about it? You be indifferent to them. And don't let their words affect you. A negative person will never listen to you, so don't get into a serious discussion with them. As they will not understand any logic that you explain to them. They will be the way they are, and will always do the opposite.

So rather than getting serious with them, you can talk to them with humor :). Play around with them. Dance with them :). But don't make them understand anything as it will only lead into an argument.



PS: Isn't it amaizing how Guruji answers these heavy questions in such a light and humorous manner.

Guruji in Helsinki

Guruji was in Helsinki (Finland) on 13^th April 2008, and I was lucky enough to travel there and meet Him. The volunteers there had organized a special session with Him, and about 300 people from countries like Poland, Russia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden and Finland ofcourse, had come to be there in His presence. Here are few pictures of Guruji that I managed to click while in the session ;-).

Now in this session, lots of interesting knowledge was shared. Are you interested in knowing what Guruji spoke about? Well………if you really want to know about it, then keep coming back here again during this week. I will be posting different topics on what Guruji spoke in that session.
Have fun

Jai Gurudeva.

How to deal with Rude people?

Most of us have this question that how to act or react when a person is rude with me? Even i had this question. Well, the answer to this question is simple :), and i found an answer to this question not so long ago :). So thought of sharing this with you. We were at Amol bhaiya's house once and read a knowledge sheet on the topic rudeness. And here is what we read:

"What do you do when someone behaves rudely to you?

• Get angry
• Feel bad
• Tit for tat - be rude to that person as well
• feel insecure
• never talk to that person
• explain to that person that what he/she is doing is wrong.

Well, if you do any of the above, it will not strengthen you. Then what should you do? When someone behaves rudely, you can see their rude behavior with these perspectives:

• It shows their level of commitment and perfection in a task
• It just indicates about the persons upbringing.
  
• The person lacks knowledge
• It indicates the level of stress and insensitivity.
• It indicates the lack of understanding
• It indicates how you should NOT behave :)

So if next time someone is rude to you, make sure that it does not affect you. And you just return a broad smile. If you can digest someone's rudeness then nothing in this world can shake you!!! "




















Isn't it wonderful? Don't you feel light after reading this? So............ now you know what do when someone is rude to you ;) . Well now that you know what to do ............ have fun implementing it ;)

You can read more about this topic in the book "Celebrating Silence" by Sri Sri Ravishankarji, or lovingly called as Guruji. Page is 54. Or in one of the volumes of the weekly knowledge sheet. I don't remember the volume number, maybe you can find out and let me know about it.

"A Wednesday" on a Sunday

Thanks to my fast internet connection (10 Mbps) and online streaming, I am lucky enough to watch the recently released movies on my laptop. The movie that I seen today is called “A Wednesday”. Guys, go watch it!!! Hats off to director Neeraj Pandey for making this movie and selecting the perfect cast and crew. Naseerudin Shah is as usual excellent with his dialogue delivery and Anupum Kher does full justice to his role as police commissioner of Mumbai and for the first time you can see Jimmy Shergill playing a role as a tough guy………..and he does it in style. I never knew he would pull of this character of “Arif” in the movie so well.

A Wednesday is one of the finest arts of cinema in 2008. The story is about a set of events that occur from 2 pm to 6 pm on a Wednesday. As the movie unfolds you feel a sense of curiosity as to whats going to happen next. I won’t write more about the story as it would ruin your surprises in the movie. One can say that the movie takes few concepts of Black Firday or Aamir, however, the story is unique and definitely not predictable (well……..it is a little bit). Overall I rate it 9 out of 10.

PS: Another reason why I liked the movie is because its short (less than 2 hours) and it has no Songs :)

Cycling in Oulu

I still remember those days when I used to cycle around in Mumbai. I got my first cycle at the age of 14, it was named Generation X Ranger ( yeah I got it for its funky name ;-) ), and used to cycle a lot during holidays and vacations. But soon I gave it up as the roads were very bad and I used to get a flat tire almost every 2 weeks.

And ten years later, now when I am in Oulu (in Finland), I bought a second hand cycle and started cycling again. And the only reason was the well maintained separate roads for cycling. In fact, the cycle roads in Oulu are considered as one of the best in the world. The total length of roads is approx. 512kms. That’s right, no heavy motor vehicles are allowed on these roads and they are meant only for cycling, skating, walking and running. And unlike that in Mumbai, its great to see so many people cycling around the city.

Well, I see it as a nice solution to reduce pollution. And it’s a nice way to stay in shape as well ;). The scenery alongside the roads is filled with greenery and forests.........simply breath taking. Its as if I am traveling through one of the landscapes shown in Lord of The Rings movie.

Its been 3 months now that I have been cycling within the city and its been one of my best experiences here in Oulu. I even go to work on my cycle. As a matter of fact about 20% of employees in my company get their cycles to work. And about 10 % come on their roller skates and the rest get their car. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined to come to work on a cycle (that too dressed in formals………hehe).

Here are few pictures for you to enjoy. The cycle in the last photo is mine :)