Life as we know it

Judicial system of two neighbours

2009-06-25T00:42:00.003+05:30

Pakistan supreme court rejected review petition of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian citizen convicted for espionage and bomb blasts in various cities of Pakistan. The petition was rejected on the grounds that Sarabjit's lawyer was not present in the court for the procedings. (Link)

Contrary to this, in India the court will not prosecute Ajmal Kasab (a Pakistani citizen arrested for being responsible for the mumbai terrorist attacks) unless he had a lawyer to represent him. Even though everyone in the world saw Kasab live firing from his assault rifle at the commuters on VT station. This is a striking difference between the judicial system of the two neighbouring countries.

If Sarabjit Singh had a lawyer representing him in the court, the result might have been different. However, the court decided to reject his case because his lawyer deserted him. The judicial system has to be something better than this.

This should also be an eye opener for all the people who were lynching the lawyers agreeing to represent Ajmal Kasab, just to make sure that the trial moves forward. Also, the people who were against any trial for terrorism convicts and direct death sentence. We would never want our judicial system to reach those shallow levels. India has always been and should always provide proper legal assistance before trying any criminals. With proper working legal system we can solve these issues and earn respect in eyes of a common human being.

Invited speakers from AID India

2009-06-08T02:03:00.002+05:30

Association for India's Development (AID) presents as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series, M Damodharan and Dharmendra Kumar, both noted social workers committed to the cause of sustainable and just development at the grassroots level in different parts of India.

Date : 9th June
Time : 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm (ADMISSION FREE)
Venue : 260 Willard Building, Penn State University

M Damodharan comes from the state of Tamil Nadu (TN) in southern India and has been with AID India for the past 9 years. He is the program head for community development, and content head for the language program at AID TN. Damu, as Dhamodaran is popularly known, has been the major driving force behind the widespread implementation of the “Padippum Inikkum” reading program launched by AID TN in 2006. AID India was awarded the Pratham 2006 Achievement Award for this reading program.

Dharmendra Kumar comes from the state of Bihar in eastern India. He was the state coordinator of All India People Science Network's (AIPSN) "Joy of Learning Campaign." Besides his interests in education, between 2004 to 2007, Dharmendraji coordinated public health initiatives such as the Hundred Block Program and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan. Since January 2008 he has been coordinating AID India’s activities in Bihar to promote social equity and development. He was also actively involved with the flood relief activities during the Bihar floods in 2008.

Please join us to hear their experiences of working in these interesting projects.

Providing food with dignity

2009-06-05T01:06:00.004+05:30

The calamity times can be really bad on a person's dignity. In these times when one is fighting against the nature to feed his/her family, keeping ones dignity intact is even tougher. How to accept the relief material, the food, clothes and medicines. If it was from govt, there would be a right to ask for it. But if it comes from foreign corners, how would someone feel while taking it. What to do if there is no other alternative available?

Mukti, NGO being supported by AID made the dilemma easier for the people affected by cyclone Aila. The next biggest danger people in these areas were facing was the disaster coming in form of high tide at the full moon night. The embankments to the river need urgent repair to avoid the destruction by high tide. At one hand people are dying of hunger, on the other hand the embankment won't be repaired because of lack of manpower. Since the paycheck from govt comes really late, its hard to motivate people to work while their family is dying of hunger. Mukti volunteers proposed to give food to the people who worked to repair the embankment. "Mukti motivated the villagers by providing snacks (breakfast) in the morning session and 2kg of rice and 200 grams Dal and 250 grams potato 100 grams of onion at the end of the day in addition to wages which they will get in time." This was a good enough motivator to feed their family and save their village while keeping their dignity intact. There were 450 people working on first day and 900 from second day onwards. The model is being appreciated by the govt officials and other NGOs and is being replicated in other villages too.

Link for Mukti report

So end of the story is that even in middle of such devastation there are people working really hard and coming up with intelligent solution to odd problems.

Another news: A supporter have pledged to donate $1500 if AID can generate $5000 for cyclone aila relief fund. So go ahead and donate generously. Every $10 of yours will mean $13 to the needy people.

News reports: TheBigPicture | Telegraph | ToI | ToI | IndianExpress | DeccanHerald

Cyclone Aila updates

2009-06-01T03:52:00.002+05:30

Life is still paused in the areas affected by cyclone Aila. However, the relief given by AID is reaching to some parts of these areas. The most satisfying fact is that the money I saved from not eating my meal at a restaurant actually fed almost a whole village in these difficult times. If you are able to contribute even a penny to this effort, please do not think twice. Every dime and a dollar will be used to save human lives.

Here are few updates from the ground. The video has some stats and then pictures from the relief camp being run by Mukti, an NGO working with AID in the affected villages.

Here is a report from M. A. Wohab, Director of SHIS, another NGO conducting clinics everyday in the affected villages besides providing water and food. If you are a doctor, or know a doctor who might want to help these people let me know.

Report

Here is a detailed survey from BTS/Mukti covered areas giving an idea of the damage and the type of relief available.

Link

Budget from BTS/Mukti for the relief work in the villages.

Link

For regular updated on the relief work click here

To donate to the relief fund click here

Cyclone Aila relief work

2009-05-29T20:10:00.008+05:30

Cyclone Aila struck the coasts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India killing more than 200 people and destroying 180,000 homes. Over 3 million people have been displaced as per the estimates.

The govt help is as always not adequate. Association for India's Development (AID) is partnering with local NGO partners to provide food, water and shelter. AID has already disbursed $21,000 to one of the partner NGO Baikanthapur Tarun Sangha (BTS) for this work.

If you would like to help the relief work please donate to AID All India Relief Fund.

Click here if you would like to follow the regular updates (from people working right in the middle of it and not from seasoned journalists)

If you would like to go and help in the relief work drop a hint in the comments section.

Cyclone Aila in press : BBC | The Daily Star | CNN | ToI | The Hindu

Urban Legend - Act 49-O

2009-05-21T09:40:00.003+05:30

While the parliamentary election were on in India, I received several emails to exercise my right of not giving my vote to anyone. The general email reads as follows:

"Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone !!!! Yes, such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called"49-O".
Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be canceled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why, and election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.... please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on..."

While there is some truth in the email, some of it is false.

Truth: Yes there is a clause in "Conduct of Election Rules, 1961" called 49-O, which is very similar to the one described in the email. The clause says:

"49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark." [Ref]

False: Although there is a clause named 49-O and it also give you a right not to vote, it has no tooth. I mean there is no provision for re-election, re-polling, or removal of the candidature of the candidates.

The clause is mainly to help avoid proxy voting. If you don't want to give your vote to anyone, and also don't want someone else to do proxy voting in your name, you can go and exercise your right to not to vote. This would make it impossible for someone else to cast vote in your name.

The problem in exercising this right is that your identity would be revealed. Earlier, in times of old Ballot Paper, you could leave the paper blank and drop it in the box. However, the new EVMs doesn't have an option of 'None of the above'. If you exercise this right, the polling official and the polling agent would come to know about it. The proposed election reforms have considered this issue, and have suggested an extra option on the EVMs. [Ref]

Now about the tooth part, there are PILs and several activists trying to convice Supreme Court and Election Commission to amend this clause and give it some tooth.

So there exists a clause named 49-O and it does take care of 'Negative / Neutral Voting'. However it doesn't have any option of cancelling the election in the particular are, or forcing re-polling.

Do you play Sudoku?

2009-05-12T10:15:00.003+05:30

Sudoku is a combinatorial number puzzle. You have to fill in a 9x9 grid with numbers 1-9 in each line and in nine 3x3 squares. I started doing it back in 2005 when they started it in Indian newspapers!! I still do it in the newspapers and sometime on this website: Link

Today while searching for computer accessories, I found this product on deal:

Link1
Link2

The description of the product says "We all know that having a sit down can be a time consuming and boring process. Some people read, others sing. Why not play Sudoku with your loo paper?
The perfect gift for the person who has everything!"

As they say, if you are addicted to it, you would find time and place for it.\

Picture courtesy www.bimbambanana.com

How much do you know your world?

2008-08-20T02:06:00.005+05:30

What if knowing a place can get 10 cups of water to needy, what if knowing a word would mean feeding someone?

Try your knowledge to help someone get food and water.
www.freerice.com
www.freepoverty.com

Coming out of hibernation

2008-08-08T10:01:00.002+05:30

Ahh... long time no see!!!

I am coming out of my hibernation from the blogging world. While I was in hibernation, I got involved in couple of interesting activities. I found a direction to walk, a motivation to work for the future. The future of the country I left two years ago. I didn't know that it was waiting for me here, but fate brought me here and I found my directions to the destination.

I always used to feel empty whenever someone asked what I want to do after all this education. I could never imagine myself 4-5 years later in my life. In fact I am one of those who don't believe in planning the life more than next couple of hours. However now I can see myself walking a road which I know I would love to walk on. It would be difficult, but it would be satisfying.

I am sure there are not many people interested in what I would be doing in future. Still here is the hint, check out www.aidindia.org

Adios!!

Chashme Buddoor [1981]

2008-04-18T02:13:00.002+05:30

Chamko detergent, does that rings a bell to you? you might never have seen this brand of detergent, however if you watched hindi movies on doordarshan in early 90's you cant miss this brand.

This is kinda identification for the movie: Chashme Buddoor (1981). Farooq Shaikh, Deepti Nawal.

A very simple Middle-of-the-road movie.

Power of education

2008-03-25T19:22:00.004+05:30

Read this article on Powerful Jews and response on desicritics.

The original article was a bit too long and most of it was repetitive. But if I got it right then there were two important parts in that article.

"Question: So, why are Jews so powerful?
Answer: Education."

and

"So, why are Muslims so powerless?
Answer: Lack of education!"

I would not say that Jews are most powerful and Muslims are most powerless in the world, however I don't see why I should disagree with the two reasoning above. If a religion emphasizes more on education, its bound to have more intellectuals. In today's world you cannot ignore the power of knowledge. Yes you can say that jews or for that christians have english as their basic language which is the language of most part of the knowledge available in the world today. However you cannot ignore the emphasis they put on literacy.

I have always believed in the power of education. All the issues in this world can be settled with proper knowledge transfer. Think of global warming, educate people about it and they would use the resources carefully. Think of international disputes, educate people about the issues and they would come up with an amicable solution. When you see a disease like AIDS which does not have a cure yet, the best option you are left with is educate people about it.

Religious principles might not be the only reason for the growth of people belonging to a particular religion, however these principles can have a huge impact on the social development.

Brain Drain

2008-03-14T19:45:00.003+05:30

15 bright students of Indian origin, sitting in a small room in one of the biggest university of USA. Any guesses what they were doing in there?

Discussing the economy? No
Celebrating the rise of India? No
Talking over the rising oil prices? No

They were concerned about the lack of interest of poor dalit children in education. They were discussing how to support a group to take initiative and teach those children in their own homes. These students were discussing the living conditions of the poor people in one of the small village of West Bengal.

I have been hearing about brain drain since I joined IIT Kharagpur. It was hard to convince people that even after coming out of country, people do think about India. A small meeting yesterday evening bolstered my belief in indian brain's worry about their country.

wanna know more?? AID India

Happy Valentines' Day

2008-02-14T21:51:00.002+05:30

A thought for the day ....

Screen-print your own T's

2008-02-11T10:30:00.000+05:30

Have you thought of screen-printing your own T's sometime ..... well its a nice weekend project ... I found this video on youtube for screen printing the T's.

google is watching!!

2008-01-23T22:42:00.000+05:30

Here comes google with orkut trends!!

Google has been watching your searches and now they are also watching how much do you scrap and what do you write in that!! And above all, google never removes this data from its storages!! It scares a lot of people who are privacy cynic, however I don't mind as long as google gives me better results in my searches and comes up with services I always want.

Lets see what google comes up next with!!

Triple Filter Test

2008-01-23T10:10:00.000+05:30

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test.It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test though,because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really..."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful,! why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed.

Asok reincarnated!!

2007-12-11T21:13:00.000+05:30

Couple of days ago Scott Adams (Author of dilbert) killed the popular indian character Asok in a moon satellite accident. People wondered, how could he get rid of a character like Asok, just like that!! well he kept an option open to bring him back.

ref: dilbert.com

The good news is, Asok has reincarnated and has regained his true shape after a DNA mixup with snickers bar!!

ref: dilbert.com

Before it's too late

2007-10-06T05:28:00.000+05:30

World Reocrd in Twenty20

2007-09-20T02:34:00.000+05:30

Yuvraj Singh hitting 6 sixes of 6 balls in the Super 8 round of Twenty-20 world cup against England. Superb sixes :)

Indian Healthcare

2007-09-18T00:12:00.000+05:30

This article in TOI caught my attention.

Link

First of all it proves my view that medical services in India are much better and cheaper than USA.

Apart from that I see it as a really good business scheme and a very good opportunity for indian healthcare industry to get an international standing. I have always judged economic developments from the impact to the last person in the chain. If you look at this piece of information, its bound to increase profits of big hospitals and attract more investment into the healthcare sector. This will in turn improve the services provided by them and availability at various places.

Above all, more money into the market means greater spending power for a common man which makes everyone happy!!

Performance Pressure!!

2007-09-11T00:16:00.001+05:30

Astral Cocktails!!

2007-08-24T00:54:00.000+05:30

Found this list of zodiac cocktails on net ... seems interesting and worth trying!!

Aries - TNT
¾ oz Pernod
¾ oz. Whisky
Mix the ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker/blender. Serve in a chilled cocktail glass.

Taurus - Brave Bull
1½ oz Tequila
¾ oz coffee liqueur
Lemon peel to garnish
Mix the ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker/blender and serve in an old fashioned glass. Twist the lemon peel and drop into the glass.

Gemini - Double Trouble
1 part Jack Daniels or Three Barrels brandy
4 parts Bollinger champagne
Slice of orange
Serve in a tall glass or champagne flute with ice and a slice of orange.

Cancer - Moonshine
1 oz Galliano
¾ oz white creme de caçao
¼ oz orange juice
1 oz vanilla ice cream
Mix the ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker/blender and serve in a large, chilled cocktail glass.

Leo - Red Lion
1 oz. Gin
1 oz Grand Marnier
½ oz. lemon juice
½ oz. orange juice
Mix the ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker/blender and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Virgo - Virgin Mary
6 oz. Tomato juice
¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Several pinches celery salt
Several dashes Tabasco sauce
Pinch white pepper
Celery stick to garnish
Stir the ingredients well in a mixing glass and pour into a chilled highball glass with several ice cubes. Garnish with a celery stick.

Libra - Cuba Libre
1 ½ oz.Rum
½ oz. lime juice
Cola (ice cold)
Lime wedge to garnish
Pour the rum and lime juice over ice in a highball or Collins glass. Fill with Cola and garnish with the lime wedge.

Scorpio - Scorpion
1 ½ oz. light rum
1 oz. brandy
2 oz. orange juice
1 oz. lemon juice
½ oz. orgeat syrup or 2 tsp. almond essence
Slice of orange and mint to garnish
Mix the ingredients with some ice in a blender and pour over ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with orange and mint.

Sagittarius - Moscow Mule
1 ½ oz. Vodka
1 tsp. lime juice
Ginger beer or ginger ale
Lime slice or wedge
Pour the vodka and lime juice into a highball glass with several ice cubes. Stir and fill with ginger beer or ginger ale. Garnish with lime.

Capricorn - Capri
1 ½ oz. crème de banane
1 ½ oz. white crème de cacao
1 oz. cream
Mix the ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker/blender and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Aquarius - Aquarius
1½ oz Scotch whisky
¾ oz Cherry Liqueur
1 oz Cranberry juice
¼ oz Sugar syrup
Maraschino cherry to garnish
Shake the ingredients and strain into an ice filled Rocks glass. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry

Pisces - Sea Waves
1½ oz vodka
½ oz dry vermouth
½ oz blue Curaçao
½ oz Galliano
Maraschino cherries to garnish
Half fill a cocktail glass or wine goblet with ice, add the ingredients, stir well and garnish with the cherries.

Reference: http://www.astralarts.com/recipeofmonth.html

Also Read: http://horoscopes.aol.com/astrology/cocktails-aries-taurus-gemini-cancer-leo

dairy milk ad

2007-08-13T05:15:00.000+05:30

One of the sweetest and melodious commercial and one of my favorites. It brings me up from all the downs!!!

funny adline!!

2007-08-08T05:03:00.000+05:30

Superbly funny ad:

Another version of it:

Indian Advertisement

2007-08-06T11:04:00.001+05:30

Another one of my favorites in the new ones. This is a musical ad but the concept has very strong impact. The ad made me believe that people in advertising in India do get creative ideas.

Another good ad

2007-08-05T10:10:00.000+05:30

This is another one of good ads I like. I think everyone of my age have some feelings attached to this ad. This as was of a true Indian brand, in fact the ad declares the brand name "Bajaj" as a great portrait of the great India.

Some of my favorite ads on Indian TV

2007-08-04T12:31:00.000+05:30

I am gonna put up links for some of my favorite ads. One of them is this one:

P.S. The voice in the video is very low so keep your speakers on full.

China takes to cricket!!

2007-07-29T09:41:00.000+05:30

What was the last place you thought Chinese goods would enter??

I thought cricket ground would be it .... not in terms of sporting goods!! It was the players and coaches I had in mind. I shouldn't have underestimated Chinese factory line production system. TOI reports:

It's a model the Chinese have followed with manufacturing. Mass produce and steamroller. Now, Beijing wants to deploy it to storm one of the last remaining bastions of sports — cricket.

Imagine 150,000 Hans taking on Indian cricket team !!

Do we stand a chance?
Will this team be of standards of Chinese sportsmen or Chinese consumer goods??

Lets wait n watch!!!

what am I reading?

2007-07-28T05:50:00.000+05:30

This is what I read today!!

Ankur worried about his taxes (educational cess) : Link

pr3rna questioning the economic status being correlated to terrorist activities. Link

Priya is ready for the weekend and so am I : Link

Harry Potter in the hood

2007-07-27T01:57:00.001+05:30

Something new for the potter fans !!

This is the original website: omovies

Nice Ad

2007-07-20T23:06:00.000+05:30

Nice n subtle ad!! liked it :)

Do you like Paan?

2007-07-20T20:56:00.000+05:30

You heard of the vibrating ring and the moral police's reaction to it. Since Hindustan Latex couldn't earn much from that product, they have come with a new one. Now this one has got flavor of Paan.
The new product having flavor of betel leaf has been designed mostly for sex workers. The paan flavor was tested with the prototypes of chocolate, banana and strawberry. and guess what, paan flavored one topped the tests!!!

I am waiting for the reaction of our self appointed moral police. Lets see if they like to chew it or spit it!!

Murder weapons of delhi back on the road

2007-07-14T12:14:00.000+05:30

The Delhi govt has bowed to the blueline operators again. These are the same buses involved in rash drivings, tripping over and killing people and school kids. After the outcry over several cases in a row, the delhi police started enforcing law in proper way. The next thing you know is that all the blueline buses are on strike.

This is the respect of law in this country. The moment you try to force the law, we will hijack the basic services and disrupt the life of common public and force you to forget all the law and order. We will never tolerate the enforcement of law against us whatever happens. You can't make us follow these stupid laws of drivers license and vehicle insurance. Surprisingly, many people happily put life of their kids in hands of these law breaking drivers.

Somebody else killed the rabit

2007-07-08T00:45:00.000+05:30

A 90-year-old man said to his doctor, "I've never felt better. I have an 18-year old bride who is pregnant with my child. What do you think about that?"

The doctor considered his question for a minute and then said, "I have an elderly friend who is a hunter and never misses a season. One day when he was going out in a bit of a hurry, he accidentally picked up his umbrella instead of his gun. When he got to the Creek, he saw a rabbit sitting beside the stream. He raised his umbrella and went, 'bang, bang' and the rabbit fell dead. What do you think of that?"

The 90-year-old said, "I'd say somebody else killed that rabbit."

The doctor replied, "My point exactly."

"Source"

Pic of the day!!

2007-07-06T04:15:00.000+05:30

Awesome pic ... no idea about the actual reference but I copied it from Pria's Blog

Can breastfeeding cause HIV infection?

2007-07-04T07:52:00.000+05:30

How much do you know about HIV infection. To my knowledge there are four ways of transmission of HIV virus

Infusion of infected blood
Sexual intercourse with HIV infected person
Needles
From HIV infected mother on birth.

What would you think of Breast Feeding?

I had this notion that body fluid contact (blood or semen) was necessary for the transmission of HIV, and anything which is taken orally wont transmit the disease. According to this theory breastfeeding wouldn't cause any harm.

I was shocked on seeing this news article, where doctors advised HIV infected mother against breastfeeding. I thought of it as one more case of random behavior of doctors. But when they showed interview with an expert and he quoted some statistics, I felt like googling about this. And the results were totally different then my perception.
There have been studies that breastfeeding do increase the chances of HIV infection in new born. According to this report by UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA etc breastfeeding has cumulative effect on chances of HIV infection. It means more the breastfeeding, more is the chance of virus transmission. There was seen an increase of about 10-20% in the cases of transmission of the disease when breast feeding for 6-24 months.

Link to Report.

Tell me if there are any more fallacies in my thinking about HIV transmission.

Atheist and bear

2007-07-02T20:08:00.000+05:30

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created.

"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the casue was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don''t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.

The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear dropped his right paw ..... brought both paws together...bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."

Source

Right To Information!!

2007-06-28T09:50:00.000+05:30

Do you want to stop paying bribes but worried if your work will get done or not?
Do you think your municipality is skipping the sanitation duty in your area?
Do you wish to do social audit of a particular department in any area?
Do you wish to inspect the material used in any government work?
Do you want to see how the MLA of your constituency spent all that development fund?

Being an Indian if you haven't heard of RTI than you must have been deep asleep while a storm swept over the countries bureaucracy. If you have any of the questions above but don't know whom to ask or where to ask, then check this website out.

Parivartan

I am impressed by the work they are doing and the help they are providing to information seekers. Hope it helps to anyone who wants to change something in the system!!

8 Random Facts

2007-06-26T22:15:00.000+05:30

I was tagged by Amrita for this ... nice to know random facts about people but to write your own is not that much fun!! Well here are the rules of the game ...

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

I think it would be fun to give it a try ... not that i m not afraid of rule#4 :P

1.) I love bollywood movies. I can watch any movie made in bollywood, specially old ones.

2.) I read my first english book (apart from text books) at the age of 19, when i was going on vacation from college. It was The Firm by John Grisham.

3.) Unlike most guys in this world, I love shopping of any kind. In fact I love window shopping. It used to be my favorite passtime in India, to roam around in the malls.

4.) Like most people I love sleeping. can sleep almost everywhere ... friends from college remember me as the guy sleeping on the last bench!!

5.) I have been in USA for one year and yet don't know much about amrican tv. On the other hand I follow various indian tv series on a regular basis, like Koffee, Laughter, Office-Office and Antakshari!!

6.) I love learning sports, have tried my hands on several games. I am not an expert in any of those ... kind of jack of all!!

7.) I have started cooking a year back and I love it. Nothing to boast but I Can cook almost all north indian dishes :P

8.) I love babies. They are so cute !!! I would instantly wink at unknown babies and make faces to see them laugh!!

Now the best part of it .... I get to tag 8 more people!!!
My choice is Ankur, Kokonad, Charu, Prerna, Sree, Shridhar, Gaurav. Have fun guys!!!

is your credit card company cheating on you??

2007-06-26T19:49:00.000+05:30

Have you wondered why the credit card agents are so anxious to give you those life time free credit cards??
Have you thought how the credit card companies earn profit, while giving you interest free credit for 40 days?
Is your credit card statement perpetually late?? do you have to suffer the late fee because of delay on part of the credit card company?

Link to story

Stop paying late fee, and be cautious while using those cards!!
The credit card companies have earned 6000 crore rs. from customers in terms of various fees. They have been violating norms using unfair practices and making false promises. Its one of their strategy to delay the issue of statement and then levy the high late fee. Another practice they have is selling the credit card in the name of life time free and then levying annual fee one year later!!

*Tip* : If you are victim of your credit card companies bad practices, talk to their customer service and threaten to discontinue the card. Its a tested method and works most of the time.

Great Bihar Police

2007-06-21T20:24:00.001+05:30

Bihar faced communal clash in January this year. Bihar policed filed FIR against 7 people for attack on police force and inciting riots. and guess who is among those 7.
A two year old kid who can't even eat his food on his own (according to his aunt). Now that the matter is in media, police says it might be a clerical error. I wonder how many clerical errors of this kind have gone unnoticed, and how many of those innocent people have been booked for the crimes they never did. If they can book a two year old for rioting then there is no stopping them to book anyone for any crime they want.

Link to the story

I remember a joke, once a police commissioner called inspector that his watch and ring are missing. The inspector gets on work. The commissioner calls back in few minutes saying he found his watch and ring in bathroom, the inspector says, "How is it possible sir, I have five different people locked up here saying they stole those items."

Rang de Basanti

2007-06-19T10:42:00.000+05:30

We all saw it, we all liked it.

But someone took it to heart, and went ahead to do their part to the society. I always had a bad impression of the rich kids, but then you don't need a million deeds to change your view. These kids know their forte and are using it in a great way. They know they are rich and have contacts with similar people and they have channeled the effort in a very right way. I know it would be too much to ask for everyone doing their part, but even half of us did it, the world would be a much better place to live.

Link to story

I salute you "DSP Sarabjeet Singh"

2007-06-15T21:47:00.001+05:30

This article on meri-news touched my heart. The officer went against the 'fatwa' by terrorists and performed the last rituals for the son of a 70 year old lady. I salute to the officer for his brave deed!! These are the people who command respect. His duty did not require him to do that but he chose to do it. That makes it more touching. I have seen this kind of scenes in bollywood movies, but it makes me happy to know that there are real people playing those roles in real life!!
I know it'll take few years for this kind of article to feature in the mainstream print or electronic media. But I hope it happen sooner than later.

Link to the article

Zanies All

2007-06-15T07:16:00.000+05:30

"Terrific date last night," Fred told Bill at the office on morning: "Blonde. Really gorgeous. After the dance we went out and parked by the lake. I asked her for a kiss. She saidshe would if I'd put the top down so we could enjoy the moonlight. So I went to work and got the top down in about an hour and-"
"An Hour!" Bill exclaimed. "I get mine down in two minutes."
"Sure," replied Fred, "but you have a convertible!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An African chieftain flew to London for a visit and was met at the airport by newsmen. "Good morning, Chief," one said. "Did you have a comfortable flight?"
The chief made a series of raucous noises-honk, oink, screech, whistle, z-z-z-z--then added in perfect English, "Yes, very pleasant indeed."
"And how long you plan to stay?" asked the reporter.
Prefacing his remarks with the same noises the chief answered, "About three weeks I think."
"Tell me, Chief," inquired the baffled reporter, "where did you learn to speak such flawless English?"
After the now standard honk, oink, screech, whistle and z-z-z-z, the chief said, "Short-wave radio."

Top 10 Body Hacks

2007-06-15T02:56:00.001+05:30

Are you bored of hacking the silly computers?? Try out hacking your body with lifehacker's top 10 body hacks!!

Lifehacker Top 10 Body Hacks

Foot in Mouth Disease!!

2007-06-13T21:27:00.000+05:30

One morning a businessman's secretary was showing off a stunning new tailored suit, her birthday present from her family. Her boss stopped to admire it, then went on into his private office to greet a client who was waiting to see him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he told his startled caller, "but i was just admiring my secretary in her birthday suit."

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

It had been several weeks since a prosperous farmer had been in the bank where she worked. "Miss Lee," he greeted her, "you seem to be getting a little stouter."
"Don't you know you mustn't ever tell a woman she is getting fat?" she chided.
"Oh," he said with surprise, "I didn't think a woman of your age would mind."

Source: RD

Wit n Humor

2007-06-08T08:53:00.000+05:30

Two friends, one 50 and the other 60, were arguing about the forthcoming marriage of the latter to a young lady in her 20's. "I don;t believe in these May-December marriages," disapproved the 50-year-old. "After all, December is going to find in May the freshness and beauty of spring-time, but whatever is May going to find in December?"

The bridegroom-to-be replied, "Christmas!"

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

People seldom think alike- until it comes to buying wedding presents.

Source: Reader's Digest Treasury of Wit and Humor.

Are you a bad guy??

2007-06-05T21:02:00.000+05:30

Once, a man was waiting for a taxi. A beggar came along and asked him for some money. The man ignored him. But being a professional, the beggar kept on pestering him. The man became irritated when he realized that the beggar would not leave him alone unless he parts with some money. Suddenly an idea struck him. He told the beggar, "I do not have money, But if you tell me what you want to do with the money, I will certainly help you."

"I would have bought a cup of tea", replied the beggar.

The man said, "Sorry man. I can offer you a cigarette instead of tea". He then took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to the beggar.

The beggar told, "I don't smoke as it is injurious to health."

The man smiled and took a bottle of whisky from his pocket and told the beggar, "Here, take this bottle and enjoy the stuff. It is really good".

The beggar refused by saying, "Alcohol muddles the brain and damages the liver".

The man smiled again. He told the beggar, "I am going to the race course. Come with me and I will arrange for some tickets and we will place bets. If we win, you take the whole amount and leave me alone".

As before, the beggar politely refused the latest offer by saying, "Sorry sir, I can't come with you as betting on horses is a bad habit."

Suddenly the man felt relieved and asked the beggar to come to his home with him. Finally, the beggar's face lit up in anticipation of receiving at least something from the man. But he still had his doubts and asked the man, "Why do you want me to go to your house with you".

The man replied, "My wife always wanted to see how a man with no Bad habits looks like."

Cabbie!!

2007-06-05T20:55:00.000+05:30

A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question.
The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped centimeters from a shop window.

For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said,
"Look mate, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!"

The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much."

The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving a van carrying dead bodies for the last 25 years.

Slum Free Dharavi

2007-06-05T06:55:00.001+05:30

This is a continuing post to my last post about slum free dharavi.
Here are many more links to the plan ...

Maharashtra Govt plan's ppt (beware its 118mbs)

Rediff

Hindu

Slum Rehabilitation Authority page.

DNA (Daily News & Analysis)

Mumbai NEWSLine1

Mumbai NewsLine2

Mumbai facelift: is it too good to be true?

2007-06-02T22:48:00.000+05:30

Imagine 70 million sq ft land changing from slums to skyscrapers!!! That is the plan IAS officer I.S. Chahal (Vice-President of Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority) is looking after.

The plan include giving the land to a builder for development and major points are

The slum dwellers will be given 225 sq ft flats in some of those buildings. I know the place would be very small but i guess its still more than the place they have currently.
The govt. will get 450Rs per sq ft premium which would not be very great but still worth mentioning.
There will be a focus on local amenities like building of schools, colleges, hospitals and police stations.

I know there will be questions about corruption, feasibility, resistance etc etc. But I am happy just to think that there are plans for this thing.
Some of the pluses I see in this:

Think of all the problems slum dwellers have from from garbage, sanitation, roads, congestion, etc. Slum dwellers doesn't even have proper sanitary arrangements. It would be a change of lifetime for them.
It would solve the land shortage problem of Mumbai to a very great extent.
If planned and executed properly, it would have lots of schools, parks, hospitals etc. Social improvement in line.

The story : ibnlive

Do share your views on this.

Visual DNA ... interesting!!

2007-05-31T23:42:00.001+05:30

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Are you the worst tourist in the world??

2007-05-29T08:49:00.000+05:30

A survey among 15,000 European hoteliers says Indians are the most impolite. Why am I not not surprised at all. The way we Indians demand for the value of our hard earned money, no one in the hospitality business is going to be happy with us. But is it wrong to ask for the value of your money ( The true value in indian terms ).
Another point that Indian people like their own food and don't pay big bucks to restaurants for the mostly tasteless food. An Indian is a foodie by birth, same as citizen by birth. You can't force us to eat the food we don't want. Most of the travel operators provide tourist packages inclusive of Indian food. This brings more people in the tourism net. This also makes the hospitality people unhappy.

All in all, we might be impolite but still we are best among the developing world.

What is your wish??

2007-05-29T05:16:00.000+05:30

A man walking along a California beach was deep in prayer.

Suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish." The man said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is very materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources.

I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."

The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

Little Johnny!! (R)

2007-05-29T04:50:00.000+05:30

A young female teacher was giving an assignment to her 6th grade class one day. It was a large assignment so she started writing high up on the chalkboard. Suddenly there was a giggle from one of the boys in the class. She quickly turned and asked, "What's so funny, Pat?"

"I just saw one of your garters!"

"Get out of my classroom," she yells, "I don't want to see you for three days!"

The teacher turns back to the chalkboard. Realizing she had forgotten to title the assignment, she reaches to the very top of the chalkboard. Suddenly there is an even louder giggle from another male student. She quickly turns and asks, "What's so funny, Billy?"

"I just saw both of your garters!"

Again, she yells, "Get out of my classroom! This time the punishment is more severe, I don't want to see you for three weeks!"

Embarrassed and frustrated, she drops the eraser when she turns around again. So she bends over to pick it up. This time there is an burst of laughter from another male student. She quickly turns to see Little Johnny leaving the classroom.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asks.

"From what I just saw, my school days are over!"

what did he mean by that??

2007-05-26T06:19:00.000+05:30

What does your boss mean when he says one of these:

1."We will do it" means "You will do it"

2."You have done a great job" means "More work to be given to you"

3."We are working on it" means "We have not yet started working on the same"

4."Tomorrow first thing in the morning" means "Its not getting done "At least not tomorrow!"

5."After discussion we will decide-I am very open to views" means "I have already decided , I will tell you what to do"

6."There was a slight miscommunication" means "We had actually lied"

7."Lets call a meeting and discuss" means "I have no time now, will talk later"

8."We can always do it" means "We actually cannot do the same on time"

9."We are on the right track but there needs to be a slight extension of the deadline" means "The project is screwed up, we cannot deliver on time."

10."We had slight differences of opinion "means "We had actually fought"

11."Make a list of the work that you do and let's see how I can help you" means "Anyway you have to find a way out no help from me"

12."You should have told me earlier" means "Well even if you told me earlier that would have made hardly any difference!"

13."We need to find out the real reason" means " Well I will tell you where your fault is...??"

14."Well Family is important; your leave is always granted. Just ensure that the work is not affected," means, "Well you know..."

15."We are a team," means, "I am not the only one to be blamed"

16."That's actually a good question" means "I do not know anything about it"

17."All the Best" means "You are in trouble "

Matrimonial !!

2007-05-24T19:34:00.000+05:30

Fisherman
Wife wanted, must be able to dig, clean, cook worms and clean fish. Must have own boat with motor. Please send photograph of motorboat.

Salesman
Once in a lifetime offer, to get yourself the original, genuine article. One of the most handsome and smartest bachelor's around is now looking for a wife. And you could be the lucky one he chooses! Has own house, car and successful career!

Economist
I am in demand of a wife. Supply is great though my requirements are high. However the Elasticity of my demands should not bear too heavy a burden upon the national interest.

Mathematician
Wife required to complete the formula of my life. Must be numerate and understand complex algebraic logarithms. Needed to help further my family unit.

IT Consultant
Well there is definite room for improvement in my life. The speed of my current flows of information and processes is slowing down and the injection of a wife into my life is bound to improve efficiency. Compatibility could be an issue.

Businessman
Wife wanted for company.

Politician
I feel there is a need in this world, to improve the ways we live, to harmonize the processes of life and to build upon past differences and short comings. I believe that we the people need someone to share our lives. To feel the joys of parent hood, and bear the social responsibilities, as we should in a civilized society..... ......... ... (etc etc and never getting to the point)

Car Dealer
Wanted a sturdy, reliable, low depreciating wife. Should be in excellent working condition.

Farmer
Wanted a wife from good stock. Required for planting flower in my life.

Lawyer
I hereby propose to solicit myself as an eligible candidate for the post of wife after marriage. The person whom I'm looking for should be strictly -a girl. The girl should be strictly a girl, with evidence to support this view that she is a girl. The girl should be willing to surrender to the service and jurisdiction of My Lord i.e. Myself.
Any objections would be overruled and will not be sustained. Apply in limited confidence as all liabilities are null and void in the event of failure on our part of any kind whatsoever.

Pilot
Wife required to complete my life. Please only level headed applicants. She must not have her heads in the clouds, but have her feet firmly on the ground. Her heart must be in it for the long haul. And she absolutely must also be aerodynamically sound!!!

Banker
Wanted wife who takes interest in me and credits me with her service.

Accountant
Required a girl - 5'8' & 36' 24' 36' with a good head for figures. She must be averse to making unnecessary expenditure and her very nature should be one of generating as few expenses in my life as possible. She should profit from a nice personality and be a credit to her family.

Drunkard
Wanted a girl. Girl's father should preferably have a drinks factory. I am an occasional alcoholic who drinks only when friends come round. Friends come round only seven times a week. Girl preferred who can carry me from bar to home. Meet personally in a bar or send drinks for trial. Sample should be ample.

Minicab Driver
Hello! Hello! number 9 calling. This is number 9 I'm calling from base, erm a wife is needed for pick me up. Driving license not necessary, but map reading skills are a bonus.

Builder
Wanted a wife to help build upon the foundations of my life. Must be homely and willing to build relationship from the ground up.

Doctor
I am looking for a wife to cure the emptiness in my life. However if you feel the need for a second opinion then it's fine by me.

Army Commando
My mission in life is to find myself the perfect wife. Successful applicants must be able to use a penknife and a compass. She who dares wins. Camouflage provided.

RaceCar Driver
A model wife required to fit in with my fast track life. Must be able to keep pace!

Astronaut
I'm searching for a wife to fill the space in my life. Someone to share my universe. Must have looks that are out of this world!

Jokes!! (Punjabi Tadka)

2007-05-23T10:41:00.001+05:30

Santa : I tried your number so many times, it always said 'Switched Off'!"
Banta : Nahi Pape, it's my HELLO TUNE!

Daku Mangal Singh Banta Ke Ghar Mein Ghus Ayaa..
Daku : Sona kahan hai, Jaldi Bataao..!
Banta : Pura Ghar Khali Hai Malko, Jithe Marzi So Jao!

Santa : Kaisi Sabzi Banai Hai, Bilkul Gobar Jaisa Swad Hai !
Jasmeet : Hey bhagwan! Na Jane Inhone Kya-Kya Kha Ke Dekha Hua Hai. Gobar Ka Swad Bhi Pata Hai..!

Banta : Praji, Jab Main Paida Hua Tha To Military Walon Ne 21 Topein
Chalayeen Thi.
Santa : Kamaal Hai ! Sab Ka Nishana Kayse Chook Gaya..?

Santa meets his friend Bunta
Santa : A & B, A &amp;amp; B, A & B, A & B, A & B...!
Bunta : Oye, Iska Matlab ?
Santa : Kuch Nahin Yaar, I Mean Long Time No C..!

Santa : Drinking-n-Driving Dono Nalo Naal Nai Ho Sakde.
Banta : Kyoo Ji ?
Santa : Je SpeedBbreaker Aa Gaya Taa Peg Dul Jau.

Phone Ki Ganti Baji.
Santa : Phone Mere Liye Ho To Kehna Mein Ghar Pe Nahin Hoon.
Jasmeet : Wo Ghar Pe Hain.
Santa : Maine Mana Kiya Tha Ke...
Jasmeet : Phone Mere Liye Tha!

Santa : Aapne Nurse Bahut Changi Rakhi Hai, Uska Haath Lagtey Hi Mein Theek Ho Gaya.
Doctor: Jaanta Hoon, Thappad Ki Awaaz Mujhe Bhi Sunai Di Thi.

Santa : Oh Yaar Main Badi Mushkil Mein Hoon...
Meri Biwi Mujhse Ek Pappi Ka Ek Rupeya Leti Hai..!
Banta : Oh Yaar Tu Bada Lucky Hai, Auron Se To Woh 5 Rupye Leti Hai.

Santa : Yaar! Main Apna Purse Ghar Bhool Aaya, Mainu 1000 Rs Chahide Si.
Banta : Dost Hi Dost De Kam Aunda Hai, Le 10 Rs, Riksha Kar Te Purse Le Aa.

Banta : Wo Ladki Deaf Lagti Hai. Main Kuch Kehta Hoon, Woh Kuch Aur Hi Bolti Hai.
Santa : Kaise?
Banta : Maine Kaha I Luv U, To Woh Boli 'Maine Kal Hi Naye Sandal kharide hain'

A crow shits on Banta. Preeto gives tissue paper to him.
Banta: Koi Fhayda Nahin, Kauwa Toh Udd Gaya..!

Santa : When I get mad at you,you never fight back.How do you control your anger?
Jasmeet : I clean the toilet bowl.
Santa : How does that help?
Jasmeet : I use your toothbrush!

Wife of Software Engineer!!!

2007-05-19T11:23:00.000+05:30

Wife - would you like to have some snacks?
Husband - hard disk full.

Wife - have you brought the saree.
Husband - Bad command or file name.

Wife - but I told you about it in morning
Husband - erroneous syntax, abort, retry, cancel.

Wife - hae bhagwan !forget it where's your salary.
Husband - file in use, read only, try after some time.

Wife - at least give me your credit card,
I can do some shopping.
Husband - sharing violation, access denied.

Wife - I made a mistake in marrying you.
Husband - data type mismatch.

Wife - you are useless.
Husband - by default.

Wife - who was there with you in the car this morning?
Husband - system unstable press ctrl, alt, del to
Reboot.

Wife - what is the relation between you & your
Receptionist?
Husband - the only user with write permission.

Wife - what is my value in your life?
Husband - unknown virus detected.

Wife - do you love me or your computer?
Husband - Too many parameters.

Wife - I will go to my dad's house.
Husband - program performed illegal operation, it will
Close.

Wife - I will leave you forever.
Husband - close all programs and log out for another User.

Wife - it is worthless talking to you.
Husband - shut down the computer.

Wife - I am going
Husband - Its now safe to turn off your computer.

Best Out of office Auto-Replies!!!

2007-05-19T11:13:00.000+05:30

1: I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position .

2: I'm not really out of the office. I'm just ignoring you.

3: You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

4: Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to management

5: I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient and your mails will be deleted in the order they were received.

6: Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

7: The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again.'
( The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).

8: Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

9: Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

10: Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to leave me any messages.

11: I've run away to join a different circus.

AND, FINALLY, THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE:

12: I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as ' Loretta' instead of 'Steve...'

Five Stories!!

2007-05-18T01:32:00.000+05:30

Story: 1

A young executive was leaving the office at 6 p.m. when he found CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. "Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document, and my secretary has left. Can you make this thing work?" "Certainly," said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button. "Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO. As his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."

Lesson I “Never, never assume that your BOSS knows everything”.

Story: 2

A crusty old man walks into a bank and says to the teller at the window: "I want to open a damn checking account." To which the astonished woman replies: "I beg your pardon, sir; I must have misunderstood you. What did you say?" "Listen up bitch! I said, I want to open a damn checking account right now!" "I'm very sorry sir, but we do not tolerate that kind of language in this bank." Having said this, the teller leaves the window and goes over to the bank manager to tell him about her problem customer.

They both return and the manager asks the old geezer: "What seems to be the problem here?" "There's no damn problem, sonny," the elderly man says. "I just won 50 million bucks in the damn lottery and I want to open a damn checking account in this damn bank!" "I see," says the manager thoughtfully. And you're saying that this bitch here is giving you a hard time?"

Lesson II “If you are RICH, you can get away with almost anything."

Story: 3

An American and Japanese were sitting on the plane on the way to LA when the American turned to the Japanese and asked, "What kind of ese are you?" Confused, the Japanese replied, "Sorry but I don't understand what you mean." The American repeated, "What kind of -ese are you?" Again, the Japanese was confused over the question. The American, now irritated, then yelled, "What kind of -ese are you...Are you a Chinese, Japanese,Vietnamese !, etc......??? " The Japanese then replied, "Oh, I am a Japanese." A while later the Japanese turned to the American and asked what kind of 'key' was he. The American, frustrated, yelled, "What do you mean what kind of '-key' am I?!" The Japanese said, "Are you a Yankee, donkey, or monkey?"

Lesson III “Never insult anyone."

Story: 4

There were these 4 guys, a Russian, a German, a British and a French, who found this small genie bottle. When they rubbed the bottle, a genie appeared. Thankful that the 4 guys had released him out of the bottle, he said, "Next to you all are 4 swimming pools, I will give each of you a wish. When you run towards the pool and jump, you shout what you want the pool of water to become, then your wish will come true."

The French wanted to start. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted "WINE". The pool immediately changed into a pool of wine. The Frenchman was so happy swimming and drinking from the pool. Next is the Russian's turn, he did the same andshouted," VODKA" and immersed himself into a pool of vodka. The German was next and he jumped and shouted, "BEER". He was so contented with his beer pool. The last is the British. He was running towards the pool when suddenly he steps on a banana peel. He slipped towards the pool and shouted, SHIT!!!!!!!. ........"

Lesson IV “Think twice before you say something, because sometimes what you say accidentally does happen."

Story: 5

A junior manager, a senior manager and their boss are on their way to a meeting. On their way through a park, they come across a wonder lamp. They rub the lamp and a ghost appears. The ghost says, "Normally, one is granted three wishes but as you are three, I will allow one wish each" So the eager senior manager shouts, I want the first wish. I want to be in the Bahamas , on a fast boat and have no worries for a month. "Pfufffff, and he is gone. Now the junior manager could not keep quiet and shouts, "I want to be in Florida with beautiful girls, plenty of food and cocktails for a month." "Pfufffff, and he is also gone. Then it's the boss's turn, and he says calmly, "I want these two idiots back in the office after lunch"

Lesson V- "Always allow the bosses to speak first".

Laws of Love

2007-05-10T21:16:00.000+05:30

Laws of Love

{1} Universal law of Love:
" Love can neither be created nor be destroyed; only it can transfer from One girlfriend to another girlfriend with some loss of money "

{2} First law of Love:
" A boy in love with a girl, continue to be in love with her and a girl in love with a boy, continue to be in love with him, until or unless any external agent (brother or father of the gal) comes into play and break the legs of the boy. "

{3} Second law of Love:
" The rate of change of intensity of love of a girl towards a boy is directly proportional to the instantaneous bank balance of the boy and the direction of this love is same to as increment or decrement of the bank balance. "

{4} Third law of Love:
" The force applied while proposing a girl by a boy is equal and opposite to the force applied by the girl while slapping"

English is a phunny language!! Cont...

2007-05-10T01:45:00.000+05:30

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) There is no time like the present, he said it was time to present the present.
8) At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Part 1

Is anybody up there?

2007-05-09T09:24:00.000+05:30

Banta was walking in the mountains just enjoying the scenery when he stepped too close to the edge of the mountain and started to fall.
In desperation he reached out and grabbed a limb of a old tree hanging onto the side of the cliff.
Full of fear he assessed his situation. He was about 100 feet down a shear cliff and about 900 feet from the floor of the canyon below. If he should slip again he'd plummet to his death.
Full of fear, Banta cries out, "Help me!" But there was no answer.
Again and again he cried out but to no avail.
Finally Banta yelled, "Is anybody up there? "
A deep voice replied, "Yes, I'm up here."
"Who said that?"
"It's God, son."
"Can you help me, Goooooodddddd? "
"Yes, I can help. Have faith in me."
"Help me!"

Just let go."
Looking around, Banta became full of panic. "What?!?!"
"Have faith in me, sonny. Let go. I will catch you."
"Uh... Is there anybodyyyyyyyyyyy. ...... else........ ........ up there?"Banta yells even more forcefully.

Pet Fish!!

2007-05-07T19:36:00.000+05:30

Banta was carrying a large fish in a bucket of water away from a lake, which was well known for its excellent fishing when a Fishery officer stopped him.

The officer says, "Do you have a fishing license?"

Banta replies, "Don't need a license, this is my pet fish."

"Pet fish?" the officer asked.

Banta answers, "Yes, every night I take my fish down to the lake and let him swim around for a while, then I whistle and he jumps up on shore and I put him in his bucket and we go back home."

"That's a bunch of baloney, fish can't do that."

Banta looks at the officer and says, "You want me to show you?"

Very curious now, the officer says, " O.K. I've got to see this"

Banta pours the fish into the lake then stands there waiting.

After a few minutes, the officer turns to Banta and says, "Well?"

"Well, What?" Banta says.

The Officer asks, "Are you going to call your fish back?"

"Fish! What fish?Whose fish?" Banta responds.

The good, The bad and The Ugly!!

2007-05-06T11:50:00.000+05:30

Good: Your wife is pregnant.
Bad: It`s triplets
Ugly: You had a vasectomy five years ago

Good: Your wife s not talking to you
Bad: She wants a divorce
Ugly: She`s a lawyer

Good: Your son is finally maturing
Bad: He`s involved with the woman next door
Ugly: So are you

Good: Your son studies a lot in his room
Bad: You find several porn movies hidden there.
Ugly: You`e in them

Good: Your hubby and you agree, no more kids
Bad: You can`t find your birth control pills
Ugly: Your daughter borrowed them

Good: Your husband understands fashion
Bad: He`s a cross-dresser
Ugly: He looks better than you

Good: You give the "birds and bees" talk to your daughter
Bad: She keeps interrupting
Ugly: With corrections

Good: The postman`s early
Bad: He`s wearing fatigues and carrying a shotgun
Ugly: You gave him nothing for Christmas

Good: Your son is dating someone new
Bad: It`s another man
Ugly: He`s your best friend

Good: Your daughter got a new job
Bad: As a hooker
Ugly: Your co-workers are her best clients

Thanx to SantaBanta!!

English is a phunny language!!

2007-05-05T07:23:00.000+05:30

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Success Quotes - 2

2007-05-04T09:42:00.000+05:30

30) Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.:)

31) Formula for success: Rise early, work hard, strike oil.:)

32) Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.:)

33) Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.:)

34) Failure is success if we learn from it.:)

35) The man who has done his level best... is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.:)

36) There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap.":)

37) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.:)

38) Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.:)

39) Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.:)

40) Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.:)

41) The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.:)

42) One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.:)

43) The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.:)

44) In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.:)

45) If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.:)

46) In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.:)

47) I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.:)

48) Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.:)

49) Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam.:)

50) Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.:)

51) Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.:)

52) Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.:)

53) I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.:)

54) A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.:)

55) Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.:)

56) Success is the one unpardonable sin against our fellows.:)

57) Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.:)

58) The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success.

Success Quotes - 1

Wal-Mart India Story!!!

2007-05-03T10:22:00.000+05:30

Wal-Mart is entering Indian retail market in partnership with Bharti Enterprise. I see a major change in the retail industry in India, not that it was not changing anyways!! Big-Bazaar, Tru-Mart etc have been fighting to change the scenario. They have been trying to allure the customer from mom 'n' pop stores, but have been finding it tough except in some categories.
Given wal-mart's expertise in supply chain, it might do wonders in the market.

How will it affect the Indian markets:

As always happens in competition, consumer will be the biggest winner in the show. Quality stuff at competitive prices at all times (if the store open 24x7).
Producers might have to give in some of their profits, but in long run might be happy to do business with wal-mart (situation in US is different as it does not have a small shop culture, so producers are forced to concede to the whims of wal-mart, but I don't see similar thing happening in India.)
Best part might be fighting the food article's adulteration. As I hope wal-mart will look for better quality.
Small shop owners will be forced to improve their quality of product and service but should not lose much in the competition.
In the end, wal-mart wont be going deep in small towns, so small shop owners in those cities need not worry.

Success Quotes - 1

2007-05-03T09:40:00.000+05:30

1) Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure :)

2) I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it.:)

3) Nothing recedes like success.:)

4) Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.:)

5) Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on:) intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.:)

6) Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it... Success is shy - it won't come out while you're watching.:)

7) Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.:)

8) Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.:)

9) Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.:)

10) What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.:)

11) Success is like death. The more successful you become, the higher the houses in the hills get and the higer the fences get.:)

12) Success is dependent on effort.:)

13) How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten?:)

14) The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.:)

15) There is nothing to fear but fear itself.:)

16) The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.:)

17) Action is the foundational key to all success.:)

18) Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.:)

19) Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.:)

20) Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.:)

21) It's not enough that I should succeed - others should fail.:)

22) The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.:)

23) No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.:)

24) Success is that old ABC - ability, breaks, and courage.:)

25) Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.:)

26) Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves.:)

27) I've had enough success for two lifetimes, my success is talent put together with hard work and luck.:)

28) Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it.:)

29) Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time.:)

Amazing answer!!

2007-05-02T20:50:00.000+05:30

A mechanic was removing the cylinder heads from the motor of a car when he spotted the famous heart surgeon in his shop, who was standing off to the side, waiting for the service manager to come to take a look at his car.

The mechanic shouted across the garage, "Hello Doctor!! Please come over here for a minute."

The famous surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic.
The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked argumentatively, "So doctor, look at this. I also open hearts, take valves out, grind 'em, put in new parts, and when I finish this will work as a new one. So how come you get the big money, when you and me is doing basically the same work? "

The doctor leaned over and whispered to the mechanic.... .

.
.
.
.
.
.
He said: "Try to do it when the engine is running"!!!! !!!!

Life is a Puzzle!!

2007-05-01T20:43:00.000+05:30

"LIFE I LEARNED FROM A JIGSAW PUZZLE"

Don't force a fit. If something is meant to be, it will come together naturally.
When things aren't going so well, take a break. Everything will look different when you return.
Be sure to look at the big picture. Getting hung up on the little pieces only leads to frustration.
Perseverance pays off. Every important puzzle went together bit by bit, piece by piece.
When one spot stops working, move to another. But be sure to come back later.
The creator of the puzzle gave you the picture as a guidebook.
Variety is the spice of life. It's the different colors and patterns that make the puzzle interesting.
Establish the border first. Boundaries give a sense of security and order.
Don't be afraid to try different combinations. Some matches are surprising.
Take time to celebrate your successes (even little ones).
Anything worth doing takes time and effort. A great puzzle can't be rushed.

I miss you!!

2007-04-28T21:42:00.000+05:30

Sniffer!!!

2007-04-28T21:24:00.000+05:30

A man had just settled into his seat next to the window on the plane when another man sat down in the aisle seat and put his black Labrador Retriever in the middle seat next to the man.

The first man looks very quizzically at the dog and asks why the dog is allowed on the plane.

The second man explained that he is a DEA agent and the dog is a "sniffing dog". His name is Sniffer and he's the best there is. I'll show you once we get airborne, when I put him to work."

The plane takes off, and once it has leveled out, the agent says "Watch this. He tells Sniffer to "search". Sniffer jumps down, walks along the aisle, and finally sits very purposefully next to a woman for a several seconds. Sniffer then returns to its seat and puts one paw on the agent's arm. The agent says, "Good boy", and he turns to the man and says: That woman is in possession of marijuana, so I 'm making a note of her seat number and the authorities will apprehend her when we land."

"Say, that's pretty neat" replies the first man.

Once again, the agent sends Sniffer to search the aisles. The Lab sniffs about, sits down beside a man for a few seconds, returns to its seat, and this time, he places TWO paws on the agent's arm. The agent says, "That man is carrying cocaine, so again, I m making a note of his seat number for the police."

"I like it!" says his seat mate.

The agent then told Sniffer to "search" again. Sniffer walked up and down the aisles for a little while,sat down for a moment, and then came racing back to the agent, jumped into the middle seat and proceeded to poop all over the place. The first man is really grossed out by this behavior and can't figure out how or why a well-trained dog would act like that, so he asks the agent,

"What's going on?"

The agent nervously replied, "He just found a bomb!"

again a good one!!!

2007-04-28T21:20:00.000+05:30

An Australian guy is traveling around the Greek Islands.

He walks into a bar and, by chance, is served by an Australian Barmaid.

As she takes his order, a Foster's, she notices his accent.

Over the course of the evening they get chatting.

At the end of her shift he asks if she wants to come back to his place.

Although she is attracted to him she says no. He then offers to pay her $200 to sleep with him.

As she is travelling around the world, and is short of funds, she agrees.

The next night the guy turns up again. Again he orders Fosters and after showing her plenty of attention, asks if she will sleep with him again for $200.

She remembers the night before and is only too happy to agree.

This goes on for 5 nights.

On the 6th night the guy comes in again, orders Fosters but goes and sits in the corner.

The barmaid thinks that if she pays him more attention then, maybe she can shake some more cash out of him. So she goes over and sits next to him.

She asks him where he's from in Australia. "Melbourne", he tells her.

"So am I. What suburb?" she enquires.

"Glen Iris" he replies.

"That's amazing," she says excitedly, "so am I â€“ what street?"

"Cameo Street" he replies.

"This is unbelievable. ........" she says, her voice quavering; What number?"

"Number 20", he replies.

She is totally astonished.

"You are NOT going to believe this," she screams, "but I'm from number 22! My parents still live there!"

"I know..." he says, "Your Dad gave me $1,000 to give to you"

Understading Engineers - Take Nine

2007-04-26T22:45:00.000+05:30

An engineer was crossing a road one-day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want." Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, and that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girl friend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight

Understading Engineers - Take Eight

2007-04-26T22:42:00.000+05:30

An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress.
The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship.
The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion and mystery he found there.
The engineer said, "I like both."
"Both?"
Engineer: "Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done."

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Seven

2007-04-26T22:41:00.000+05:30

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Six

2007-04-26T22:40:00.000+05:30

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body. One said, "It was a mechanical engineer." Just look at all the joints."
Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections. "
The last one said, "Actually it must have been a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?"

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Five

2007-04-26T22:37:00.000+05:30

The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The Graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with an Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Four

2007-04-26T22:35:00.000+05:30

What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers?
Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineers build targets.

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Three

2007-04-26T22:33:00.000+05:30

A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!" The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him."
"Hi George! Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group was silent for a moment. The pastor said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"

Take One
Take Two
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take Two

2007-04-26T22:31:00.000+05:30

To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is Half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Take One
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Understading Engineers - Take One

2007-04-26T22:28:00.000+05:30

Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." "The second engineer nodded approvingly, 'Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

Take Two
Take Three
Take Four
Take Five
Take Six
Take Seven
Take Eight
Take Nine

Daughters of Bihar

2007-04-20T20:39:00.000+05:30

Thanx to Dilip D'Souza for highlighting this.

Bihar ki Betiya, a wonderful festival to get the poorest of poor connected to mainstream. Educating them is the best thing you can give.

Two things I want to say:
1. Will Arjun Singh and other state's chief ministers open their eyes, and try to follow this?
2. Will media stop showing Cho Seung-Hui and give some time to this kind of stories??

Are you a voter?

2007-04-17T23:02:00.000+05:30

I found this information while browsing through Indian Govt. official website. You can search the Electoral Rolls (Voter Lists) of the Election Commission of India. I found my information there, Check out if your name is there in it or not.

Search Electoral Rolls (Voter Lists)

Hope this information helps someone. You might want to browse National Portal of India, It has plethora of information on it.

Right to Information

2007-04-17T22:48:00.000+05:30

Right to Information Act, One law which gave hope to the nation against corruption. Here is a chat session by rediff on how we can use is more efficiently. See if your questions lies in this session.

Rediff.com

Here are some websites suggested by Shailesh Gandhi in this chat session.

www.righttoinformation.com
www.righttoinformation.org
www.satyamevajayate.info

Mommy Test !!

2007-04-17T20:39:00.000+05:30

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked something up off the ground and started to put it in her mouth.

I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that."Why?" my daughter asked.
"Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been,it's dirty and it probably has germs", I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Mommy, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."
I was thinking quickly, "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mommy Test.

You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.
"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So, if you don't pass the test, you have to be the daddy."

"Exactly", I replied back, with a big smile on my face.

Is another village joining the Naxals?

2007-04-14T02:45:00.000+05:30

I have a kind request to Dr. Manmohan Singh to wake up and take a look into the things going on in name of progress. If we do not take care, it wont be too long before another part of India gets the Naxal link.

IBNLive Story

In one part of the story, they show how police arrested the whole village and made them to go to Puri. In the mean time the company erected a compound wall in the area. Police version of the story: They sent the villagers to puri on a holiday. I didn't know that Indian Police had a clause of sending people on sacred journeys.
Even a 5 year old kid can make out what's going on. But it seems whole bureaucratic system has closed its eyes to this part of the country. Someone please wake up.

When will this killing of tribal villages stop?

are you pig??

2007-04-10T19:22:00.001+05:30

Human = eat + sleep + work + enjoy
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Human = Pigs + work + enjoy
if, Human - enjoy = Pigs + work
in other words,
Human that don't know enjoy = pigs that work

Men = eat + sleep + earn money
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Men = Pigs + earn money
if Men - earn money = Pigs
in other words,
Men that don't earn money = Pigs

Women = eat + sleep + spend
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Women = Pigs + spend
if, Women - spend = Pigs
In other words,
Women that don't spend = Pigs

Summary:
Men earn money not to let women become pigs!
Women spend not to let men become pigs!

Men + Women = 2 Pigs
Wish all the pigs happy forever.

tell me if it makes you cry!!

2007-04-10T10:02:00.000+05:30

Its a news which made me cry. Could not stop tears in my eyes. The girl committing suicide for a set of text books and Indian govt. spending millions for free education.
I would like to ask Mr. Manmohan Singh, what is he doing with his educational cess when there are kids taking their lives to save their parents from embarrassment of not able to buy books for them.

Story

Why do we lack in research?

2007-04-10T01:44:00.000+05:30

This might be one of the reasons, why India lacks the research power.
Indian Express asked the human resource ministry, the reason why research proposal of a foreign scholar. You might not agree but topics like "Women’s struggle for empowerment" and "Prospects and problems of outsourcing for India’s economic growth" might have a sensitivity issue. These issues might even pose Strategic/Economic threat to the Republic of India.

Long live the bureaucracy. Long live the semi literate politicians.

Link to Indian Express

Height of determination!!

2007-04-06T11:11:00.000+05:30

Motorcycle Hall of Fame: Burt Munro
Burt Munro @ wiki
The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
A New Zealand Legend: Burt Munro

I don't have good enough words for this guy!! Competing for world record at the age of 68. Riding a bike no one would approve for racing. and Set a record not to be broken till now!!
This world is full of crazy people.

Yo google!!!

2007-04-03T20:33:00.001+05:30

Interesting

Go to Google.com

Click Maps

Type in New York to London, hit enter

Read Text Directions carefully. Pay special attention to step 23

Have a nice trip

Businessman@work

2007-04-03T19:23:00.000+05:30

A wonderful example of business opportunity being spotted in a loss:
"cricinfo" "rediff"
India really needed this initiative and the business will be great!!

Awesome Story!!

2007-04-03T00:30:00.000+05:30

OLD VERSION...
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or
shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands
to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MP's stage a walkout.Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Insititutions & in Govt Services.
The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ... As a result loosing lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country..... .

Great Bongs!!!

2007-04-03T00:19:00.000+05:30

A is for Awpheesh (as in Office). This is where the average Kolkakatan goes and spends a day hard at work. And if he works for the 'Vest Bengal Gawrment' he will arrive at 10, wipe his forehead till 11, have a tea break at 12, throw around a few files at 12.30, break for lunch at 1, smoke an unfiltered cigarette at 2, break for tea at 3, sleep sitting down at 4 and go home at 4:30. It's a hard life!

B is for Bhision. For some reason many Bengalis don't have good bhision. In fact in Kolkata most people are wearing spectacles all the time.

C is for Chappell. Currently, this is the Bengali word for the Devil, for the worst form of evil. In the night mothers put their kids to sleep saying, 'Na ghumaley Chappell eshey dhorey niye jabe.'

D is for Debashish or any other name starting with Deb. By an ancient law every fourth Bengali Child has to be named Debashish. So you have a Debashish everywhere and trying to get creative they are also called Deb, Debu, Deba with variations like Debopriyo, Deboprotim, Debojyoti, etc. thrown in at times.

E is for Eeesh. This is a very common Bengali exclamation made famous by Aishwarya Rai in the movie Devdas. It is estimated that on an average a Bengali, especially Bengali women, use eeesh 10,089 times every year. 'Ei Morechhey' is a close second to Eeesh.

F is for Feeesh. These are creatures that swim in rivers and seas and are a favourite food of the Bengalis. Despite the fact that a fish market has such strong smells, with one sniff a Bengali knows if a fish is all right. If not, he will say 'eeesh what feeesh is theesh!'

G is for Good name. Every Bengali boy will have a good name like Debashish or Deboprotim and a pet name like Motka, Bhombol, Thobla, etc. While every Bengali girls will have pet names like Tia, Tuktuki, Mishti, Khuku, et cetera.

H is for Harmonium. This the Bengali equivalent of a rock guitar. Take four Bengalis and a Harmonium and you have the successors to The Bheatles!

I is for lleesh. This is a feeesh with 10,000 bones which would kill any ordinary person, but which the Bengalis eat with releeesh!

J is for Jhola. No selfrespecting Bengali is complete without his Jhola. It is a shapeless cloth bag where he keeps all his belongings and he fits an amazing number of things in. Even as you read this there are two million jholas bobbling around Kolkata, and they all look exactly the same! Note that 'Jhol' as in Maachher Jhol is a close second.

K is for Kee Kaando !. It used to be the favourite Bengali exclamation till eeesh took over because of Aishwarya Rai (now Kee Kando's agent is trying to hire Bipasha Basu).

L is for Lungi, the dress for all occasions. People in Kolkata manage to play football and cricket wearing it not to mention the daily trip in the morning to the local bajaar. Now there is talk of a lungi expedition to Mt Everest.

M is for Minibus. These are dangerous half buses whose antics would effortlessly frighten the living daylights out of all James Bond stuntmen as well as Formula 1 race car drivers.

N is for Nangto. This is the Bengali word for Naked. It is the most interesting naked word in any language!
O is for Oil. The Bengalis believe that a touch of mustard oil will cure anything from cold (oil in the nose), to earache (oil in the ear), to cough (oil on the throat) to piles (oil you know where!).

P is for Phootball. This is always a phavourite phassion of the Kolkattan. Every Bengali is born an expert in this game. The two biggest clubs there are Mohunbagan and East Bengal and when they play the city comes to a stop.

Q is for Queen. This really has nothing to do with the Bengalis or Kolkata, but it's the only Q word I could think of at this moment. There's also Quilt but they never use them in Kolkata.

R is for Robi Thakur. Many many years ago Rabindranath got the Nobel Prize. This has given the right to all Bengalis no matter where they are to frame their acceptance speeches as if they were directly related to the great poet and walk with their head held high. This also gives Bengalis the birthright to look down at Delhi and Mumbai and of course 'all non-Bengawlees' ! Note that 'Rawshogolla' comes a close second !

S is for Shourav. Now that they finally produced a genuine cricketer and a captain, Bengalis think that he should be allowed to play until he is 70 years old. Of course they will see to it that he stays in good form by doing a little bit of 'jawggo' and 'maanot'.

T is for Trams. Hundred years later there are still trams in Kolkata. Of course if you are in a hurry it's faster to walk.

U is for Aambrela. When a Bengali baby is born he is handed one.
V is for Bhaayolence. Bengalis are the most non-violent violent people around. When an accident happens they will fold up their sleeves, shout and scream and curse and abuse, "Chherey De Bolchhi" but the last time someone actually hit someone was in 1979.

W is for Water. For three months of the year the city is underwater and every year for the last 200 years the authorities are taken by surprise by this!

X is for X'mas. It's very big in Kolkata, with Park Street fully lit up and all Bengalis agreeing that they must eat cake that day.

Y is for Yesshtaarday. Which is always better than today for a Bengali (see R for Robi Thakur).
Z is for Jebra, Joo, Jipper and Jylophone.

SEZ

2007-04-02T11:19:00.000+05:30

There are not many state governments in India who can boast of surplus. In this kind of exchequer condition, who in his right mind, would want to give away land of millions of worth. I wonder why governments cry for empty exchequer and then start throwing away acres of land to millionaire industrialists. It won't matter much to them even if they have to kill a few people to snatch the land. The people who are living on that land and are supporting their families from the crops of that land should have first right on the land.
If the industrialist want to put up a plant of something then let them go and acquire the land at the market price.
Or in another situation govt. can go and buy the land from owners and then resell it to the industrialist. But in this situation the land owner should get option of rehabilitation or market price.
The land being grabbed in exchange of pennies a slap on this democracy and leading to plutocracy.

Abu Salem - a Hero or a Terrorist

2007-04-02T10:55:00.000+05:30

Mubarakpur, a small town in Uttar Pradesh, India. Kids in other towns might have idols as actors, cricketers or politicians, but this town has a huge fan follower of Abu Salem, an accused of mumbai bomb blasts and killing of Gulshan Kumar. There seems no effect of democracy or governance in this town. If there are so many kids who want to follow his foot steps, I'd not be surprised if one really reaches that place in crime world. I wonder when the govt. and police system wake up and try to win heart of people in such small villages. That seem to be the only way to stop this kind of thing to happen.

Follow the story.

25 reasons to watch DDLJ again

2007-03-24T10:44:00.000+05:30

1 Aditya Chopra initially wanted to cast Tom Cruise for the role of Raj Malhotra

2 Kirron Kher came up with the title Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. This is the first film in the history of Bollywood with a credit of ‘title suggested by’
3 The working title of the film was The Braveheart will take the Bride
4 Sooraj Barjatya watches DDLJ almost every week, and especially before starting a new film
5 Aditya Chopra always thought that he would make his debut with Mohabbatein, a story about three sets of lovers and a music teacher. He eventually made that one in 2000
6 SRK’s famous leather jacket was bought by Uday Chopra from a Harley- Davidson store in Bakersfield, California, for $400
7 SRK initially refused the film because he regarded romances as ‘‘pansy stuff.’’ It took Adi four meetings to convince him
8 In case SRK didn’t agree, Adi thought of approaching Saif Ali Khan
9 Initially, Armaan Kohli was supposed to play the role of Simran’s fiance, Kuljeet. Eventually, Parmeet Sethi got the role because he came for the screen test wearing boots, jeans and a waistcoat
10 Mere Khwaboon Mein Jo Aaye was the first song to be recorded. Aditya Chopra rejected 24 verses by Anand Bakshi before giving his nod to this one
11 It was Manish Malhotra’s idea to dress Kajol in a green outfit for Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna. Adi was against it since Punjabi brides traditionally wear red, maroon or pink
12 The famous Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jaana Sanam sequence amidst the yellow sarson flowers was shot in Gurgaon
13 Saroj Khan left the shooting in a huff after a disagreement with Aditya. SRK recommended Farah Khan, who choreographed Ruk Ja
14 In 2001, DDLJ broke the continuous exhibition record of the movie Sholay at Minerva theatre (5 years, 1975-1980)
15 Karan Johar assisted Aditya on the sets, while Uday (his younger brother) was also one of the assistants
16 Besides assisting Adi, Karan Johar also acted in the movie. He played ‘Pochy’, one of SRK’s friends
17 Adi named SRK ‘Raj’ after Raj Kapoor
18 SRK’s full name in the movie is Rajnath, after Rishi Kapoor’s name in Bobby
19 In the scene in which Anupam Kher tells SRK about the (non) accomplishments of his forefathers in academics, he actually recited names of his real, not- so-academically successful uncles
20 The film was mired in two major controversies after its release. Honey Irani and Javed Siddiqui said that they hadn’t been given credit for screenplay and dialogues respectively
21 Adi’s screenplay specifies that Simran is a vegetarian while Raj is willing to eat even a beefburger
22 DDLJ was the first film to have a 30-minute television show on its making. The Making of DDLJ was telecast on Doordarshan
23 HMV’s executive director Harish Dayani estimates that one in three households in India owns the DDLJ soundtrack
24 Adi used to practice his camera angles with Karan Johar posing as Kajol and Uday Chopra as Farida Jalal
25 Mandira Bedi made her film debut with the film