Campus

वो कॉलेज की बातें
याद आती हैं मुझे
वोह कैंपस की बातें
याद आती है मुझे
वोह ह्यारीस की शामें
चाय समोसे के संग
वोह एगिस की रातें
जहाँ बैठते थे हम सभी यार
गपशप करते थे घंटे तीन चार
वोह हीज्ली का पुल
जहाँ बैठ कर खाते थे चोप और पीते थे चाय
और देखते थे गुज़रती हुई रेल गाडी को
वोह सेंट्रल लाय्ब्ररी
जहाँ जाते थे पड़ने
और देखते थे लड़कियों को
वोह क्लासेस के बीच
कैंटीन जाना और चाय पीना
वोह ज़िंदगी जहाँ कोई चीन्ता ना थी
वोह शामें और वोह रातें
ना कभी भूल सकूंगा मैं
और वोह यार जिनके साथ
बीताये मैंने चार साल
अभी मुझसे हैं दूर
वोह चार साल मेरे
जिन्दगी के हसीं पल
कभी आये और कही चले गए

-- Sastry
Written sometime in 1999 I guess. Just after graduating and spending time in a small place alone far away from friends.

P.S: There are some inherent bugs in the hindi transliteration. Bug is evident with i kaar.

Collecting Covers of the Matchboxes

Do you remember those colorful match boxes with varieties of pictures? It used to be a hobby to collect them and stick them on a notebook and maintain them. There used to be notebook specially made for this purpose. Colorful match boxes of all sorts. Candles, cats, lanterns, actresses and so on. What delighted us to collect them? Would not even think to pick them up even if they were found in a dirty area. It was fun. It used to be a matter of pride to display it to friends who didnt have as many as I had. And it would frustrate me when I hear that Mantu has more than I have. "Hey how many do you have?"
"100"
"Just 100? I have 200"
"Damn".

Hey wait a second!! he stole a few from my notebook. Damn it. I cant even prove that he stole. :-)

I cant even remember where I lost that notebook. But I will always remember it was fun to hit the streets in the afternoon searching for some nice "Maarkaas" as they were called in Bengali. Yeah thats right. In the afternoons after coming from school and having lunch. Mom would keep shouting "dont go. stay home." But who would listen? Who could stop the irrestible desire to collect maarkaas.

I wonder if its still a hobby or if it has become obsolete as the kids maintain more tech hobbies.

Visit to LalBagh

We had a visit to lalbagh on a nice saturday afternoon. Here are some nice
pictures.



Some of the attractions include the rose garden, lake, fountains etc. a nice place a nice break. This is one of the four KempeGowda Forts.







The lake is beautiful but a closer look shows the dirt. Its ironic that we always complain about administration. The bottom line we as individuals lack civic sens. There are soo many dustbins all around nicely designed and organized yet certain people (read idiots) still do not think twice before sullying the environment.

Introduction

So many times, in the middle of our daily activities, we suddenly stop and remember small events of our past. The way we grew up, those little streets where we walked, that old school we went to, the small shop where we ate jilebees and so on. Also come to our minds are those funny incidents, moments of our stupidity and moments of extraordinary work.

We remember them for a moment and the next moment we are back to our grind. Later we think, " aahh I could suddenly recollect that sweet moment so clearly. I wish I had written it down. BUt , damn I cant remember it. Or even if I remember it, I can't write it down as a neat memory".

Everytime such moment comes where I remember a sweet memory from the past, I will try to get hold of a computer and jot it down before my mind goes back to its slumber.

And here I call it : Little Stories from the Past....

Alrite the Reservations are back

I could never understand the concept of reservations nor will be able to understand. Reservations based on caste has been evil and will be evil. Still found many of my friends trying to justify how the marginalized communities are necessarily from "backward" castes and how they need reservations. Fine, they need reservations. I have always wondered "Arent they financially backward too?"

Why is the reservation in this cranky country based on caste? Why is not based on financial status? When the reservation furore exploded last year, do you remember that HRD ministry tried to allay fears by saying "Creamy Layer" will not be included. In fact in some of our debates with friends, they used to utilize this point saying "Creamy Layer" will anyways be not included.

But everyone read the Moily panel and saw how conveniently it avoided the issue due to pressure from political establishment.

Finally Supreme Court has to step to control these indisciplined kids called politicians.

When will sense prevail ? That there has to be a beginning to be brave to make tough decisions, where our lack guts does not enable us to disperse anything off as "Oh! practically not possible".

Oh man.... I feel like getting into politics everyday.... :-) Alrite alrite that is kneejerk. But seriously, these bloggings and armchair criticising for self satisfaction are enough. Something more needs to happen from every individual and for me it starts at self.

Duvidha

Note : You will need Hindi Fonts installed via blogger to read these poems.

I will try to post some of the poems I wrote looong time back... Some may sound stupid. But hey stupidity is relative isnt it? Enjoy if you can ... Otherwise I dont care :-)

जीवन की राहों में चलते चलते
मुझे कभी कभी ऐसा लगा
मैं कहीं खो गया
भूल गया मैं भूत को
पता नहीं मुझे आगे कि

Visit To Ramkrishna Math

After the Cave Temple, it was time to visit Ramkrishna Math. Was so eager to go there and about the works of Swami Vivekananda. As we entered the gate, I realized it was a beautiful campus. On the right side, in a big auditorium, a lecture was being delivered in Kannada. It seems discourse is given in English on Sundays.

After leaving the footwear in the nearby stand, we walked upto the temple. It is Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's temple. So fascinatingly quiet as compared to noise outside. People were meditating silently. I was watching the photographs on the wall.

Outside the temple we walked a few meters to find Mata Sarada Devi Rock. History says sometimes in March 1911, she sat on this rock in meditation. Beautifully maintained with flowers around.

While on our way out we spent a lot of time in the library. It is less of a library and more of a shop.

A good visit but again I do not understand the stupidity that I mentioned in my previous post. Why the heck are we paranoid about not allowing photography? Photography was prohibited at Sarada Devi Rock. I took the picture of the temple since I did not see any such board there. Gosh...My message to these folks is allow photography if you want more people to know about and visit you. Alrite an email to them :-)

Cave Temple Visit

Saturday and it was time to do some roaming around in the city. :-) We realized that last time when we went Bull Temple, we forgot to cover certain beautiful things out there in the same area that is, Basavanagudi.

So finally today we went. By the way, when the number of people increase it becomes easier to go by an auto. I want to go by bus but I have to change it twice. First take 171 from Koramangala to Majestic. Then from Majestic to Basavanagudi. Auto is almost equally expensive for 2 people and it goes faster. :-)

Alrite. Today we went to Cave Temple. In traditional terms, it is called Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple. It is in Gavipuram. Pretty close to Basavanagudi.

It is one of the ancient temples and now has come under the protection of Archeological Survey of India.

The temple is neatly out of rock and goes underground. Outside the temple, the board says it has long way and it is believed that it goes all the way to Kashi and ShivaGanga.

Many of the things inside the cave have been "modernized" such as, with tiles etc. I wish they were not.


This temple is pretty close to Bull Temple but closer to RamKrishna Math.

OK all this is beautiful. But as usual I will finish with my rant. Why are we so stupid to not allow photography? I think Archaeological Survey of India should make it mandatory to allow photography. People taking photographs is only going to make it more popular. Cant you understand that simple thing?

Bangalore RTI software

Pretty interesting. Hope it comes soon. BMP (Bangalore Mahangar Palike) is putting the RTI software in place. This will make the filing of RTI easier and streamlined.

http://www.bmponline.org/right2info/rti.shtml

Suicide Stopper :: Is he less than God for some?

Read this nice article. Absolutely fascinating about this hero.

The Article

Another of those Ridiculous articles

Aww... Grrr... These are the feelings that come to my mind when I read these stupid mindless articles coming out.

Read this...

India's Economy to Dethrone Japan

I think it is high time we should get a life, stop day dreaming, stop living through artists' impressions of an impeccable India and rather work silently towards it without making noises.

Everyday I open Times Of India, I see artist's impression on how beautiful Bangalore is gonna look like or Pune gonna look like. Let us take a step back, work on it, achieve it and then show the actual picture. Because, as has been the situation in many cases, most probably this artist impression may also get struck down.

And what is this superpower thing? With complete lack of civic sense what superpower thing we are talking about? Sending a missile or a mission to moon is going to qualify a nation to superpower status? What an utter non-sense. Suddenly someone comes to this "superpower" nation and sees people urinating all over the place, spitting all over the place, pushing around all over the place and we call it a superpower? In order to be superpower one needs to be civilized and socially responsible. I feel a frustrating breakdown in that machinery. And unfortunately many many educated engineers, doctors etc. are also involved in it. The climax of pushing with utter disrespect for people around can be easily seen on the roads. And this disrecpect is not just in Bangalore. It is everywhere in India I have been to, though a few places.

I think now it has started getting on my nerves when some mediocrities keep on ranting this Bhajan of India becoming superpower by 2010, 2020, 2030. First get your basic acts straight. And the first is social responsibility and civic sense. Cant blame government all the time. Do your job well first.

So it is a long way till India is going to be this "superpower" thing and before that we have some tough job at hand and our success will be benchmarked on the basis of

• how proud one is about his fellow neighbor (not some blind chauvinistic nationalism)
  
• how much one feels the community around him/her as his/her home so as to keep it clean just as one keeps his/her home
  
• how much drive is to create world class stuff
  
• and the list goes on...
  
• And here comes these flaky missiles and moon missions
  

Isnt it an irony? There are some countries where people have no rights whatsoever. There some countries where people have enough rights but they know their limits too. And there are countries like India where many many people have just no respect for the law or rules or whatever. These nuisance creating people need to be taught their place so that the souls working towards making India truly heaven on earth can be successful.

Mango : The product of India.

It seems Mango, my favorite fruit was discovered in North East India some thousands of years back. And it also seems like it was not as delicious and fleshy as we know it today. Multiple instances of hybridisations, evolutions etc. gave rise to the fleshy, juicy king of all fruits as we see today.

I learnt it at http://www.plantcultures.org

Street Children Working with Dignity

A CNN-IBN Article that came up recently about the rehabilititation of folks from juvenile homes.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/street-children-working-with-dignity/14703-3.html

Seven Habits of Highly Successful People

I am currently reading this book after several ON and OFFs. One thing that I really liked (at the current stage of my reading) about the difference in Leadership and Management.

Management is doing the things right. Leadership is doing right things.

There are so many moments in our life when we face this issue of leadership. The courage to take bold jumps, risks, initiatives that we are passionate about but get stuck, scared about doing so. In a life that comes once why do we shy away from doing the right things?

Buy and read this book if you can. Its pretty cool.

No I do not work in their marketing. :-)

Sastry

Whistling Woods

Have you heard of Whistling Woods? I accidentally came across it. Its a film university just started by Subhas Ghai. Shows the maturity that is coming in it seems. One sweet thing is that Naseerudding Shah is the Head of the Department for Acting.

Check it out :

http://www.whistlingwoods.net/

In the related context, here is Satyajit Ray Film Institute :

http://srfti.gov.in/index.htm

Mathematics and Physics

Pretty fascinating stuff here at

American Institute of Physics

And

American Mathematical Society

Explore these if you have that hunger for maths and physics.

Motivation Brother Motivation - Aaaahhhhhhh!!

Ahh.... Those days of lack of motivation... I try to jump around telling myself life is short so lead it as if tomorrow is the last day. But damn, still lack of motivation. Dont know why.

What causes lack of motivation?

Is it lack of interest? --> Meaning I dont want to do this.
Is it lack of value? --> Meaning how the heck what I do is gonna change the world
Is it monotony? --> Meaning same shit everyday

Well these bouts came, saw and faded. I guess to see these cycles is human and not see these is super-human. And I am trying my level best to be super human :-) But alas cant yet.

Anyways, did some googling and found an interesting page :

http://www.motivation-abc.com/

Well very verbose. But nevertheless some neat suggestions.

I think one solution is to do variety of things like music, sports etc.

Or may be the perpetual desire to do complex things or be excellent.... Sometimes it sparks you. Sometimes it starves you too.... Mentally ofcourse...

Interested in Math Puzzles?

I found this on the web and felt that it is fascinating. Its fun to compete with others too :-)

http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/ponder/

I hope you will enjoy this.

Memories of a Father

I somehow stumbled upon this on web and kept on reading. Leaves you touched and voiceless.

Memories of a Father


A true story written by no other than a father who loses his son to police torture in Kerala.

Here is a touching snippet :

"This small book contributes far more to the literature on human rights than the tons of academic writings that unfortunately crowd our libraries. Most of those books are produced in countries quite unlike India, where this story is set. As such, they are relevant to countries where police officers generally observe discipline, where most criminal investigations are competently managed, where the judiciary as a whole is uncorrupted, and where politicians are not publicly perceived as sheer frauds.

From the tears of a father’s pen, Professor Eachara Varier tells of another reality. His son’s disappearance draws from him this eloquent, moving and remarkable statement on cruelty, courage, and enduring hope. His story is from India, but it is the story of millions throughout Asia, and in many other parts of the world."

"

“Please give this to our son Rajan. I trust only you.”

She didn’t utter a word after that. Cold death had already touched her.

The next day after her death, I had a nap on the couch. The

weight of that packet of coins, which she entrusted to me,

was still in my hands.

"

"I came to know that Rajan yielded himself silently to the torture. I have read about people being called to their deaths in Nazi camps. As an officer called out names, others were queuing up, waiting for their turn. They even took care not to call a husband and wife together into death; Hitler knew that the pain of separation and getting lost was more intense than death."

May 18, 2007 : Patenting Yoga

What exactly is in the mind of a patenter? Now Yoga is being patented. Do the person who is patenting not feeling shameful about taking credit for something that has been around for ages? Slightly Modifying something and then patenting it is nothing but plagiarism. It is astonishing to see the the United States Patent Office is even granting the patent. This is going to create a bad war. More such ridiculous patents are indicscrimately granted, more will be their violations. And in order to curb the violation, if the laws are made stronger, there will be an uproar. This is my premonition.

Some similar absurd patents that I heard were :

• Attempts to patent Neem and Turmeric. It is like I rewrite e=mc2 as e'=m'*c'*c' and trying to patent it as my own. I am sure Einstein will kill me. :-)
  
• Attempt to patent some Indian curry (palak paneer?) in Japan
  

I think we need to mature. Patenting should be for one's own basic innovation. Otherwise, even Anu Malik should start patenting the songs that he copies.

By the way, I am planning to invent a new word and patent it. The new word is

plagia-rent

:-) Adios for today.

May 15, 2007 : Urinating Everywhere

We have developed an amazing culture I must say. That is, of urinating anywhere and everywhere we find a spot. This seems to have reached ridiculous levels. Is there a medical problem with Indian males about frequent urinating? The stretch of road I walk in Bangalore is full of urine stink. You might be thinking it is some remote shady area. No, it is the posh Koramangala with the super famous Forum Mall.

It is clear from the spitting and urinating habits that individuals do not give a crap about community building in India. And it is becoming increasingly difficult for the few who is. I used to think that these uncivilised habits correlate with education. But I am convinced that the education we are getting doesnt teach an iota of civic sense. This was proved when a well dressed guy one day got down from his Hyundai Santro and before I could realize he started urinating on the roadside. Sigh!! It is highly probable that this person might have been a respectable software engineer in a respectable company. I wonder if he urinates on his company walls.

I am confused if it is (1) a habit or is it really due to (2) inadequate sanitation facilities? I think it is both. But fortunately the former can be corrected by education, fines, community policing etc. but inorder for the first one to be effective, the second one needs to be implemented. But the item (2) cannot be implemented in an overnight. But in the interim, I think there can be a good solution.

Some ideas I have in mind are :
A.) Government should immediately ban urinating in public.

But action (A) will be mindless and stupid if alternative solution is not provided. The Government should immediately

(B.) make it mandatory for any shops, restaurants, hotels etc. to let an individual use the toilet in its premises without becoming a customer.

If you count the toilets in the offices, restaurants, hotels etc. there are enough of toilets. A few outsiders using them is not going to damage them. Or is it?

I am planning to send this suggestion to our dear lawmakers.

What do you think of my thought? Do you agree? Do you think it is impractical? Do you think it is stupid?

You can be honest :-)

May 14, 2007 : Blogging --- Writing with Anonymity

I come across so many blogs while googling and most of them are anonymous. I keep wondering why the heck are these blogs anonymous? Why cant I know about the person who is blogging? Well, some justification to anonymous blogging may be the fact that you can write whatever you wish. But wait a minute, by being not anonymous, can you not write whatever you wish? Isnt that the spirit of "freedom of expression" ? One has to be careful in the choice of language when being not anonymous to ensure that you do not abuse, insult any individual, country, community, race, caste, color, creed and so on. But why should one want to abuse? One's language should reflect on one's character. The expression can be fiery without being insulting. Without being abusive. By being anonymous, one can get away with shallowness though. Well, by not being anonymous too one can get away with shallowness. That we see everyday in the ways laws are being brought in this country. Oh by the way, a slight diversion. That reminds me that a lawmaker in Karnataka has recently said that the primary role of women is to nurture. Aww.... People chose him to be their leader? I guess women will tell him what his role is.

Anyways coming back to the issue of anonymity, one advantage of anonymity may be the fact that one may want to put up everything about their life, character, fantasies and so on which might otherwise be difficult in a society like ours. But I am sure every individual might have such thoughts, visions, dreams, fantasies and so on which sometimes they feel may reflect upon them.

So what the heck... I feel a fully mature society is one in which there is no need for anonymity. One in which every individual is brave to express their thoughts without demeaning community, caste etc. etc.

End of my rant....

May 13, 2007 -- Visit to Bull Temple

Aah!! Finally... Got a chance to go somewhere on a sunday. Ever since the return to India, every weekend goes in just staying at home trying to figure out what to do.. But again, going somewhere is just plain painful. But life is beautiful I say. So, from Koramangala, take bus 171 to Majestic Bus Stand. Take bus 31 to Basavanagudi from Majestic. Basavanagudi buses come on Platform No. 8. Bull temple seems be an ancient wonder. Basavanagudi has that old nice and beautiful look. It is ironical though to see that the maintenance of this temple is plain pathetic. But the adjacent park has been maintained pretty well. The park has become lovers' spot.. Ooh. :-) There is a huge bull carved out of stone. Very interestingly photography is allowed. So that was a relief as compared to past where photography used to be disallowed in any tourist place you go to.

I feel there can so much be done to increase the tourist attraction of this place.

May 11 - 2007 - Writing Fantasy

Blogging is a very interesting concept you know. The spread of blogging, the way it has received positive response tells us something about a small spark in every heart. This spark is about the desire to write something. Some people have small dreams to write something about their daily life, about theirs successes, their failurers while some others dream of writing books, novels and so on. Overall every loves to write. Everyone loves to write something about themselves, society, country, junk, jokes whatever it is.

When blogging concept came, it definitely sparked that little flame.

But writing is a very challenging thing. Atleast I feel so. Its like many other interests that are like the fire with woods. Very bright and strong in the beginning and gradually it tends to fade. This happens to me so often. I feel like writing for a couple of days and then the flame fades. It needs oil all the time to keep it burning bright.

So I face this challenge to maintain the strength, the skill and the interest to write something.

I saw this movie "Freedom Writers" a few days back and there you go. I have received the oil to my fading flame to write again.

So, whenever you feel like you are losing interest to write, find some oil in some mode that will rejuvenate the flame inside you, the writer, the poet, the joker inside you.

May 10, 2007 : Aviation Woes - Is this not RACISM?

I just returned last night from a 2 week trip to US. Everytime I return back home, at the end of travel, a sense of sadness continues to loom in my heart. This sadness is about the travel experience. The way treatment is meted out to passengers. Well, the pain is still afresh. It used to be afresh in the past and I would just forget it. But these days, I loudly rant with optimism that atleast few will agree with me and take initiative in their own way to let the airline agencies know that they cannot afford to treat certain passengers in a way that they have taken granted.

OK here I begin my narration. For this trip, I got to travel by Lufthansa. It was Bangalore-Frankfurt-Denver-Austin onward and New York-Frankfurt-Bangalore return.

Lufthansa is just not good. Their entertainment is so frustrating. You listen to same audio for 8 hours journey. Video entertainment is through some remote monitors that look like ancient age computer screens (remember 13 inch screens?). Food is mediocre.

Alright, the above was the usual rant. Now comes the sensitive part. I personally think they treat the passengers of the last leg (while returning to India) as shit. They simply do not have respect for passengers. Does it have to do with the fact that many are Indians? Well we have to honestly ask this question and see what is the answer? Does "Victim of Racism" lie somewhere hidden in the answer ?

And in the case of my journey that I am talking about, what makes it more shameful is the fact that you get such behavior from a fellow India air hostess. Yeah thats true. I see a stink of slavery and lack of self respect here. When the self respect lack, how can you respect your fellow citizens? This happens in every phase of our life in India. Go to USA and you will see special treatment for US citizens. Go to Europe and you will see special treatment for EU nationals. You come to India and you will realize that you are treated worse than visitors. So there you are. Screwed from both sides. The only solution to this is self respect and pride. Are we trying to gain our self respect by trying to prove to others ? Here is a real experience on board Lufthansa. They claim themselves to be international flight. And here this is this flight attendant (Indian by the way) who tries to create her own nomenclature. Everywhere "Vegetarian Meal" and Asian Vegetarian Meal (AVML) mean two different things. While own our way to India, suddenly this air hostess thinks both are same. She asks us "Vegetarian" or "Non-vegetarian", we say, we want AVML. Immediately she makes a face displaying obvious displeasure and says "It is all same since we are going to India". Wow. Is it soo obvious? Are there no non-Indian travellers? Then after 2 mins she tries to explain to me. Well, it has already created an impression on my mind about the low quality and lack of professionalism of this individual which in turn reflects poorly on Lufthansa.

I understand that every individual has his/her own perceptions of treatment they expect or they deserve.

But I definitely feel that Indians are treated with utter disrespect when they deserve much more. Ironically, I heard from my friends that even AIR India treats the predominantly Indian passengers poorly. Though I must say I have not travelled by Air India and dont intend either because of these feedbacks from friends. This kind of behavior towards Indians is unacceptable. But well we have to grab it and not beg for it.

I am going to first contact Lufthansa on this and send to all my friends dissuading them from flying by Lufthansa.

I hope every individual who felt they deserved better treatment does not let go of it. I have observed in India that we are patient about things that we should not be and are impatient about trivial things many a times.

This attitude needs to change.

World Cup and the Advertising Woes

This World Cup has been real frustrating. Ha ha. Not because India lost. In fact that has been one good thing to happen since we stupid people are habituated to idolizing stuff. Cricket needs to come down to earth. Tendulkar is god. Dravid is God. Dada is God. There has been no individual on this earth as Dhoni. What bullshit. Someone has rightly said. It needs the guts of Chappel or Woolmer to sack Ganguly or Shoaib Akhtar for their arrogance. No desi coach would have the guts to even try that. Because his house would be attacked, his family would be abused.

What makes this world cup particularly frustrating is these bloody advertiements. Let this be the message to Pepsi and Motorola : I am going to completely stop drinking Pepsi and avoid in future to buy a motorola cell phone. Because you idiots in your overdrive for advertisements have actually pissed me off by not letting me enjoy a sixer or a boundary or an out.

As soon as the batsman would hit a lofty shot that is kinda hinting at a six, an advertisement would come on Sony. What idiotic strategy is this? Do you think you will make people buy your product by repeating the ad on their faces and irritating them? This smells to me the same way as the behavior of the AMWAY army. If you are hearing my frustrationg, then let me assure you that there will be many many many individuals who are frustrated the same way as I am. You better may come out with some apologetic note about your over enthusiasm during the World Cup.

I didnt watch many matches but watching one match was enough to drive me crazy. Not the loss of India but excessive Ads.

I hope sanity settles down in the minds of crazy cricket fans of this crazy nation and the crazy corporates whose strategy is nothing different from the one adopted in a crowded fish market.

Its high time Indian fans learn from the behavior of South African fans after the loss of South Africa to Australia. They simply do not care. They have already learnt that Life still goes on. So why are we wasting time brooding over a loss in a game. Use it in nation building, your life building stupid.

Its high time we give equal importance to all the games. Its time we stand up and give a standing ovation to Vishwanathan Anand for his feats. Who have always maintained their standards.

May sanity prevail on the minds of the cricket crazy fans. And may they stop shaving their stupid heads and taking out funerals....

Man how frustating can this be..... I am really getting frustrated with this CNN-IBN. I used to like it but its getting on my nerves now with its sensational journalism and lack of balance.

OK I will stop my complaints and I am sure sooo many people will agree with my views.

Any Good Flute Music and Vocals Teachers in Bangalore

Well if you know, then please do let me know through this feedback form.

An Amazing link for Music

I do not know who is Anurag Jain but I defintiely know i loved the links to the music portals available on his website.

I hope you too will benefit. Here it is :

http://www.anuragjain.com/indianmusic.html

COMMUNITY SERVICE

January 13, 2007: Bangalore Traffic Woes -- We need to be proactive - How
We are just habituated to complaining about bad governance all the time. While this has some truth associated with it, we cannot shy away from our social responsibility. Most of the times, the question in our mind is what the heck can a small person like me do.

Well I was thinking the same with respect to the irritating Bangalore traffic and the indisciplined drivers on the road. So here is the point. There are always two kinds of public. Disciplined and Indisciplined. One may be more than other. Doesnt matter. It will be the responsibility of the disciplined public to ensure that indiscipline does not get away easily in a civilised society. So I was thinking how can I play a role in making sure that these indisciplined motor bikers (many are software engineers by the way!! sigh) or bus drivers or auto drivers do not get away with their callousness. I came up with what I thought was a neat idea. So this morning I was googling to find out the address of Traffic Police department to give them this suggestion. But guess what.... They already have this scheme in place. Then I thought to myself "What the heck!! We already have this ? Then whats stopping us? "

I do not know whether the Traffic Department will act or not but why cant I, the socially responsible citizen of a civilized country take a little initiative ?

So here is the information to all we disciplined public, all we camera cellphone carrying citizens. Whenever you see someone is blatantly and confidently violating the traffic rule and the rule of the land, take a picture and send it to the traffic department.

http://www.bcp.gov.in/english/trafficpolice/itintraffic/index.htm#5

And guess what... You can always activate Right To Information (RTI) to ensure a reply from Traffic Department on what they did with your complaint.

Come on my friends... Can we get a little proactive now?


January 7, 2007: Polio Vaccination Drive

I was roaming around by bus around Bangalore to get a feel of the bus travel. When I got down at Majestic Bus stand I saw lots of Polio Vaccination booths. It was really impressive to see many young people at the booths working hard to make sure that the parents with little little kids stop by the booth and get the polio vaccination for the babies. I got curious and talked with the volunteers. An energetic volunteer named Navin told me that they are the nursing students at M.S Ramaiah institute and they volunteer with the Corporation Hospitals for the polio vaccination drive.

Isn't this amazing?

Here are the photographs.

Sometime in the past...

------------------------------
Every good soul in us wants to do something good for the society. But most of us are confused about where to start. Most of us dont have trust in the NGOs which we think often waste time in doing totally useless and administrative rather than getting close to the people who need support.

Check out the organizations that I respect namely Association for India's Development (AID) and ASHA for Education.

Some of the links are really useful to boosting our energies to do something good. Dont sit back. Every small effort we put in as individuals is going to help a long way in building up a great society.

1. http://www.indiatogether.org
2. http://www.aidindia.org
3. http://www.goodnewsindia.com
   
4. http://www.ashanet.org
   

Finally Justice is Delivered!!

It was one similar day many years back when I came across this article on Priyadarshini Mattoo. The article talked about how she was stalked, traumatised and finally raped and murdered in broad daylight in her own home.

What will go on in your mind when you read such story? It made my heart so heavy that I started doubting if it will remain in its position. While she was not related to me, my psyche couldnt stop from getting completely disturbed. One thing that stopped coming out were tear drops who were fighting vehemently to come out though. I was asking myself "why am i getting disturbed for a stranger?" May be she was nto a stranger. May be because she was my gentle countrywoman. May be she was that gentle flower who was trampled by a monster. May be because this flower didnt get justice.

I dont know what went on in my mind then that I used to generally google that name "Priya Darshini Mattoo" just with a hope that may be her case is opened and may be justice has been delivered. But no, justice was not to be delivered even after 7 years, 8 years, 9 years.

Then a ray of hope I saw. I saw when while surfing NDTV, came across a campaign for justice for Priyadarshini.

Today on October 17, when I finally read the news of justice being delivered, how should I have reacted? Happiness? I couldnt stop myself from getting emotional. I am sure so many fellow countrymen and countrywomen have got emotional. All that comes to everyone's mind is the plight a 70 year old father had to go through since he lost his little flower destroyed. What might he have done when he went home with this "good" news? He might have stared at his daughter's photo for a long time as if asking "have you heard this news?" "have you heard that your killer is finally punished?"

If we put ourselves in that room with her father, it will break us down, it will bring that fire in us to fight for justice so that so one suffers like Priyadarshini.

Who was Priyadarshini anyway? She was just a stranger. But she was related to all of us. And so is every woman who is taken for granted, who faces the worst in life and waits for justice even after death.

Will our judiciary bring justice to all who deserve? May be finally we are setting a right trend after a long time. Finally may be we are working towards creating the country where a woman feels safe and feels like the country's daughter.

May your soul rest in peace Priyadarshini. You didnt deserve this kind of treatment by your own country. May be you will forgive your country which didnt let you live peacefully and happily. May be you will forgive your country when you see that so many of your countryfolks couldnt get over the sadness of losing you and they kept fighting for your justice.

After a long time, it may really make sense to celebrate deepavali. To celebrate justice. To celebrate ray of hope however trembling it is.

MUSIC AND POETRY

Music and Poetry are my passions.... Not that I am an expert but I am definitely an addict towards them...

http://www.urdupoetry.com

INSPIRATIONAL MOMENTS IN LIFE

• Inspirational Story of Sharath Babu
• Will be posted as and when I come across....
  

INDIAN GOVERNMENT RELATED

National Portal of India
The above website gives comprehensive information in many area whether it be citizens' rights related, business related, constitution related, laws related etc. etc. Worth spending time if you are interested in learning about these areas.

Government of India Directory
A one point source to know all about Government of India websites at all levels and from all sectors.

INDIAN LAWS, HUMAN RIGHTS

A Guide to Indian Laws

BUSINESS, MARKETS, INDIA

All of us are so much interested in investing but damn its freaking confusing isnt it? Many sites have started teaching the basic concepts. Ofcourse there is no alternative to experience but something basic concepts are definitely helpful. Some cool sites to look for learning :

• http://www.investopedia.com
  
• http://www.careerjournal.com
• http://www.smartmoney.com
  

INTERESTING INFORMATION IN THIS CATEGORY :

• Apple Logs out of India

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

LATEST NEWSPAPER REPORTS :
----------------------------------------

• How the Govt's curbing your right to know -- TOI Article
  

VERY IMPORTANT LINKS :
--------------------------------

• Association for India's Development (AID) is putting in exhaustive efforts in collaboration with organizations like Parivartan in making sure we SAVE RTI. Please stop by the following link for all the information. http://rti.aidindia.org/
• PARIVARTAN : Fighting Corruption
  
• A detailed early paper by Aruna Roy on How the Grassroots RTI Struggle Emerged (A must-read!!)
  
• Samar Magazine Feature: A history of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan
• Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI): Right to Information as a Fundamental Human Right
  
• The Government of India RTI Website
• RTI Act 2005, India (PDF document ~ 380kb)
• NDTV: Frequently Asked Questions about RTI Act 2005
• RTI Blogsites: http://indiarti.blogspot.com, http://right2information.wordpress.com
  
• NDTV Compiled RTI Stories - (including Success Stories of RTI Implementation)
• Time of India site : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/specialcoverage/1823135.cms
  

PERIODIC UPDATES
-------------------------
September 26, 2006:
*Parivartan agitates for the Right to Information -- GoodnewsIndia Article
July 24, 2006:
* Do you all complain constantly about the corruption in the Government systems?
* Do you all wanted to do something to move the Babus of this country to make it corrupt free
* Did you all wanted to somehow someday move the elephant called government and increase its efficiency?
* Did you all wanted India to be a vibrant and energetic democracy?
* Do you want to behave like a concerned citizen of this country wanting to take this country forward in an equitous way and be part of the real development of this country?
* Are some of you getting excited looking at the NDTV's 'Drive against Bribe Campaign"?

If the answer from you to any or all or some of the questions is "yes" then it is time to shed your passivity and act and that too act really fast because the babus and the politicians are faster than any of you can think of to curtail a landmark act namely the Right to Information Act. This was brought into force after much fanfare and dubbed as the crown of the UPA grovernment. But within 6 months of its effective use by the general public to make the public systems answerable to some of their unconstitutional actions, the government has made a stunning move to curtail the provisions of the Act to protect the Babus.

WANT TO ACT ON THIS WITHOUT BEING INDIFFERENT?
1. Simplest that can be done is to sign the many online Petitions that are there. One of them is http://www.petitiononline.com/save_rti/petition.html. There are also many more on the web. It does not matter even if you signed up at 2 or more places

2. If you are wanting to do a little bit more. Then you can send the mails to the PMO, Ms. Sonia Gandhi. The formats and the email addresses are available at the link http://www.sakshitrust.org/petition-against-rti-amendments/petition-against-rti-amendments.html.

3. Send Telegrams / faxes to the PM with the simple words "DONT AMEND THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT" and put your name as a common citizen of this country

So hope some of us will shed the cobwebs around us and save our democracy and THE BEST THING IS YOU DONT NEED TO BE AN ACTIVIST TO DO THIS. IT IS ENOUGH IF YOU ARE A CONCERNED CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY / WORLD.


***********************************************************
July 24, 2006 :
ITS TIME TO ACT IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE ROOTS OF CORRUPTION ELIMINATED FROM INDIA.

URGENT Action Item: Please sign the petition and forward it to your friends, family, batch-mates from school/college urging them to sign and voice their opinions.

What is Right to Information (RTI)?
Right to Information (RTI) is implicitly a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution of India, which says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP that India is a democracy, where people are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning.

Moreover, the right to information is at the core of the human rights system because it enables citizens to more meaningfully exercise their rights, assess when their rights are at risk and determine who is responsible for any violations ( CHRI website)

However no attempt was made by the governments to enact and implement a regime for accessing information till grassroots campaigns were launched by the civil society - most notably, the movement in the early 1990s in Rajasthan by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), demanding access to villages accounts and transparency in administration, brought RTI into national focus.

After years of campaigning, the national government yielded, passing this long-overdue landmark Act on 12th October, 2005. The RTI Act lays down the process in which information can be accessed from government sources.

So what is this recent hullabaloo?
The Indian Cabinet decided to approve an amendment to the RTI Act which will restrict access to "file-notings" under the RTI Law

But what exactly are FILE NOTINGS and Why are they IMPORTANT?
That sacred creature, the government file, usually has two halves: on the right side is the correspondence and materials. This could be someone's grievance, a project proposal, a tender, a concept for a policy, anything the government needs to consider. On the left is the closely held note sheet, which records how the proposition was examined. The advice given in the notings has to be strictly in accordance with laws, rules, norms, and orders. The concerned officer puts down views, advice and recommendations. The file then goes up the line to the decision-making authority. On the way the hierarchy adds more notes, putting their signatures against their views. With all advice in hand a justifiable decision must be made.

Cumulatively, the note sheet reflects the mind of government, bares the intention of an individual officer and whether his advice and consent were grounded on established rules. File notings, then, are X-rays of government functioning. They are proof of fair play and reason , or dishonesty, bias, and negligence. They are the shield that most honest bureaucrats wish they had and the sword that dishonest ones fear. It is only by allowing thorough public scrutiny of the evidence of how the government works at every level that corruption can be fought. File notings fall squarely within the definition of 'information' in the Act. The nature of file notings is inevitably that of advice/opinion, and these are explicitly covered. To twist the definition to exclude file notings would be to destroy the Act's legislative intent. Yet that is what is being sought. Despite clear enunciation that file notings fall within the Act, the Department of Personal and Training's website, says that "information means any material in any form including records, documents...but does not include file notings".

• Read the complete article "Information law: dead on arrival?" by Maja Daruwala, that first appeared in from the Indian Express, October 1, 2005. Maja Daruwala is Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
  
• Aruna Roy's Article (a must-read) in Indian Express: An Act Disabling an ACT
  

And here are excerpts from Aruna Roy's Article :
... At least two of the proposed amendments will permanently shield the bureaucracy from accountability, the disinfectant power of transparency and allow them to function in an arbitrary manner. They will also shield the corrupt and deal a body blow to the efforts of people to fight corruption and the arbitrary exercise of power. Both these amendments relate essentially to the process of decision-making. The first one is to make file notings a category of information that can be concealed. In one stroke the bureaucracy will have managed to disable the Right To Information Act as far as its own functioning is concerned. The second relates to barring access to cabinet notes even after the decision making process is complete — putting the decision-making process of cabinet decisions into a permanent black hole.

... The amendments will change the Act so that the decision can be revealed, the process of decision-making cannot. Barring file notings is not barring a kind of information — it is barring information itself. And this move is nothing short of subterfuge against the Act.
... It is not just the records of a ration shop, or the muster rolls on a work site that people across the country are asking for. It is also the policies that lead to foodgrain stocks being made available, or the manner in which tax-payers' money is being spent that matters. There are decisions being made related to health and medicines, water and power, agricultural policy and genetic engineering and governance itself, that have the potential to impact not just the lives of millions of people but even generations of Indians.

******************************************
June 25, 2006
Everyone has heard recently that Right To Information (RTI) Act has been passed by the Indian Government. This act is supposed to empower the common Indian citizen. But how? nobody knows? or may be only a few passionate indidividuals know. And no one has to time to invest to learn about. As we are best known for, Chalta Hai attitude. Absolutely frustrating scary middle class mentality. Anyways, here is some information on RTI...

Check out this fantastic website on Anti-Bribery. It contains lots of information on RTI, Anti-bribery, the RTI campaign thats gonna be happening from July 1, 2006 in different cities in India. This campaign is aimed at educating the citizens in how to use it.

* http://www.antibribery.org/


INTERESTING INFORMATION IN THIS CATEGORY
India Right To Information

If we really need to do something good for the country and our posterity, we better not worry about the fact "How does it matter if just I do".... The scare needs to be killed.

DSP, MATH and COMM

Interesting Finds
Inspiring Individuals

More coming on this....

The Engineer in me wants to speak too .... :-)

[September 2006]
Alright!! Lets get started.... I will start by putting up some cool links I came across....

Interested in RF? Everything you want can be found here :-)

[October 8, 2006]
Textbooks, Lecture Notes, Tutorials in Mathematics

NEWS TO KNOW AND ACT

1. Deccan Herald, May 26, 2006 --> Latin American Model for Bangalore' s Traffice Woes
2. India Together, May 18, 2006 --> Walk on the Road, legally -- Walking Plaza in Pune When will Bangalore have it?
   
3. Samachar Editorial ----> Alitalia humiliates Indian passenger

RESERVATIONS IN INDIA

To deny, to believe, and to doubt absolutely -- this is for man what running is for a horse.

--- Blaise Pascal

Introduction
As soon as I came to India, I have been observing several interesting things. How our TV channels keep on harping on same thing again and again until it gets on to your nerves. At the same time I have been thinking that with the independence that the media is enjoying in this country, it can do wonders towards the country's progress and countrymen's awareness by being more responsible.

Anyways, recently, the topic of interest in India is Reservation Issue. I have been trying to follow it closely and learn more about the issue, its implications etc. I defintiely am not knowledgeable on all the intricate details but I am definitely making progress. I will try to put together the things I have found in newspapers etc. At the same time, I will try to provide my thoughts too.

I started being terribly against the reservation policy, thinking the way most people in agitation are thinking. But with time, I have also been simultaneously educated by my knowledgeable friends with the other side of the story. I sit back, in awe, with uncertainty, as to what stand shoudl I take? What should be the right thing for the country to do to lift the downtrodden masses, to create a a society without caste, creed and discrimination.....

I dont know the art of writing .... All I know is to jot it down as my heart speaks out. May be one day I will learn the art of articulation....

Do our Institutes connect with real India?

Political Agenda
Several people, including some senior members in the congress are of the opinion that Arjun Singh brought this up for scoring poilitical mileage against Manmohan Singh and he had to do this since he was almost on the verge of getting shunted out into some less important corners of Congress. Is there any doubt in it? But lets put politics aside.

White Privilege Shapes the US

Caste and Society
However educated we are, we have not been able to get out of this caste disease. You open up some of the Governement forms to be filled up, you will be asked for your Caste. For example, look at the form to be filled to register your marriage. While we are fighting or trying to fight to eradicate this menace how can a sane society not work towards making sure that caste is indeed not an important factor to filled in a form? An interesting story in the same line is, one day I happened to meet a person who was also telugu. Immediately he asked me am I a Brahmin? When I said yes, his next question was , "whats your surname?"..

ABCs of the OBCS

Reservation
If anyone thinks that reservation is the way to solve the caste problem and hence supporting the plan of the government, I definitely think thats the most foolish decision. I would rather sit, spend time and come up innovative alternate solutions rather than supporting the concept of reserving positions in higher centers of learning.

• Economically Backward? --> Provide economic assitance so that they can take training towards the career they want to pursue. These days every profession, college etc. has entrance. We should look towards providing economic support to the person to be able to prepare for the exam rather than ensuring that a seat will be kept in the institution for him her.

• Socially Backward? --> Its true that "Creamy Layer" concept is brought forward by the government to exclude those who are already established in the society and can sustain themselves, from taking advantage of the reservation. For the remaining, I definitely think they can be considered economically backward too.

CREAMY LAYER

Some Government Decisions

Government, in an effort to take a middle path has said that even the general category seats will be increased. In the institutions like IITs and IIMs, where there is already a severe crunch in the number of faculty, how do they expect to increase the faculty to take of this increase in the number of seats? This is going to force these institute of prominence to dilute their constraints in choosing the faculty. The standards of the institute in turn will take a hit. This is going to definitely show up in the research contributions of the institute. In turn the interest of the global industry in these institutes will definitely take a dip. Someone aptly quoted, “Faculty do not grow on trees”.

Are we refreshing the traumatic moments of 1990? Are we in the process of giving birth to more Rajiv Goswamis in a much larger scale? I fear this is going to lead into a huge conflagration.

Either we correct ourselves or Good luck India for your great “Unity in Diversity”…..

KEEP READING.....

References and Related Links:

1. National Commission for Backward Classes : http://www.ncbc.nic.in
   
2. Information on Mandal Commission -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandal_Commission
3. Who are the OBCs? -- http://www.theotherindia.org/caste/who-are-the-obcs.html
4. http://www.theotherindia.org
5. Cleaning Dead Bodies after Tsunami -- Who were they?
6. Who are the regular sanitation workers in India?
   
7. Do you want to contact the govt. stating your stand? -- http://www.sarkaritel.com/
8. Upper Castes Get More Top Jobs? NO -- Rediff Article -- http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/may/15quota.htm
9. Rediff Article -- Are Brahmins the Dalits of Today? -- http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/23franc.htm
10. Indian Express Article -- "Costs and Benefits of Quotas" -- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1500848.cms
    
11. Affirmative Action in the United States and India by Tom Weisskopf -- http://www-personal.umich.edu/~tomw/bookinformation.htm
    
12. India Together Article -- Letters of Resignation of the Knowledge Commission Members -- http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/may/opi-nkcresign.htm
13. India Together Article -- The merits of Reservation -- http://indiatogether.org/2004/apr/edt-reserve.htm
14. Outlook India Article -- How Sharad Got a Life -- http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fname=Cover%20Story%20(F)&fodname=20060424&sid=1
    

LIFE IN BANGALORE

Currently I am visiting Bangalore and seeing the winds of change....

Came here on May 8. No one can ignore the huge amount of liveliness all around you. So different from the Bangalore that I saw in 1998. "Economic Boom", the word that is being discussed throughout the world with regards to India and China cannot go unnoticed when you are in Bangalore. Young faces all around with full of energy walking all around.

Huge Malls have come up everywhere... Cafe Cofee Days are at every corner.


May 27, 2006
--------------
Continuing with the previous observation... Its a fun thing to go to a mall such a forum mall and watch the activities of people. Its kinda hep to go to these malls it seems. Well people like go to have a cup of coffee and check out some hot women... :-) Most folks, I heard, just come, do window shopping, eat at the Transit, then generally chill out, find their way through the mind boggling crowd and go home. Hmm?

"Bangalore economy is booming"... You will hear everyone saying... Then you will hear the same person saying, "the traffic is awful", "Bangalore is going to dogs", blah blah blah....

For a moments, even I think, is this "boom" sustainable or is it one of those revisits of the bubble? I dont know. Only time will tell and I will have to observe. But I can definitely see that its a seller's market. No one gives a damn about the buyers. Real Estate is skyrocketing....You can buy a mansion in Austin for the price you pay to get a 2 bed room apartment in Bangalore. Is this justified? Hey!! who cares? Its a seller's market duh....

While I am happy to see lots of jobs being created , I cant ignore the gap that is getting increased day after day between the human beings. You go to Forum Mall, you enjoy a cup of coffee for Rs. 20, you enjoy a dosa for Rs. 40. Then come out , you will see a mother with two kids, one under her arm and one holding her hand, desperately trying to get a rupee or two from you. But what will she get for a rupee? You help her by giving a rupee? Dare you not.... Immediately 10 people will line up.... Thats what I experienced....

So where is all this headng to? Is it a fight for the status? is it a fight for the money? Is it like, "let me see how fast can i get richer"? I dont know. I have to see more as I observe.... IN the meantime I have to be equally open to both positive and negative things. I need to have the power to appreciate the good and criticize the wrong. Get awayed away by negativity or false pride.

When an economy booms, when more money comes in, a visionary plan should lead to an equal development of the community, a more value for life, more access to comforts.

I find it soo difficult to find the answers to these questions yet, in Bangalore. People defintiely have more purchasing power. They are buying cars, houses and all. But I have felt, the compassion, the value for life is degrading. God only save you if you meet with an accident on the road and its probability is very high.
The heart rending scene that I observed yesterday is going to go away from my mind for quite some time. Because may be I am not habituated to this. May be I have to habituate myself. May be when I usually see an accident in USA, the first thing I see is an ambulance rushing to first take the individual to a hospital. Yesterday, suddenly when we were driving , the traffic suddenly slowed down. Soon we realized that there was an accident and soon we saw a person lying on the road. Seems like he met with an accident. All we saw around were police, police vehicle and other crap. Where was the ambulance to rush that poor soul to hospital?

In the middle of all this economic boom, is the supreme value of human life dignity lost in the traffic and the roads?

May 31, 2006
--------------
Damn it.... My laptop adaptor got fried . :-( I was working on my laptop and suddenly a blast in front of my face and smoke started coming out. What the heck was that? I am sure one of those power surges. This morning there fire crackers outside and I realized that some transformer burst ... Be careful with electricity here buddy or get electrocuted... :-)


Keep Reading as I add more of my thoughts...

Interesting Links I found on the web...
Garbage Crisis in Bangalore: by Sujatha Bagal