Excellence

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.

Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and excellence.

This is how we miss out something called "LIFE"

THIS IS HOW WE MISS OUT SOMETHING CALLED "LIFE"

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the
bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child
collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.


QUESTIONS :

1. What were the five words ?

2. What is the implication of this story?



ANSWER :

The husband just said "I am with you Darling"

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point
in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step". Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are
actually not as difficult as you think.

 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY:

This story is really worth reading. ..... Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship,
in a job or with the people we know.
By this way we miss out something called L.I.F.E

My first intraceptive

Disclaimer: This is just a forward mail I received and bears no resemblance to the sender. Also I expect the audience to be matured enough J

MY FIRST C0ND0M:

I recall my first time with a condom, I was 16 or so. I went in to buy a packet of condoms at the pharmacy. There was this beautiful woman assistant behind the counter, and she could see that I was new at it. She handed me the package and asked if I knew how to wear one. I honestly answered, 'No, this is my first time.' So she unwrapped the package, took one out and slipped it over her thumb. She cautioned me to make sure it was on tight and secure. I apparently still looked confused. So she looked all around the store to see if it was empty. It was empty. 'Just a minute,' she said, and walked to the door, and locked it.

Taking my hand, she led me into the back room, unbuttoned her blouse and removed it. She unhooked Her bra and laid it aside. 'Do these excite you?' She asked. Well, I was so dumb-struck that all I could do Was nod my head. She then said it was time to slip the condom on.

As I was slipping it on, she dropped her skirt, removed her panties and lay down on a desk. 'Well, come on', she said, 'We don't have much time.'

So I climbed on her. It was so wonderful, that unfortunately, I could no longer hold back and KAPOW, I was done within a few minutes. She looked at me with a bit of a frown. 'Did you put that condom on?' she asked. I said, 'I sure did,' and held up my thumb to show her.

She fainted !!!

Some good advice

The heart is always right—if there's a question of choosing between the mind and the heart—because mind is a creation of the society. It has been educated. You have been given it by the society, not by existence.

The heart is unpolluted.

Who is HINDU?

Got this article in mail. Interesting though!

Am I a Hindu?

 Four years ago, I was flying from JFK NY Airport to SFO to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA. An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window  seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours!

  I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible - unusual of young Americans! (Later I came to know that September 11 has changed mind-set of lot of US citizens. They suddenly turned religious, it seemed.) After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk. I told her that I am from India.

 Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 

'What?' I didn't understand the question. 'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?' 

 'No!' I replied, 'I am neither Christian nor Muslim'. 

Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you...?'

 'I am a Hindu', I said. She looked at me as if she is seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about.

  A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.

 But a Hindu, what?

 I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth. 

'Who is your prophet?' she asked. 

'We don't have a prophet,' I replied.

'What's your Holy Book?'

'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,' I replied.

 'Oh, come on...at least tell me who is your God?'

 'What do you mean by that?'

 'Like we have Yahweh and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a

 God?'

 I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.

 According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion need to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of god.

 I tried to explain to her 'You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.'

 This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after  onslaught from foreign forces.

 'I don't understand...but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'

 What can I tell to this American girl?

 I said: 'I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes.'

  'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'

 'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'

 She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'

 'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning... I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' I told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.

 'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.

  'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'

  'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'

  'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' I told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.

 'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'

 'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.'

 'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'

  'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace,

 Peace.'

 'Hmm...very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free...' she exclaimed.

  'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'

 'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'

  'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.' I told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next.

 For a real seeker, I told her, Bible itself gives guidelines when it says 'Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life. Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 

'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you. 

Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.

 Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.

 I said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception...'

 I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system.

 How simply he explained the concept of HINDUISM, a way of living a life...

Life is.......

“Leaving the house in the morning,

Dressed in clothes that you bought on credit card for work,

Driving through the traffic in a car that you are still paying for,

Putting in petrol that you cannot afford,

In order to get to the job that you hate,

But need it so badly so that you can pay for the clothes, car, petrol and the house that you leave empty the whole day, in order to live in it”

Everyone is special

Walking on the road, you pass so many people. Some look confident, purposeful, well-dressed, well-maintained.

But the majorities appear so ordinary, wear ill-fitting clothes, unfashionable footwear, have too much fat or too little, nothing remarkable about them, nothing attractive.

But yet someone somewhere eagerly waits for this unimpressive man to come home every evening.
Someone's entire world turns around the strength of this frail-looking woman.
Someone's very purpose in life hinges on this brash youngster cutting through traffic.
Someone knows only the shelter of these old arms each time their world begins to crumble.
Someone will count hours, minutes, and weep like a child when this pock-marked face alights from a long-distance train.
Someone will cave in, crack up, and never be the same again if this one person disappears from the face of the world.

There are no ordinary people !!!

Some pictures from trip

The beautiful girl. She was always hopping around and always calling her mom for some thing or the other. Finally when she had her tummy filled, she slept with open mouth. Was very cute girl.

In Gujrat, before approaching some jungle area....

In Mumbai - Pune Rail route. Dense fog

In Motion....

These two pics are taken from both the rail tracks. Once on either side. This small dam is in MP.

The first one is my favorite as it shows the dam completely and also the man is seen walking.

On the way to rajasthan..

In Gujrat

This is the country side i was talking about in my blog.

This was on way to mumbai

the ghats

Regards,
http://antarikshv.blospot.com

Things to come

In my next few blogs I shall be describing the people who have put an un-erasable mark on my life, my thinking and all the aspects of my life. I met all these people at variety of stages of my life. I met them when I had everything and was fully satisfied with the way the life was carrying me. And then I met a few when I was of the opinion to change the way of life. And yet some met me when I was a “Thinking Powerhouse - a psychologist” guiding people in their life and eventually getting highly influencing beyond the permissible limits. I had no intentions of influencing people’s lives, but I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s now when I analyse my behavior that I understand I had in some means influenced them and their decisions.

I feel I have done some mistakes. I feel that I was quite childish in the manner I behaved when I was a psychologist. I felt that I have grown up in the manner of thinking. But I still feel that I haven’t grown up. There is lots of childishness still left in me. I haven’t yet understood the worldly manners. I was the “frog in the well”, my whole world was confined within the very few people who were around me. I had made the circle of trust. I had made a very thick “Great Wall Of China” around me.

Now that I am getting of age, I feel that a maturity of thoughts of owning a family is still at large. I have a long way to go. Lets hope in around 2-3 years when I will finally get married. I wonder whether girls need to think this much or how do they cope with all the emotional and mental maturity expected in them at this age as mine. I am 24 and I require another 2-3 years for understanding life. Do the girls have this option? Do they acquire this maturity? Do they need? Of course they need. Idiot! Who does not need the maturity for living with a person who is known to the spouse just few months back and now they are living together and sleeping together? You have given a free ticket to a nearly stranger. The stranger is the person with whom you have to spend your life, your happiness and your sorrows. What all limits shall you pose to this stranger? Are you ready to become a responsible person? You have to become the person having the responsibility to handle another person.

But then there is another question of your life. “Why are you born?” “What’s the purpose of your life?” Looking at the life from a very top level it seems you go through these stages:
Study in the best school.
Study to get the best marks so that you can get into the best college.
Study to get the best marks so that you can get into the best graduation college.
Get the best marks to get the best company to work with
Get the best salary so that you become the best bachelor.
Get the best wife, so that you get the best kids.
And then pose the same steps to your kids.
---- The cycle continues.

I had put these questions to many people and none have given any satisfactory reply to these. I admit that I had started asking these questions right at the age of 10, but then what do you expect any parent to say? My parents said that I have to become a very big and successful person in life. That’s my destiny. Hah. I feel that’s the mouse race everyone is falling into. And it seems there is no option from it. But its just the feeling that there might be something, what it is, don’t know! Feel “The Matrix” like situation may be true. Maybe there is something higher than what it seems. Something more important, something more than just Life.

People who haven’t thought about these things may take it two ways:
Ohh! He has become mature.
Ohh! What a crap maturity. These things do not get along in this world.
So it means that there will be many people who can confuse. You will not know what you need to do or where you need to go.

Here comes in “The Spirituality” into existence. It’s the man’s answers to his own questions. He brings into existence the Gods. In all the religions there is someone or something which the human race must follow or accept. The meaning of your existence lies with your beliefs. You believe in something and live your life for that.

Your existence depends on your beliefs.
And beliefs is everything...




Regards,
http://antarikshv.blospot.com

The Day Of Meetings:

4th September: We started off early in the morning to go and meet our relatives. The occasion was of 12th day after the death of my uncle. I had never attended such kind of things and didn’t knew what was expected of me and what needed to be done. Well then we all started off. My relative having a full knowledge of what all things might come up at the occasion and Me having absolutely no knowledge of the storm.

As we reached the house there were people who were ready to greet us at the door. (I think they were like the vultures, awaiting the bachelor to be snatched.) They didn’t had the warm welcome smiles but had those looks. As we entered the house and I bowed to say namaste, the unknown person too joined her hands said namaste. She had those looks, she scanned my complete body head to toe. I was being scanned and kept into the hard drive. I think an immediate siren must have been sounded at the time of my arrival. Maybe the day yesterday all the preparations must have been done. Maybe this was a planned scene to be enacted by all the people who were attending except for the near and dear ones. The “Extras” were just the fillers of the show and came in to check out the new marriage material in town.

These extras were from a wide variety of background. Some had a very huge business earning around a crore monthly, while some had hundreds of acres of agriculture land. One of the most unexpected was the Minister’s brother. He too had come in to check me. Damn! Seemed like my relative was announcing “Ladies and Gentleman. Here I present to you Antariksh.The eligible bachelor. Please have a look at the exibit. He shall be answering all the questions you ask about his family and himself. Please start one by one. I shall make arrangements for the proper movement of the exibit within the hall. Please keep 2 seats vacant near you.”

And so the day of interviewing started. It was all one sided. I didn’t even get the chance to see the girl nor the chance to know anything about the firl. It was like just answer the one line questions and move further. Meet all the people in the hall and say hello. Damn! I think I felt how it feels for a girl to be interviewed. How the people ask girl, “Beta, tum kya karte ho, kaha rehte ho, papa kya karte hai, kitna kamate ho, papa ka number kya hai” hey raam!! Bas aur kitna jhelenge dost… Jhelna to padega. Shaadi jo karni hai naa yaar.

All this was totally unexpected for me. Had gone to attend some serious stuff and came out with something unexpected and customary things.

Yeah yeah, have to get married. But is this the right age to get married? I feel like I am still a kid. Or is it the goose bumps? Who knows? I? No dude, I too don’t know whether I am ready for getting married so early. Look I am still 24. Yeah yeah I knoaw I have been working from past two years and have been earning good, but still I haven’t seen the other enjoyments of life. What enjoyments am I talking about? I don’t know, this is the standard answer what everyone says when not interested in getting married. Ok what about financial health? What you still don’t buy this argument? Hey I hardly end up with some amount at the end of the month in my account. It’s a different story that I invest the amount instead of keeping it idle, but still I am not left with any amount to spend.

Ok, there is one theory of mine which will help me get married in about 2-3 years down the lane instead of getting culled immediately. All the things in my favour are the things and the rituals made by our ancestors. Our ancestors have said that for getting married the boy’s and the girl’s kundali must match. Matching the kundalis is the job of parents. Getting a matched kundali takes time of around 6-9 months. Once matched and once a girl is selected, it comes down to me. I will get to see the selected girl after around 1 year. The control is shifted to mua. Ha ha ha. I have to then select the girl amongst the parent selected girls. So till now I have already spent around 1- 1.5 years.

But once I select the girl the control moves to the pandit. He tells the appropriate time when the wedding take place. Also the hindu calendar has a say in deciding the time of wedding. Actually there is a period of 6 months which is not the wedding season. So he selects the appropriate time for the marriage and the dates generally are after 6 – 7 months. And finally the D day arrives after 2 – 2.25 years from now. So I am happy to attain an age of 26 or 27 years and then get married.

Disclaimer: It’s completely my theory of what the timelines may be taken. But it’s comic and a bit realistic too. So hope for the best.

Pre-Quel to ‘The Day Of Meetings’

There is one discovery i made today.Hello Freinds i am now going to publish the more of the exciting stuff happened in my life. The all "First Timers" of my life.



3rd September: I reach ratlam from bombay. Its a place of our relatives. A small city of good people who just wanna satiate their taste buds with all the yummy dishes both veg and non-veg and both sweet and salty. The city where you will have "Sweet Kanda Pohe", "Sweet Samose" ,"Sweet Kachori", and everything has little sugar added to it. Its a a town situated near to Gujrat border and many people do come in for buisness and the major food stall vendors and Jain's. So they put sugar in everything. And their sweets are extra sweet. Ok , a cultural change.



In ratlam i saw some of the famous temples. The temples were very faaaaaarrr. Aroound 3-4 km from their house. The temples were indeed ald and famous. Only one temple was a relatively newer construction. It was built by a defunct company "Jain Vitamins Limited". The temple was really astonishing. The temple was built around 15 years ago, when the company was on the top and was earning heavy profits. Once the company started building the temple, the worker unions opposing it. They were demanding a less expenditure on the temple and better salary for the workers, even when the workers were earning the best in the market. Now the company has shifted and there is no industrialisation in ratlam. Well keeping the politics aside, the temple was an extraordinary example of craftmanship. It was really wonderful and beautiful. The temple had recently received a terror threat, so nobody could take in their cellphones. So i dont have the pictures of the temple. Its a group of temples. Shiv, Ram, Krishna, Ganpati, Hanuman and Durga temples. The architecture was really wonderful.


During this travel for seeing all the temples, my relative had to receive many calls. These many calls seemed to be a bit distracting and time consuming. But i thought that it was ok to attend the calls. Later in the evening he said to me that all those calls were for me. Those were the calls from parents of girls for me. They wanted my details. This was my first encounter with the interview process.

So my Relative was busy talking to the fathers of the prospective brides, and here I was feeling the heat – both on the outside in the sunny weather and inside as to what I need to do.

The day was filled with lots of festive food (The day being start of Ganesh Utsav - Ganesh Chaturthi), anxiety and ACIDITY. I had a terrible acidity with the food I had to take in. The food had lots of sweetness, lots of oil and lots of ghee. I may be sounding one of those extra calorie conscious psychopaths but I am not. I am one of those who eat a lot of these stuffs, but not to this extent of having acidity. It was really too much. It was the extreme. It all started in morning. In the morning I had to eat 2 plates full of “pohe” – the rice flakes. It’s the staple dish for breakfast in those parts of the country. Along with that I had to have 2 samosa and 2 kachori. Damn god, it was really too much. All this happened at around 11 am. And then when I hadn’t even digested my breakfast it was already time to have the lunch. Lunch had 2 sweets and dal, baati, churma. Lunch was served along with the side dishes too. Ohh god! Why did I make this rule for not leaving any food behind in the dish? It would had been a lot better if not for this rule. But anyways this was the start for the first time for “Days of Acidity”.

At night I slept tight and without any thought of what was coming ahead the next day. It was the silence before a storm.

The silence.

Interesting

Hello All,
I wish to write this blog as a general e-mail letter which i generally used to write. So the following format will be somewhat similar to that.
Actually i haven't written blog from last 2 weeks and was having the feeling of being negligent towards my very own blog. i had the sinking feeling of this odd deed i did.
Well from last week onwards i have been traveling and traveling a lot. i have been in 6 states of India already, had a plan for the seventh but as i was really too much tired my stamina for more traveling gave up. now i shall just return back home.

1St September: I started my travel from bangalore to mumbai. The purpose of the whole trip was to attend the death ceremony of my uncle. So i thought lets have a look at the friends on the way itself. So i started on and went ahead. Traveling to mumbai was starting phase of the very big travel. Bangalore had a wonderful weather to start with. It was raining in bangalore when i started. It was a wonderful weather. Train was at 3.25pm but i started from house at around 12.30 itself, for fears of water clogged roads or the more famous of bangalore traffic jams. (i did not wanted to miss this particular trip, and wanted a very good start for this one.) so i reached railway station well before time and then the railways came to rescue. The announcement was being made "Lokmanya tilak terminus express is running late by around 30 minutes". Gosh now i have to spend 2 hours on platform doing nothing.
But then i had to carry on with the boredom. And finally i heard those beautiful words, the train was approaching the. There was one thing i dread while traveling by train, and that is "Hijada's" (The third type of sex). I dunno why, but i get a weird feeling while they are around, and i always try to neglect them. And as luck shall provide it, these kinds of personalities were available at the station and were ready to board the same train as Me. Well then for the first time i didnt faced any problems from them during the journey so i felt good. Then the journey was good, except for the weather. I was sweating right from the time i left Bangalore boundaries. En-route to Mumbai, i had traveled in Andhra Pradesh also.
I had a wonderful company for my travel. They were so co-operative that they allowed me to finish reading my novel. They didnt even talked between themselves. Hats off to them. A Truly Wonderful Experience.

2nd September: Saving grace was the beautiful morning which was a damn good welcome for me. Took some pics of the beauty. The indian countryside. I had never seen the indian villages on my travel. I had seen them when i was a kid and then i had only seen the high trekking mountains and the beautiful valley. But this was more soothing. It was the place where our food is grown, its the place of life. Looking at the vast expanse of the fields, i felt a pinch of jealousy for not being able to be there. It right now is my dream to own a 50 acre of agriculture land and own a house in it. Give it to farmers for farming. I wanna have this thing.....

By Afternoon i was in the urban areas of Maharashtra. I was seeing all the dirt and the lethargy of the living. This was in stark difference to the nature i had seen in morning. By the time i had reached my final stop i was at the Kalyan station. Kalyan local station was just a passage ahead. I bought the local train ticket. It had a very good facility of a person shelling out the tickets using his smart card. I got down at CST i.e VT. From there my friend had come in to receive me. We then went on to Pizza Hut. I was damn hungry and also was bathing in my own sweat. Finally was able to get into the Air Conditioned room of Pizza Hut. With this experience i started becoming more appreciative of Bangalore Weather, or in short Bangalore. I was of the opinion for not settling down in bangalore due to the difference of languages, and the rising cost of living. But then weather was the breaking point of all the negativities.

My friend had already made the arrangements for my visit. I stayed at her house till evening and then i had to start for the next slab of my travel to the Dhaar. It was nice. She was amongst my "circle of trust". Details later. From there on i took a cab to the station of my boarding, the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus. I boarded the train and after half an hour it started. I had my dinner in the train. For the first time i had a good company to chat to. I had people who were willing to have some discussions and not sit like manequins. And then theres the end of the day.


Rest of the journey details shall be put up in the next blog. Keep reading.

Regards,
Antariksh.

My Trip

Hello Freinds in some days i shall be putting up the detailed report of my trip. I had taken a log break from my office. All the fun and the sorrows shall be listed out here. keep reading and commenting.

Regards,

Antariksh

Priceless Trick

Grandmother was pretending to be lost in prayer, but her prayer-beads were spinning at top speed. That meant she was either excited or upset.Mother put the receiver down. "Some American girl in his office, she's coming to stay with us for a week."She sounded as if she had a deep foreboding.Father had no such doubt. He knew the worst was to come. He had been matching horoscopes for a year, but my brother Vivek had found a million excuses for not being able to visit India, call any of the chosen Iyer girls, or in any other way advance father's cause.Father always wore four parallel lines of sacred ash on his forehead.Now there were eight, so deep were the furrows of worry on his forehead. I sat in a corner, supposedly lost in a book, but furiously text-messaging my brother with a vivid description of the scene before me.

A few days later I stood outside the airport with father. He tried not to look directly at any American woman going past, and held up the card reading "Barbara".Finallya large woman stepped out, waved wildly and shouted "Hiiii! Mr.Aayyyezh,how ARE you?"Everyone turned and looked at us. Father shrank visibly before my eyes.Barbara took three long steps and covered father in a tight embrace.Father's jiggling out of it was too funny to watch. I could hear him whispering "Shiva Shiva!" She shouted "you must be Vijaantee?" "Yes, Vyjayanthi"I said with a smile. I imagined little half-Indian children calling me"Vijaantee aunty!" Suddenly, my colourless existence in Madurai had perked up. For at least the next one week, life promised to be quite exciting.Soon we were eating lunch at home. Barbara had changed into an even shorter skirt. The low neckline of her blouse was just in line with father's eyes.He was glaring at mother as if she had conjured up Barbara just to torture him. Barbara was asking "You only have vegetarian food? Always??" as if the idea was shocking to her. "You know what really goes well with Indian food,especially chicken? Indian beer!" she said with a pleasant smile,seemingly oblivious to the apoplexy of the gentleman in front of her, or the choking sounds coming from mother. I had to quickly duck under the table to hide my giggles.Everyone tried to get the facts without asking the one question on all our minds: What was the exact nature of the relationship between Vivek and Barbara? She brought out a laptop computer. "I have some pictures of Vivek"she said. All of us crowded around her. The first picture was quite innocuous. Vivek was wearing shorts, and standing alone on the beach. Inthe next photo, he had Barbara draped all over him. She was wearing a skimpy bikini and leaning across, with her hand lovingly circling his neck.Father got up, and flicked the towel off his shoulder.It was a gesture we in the family had learned to fear.He literally ran to the door and went out.Barbara said "It must be hard for Mr. Aayyezh. He must be missing his son." We didn't have the heart to tell her that if the son had been within reach, father would have lovingly wrung his neck.

My parents and grandmother apparently had reached an un-spoken agreement. They would deal with Vivek later. Right now Barbara was a foreigner, a lone woman, and needed to be treated as an honored guest.It must be said that Barbara didn't make that one bit easy. Soon mother wore a perpetual frown.Father looked as though he could use some of that famous Indian beer.Vivek had said he would be in a conference in Guatemala all week, and wouldbe off both phone and email. But Barbara had long lovey-dovey conversations with two other men, one man named Steve and another named Keith. The restof us strained to hear every interesting word. "I miss you!" she said to both.She also kept talking with us about Vivek, and about the places they'd visited together. She had pictures to prove it, too. It was all very confusing.This was the best play I'd watched in a long time. It was even better than the day my cousin ran away with a Telugu Christian girl. My aunt had come howling through the door, though I noticed that she made it to the plushest sofa before falling in a faint. Father said that if it had been his child,the door would have been forever shut in his face.Aunt promptly revived and said "You'll know when it is your child!"

How my aunt would rejoice if she knew of Barbara!On day five of her visit, the family awoke to the awful sound of Barbara's retching. The bathroom door was shut, the water was running, but far louder was the sound of Barbara crying and throwing up at the same time. Mother and grandmother exchanged ominous glances. Barbara came out, and her face was red. "I don't know why", she said, "I feel queasy in the mornings now."If she had seen as many Indian movies as I'd seen, she'd know why.Motherwas standing as if turned to tone. Was she supposed to react with the compassion reserved for pregnant women? With the criticism reserved for pregnant unmarried women? With the fear reserved for pregnant unmarried foreign women who could embroil one's son in a paternity suit?Mother, who navigated familiar, flows of married life with the skill of a champion oarsman, now seemed completely taken off her moorings.She seemed to hope that if she didn't react it might all disappear like a bad dream.I made a mental note to not leave home at all for the next week.Whatevermy parents would say to Vivek when they finally got a-hold of him would be too interesting to miss. But they never got a chance.The day Barbara was to leave, we got a terse email from Vivek. "Sorry,still stuck in Guatemala. Just wanted to mention, another friend ofmine,Sameera Sheikh needs a place to stay. She'll fly in from Hyderabad tomorrowat 10am. Sorry for the trouble."

So there we were, father and I, with a board saying "Sameera". At last apretty young woman in salwar-khameez saw the board, gave the smallest ofsmiles, and walked quietly towards us. When she did 'Namaste' to father,Ithought I saw his eyes mist up.She took my hand in the friendliest way and said "Hello, Vyjayanthi,I've heard so much about you." I fell in love with her. In the car father was unusually friendly. She and Vivek had been in the same group of friends in Ohio University. She now worked as a Child Psychologist.She didn't seem to be too bad at family psychology either. She took out a shawl for grandmother, a saree for mother and Hyderabadi bangles for me."Just some small things. I have to meet a professor at Madurai University,and it's so nice of you to let me stay" she said. Everyone cheered up.Even grandmother smiled. At lunch she said "This is so nice. When I make sambar, it comes out like chole, and my chole tastes just like sambar".Mother was smiling. "Oh just watch for 2 days, you'll pick it up."Grandmother had never allowed a muslim to enter the kitchen. But mother seemed to have taken charge, and decided she would bring in who ever she felt was worthy. Sameera circumspectly stayed out of the puja room, but on the third day ,I was stunned to see father inviting her in and telling her which idols had come to him from his father. "God is one" he said.Sameera nodded sagely.By the fifth day, I could see the thought forming in the family's collective brains. If this fellow had to choose his own bride, why couldn't it be someone like Sameera? On the sixth day, when Vivek called from the airport saying he had cut short his Gautemala trip and was on his way home,all had a million things to discuss with him. He arrived by taxi at a time when Sameera had gone to the University."So, how was Barbara's visit?" he asked blithely. "How do you know her?"mother asked sternly. "She's my secretary" he said. "She works very hard,and she'll do anything to help." He turned and winked at me.Oh, I got the plot now! By the time Sameera returned home that evening,itwas almost as if her joining the family was the elders' idea. "Don't worry about anything", they said, "we'll talk with your parents."

On the wedding day a huge bouquet arrived from Barbara.

"Flight to India - $1500.
Indian kurta - $5.
Emetic to throw up - $1.
The look on your parents' faces - priceless" it said.

Tools to Embedded -

Today onwards I am being given another job at my office. I have to look into the embedded code also. This is a total phase shift for my kind of people. I have a background of working and creating applications. I work at the highest level in the machine hierarchy. From today onwards I have to look into the world at the lowest ladder.

This world is the starting step for all the things to work. Here while coding we have to keep into mind even 1 byte of memory, we can’t waste that greatly. It was heaven while coding for the applications. The environment takes care of the memory management. The developer does not think twice about memory wastage, just keep on finishing the job assigned.

I was in a dilemma, as to should I go ahead or blatantly refuse to work on it. I was weighing the pros and cons of the action I take.
Pros:

• An un-chartered territory to be explored (60%)
• A possible chance to get into limelight of peers and superiors
• To prove that “I CAN DO IT”
• Added feature in resume

Cons:

• Performance & work pressure
• Scared of the unknown
• “CAN I DO IT”

The urge to get into something others don’t want to or to prove myself was more and so its the pros who win and I am into it. I am getting into the look and feel of it. Let’s see how the things appear at the bottom.

In the meantime I also resolved an application problem for one of my close friend. He had gone for some volunteering work in some deep village in Orissa. He was acting as a translator basically, but a knowledgeable translator. We are friends from years and these kind of deeds help strengthen the bond. He and his team were gratified for the opportune help I provided. It helps a lot to all. We get a chance to get in touch with different people and get to face more different kinds of problems. It adds to our knowledge and helps to improve your credibility.

I too have the urge to do some volunteer work for the benefit of the country as my friend has done.

Love needs no proof - Sri Sri 14th Jan '94

Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guruji) was discussing the Narad Bhakti Sutra's. Following is just a small preview of the extent of the knowledge present in the Sutra's. You too can get to understand the Sutra's, just get onto the wagon, join Art Of Living for the enlightenment.

Devotion is the simplest and easiest among all practices. The path of devotion. Three types of devotion - Satvic, rajasic and tamasic. Three type of divine love. With or without some desire behind it. Whenever there is love ,then behind that love there could be some desire. And there need not be also. But the love without any desire behind it is much superior, is greater. Tamasic, rajasic and satvic love. Satavic love is greater than the rajasic and tamasic love.
As said before the love of a terrorist is also love. He loves something. That's why he is a terrorist. He is ready to give up his life. Isn't it? He loves something. He has some ideology. He is ready to put his life to it. Without love he cannot do that. Love is the main driving force behind it. But it is Tamasic love, Rajasic love. Satavic love is superior.
Then the next sutra that says "Anya smad soulabhyam bhakta ".It is easier compared to other paths. Love itself being the path for love is easier. Anyway that is fruit of all other actions, all other attainments. Whether you want to go through the path of knowledge or action or yoga or service, the attainment or you aim at divine love only. "Anya smad soulabhyam bhakta". This is simpler and easier. Remember, whatever is very simple and easy, that itself is very difficult and complicated too. The simplest things are the most difficult things to do. But yet here Narada emphasizes, this is simpler. Is why says, this does not need any other proof.
The next sutra goes "Prmanantarasya anapekshitvat, swayam pramanantvat".Because it is a proof by itself. You don't need any other proof for your advancement. If you see, how you have grown in your love, you don't need to go and ask anybody how is my progress? Have I progressed or not? If you are welling up in gratitude, you don't have to go and ask anybody, have I improved in my life? That itself is the proof. If you are dissolving, every cell of your body is vibrant with surrender, with devotion, even if the whole world stays on the other side and says you have not evolved, you will simply smile at them.
That is what has happened with all the prophets, that is what has happened with Jesus. Everyone wanted him to give a proof that he is the son of man .He simply kept silent. He never said a word. Because it's evident. What more? When you know you are the source. You are from that source and you are the source you don't need anyone else to prove or you don't need to prove it to anybody either, "Prmanantarasya anapekshitvat.". No need of any other proof for love. But normally we demand proof. When you love somebody, you ask them "prove me". Indirectly or directly you are demanding for a proof that they really love you. And you just see, all the proofs that you get is really nothing. Do not mean anything. They cannot stand. Is this not the conflict today, in all the relationships, everywhere in love? Because everyone wants the proof that the other person really loves them. And through gestures you cannot have proof. It's not foolproof. all gestures could fool you very easily. So they cannot be a proof for your love. They all can be like airhostess' smile. It's not an authentic- "Goodbye", "Thank You", "Welcome you on the board", "Have a nice day". Have a nice day? Do they really mean it? Have a nice day. Haan, of course though as you all get out they will have a nicer day. Their duty is finished. Job is done.
You are so uncertain about love, because your love has not gone deeper enough in yourself. You have not blossomed in love, in your inner strength. So you demand proof from others too .You demand proof that they love you. This is foolish. Narada says no. Such devotion neither demands proof, nor requires any proof. You need any proof that sun has come out? Is there any other proof needed for sun to be? You need a torch to look at the sun? It's so evident. The love is so evident. Enlightenment is so evident that you do not need any other proof. "Prmanantarasya anapekshitvat, swayam pramanantvat". That itself, love itself is the proof of blossoming. Haan, if you find there is no love, and when one thinks that one is enlightened or one claims to be enlightened then can look sor....(don't know..?) ,you can doubt. Because divine love itself is the proof of blossoming. So that divine love neither demands proof, nor requires proof, because that itself is the proof.

Just five more minutes

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide. "He's a fine looking boy" the man said. "That's my daughter on the bike in the white dress." Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter. "What do you say we go, Melissa?" Melissa pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes." The man nodded and Melissa continued to ride her bike to her heart's content. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his daughter. "Time to go now?" Again Melissa pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes." The man smiled and said, "OK." "My, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded. The man smiled and then said, "Her older brother Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I'd give anything for just five more minutes with him. I've vowed not to make the same mistake with Melissa. She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike.

The truth is, I get Five more minutes to watch her play."

Life is all about making priorities, what are your priorities?
Give someone you love 5 more minutes of your time today!

Master is the Door

You are lost on the street. T here is rain, thunder, wind, and cold; you need shelter. You look
around and you find a door. You come to the door because it is more inviting, more charming, more joyful than anything out on the street. When you enter the door of the Master, you
come Home. You see the world from a new perspective. From inside you can still hear the
thunder and see the rain, but it no longer disturbs you. Inside there is warmth and security. The
world looks much more beautiful--not a nasty place, but a place filled with love, cooperation,
compassion. Your fear drops away.

When you can see the whole world through the eyes of the Master, it is a sign that you have
come to the Master; you have entered the door. This is the purpose of having a Master.
If you are still seeing the world as before, then you have not yet come to the Master; you are still
standing out in the street, cold and wet; you are only looking at the door, you have not yet entered in.

Question: What does it mean to “see through the eyes of the Master”?
Just this: Every situation that you face, you are thinking If this situation comes in front
of the Master, how would he handle it? If this complication comes to the Master, how would he take it? If someone blames the Master, what would he do? The key is to feel the Presence of the Master. The Master is the Presence, not a relationship. Relationships can be broken, mended, and broken again. There is craving and aversion in every relationship. This is the wheel of sansara, the misery of the world. All relationships go topsyturvy, whereas the Presence is vast, infinite, stable and centered.

Don’t make the Master a worldly relationship. “Oh, he looked at me.” “He didn’t look at me.”
“Oh, he said this.” “He didn’t say that.” “Somebody else is close; I am not close.” All this garbage comes into it. Just enter the door of the Master and come Home. Only the Presence of the Master will bring fulfillment to your life--and to all your relationships

...Sri Sri

These and many more things are taught at The Art Of Lving. This knowledge of "Presence instead of Relationship" can be applied to all of your problems, and mind it, it does help a lot. There is open messages and open knowledge here. No hidden messages to be deciphered. Everything is just in mind. The way people handle their situations, the way the things are assumed, all these change the effect of the situations on us.

Feeling the presence of a Guru, this is a very ancient Indian teaching, more lately being adapted by some non-Indian teachings also. The logic is simple. The uncouncious mind does connect to your Guru, when you require urgent help and find no other way out. You simply imagine the way your guru will be handling the situation and your problems are settled.

In the more recent additions to this technique it is suggested, that the guru can be assigned for different aspects of your problems. Like have a guru for your love life. Another guru for your office work. Your guru can be anyone. Either living or Dead. Either Younger or Elder. Either Relationship or Stranger. It is upto you to define the guru, and leave the situation in guru's hand. The guru will guide you through....

Bangalore Blast. It was today...

It is Friday (July 25, 2008) today, and it is my turn for the vehicle pooling.

As always I am awake at 6.20 am. Didi is already done with the dishes and about to get ready to prepare the lunch for my nephew, me and her. Jijaji always has his lunch at office itself. She is cooking dal and roti. By 7.45am lunch boxes are ready and didi is about to leave. I am still doing my daily yoga and jijaji is helping my nephew to get ready for school. Today I make my own lunch. I don’t want to take dal for office lunch. I made sweet rice for lunch and planning what all features I can add to an ordinary project for the client. My vehicle partner calls up and says that he just woke up and is getting ready (Pretty usual stuff for him to get up late and get late).

Everything is as usual. No change in the situation. No change in the lives.

We both get onto my bike and start off to our office. Today we are taking the service road towards our office to bypass the usual traffic jam at the junction near our house. We reach our office before time. I start working upon the project. I start doing multi-tasking: I start reading news on my google reader using mozilla firefox. Till then my outlook opens up and I start catching up with my friends using IMO. And before I get to know, it’s already time to lunch at 1pm.

Me and my friends start having our lunch. We are catching up the live action of cricket: India-Sri Lanka Test match. We are speculating what will be the final score Sri Lanka will pose for India to achieve? This is amongst are normal time pass while having lunch. We discuss about lots of things for whiling away the time, totally unaware of what lies ahead in time for the people of Bangalore. For us. For the world. Everyone unaware of the things to happen for the day.

Everything is as usual. No change in the situation. No change in the lives.

We all come back at our seats. Unaware of the welcome mail already present in my mailbox. The mail was:
Urgent Alert, bomb blasts in Bangalore.
Today at 1.30 pm 3 blasts occurred at Mysore Road, Adugodi, and Forum. Employees are requested to stay calm and within the company premises.

It was a mail from my friend, he had forwarded the mail from his office. I thought he was just kidding. I thought this could not happen in Bangalore atleast. I dismissed the mail as a prank. But then immediately there was a pop-up on my web communicator. My colleague just said that something has happened in Bangalore. I immediately opened up the google search page and checked: “Bomb blasts Bangalore”. It didnt gave search result relevant to this. I thought it must be another hoax. Then people started entering my office bay and all were on their mobile phones. Tensed. Perplexed. Astonished. I thought has this really happened?

I asked them “What has happened? Why are you so tensed?” they said “Hey! Don’t you know? There are bomb blasts in Bangalore. Where are you dude?” I suggested lets immediately go to canteen to check the news on the TV. We are going to the canteen, on the way more people are joining us. All of us are thinking what has happened? How big is the explosion? How many have exploded? Till we reached to the canteen, there are two more blasts reported. Within 15 minutes there are more reported blasts within the city.

Everything is as un-usual. Total change in the situation. Many changes in the lives.

This was the first time I was hearing the blasts in the city in which I live. Never had I, before, heard this kind of incident. I was looking at the people’s faces. I felt the fear, anger, amazement and the bag of emotions which I hadn’t imagined. People started receiving calls asking for their wellness. Some people were terrified and angry as their calls were not getting connected to their friends, relatives. Their FAMILY. The networks were jammed to stop the rumor mongerers. The people started analyzing the situation and deducting the person/ organization who could conduct such kind of act. Everyone was immersed in the situation.

8 blasts, 1 death with 8 injured. The blasts were mild blasts using gelatin and some hurting stuff. Today was an unusual day.

I have experienced many cities. All the cities have been calm and quite. This city being IT capital, the Silicon City of Asia, had all the ingredients and the attractions for a terror strike. Ahh, “TERROR STRIKE”. People associate this quoted word sentence to only the North-East India or the Kashmir. Rest of the Indian peninsular region being quite and calm. Then why has such kind of attack on the Indian IT capital? Many theories are doing the round in my mind. Is it to show that the terrorists are still present in India, to warn the government “Beware, we are still here”. Or was it a precursor to something heavier, more deadly. Or was it just to show to government the terrorists striking power, the immaculate timing of the blasts?

But then immediately I got a phone call on my cell. It was from my friend from Goa, who is doing his MBA. He was concerned. I was thinking should I say him the truth about the vicinity of location to my residence, or to say that the location was very far. The truth was the location is quite near and I was planning to go that place on Saturday. But telling him that would have not done any good. He would be more sorry than happy. I didn’t not say that the reported death too, was at the same location which is near to my residence. I told him, “Hey everything is alright. Didi is at home, nephew too is on his way back. The school is in other direction than the blasts ites. Jijaji is in office. I am in office.” He also wanted to check with our another friend in bangalore. She is married and lives with her husband and brother-in-law. I called her up. The call didn’t get through. I called again, then again, and finally got through. She picked it up quite late. My first sentence “Are you OK?”. To my amazement she said, she is in Pune. She has gone there to see off his brother-in-law to US. I was thankful that she was in Pune. Then I immediately sent an sms to jijaji asking about how the things are at his side? He said he was ok. Then I called up my cousin who is in the same office as Jijaji. She too was in office itself.

Finally the canteen got a bit emptied and employees had started going back to their workstations. Till evening a warning was announced on the PA system, not to leave the office and the cabs will be arranged. The Bangalore traffic conditions was bad. Everyone was heading towards their home, to get along with their family, to be together. There was huge traffic jam. Me and my pool partner decided to leave late. Till then we thought of doing our project work.

Everything is usual. Total change in the situation. Many changes in the lives.

Later while riding back to home, I was thinking, has this incident did any change in life? Did it affect the way I think? Did it affect me? Or Did it affect anyone?

Is it resilience of the people to take up this kind of incidence or is it indifference?
Are the people really affected by such kind of things? I feel people are getting used to such kind of incidence. People do not feel the attachment towards other. There is no affection left. But the immediately what counter convinces this thing is, even if I feel affectionate to those affected by the incidence, what change can I bring in their lives. There is no way I can help them with my meager resources. If I give it to the government, will there be no corruption to suck up my helping money? Will my help money reach the needy? Will there be any difference made with my donated amount?

People keep swinging between these extremes and do not settle on any thought as their final ideology. There is a group of people who want to help, another group who is indifferent towards all the incidents and there is another group who want to cash in from the helping hands. There are 10 answers and 100 questions to be answered. This imbalance doesn’t help anyone. And finally……

Everything is usual. No change in the situation. No change in the lives.

The ultimate reality remains is:
In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once.

Money Drain

Last week I received a mail speaking about how our country loses its money by buying the foreign products. Below are few statements out of the mail.



Indian economy is in a crisis. Our country like many other Asian countries is undergoing a severe economic crunch. Many Indian industries are closing down. The Indian economy is in a crisis and if we do not take proper steps to control those, we will be in a critical situation. More than 30000 crore rupees of foreign exchange are being siphoned out of our country on products such as cosmetics, snacks, tea, beverages...etc which are grown, produced and consumed here . A cold drink that costs only 70 / 80 paisa to produce is sold for nine rupees, and a major chunk of profits from these are sent abroad. This is a serious drain on indian economy. "coca cola "and" sprite " belong to the same multinational company, "coca cola"? Cant you consider some of the better alternatives to aerated drinks. You can drink lemon juice, fresh fruit juices, chilled lassi (sweet or sour), butter milk, coconut water, jaljeera, enerjee, masala milk..........Everyone deserves a healthy drink, including you!
Over and above all this, economic sanctions have been imposed on us. We have nothing against multinational companies, but to protect our own interests we request everybody to use indian products only for next two years. With the rise in petrol prices, if we do not do this, the rupee will devalue further and we will end up paying much more for the same products in the near future.
What you can do about it?
1. Buy only products manufactured by wholly indian companies.
2. Enroll as many people as possible for this cause.
Each individual should become a leader for this awareness.
This is the only way to save our country from severe economic crisis. You don't need to give-up your lifestyle. You just need to choose an alternate product.

List of products provided by Indian companies
1. Bathing soap:
Use - cinthol & other godrej brands, santoor, wipro shikakai, mysore sandal, margo, neem, evita, medimix, ganga , nirma bath & chandrika
Instead of - lux, lifeboy, rexona, liril, dove, pears, hamam, lesancy, camay, palmolive
2. Tooth paste:
Use - neem, babool, promise, vico vajradanti, prudent, dabur products, miswak
Instead of - colgate, close up, pepsodent, cibaca, forhans, mentadent .
3. Tooth brush:
Use - prudent, ajanta , promise
Instead of - colgate, close up, pepsodent, forhans, oral-b
4. Shaving cream:
Use - godrej, emani
Instead of - palmolive, old spice, gillete
5. Milk powder:
Use - indiana , amul, amulya
Instead of - anikspray, milkana, everyday milk, milkmaid.
6. Mobile connections
Use - bsnl, airtel
Instead of - hutch




It did seemed logical & horrifying.
Logical because these things do actually happen and there is lot of truth involved in it. The foreign multinationals get huge sums of profit by selling their products on a royalty. People here just become the followers of the leader. What is actually required is that we should rise above the situation in creating an Indian Leader like the Tata’s to whom the foreign companies will follow. In India, people just “like” to read about it and don’t actually “do” anything about it. Their conscience is satiated by reading these things and they feel they have contributed. The actual way to contribute is not by thinking alone. There must be some action associated to what your thoughts are.

Horrifying, because this is the situation for the Indians for the past 2000 years. There is no change at all. The Indian kings and the politicians have always been retroactive. Look at all the big battles drawn on the Indian soil, all the attacks been targeted on the India. The attackers from the north have taken so much gold from here. Mohammad Ghouri had attacked India four times and every time he had taken all the gold and the riches from the Indian emperors. Indians had never disappointed him and neither did to the British.

Even though we had the capability to rise again from the downfall we never rose to the occasion of actually invading other countries and bringing back our gold. We were the people who believed in self content. We had never conquered any territory outside the mainland India. Except King Ashoka others were happy fighting amongst themselves for the ultimate power. King Ashoka had established a lot of territories under his kingdom.

Understandings from the past history leads us to another point of concern is the way we live our lives. Do we Indians actually dream of becoming big in world picture? Answering to this question some people might start thinking what is this question? Aren’t we going ahead in the terms of buyouts of the foreign companies? I would ask then, whether is this question ever struck to them to make something big in their lives? Just a handful of industrialists are paving their ways to get ahead. But look at the companies they are acquiring. The resident government of their home country is making it a point that the already employed people and not rendered un-employed, i.e. their jobs are not moved to India. But is there such kind of thinking available on the Indian soil? Are the politicians actually concerned about the development and money drain? The other countries make it a point that their countries money is not siphoned off.

So let us make it a point to contribute towards the wellness of our country. Let us buy foreign currencies at the rate as they are buying our currencies. Lets have
1 Rs = 45 US $
1 Rs = 33 CAN $
Etc….