Friday, October 05, 2007

Myth-o-logic!

Came across this piece here.
Reflects today's situation in the country very aptly.
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The Lord surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several centuries back with great diligence and devotion. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even before they could stick the posters on its pillars."
Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the sea and they held. No steel from TISCO or cement from Ambuja or ACC was ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now?"
Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the bridge and construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot of money will be made. They will make money on demolition and make more money on construction."
Hanuman bowed down and said "Why don't we go down and present our case?"
Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us to submit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or school leaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and some times on horseback and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as the address proof is concerned, the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is in itself under litigation for over half a century...If I go in a traditional attire with bow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize me but Arjun Singh may take me to be some tribal and, at the most, offer a seat at IIT under the reserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in dressed in a three-piece suit and announce his arrival. It would make even the devotees suspicious. So it is a dilemma to say the least."
"I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."
"My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce the lay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and how the project cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is accepted without documentary evidence in India. You may cough but unless a doctor certifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present himself personally but the authorities do not take it as proof. He has to produce a life-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that complicated."
"Lord, I can't understand these historians. Over the years you have given darshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, Saint Thyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and still they disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth. The only option, I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government records straight once for all."
Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he may look like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mama Mareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was in the forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on earth as long as Salman Khan is around!!!"

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Tryst With Destiny

60 Years ago we became citizens of a free nation. Today as we complete 60 years of independence, let us remember the pledge once again.
Nehru's Tryst with destiny speech delivered on 15th August 1947:-
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others.

We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed! We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrowstricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.

On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation [Gandhi], who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.

Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death. We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind.

Monday, August 13, 2007

India at 60

As India celebrates its 60th anniversary of gaining independence from the British Rule, the world is celebrating the event.
Have we as a nation finally arrived? Have we achieved what we set out to? Are we the best yet?
These are a few questions that arise in our mind.




All I can think of right now are these lines of Robert Frost-
" The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pottery July :D

Amazing month this is...

July 13th, 2007



July 21st, 2007



Eagerly Waiting... :D

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Juju, You will be missed...

The day hasn't begun on a very good note.

Having talked about the Legend of Juju in an earlier post, it was a big shock when I heard the news this morning. Juju passed away last night...

The one year that we shared in the same campus, the same block, the same wing...were some of the most eventful and exciting moments. I still remember the first week when he came to our rooms and asked us to get dressed in formals, fill a bucket of water and assemble at Scotland Yard (the codename for the well/assembly area). What followed was fun. A Block intro unlike any other. Who can forget the "Uff Yeh Mumbai Ki Ladkiyan!" and the reaction that followed :-) or "Juju Power....Machhar Maar". One of the liveliest, funniest and jolly guys you would ever meet.

You will be missed and we will remember you fondly. May you find peace wherever you go!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

If Only...

Isa Bhai: Usse Maloom tha Hai Naa?
Bhaskar: * Nods in Agreement *
Isa Bhai: Wah! Wah! Marte marte chela guru ko jeena sikha gaya...dukh apne liye Rakh, Anand Sabhi Ke Liye!

Having watched this movie for the Nth time, it never fails to astonish me and it leaves behind a tear in the eye everytime.
The movie-Anand; one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's finest pieces of art.
Zindagi Badi Honi Chahiye babu Moshaye, lambi nahi. (Life should be large and not long). The message is conveyed so beautifully.

If only people were a bit unselfish...
If only there was no dissatisfaction...
If only there were no disagreements...
If only there was a little bit more of tolerance towards each other and life in general...
IF ONLY!!!

If only we realized the importance!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Surface Computing!

Think about this:
  • When was the last time you used a landline phone (barring the office phone)?
  • When was the last time you went inside a bank to withdraw money?
  • When was the last time you rented a video cassette from the local video library? Or for that matter actually saw one?!
  • When did you last use a tape recorder to listen to your favorite music?
The pace at which technology outpaces itself is astounding.
If you thought that the gadgets in the James Bond Movies were cool and if the latest product from Apple, the iPhone fascinates you then what you are going to see will blow your mind off.





Read more about it here.