Alka Dwivedi

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  • Being Happy Day 9 : Supreme Court Zindabad


    The above ad aptly sums up India and Indians.

    Hope is the key to happiness. When I look at the conduct of those who are in public life I often feel despair, frustration. anger, helplessness and what not. BUt Supreme Court of India has today given us some H-O-P-E. All is not lost. We are not that helpless. We have a spineless vertebrate s PM. What he does as PM is wait helplessly and watch helplessly and sit helplessly and speak helplessly. HE IS AN EPITOME OF HELPLESSNESS. The cherry on the icing is he terms his helplessness as symbol of H-O-N-E-S-T-Y. Today the Supreme Court of India has given the well deserved long due resounding slap to his pseudo honesty.

    Today I am really happy that at least there are some institutions in our country that works. Apart from armed forces, Supreme Court seems to be the only institution of the India that seems to work.
    This headlines aptly sums up “CVC verdict: Another blow to Caesar’s wife” It says,

    “The Supreme Court striking down the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas and his subsequent resignation on Thursday is yet another blow for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a major one for the UPA government.

    The ruling is likely to put the UPA government on the mat and in a very embarrassing position. Not that it cares, but it will definitely be a major blot on Manmohan Singh’s image. This is the third time that the Supreme Court has tweaked at the ears of Singh – the 2G spectrum and the CWG being the earlier occasions.

    Like Caesar’s wife, Singh should have been above suspicion in the case of Thomas’. In this case, the Prime Minister is personally culpable.

    Remember what Singh said during the Congress party’s plenary session in December last? “Like Caesar’s wife, I should be above suspicion”.”

    Hope works as fire for our lives. But we the citizens of third world country is deprived of such hope. But still we find certain people who dares to take a stand and FIGHT and keep our hope alive. Nothing gives me more happiness to write about such persons or institutes.

  • Being Happy : Day 8

    I don’t know what’s the matter with me today. Nothing worked today.

    My first priority within few weeks will be to go to bed early. I sleep quite late in the night. And get up early in the morning. I want to change that. I want to feel well rested in the morning. I want to begin my day on a positive note. I want to get rid of that feeling, “10 or 15 minutes more in the quilt.”

    Not getting enough sleep is destroying my health and happiness both. It affects my mood too. All the time I keep on fighting with tiredness and try to get some rest at odd times. But it won’t suffice for a normal healthy sleep. And when I was unable to take those odd naps at odd times it leaves me frustrated.

    When I am irritable and half rested, it naturally leaves me in foul temper. I have to make an extra effort not to take it out on easy targets. It sometimes proves to be very tiring to keep your temper in check. When I do explode on someone do it give me relief? The answer is yes BUT for a while. Few minutes, hours, days or weeks later, I was attacked by guilt pangs and what not…. Not to forget, that I have to go extra mile to make up with the person who was the target of my wrath.

    So an idea hit me, why not get rid of all this unhappiness and grouchy mood by going to bed early and waking up fresh in the morning? I am going to try this and see what happens.I have to rope in my family members and sell this idea to them also. We are all night owls. We all feel so productive and happy during the night. But we pay for this happiness in the morning!

    Today for a change we got up early in the morning and what a great morning that was. We had enough time to sip tea leisurely and talk without feeling rushed or guilty. Early mornings are great times for family and normal talks. But it is good only when you have enough rest in the night.
    Till now getting up early and retiring to bed early has proved the hardest thing to execute in life. So Now I want to wish all the best to myself. 🙂

  • Being Happy : Day 7

    I again felt the surge of pain in my whole body while I opened up my eyes in the morning. My first thought was what the heck! Why I have to get up and do anything. But I had to. Someone was pressing the doorbell. It was my maid. I don’t know how she manages it but she always procures a smile in the morning when I open the door. Now I know she will offer me a fantastic cup of tea and everything will be aright in my side of the world. I forgot for a while that I was having any pain. Then I put on some music and started doing usual chores.

    We had to attend a wedding today. I know her because she is my sister’s friend. At one point of time she was my roommate. A highly charged and unusual person. An idealist to the core. Her wedding was unusual too. She is fiercely independent and self respecting person. Though she studied from one of the IITs but she is not in the rat race of big cars, big houses, big holidays… That reminds me of my sister. Though she is a professional but she too refuses to join the rat race. No doubt both are friends.

    My friend is a kind of person who makes her own rules and live by it. And when something turns wrong she never runs to her parents to fix it up.

    Like my friend, her wedding was unusual too. She planned everything with her groom including getting the wedding cards, trousseau, jewelery, booking of hall… She and her groom spent their own hard earned money. They both invited their respective parents to attend the wedding. And they came. 🙂

    It was a pleasant surprise to see my friend in her wedding outfit. But that day too she was her usual efficient self. More than being part of Ramleea, they were acting as efficient host receiving guests, looking after them and getting photographed. Photographer was running after them wherever they were going. But the bride and groom were looking cute running here and there, hand in hand. 🙂 Parents make you pay for having self-respect.

    I don’t know if I know any other girl that will invite me to such an unusual wedding. But we were so happy and proud to be part of such a mature and grown-up couple’s wedding.

  • Being Happy : Day 6

    When I started blogging again, then one thought was quite prominent in my mind, We can’t reach a milestone everyday in terms of finances or career or fun. We can’t wait for few milestones in our lives to be happy. We can’t party everyday. We can’t hang out with friends and family everyday. We can’t holiday everyday. We can’t watch movies everyday. We can’t go for makeover everyday.

    Everyday of a student or a business tycoon or a movie star or ordinary office-goer is quite dull or drab. Then what can we do make it fun everyday? How to feel content and happy everyday? Is it difficult? Is it possible? That’s how my journey begins. I want to explore the possibilities of happiness and contentment each day in the midst of same dull and drab affairs?

    Today I didn’t have any problem to feel happy, excited and content.I had a fabulous hot breakfast with my sister. I know she was going back to her place today so there was a feeling of reverse counting. But I tried to make it up by not thinking too much about it. Why waste present moment of togetherness?

    Another thing was, its a beautiful day with lots of sunlight and cool breeze. A perfect day to be outdoors. Its a GREAT opportunity to feel that you are part of vast sky, cool breeze, chirping birds and blooming flowers. Otherwise it seems we are oblivious to the fact that we live in too much harmony with concrete, mortar, girdles, rods adorning balconies and brick-walls, So after breakfast I came out with our pets and little one. I put the pets at a sunny-shady spot and settled down with newspapers. I gathered other children from our society too. They all played nosily and it was hard to remain unaffected by their mirth, joy, enthusiasm and laughter.

    Garden
    Garden

    Sky-Trees
    Vast stretch of Blue Sky

    Late in the evening we went to a flower show where they had a carnival too. 🙂 Should I write more? 🙂

  • Being Happy : Day 5

    Ah! Weekends! How the name weekends sound music to ears. Even a happy feeling creeps in on the Friday evening itself.Weekend means throw all the carefully crafted routine to winds. Weekend means being yourself or breaking free from daily routine. I love it when we go out to visit someone or our friends and family come to visit us.

    On Friday night my sister came to our place to spend weekend. All the more reason to be irresponsible because she is there to take care of things. 😉 My in-laws visited us too. So we had a nice evening and some nice conversation. Simple home cooked food acquires new meaning and taste when shared with your family huddled together. TV, movies, eating out everything is forgotten. When three generations are having dinner together you can’t imagine how conversation varies and how stimulated your mind feels.
    How friends and family ensures that you are still loved ad cherished no matter what the world out there thinks about you. You can always be yourself and your dear ones make sure that the child inside you remains alive and kicking. How there love and care free us from our daily prim and proper self. How they know intuitively what makes you happy and what irks you or how to pull your leg without being nasty.
    I am fond of long walks. When my sister accompanies me, we can walk and talk whole night with a midnight snacks of Maggie noodles. Sometimes, we really greeted morning while walking the whole night around our house. Ah! Those days! Once I remember we cousins were sitting on the road in a circle around 2 O’ Clock talking animatedly. A police-wallah was on the round and he started marching towards us. One of my cousins found her voice and said, “Uncle, we live in this house.” Hearing a female voice, he was reassured that we were not hatching some conspiracy to rob a bank!
    I remember how much we shared during those talks. How many jokes we cracked, how many stories we told, how many promises we made, how many card games we played and how we encouraged one another to not give up when difficulties were staring us in eyes and sometimes how many heated discussions we had on politics,sports and society in general.
    So when my sister visits me we still try to take those long walks and tell our husbands that we will be back within an hour but we NEVER…

  • Libyan Crisis : People in Pursuit of Happiness

    Today I was in better shape. In the morning I didn’t have problem focusing on positive thoughts and feeling peaceful. I have not burn a CD yet. But I am selecting songs I like.

    Today I was watching news. I like watching news and reading newspapers whenever I find time. It is one of the best ways to expand the horizons of your thoughts. Admiring others also gives you motivation and happiness. Today my thoughts are with the people of Libya and Libyan crisis. I am not saying that the events of violence are a source of happiness for me. But their courage, grit, determination, stamina to fight a dictator and their optimism to give a better future to coming generation has certainly left me in awe of Libyan people.

    Sometimes for being happy you have to offer your blood, sweat, happiness,past, present and future and what not. These types of traits are not possessed by normal people. Sometimes one generation has to offer themselves so that future generations can enjoy happiness. Libyans are showing such rare traits.

    USA has shown apprehension that Colonel Gaddafi might burn oil wells of Libya and order his troops to break the pipelines.But it is not deterring Libyans to fight for a better life and future. A report says, “There, more than 100 people were killed as Colonel Gaddafi’s forces turned automatic weapons on a mosque filled with rebels, a witness said. Still, residents rallied afterward to protest. “

    Hats off to their courage and valor. I wish that Libyan people will be able to overthrow this dictator of 41 years and move ahead to a new and bright future. As the courage and determination of Libyan leaves me happy and gives a hope that all is not lost. My heart is also filled with joy that I am living in an era witnessing rare courage and sacrifice.

    BUT, what about us? Do we love our children? Sadly the answer is a big NO. We hardly get bothered by law and order, pollution, corruption, price rise, environment, functioning of our leaders, bureaucracy and police. We hardly follow traffic rules and pollution laws. We rarely plant tress. We hardly go out and protest against farmers which use pesticides and spraying alcohol on vegetables and paddy. We hardly acknowledge that we are facing such problems. We feel very enlightened by just educating our kids or sending them to some phoren university. THAT’S ALL.

    We too have shown courage like Libyans. But today we don’t have a Gandhi to draw us out of out homes. Today the kind of Gandhis we have can’t even draw us out to our nearest streets, even if it is few yards away. We might be drinking our tea at that time. We can’t sacrifice a cup of tea to for our kids.

  • Being Happy : Day 3

    Today I opened my eyes to immense pain in my back and legs. Again, flooding my mind with positive thoughts flew out of the window for a while. I have woken up brooding why I am having so much pain? Then I remembered that last evening I played a lot in the garden and then walked a lot. Nothing wrong in that. But I was giving a royal snub to my calcium supply (read milk). I don’t know why, but I have developed this love-hate relationship with milk for the past ten years. Earlier it was an absolute must for me, two times a day. Now its not even two times a month. And I want to remain active like Roger Federer! I am pretty sure Roger Federer doesn’t follow a diet like me.

    Another thing I realized that if I want to be happy, health is the key to that door of happiness. In fact Health is Happiness. But I know, still I won’t drink milk. No matter what. My only hope is my sister. Only she has got the power in this whole world to make me drink milk. No matter in which corner of the earth my sister resides, just a phone call from her is sufficient. 🙂 Hope, I will say goodbye to physical pain soon.

    I promised myself to be happy and do one thing that makes me happy. I promised to have fruits in our diet everyday. But how to make it a happy occasion so that my nursery going little one can enjoy that? I want my little one to develop a habit to have fruits and salads everyday just like she brushes her teeth everyday. But how to make fruit and salad eating a HAPPY experience?

    Fruits-Cartoons
    Fruits and Cartoons can exsist side by side. Happily!

    For that I will be thankful to John Logie Baird, inventor of the television and Walt Walt Disney. I out on my little ones favorite cartoon and quietly slipped the fruit’s plate. I too sat with her. After a while we both were watching cartoon, Doremon, laughing, talking and eating our snack – F-R-U-I-T. 🙂 I really had a good time with her. And she too was unaware of my intentions. 🙂 I am doing it SUCCESSFULLY for the three days. I hope to continue doing it as long as possible. WHO says TV is bad for kids? Probably we don’t know how to use it to our advantage. 🙂

    Meanwhile I also discovered that during if I want to introduce some new HEALTHY food, cartoon time is the best time. Now I am going to do away with that chips and popcorn. My little one hardly notices the difference during cartoon time. 🙂 We both were so happy.
    Having fruits while watching TV, give us time for bonding too. I was not in my usual don’t do this, don’t do that mode. We were laughing, talking and eating at the same time. Thanks Walt Disney and John L Baird from the bottom of my heart.

  • Exceed Your Limit : Being Happy, Day 2

    I know I am supposed to write about my experiment with inculcating habit of having fruits and salad on daily basis. But I find stretching my boundaries immensely satisfying and happy experience. I want to pen it down first.

    We often feel miserable when we limit ourselves by creating rigid boundaries. Sometimes we need to break free and surprise ourselves. Sometimes we have to exceed our limits set by no one but ourselves. We often feel fear that if we deviate from norms what will be in store for us?

    Our family often talks about having a pet (a dog). But I resist it fiercely. It doesn’t mean I never had a pet when I was growing up. We always have. But they are mostly rabbits or stray dogs. Stray dogs used to come to our house and settle down whichever corner they fancy. We have huge open space and lawns around our house. But now I am living in on second floor of a metro town. So my concern was dogs need space. They shouldn’t be cooped up in a flat. They should be left in open whenever they fancy.
    I often don’t like the idea of having a pet at all. I often felt fearful, what if I can’t take care of it ? What if they fall sick? What if they don’t like my place? How will I bathe them? How to keep them clean? From where to get their food? How to find time to look after pets? There were so many HOWS that were stopping me from experiencing happiness and joys of having a pet. My fears were stopping me.

    But this Sunday, we went out for a movie. We enjoyed a lot. Coming out of movie hall we spotted a pet shop. Just for the heck of it we entered and bought two guinea pigs. They were delivered to us the next day. And WOW!

    our-pets-guinea-pigs
    Source of Immense Happiness our pets guinea pigs

    i HAVE NEVER REALIZED that having a pet can bring so much joy, happiness, laughter and contentment in one go. I have never seen the youngest member of my family laughing so much. For the first time I have not seen her running towards TV at regular intervals. In fact she didn’t watch TV at all the whole day nor seem to miss her cartoons.
    I have never seen the youngest member of the family listen to elders so promptly. Whatever is good for the pets should be done. It was nice to see her sharing and caring for her pets and being concerned for their well being.
    Having a pet brings a family closer. It better than watching TV together. AT least our gazes were not fixed at some box. Whenever we get time we huddle near our pets and share so much laughter at our pets antiques. We talk so much and share so many ideas. Our little one voices her opinion too regarding to keep out pet amused and well fed. I can never thank my pets enough for this joyous familial bonding.
    I am glad that I stretched my boundaries that Sunday and bought happiness, joy, laughter, mirth, enjoyment and togetherness home,things a family is made up of, things for what a family should be known for.

  • Being Happy : Day 1

    I consciously make a choice to be happy. Today is my first day. I promised to wake up and flood my mind with positive thoughts and emotions. What happened today?

    When I woke up the first thought that crossed my mind was, “Oh! s**t! I don’t want to wake up with this intense pain in my leg and back of my thigh!” I put myself inside the quilt again. SO much for flooding my mind with blah! blah! blah! But somewhere deep within the valley of my mind that promise was rearing its head and I remembered to start my day with positive thoughts. Did I shoot out of bed and everything was alright? Hardly so.

    My first thought was I have to rush, I hardly have ten minutes for flooding my mind with positive thoughts. But somewhere I have to find a way. So I got out of bed and tried to do usual chores with positive thoughts in my mind. Initially the only feeling I was going through was pain in legs. And damn it how hard it is to concentrate on only one thing for five minutes. So my mind kept wondering in thousand directions and I have to reign it and put it back on some positive thoughts. And I struggled in search of positive thoughts too! Then I started singing a song in my head. That REALLY helped! I was able to concentrate on the song and went ahead with usual daily chores.

    After a while I realized that pain was not that intense in my legs and I can actually hum instead of grumbling and complaining. As the day progressed I forgot all about my pain. Its a dull reminder now. I sent my dear one to her daily destination with a smile. Now I am happily at my desk engrossed in my work. For tomorrow I think I will play some beautiful, soft, melodious and sweet songs on my deck that can fill the whole household with sweet gentle energy needed for the morning. So whenever I GET time I will burn a CD of my favorite songs having sweet soothing melodies.
    For tomorrow, I will try to incorporate healthy servings of fruits and salad on DAILY basis in our diet. Till now its on and often thing. But I will try to change this from now onwards. But how to make it a happy experience? My mind is blank on that front but the only consolation is I will be glad if the youngest member of my family picks it up as a habit and continue it for the rest of her life. That can be a good gift to my little one. 🙂

  • Being Happy

    Once I was thinking about time. And suddenly a thought struck me that with each passing year, month, week, day, hour and minute, we are moving away from our loved ones and from ourselves too. Even the day we are born the clock starts ticking away and reverse counting starts. With each passing day, we are nearing our final destination. But instead of making me disturbed, this thought compelled me to be happy each day. To make most of the time I have with my near and dear ones.
    I took a pledge that I will try to be happy each day. I will do at least one thing that makes me happy and content. And try to pen it down and relive it whenever I want.

    Today I thought that whenever I wake up in the morning I will flood my mind and emotions with good and positive thoughts. That might prove refreshing because I am not a morning person and wake up grouchy and grumpy. Tomorrow onwards before leaving my bed, I will try to close my eyes and visualize. I will visualize pleasant and positive things then start my day.

    Mostly what happens is I wake up in foul mood and keep quiet for a long time in the morning so that not to rub off my mood to others.Why not get rid off that foul pause and start day with bright and cheerful note? Why not be happy from the start? I don’t know how my experiment with being happy will turn out. But there is no harm in trying.
    No one has too much luxury of time on this beautiful planet to be sad, bitter, blue, cheerless, dejected, despondent, distressed and down in dumps. Why not make a conscious choice and be happy? I will CONSCIOUSLY try to do one thing everyday to be happy. Flooding my mind with positive emotions and thoughts while waking up is my promise to myself.

  • In Pursuit Of Happiness

    How the meaning of happiness differ from person to person. Millions will be so happy to settle down in heaven on earth Switzerland with a career of their choice with Euro in their purse. But not Narayanan Krishnan, CNN Hero.

    He was working as a chef in a five star hotel. All set to go to Switzerland. The ultimate Indian middle class dream to settle in a foreign land. But happiness intervened. Before setting off to Switzerland, he thought of visiting his hometown and saw a human being eating his own waste for food under a bridge. What happened then?
    “Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — to India’s homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.”

    “He seeks out the homeless under bridges and in the nooks and crannies between the city’s temples. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian fare he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 clients each day.

    Krishnan carries a comb, scissors and razor and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves.”

    What about his own parents and their aspirations? “Krishnan sleeps in Akshaya’s modest kitchen with his few co-workers. Since investing his entire savings of $2,500 in 2002, he has taken no salary and subsists with the help of his once-unsupportive parents.

    “They had a lot of pain because they had spent a lot on my education,” he said. “I asked my mother, ‘Please come with me, see what I am doing.’ After coming back home, my mother said, ‘You feed all those people, the rest of the lifetime I am there, I will feed you.’ I’m living for Akshaya. My parents are taking care of me.””

    If you want to make a donation here are the necessary details: Donation

  • How To Be Happy


    What stands out in this young man was his pursuit to be happy. I don’t want to say the usual things that how inspiring this young man Dinesh Thakur is. How fortunate we are. If he can do this why can’t we? We don’t have to watch some disadvantaged person to feel if he can why can’t we.

    While watching Dinesh Thakur performing in India’s Got Talent Khoj 2 it struck to me that happiness is a state of mind and he chooses to be happy. How dedicated this young man is to do what he wants to do in life. His determination and drive is remarkable. So called normal folks hardly exhibit it. It was pleasant to know he was associated with a Jym! Folks you know how hard it is to exercise everyday!

    Although Dinesh Thakur didn’t win the India’s Got Talent Khoj 2 but in life he will keep on winning. With his determination, dedication and cheerful disposition, nothing seems impossible. He has got all the ingredients to move ahead in life.

    Do we really need designer clothes, right accessories, hip hop places to get noticed? Its true all you need is your attitude. 🙂

  • Happy Janmashtami

    Happy Janmashtami

    Image Source: The Pioneer (15/08/2009)

  • Ye Dosti Hum Nahi todenge… Sholay

     

    doggy-child 001

    Image Source: Dainik Jagran (01/09/2010)

    During calamities humans are known to eat their own species. Today I have seen this picture in our Hindi Newspaper Dainik Jagran (01/09/2010) and it immediately brought a smile to whoever saw it. Its really true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

  • What Ratan Tata did for the Mumbai victims

    Ratan_Tata

    Ratan Tata (Image Source: Business News)

    What Ratan Tata did for the Mumbai victims of 26/11…. a every Indian should know. i AM COPY PASTING THIS POST FROM Small Strokes… Why main stream media is not interested in publishing this? I leave it to figure it out yourself.

    Ratan Tata is the chairman of Indian Hotels who own the Taj Mahal Hotel Mumbai, which was the target of the terrorists last year . Hotel President a 5 star property also belongs to Indian Hotels.
    The following is really touching.

    • All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed.
    • Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed
    • The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav- Bha ji” vendor and the pan shop owners.
    • During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent by money order.
    • A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help.
    • The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided.
    • Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility.
    • Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required.
    • Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.
    • The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks.
    • Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.
    • In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees.
    • What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.
    • A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her.
    • New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts.
    • Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror.
    • This was the most trying period in the life of the organisation. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible.
    • The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs [One lakh rupees translates to approx 2200 US $ ] in addition to the following benefits:

    a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents;
    b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world.
    c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life.
    d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount.
    e. Counselor for life for each person
    1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?
    2. The organisation is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not some training and development that created such behaviour. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs
    3. It has to do with the DNA of the organisation, with the way Tata culture exists and above all with the situation that prevailed that time. The organisation has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority
    4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and not allowed to stay there.
    5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. IISc is one such institute. He was told by the rulers that time that he can acquire land for IISc to the extent he could fence the same. He could afford fencing only 400 acres. He also made a condition that the TATA name should not be used (ironical in a country where half the roads and buildings bear Gandhi tag although they may not even have seen them)
    6. When the HR function hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Ratan – he said – do you think we are doing enough?
    7. The whole approach was that the organisation would spend several hundred crore in re-building the property – why not spend equally on the employees who gave their life?
    This was not covered by any news channel. The channels are busy showing cast politics, Sania Mirza’s wedding, Shahrukh Khan’s wedding. But these stories need to be told to the nation.

  • Villagers Pooled in Their Own Money to Construct Their Railway Halt

    When I picked up the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran,  Among the maze of depressing news of Arushi Talwar, Indians being attacked / murdered in Australia, Rathore being booked in Ruchika’s case, I was pleasantly surprised to read a particular news from Taj Nagar, Haryana,  Dulhaniyan aayi, Khushiyan Laayee. But instead of the photograph of a usual shy Indian bride, I saw the photograph of a train. My mind naturally constructed the usual story that finally the Indian Railways’ might have woken up from its deep slumber to construct a railway station at some obscure village where people still have to bear the burnt of the middle age facilities.

    But my eyes popped out of my socket and I had a lump in my throat. We city bred horses who mostly knew to consume incessantly and scorn at our own fellow citizens in the name of religion, state and language, this is something out of a movie script.  Villagers from Taj Nagar near Gurgaon, Haryana have created history by constructing their own railway halt and showed a middle finger to the Aam Aadmi Ki Sarkar. As usual the officials from babudom kingdom were sellping and matter was dragging incessantly by railways. The villagers have the dignity to get UPSET. They started collecting funds and succeeded in raising the amount of Rs.25 lakh. Indian railways didn’t spend even a penny. An obscure Indian Rajkumar donated Rs. 4 Lakh and he was instrumental in mobilizing funds and constructing railway platform in Taj Nagar. Earlier the villagers had to cover a distance of three kilometers to board a train. Probably famous poet Mohammed Iqbal had written those likes for people like Rak Kumar. Due to various unsung and unnamed Rajkumars we are still considered as a Nation.

    Kuchh Baat Hai Ke Hasti Mit-Ti Nahin Hamaari
    Sadion Raha Hai Dushman Daur-E-Zamaan Hamaara

     

  • Mona Sarika’s Short, Disgraced Career, Thanks to Plagiarism

    If you are writing blog for Wall Street Journal what a “normal” writer would like to do? of course he / she would try to give his/her best. Or would you try to plagiarize matter from another website, like BBC? One might be out of mind to do that. But shortcuts in life seem so tempting and rewarding. It seems Indian blogger Mona Sarika learnt nothing from Kavya Viswanathan ( Thanks to Kaavya, everyone’s a suspect.)  One moment she was considered as a hero and next moment she was a zero. I have never seen such a live example of everything going on for you to a journey into literary nothingness. Now writer Mona Sarika. Read what she has done. Here Wall Street Journal is apologizing to its readers: 

     

    “Notice to Readers: A Nov. 10 "New Global Indian" online column by New York City freelance writer Mona Sarika has been found to contain information that was plagiarized from several publications, including the Washington Post, Little India, India Today and San Francisco magazine. In addition, Ms. Sarika re-used direct quotes from other publications, without attribution, and changed the original speakers’ names to individuals who appear to be fabricated. The column is the only work by Ms. Sarika to be published by the Journal, and it has been removed from the Journal’s web sites.”

    Hope people realize that we live in a connected world and its just a matter of time that sooner or later it will be out in the open.

  • N. D Tiwari and John F. Kennedy in Their Birthday Suits

    N.D.Tiwari, ex-Governor of Andhra Pradesh has succeeded in doing the unthinkable. Read this: ND Tiwari beats Tiger Woods in Google  So what if we lag miles behind in producing a Tiger Woods in golf field. Indians can match Tiger Woods or John F Kennedy in “extra curricular” activities. Same is true here. N.D. Tiwari may not match John Kennedy in politics and diplomacy but … So we Indians should not lose hope in our politicians. They are matching the basic carnal steps with world class athletes or politicians. Hope they will rise above basic needs one day and catch up with them in tougher fields too. Till that date, we can amuse ourselves with the song “We shall overcome.” 🙂

    Today I viewed a  snap of ex-President John F. Kennedy. Where every member on the boat was in his/her birthday suits.

    There are numerous articles and books on President John F. Kennedy which mention a 2-week, Mediterranean boating trip that JFK — then a Senator — took in August, 1956, with his brother Ted Kennedy and Senator George Smathers. The trio reportedly entertained a number of women on the yacht.

    I was quite curious to know what Jacqueline Kennedy was doing at that time? As a pativrata naari, was she blind to all this? It seems she was busy in propagating this man’s seeds on this earth. 🙂

    Jackie Kennedy was pregnant at the time and was rushed to the hospital while JFK was on the boat. Doctors performed an emergency C-section, but the infant was stillborn.

    Its really interesting to know how complex we human beings are. 🙂

  • No food inflation in Parliament canteen

     

    I have copy pasted the price list of Food served in Parliament’s canteen. So if you can get a pass, go and enjoy best quality food at tax payers money. Why can’t they issue passes for Aam Aadmi to dine in that canteen?

     

    Item

    Price

    Item

    Price

    Tea

    Re. 1

    Dal – one katori

    Rs.1.50

    Soup

    Rs.5.50

    Veg thali (dal, subzi,4 chapatis, rice/pulao, curd and salad)

    Rs.12.50

    Non-veg thali

    Rs.22

    Curd rice

    Rs.11

    Veg pulao

    Rs.8

    Chicken biryani

    Rs.34

    Fish curry and rice

    Rs.13

    Rajma rice

    Rs.7

    Tomato rice

    Rs.7

    Fish fry

    Rs.17

    Chicken curry

    Rs.20.50

    Chicken masala

    Rs.24.50

    Butter chicken

    Rs.27

    Chapati

    Re.1 a piece

    One plate rice

    Rs.2

    Dosa

    Rs.4

    Kheer – one katori

    Rs.5.50

    Fruit cake

    Rs.9.50

    Fruit salad

    Rs.7

    		    

    Source: The Times of India

  • The Mother

    A doctor is talking to a mother.

     

    (Doctor) “Where most children grow stronger as they get older, your son is going to get weaker. He’ll lose the ability to move. He’ll lose the ability to breathe on his own. And one day, he’ll catch an infection that will spread into his respiratory system, giving him severe pneumonia . . .”

    She held up her hand to stop him.  “You’re saying he is going to die?”

    He nodded. “There are three types of SMA. Caught this early, your son almost certainly has Type I. Most children with Type I die of pneumonia before the age of two.” He paused. “I’m sorry.”

    What  happened to the child? Did he die after two years due to pneumonia ?

    He caught pneumonia 16 times in 16 years. But he never died. He said his mother never let it happen.

    According to him:

    She orchestrated a team of more than a dozen doctors. She slept in a chair beside me in the hospital, sometimes for as many as 30 days in a row. She pounded my chest and back every two hours to loosen the mucus, covering my chest and back with bruises.

    Today, at 27 years old, I’m one of the oldest people in the world with my type of SMA, and people tell me it’s a miracle. And I agree, it is. But the miracle isn’t just me. It’s a mother who fought like only a mother can to keep me alive.

    His mother fought school board for two years to get his child admitted in the school. Of course, she won. When her child was unable to pick up pencil to do his homework, still his mother refused to be cowed down and she arranged for honors students at local colleges to help his son. His son too never disappointed her and he graduated at the age of 16, not only near the top of his class, but with college credit.

    What happened when the son grew up? He too imbibed the fighting traits from his mother. People used to dismiss him as another disabled person. But he was determined to not rise to people expectations of being a failure.

     

    They (people) don’t proactively hold you back, no, but they don’t expect you to succeed either. I’ve spent my entire life fighting against the weight of those expectations.

    Like when university professors were flabbergasted when, on the first day, I asked my attendant to raise his hand, so I could answer the question that no one else could.

    Or the vaguely constipated look on the face of a venture capitalist when I asked for $500,000 of startup capital for my first software company.

    Or the disbelieving stares of people at a real estate conference when I gave a talk about buying million-dollar homes without even being able to get up the stairs to see the inside of them.

    What egged on the child to succeed?

    How could I possibly look my mother and father and all of the others who have sacrificed so much for me in the eye and tell them, “I can’t?” I couldn’t bear it. The shame of dishonoring their sacrifice by giving up would poison my soul.

    Original Article: On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas