Fall of the Sovereign

In recent history of 10 years BJP has seen a lot. As a popular party it had to undergo many situations mostly of Bad news type and scanty on positive side. I remember those days where BJP was all over the place and it had strong hold in Maharashtra with its allies Shivsena. There was a time when I used to love BJP and was kind of backing them up. That time I never voted for them as I wanted to but couldn’t; being still without voter card. Now that I have a voter card and I can vote still I guess I won’t vote in their favor. Why? I don’t know. You can say that I don’t believe any more in BJP as a party and their ideologies.

Mr Adwani is quitting as a leader of opposition party and Mr Rajnath Singh is following him. Don’t you think this should have been done years ago? Anyways better late than…..

I remember the slogans like ‘Mandir wahi Banayenge…’ and ‘Feel good’. I think whole ideology of the party is based on Hindutva which is not bad at all. But the twists and moldings given to the meanings of Hindutva backfired at the party name. The ‘feel good’ slogan which failed miserably and the Aam Janta of India has done few things, made sure that BJP will never feel good in near future days. The moments like Babri Majid fall, Pramod Mahajan killing, Godhra kaand committee results has blotted their linens so badly that bags and bags of Tide, aerial, surf, Rin or any detergent combined can’t wash them clean. Atal Bihari Vajpayee emerged as prime minister and nation was feeling to be in safe hands. I won’t be exaggerating if I say he was one of the most popular prime ministers India ever had. He had such an influence due to his vocalizations that ears used to get glued to hear his speech. I remember the day when he was forced to step down after being prime minister for 13 days and in my view that was the time BJP started the down fall.

Being Information and broadcasting minister, late Mr. Pramod Mahajan has done a lot for country. He gained lot of respects and won many hearts but once he left things started coming up against him as to what kind of person he was. What’s true what’s not, who knows? His younger brother Pravin Mahajan shot him over a dispute and fired 4 bullets. Pravin was sentenced life term imprisonment and recent news flashed that he was lying critical in hospital. The things which he reveled about Pramod Mahajan in his book are really astonishing and are really questionable if they are fact or just frustration out of estranged brother.

After getting 48 extensions in 17 years and spending whooping 8-10 crores rupees, finally the Liberhan report was submitted this year. It opened many closed hidden doors and opened discussions around the world. Fingers were again raised at prominent BJP leaders and this again darkened the blot. Do you think party will rise again when there are so many prejudices among themselves? BJP fighting within and Shivsena the allies of BJP are fighting with MNS?

Late Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri himself stepped down from prime minister on the grounds of India Pakistan war. Politics was not bad at that time there was still some righteousness in it. Can we somehow expect it today or I am asking for something illusionary?

New songs: Dhingana

After so many days I am listening to unknown new movie songs and they sound good in fact not only good but great, so here are these. Listen from here enjoy... I know Atif Aslam has entered to many hearts right from front door. He is my favorite too. Some of his songs are also in this list.

Hamara Bajaj

                            - Hamara Kal -

Few things are not meant for something and unknowingly they just overhaul their cause for bigger grounds. In my fair view ‘Hamara Bajaj’ is one of those few things. There was time in India where only super rich guys were able to move around in automobiles and bicycles were the most common vehicle for middle class Janta. Then was the golden time of Bajaj Scooters and it did not made entry in our houses but straight in our hearts. Even the TV commercial for Bajaj scooters used to touch us and it even does today.

Scooter was common man’s car, huge leg space, can seat 3 sometimes 4, 5 and some time whole Family used to happily fly. The front leg space was utilized to hang vegetables, grocery bags even sometimes LPG cylinders. I know when pappa got his scooter; I was so happy to ride and was cleaning it every morning before pappa’s office time.

Since engine was on one side it had an advantage with disadvantage. Plus point is that it had a small closed box space on one side to keep some more things. And minus point is the one which make scooters unique. Before hitting on kick to fire it up, it has to bend to the ground on engines side and then kick it. A very inimitable and exclusive method. (Without peeping into technical glitch; I think it has to do something with petrol flow in engine)

‘Hamara Bajaj’ marked an era of vehicles on Indian roads and surely pushed people ahead of time. Few days back TOI flashed front page news about Bajaj rolling off scooter manufacturing and this news took me back to the times.

Buland Bharat ki buland Tasveer…. Hamara Bajaj.

 

                          - Hamara Aaj -

Shades of Nature

Simple thing for a person might be never understandable thing in whole life for another and to think that why doesn’t he get this simple thing creates whole situation. Yes things are same but their simplicity or complexity, any other forms and factors depends on how it is looked. Situation is barely touched by the phrase ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of be-holder’ or by the story of ‘Elephant and blind men’. You are getting frustrated over a contestant who is struggling to answer a simple question in your favorite TV shows. You almost shout answer in front of TV and get fumed why does these idiots get selected for such shows? Yes this is just a simple example.

Don’t you think there are such things and situations raised due to such things can tense relationships? You know your friend is in love with a person who for some reason is not of good conduct or behavior in your view. You tried to convince your friend to stay away from that person but he is not getting your point. Why is that two friends with very nice chemistry and matching wave lengths for so many years can’t understand this simple thing now? I don’t think there is any common rules or framework for all these situations as to justify when and why this will happen. I don’t believe there is any book explaining ‘100 ways to tackle such situations’. It’s completely abstract, inexplicable and weird(Weird: things we don’t understand and can’t talk much about). Knowingly, unknowingly everyone of us passes thru such moments at very steps of life and severity of these things vary. Some are kind of ‘Forget it…’ and some are ‘Life changing’.

How far would you go to explain a thing to your friend which he is very keen into and you know he has chosen a wrong path? Can you go till breaking a friendship? Yes. No. May be. Things get complicated when in some situations you are also not sure what’s fair and what’s not? What if you convinced someone to listen to you and after a period of time you realized that you were absolutely wrong? Can you make up for the time passed? Can you forgive yourself? Can you dare to confront the same person?

Things may not be same as they appear and even if they are still can differ in different pair of eyes.
Should I call it shades of nature?

Time has wings

I know time has wings and its flutter speed varies vastly. Interestingly as it can fly forward, it can march backwards too. Time when each hour passes like seconds – Exam time. Time when each second pass like hour – on the way to India….

Yes time has wings and I believe in it utterly. When I think of my frineds and those good old school days, the time flies backward and this virtual time machine pushes me in a galore of memories. Most of the memories are still fresh in my mind and some needs to be dusted out. Last couple of months when time was in real crunch and life was so busy that there was no time to see whats the time. Coming out of cocoon of sub-consious world to nasty real consious world my clock was starting at 6 in morning and never rested till midnight. Things lined up one after another and another after another and yet another after next another and time was just flying.

Lets see how it will be from today as there is vast shift in circumstances, surrounding and many and almost all factors. No office for next 3 weeks and no driving in traffic for daily 2 hours. But another lot many things to add. I feel its like that schoolish definition of energy. Energy cannot be create nor destroyed; it can be transformed from one form to another. I think its same with time. Rightly said and defined. Just that those are the beliefs of our whimsical mind.. don’t you think so?

Now and then...

As rightly said in my first blog that I am always bit hesitant and hence to start a new thing; be it a blogging, Orkut or face book (FB). Ya Twitter is yet far away I guess. I think it’s in my nature now. I registered FB around 3 years ago but never got a hang of it. After using Orkut for a considerable amount of time I took lil time to get acquainted with FB face (cover page) and when it was on my iphone, I felt it’s simpler than I made it in my mind. The ease and utility being FB in iphone was simply superb and it hardly took any time to ride or pre-conscious thoughts.
Though all the games in FB are kind of alien zone for me, I think time will come for that too. Or never? Who knows? Time will lift the fog. Right now I am fed up from the clutter on FB pages showing updates from others with Mafia war, Farmville etc. I have to shut them off.

On another note climate has changed vastly and the fall is even over before the start. It was un-usually cold for the start of winter and most leaves kissed earth without color transformation. I kind of hate that. Fall color is what I like and the transition from summer-fall-winter is simply superb (schumma-adardillee - Tamil). If I compare this climate change to Indian winter, I remember those days where we used to cuddle around the fire warming our blood in veins. Winters were like winters and now it’s really hot even in September-October too. Diwali was considered to be in winter and now it’s kind of shifting from winter to summer. Lost are those days where we used to get up early in Diwali days wrapped in sweaters and rush to bathroom for the hot water auspicious bath (Abhyang Snaan - Marathi). We had a kind of competition to get ready and have first special Diwali breakfast. That time this festival was all about new clothes, fire crackers, lot of food and school vacations. We used to get lot of homework for diwali which I used to complete in a day or two so that I have whole stretch of 15 days for enjoying without worrying about my homework and the thrashing from teacher if I couldn’t complete homework.
Joint celebration of Diwali at our old house at village was fun I am missing today. We all kids used to get our shares of crackers and everyone was hiding from each other so that no one should know where our crackers are. Gone are those golden days. Gone with time.

Now life is in fast lane. Office, cell phone meetings, email ids and cell numbers have replaced friends’ faces. Many of them lost in their own run of life, in their own small circles. Gone are the days when we used to meet at our adda every evening for the gossips and all the news and talks of the town. Few bucks saved from expenditure (or from pocket money which some of my friends used to get from their parents and I was envy about that for small span of time) were enough for the grand treat. What I feel now that the definitions of each and every thing, be it small or big, important or useless has changed. I know change is inevitable and unavoidable but sometimes I really feel that God should have given me wish that I can restrict at least 5 things from changing their form. I wonder what could have been in my list? Hmm.. hmm.. Pretty interesting…

I know I have moved from topic 1 to topic 2 and topic 3 to topic 347189 but I think it's all well as long as my heart speaks and not my mind..

My experiments with Gardening

Being a multi-hobbiest animal, if someone asks me about my hobby, I have to name a few and gardening is one of them. I have no doubts that I have acquired this love from my dear mom. My mom is real passionate about plants and this green habitat, no wonder she finds time from her busy schedule for her lovely garden; she does manage watering plants even in scarce water problems in my region (Akola, Maharashtra). We don't have bore-well at home and that's really not a problem for not having water as most of the bore-wells in our colony are dead dry. We get water from our taps once in a week(and now they are talking about once in 15 days) and that's only water source for livelihood. Still out garden is green and plants are blooming.

I remember those days when we used to live in small rented house and never had a big backyard for gardening. My mom used to plant trees in whatever available container and there were trees in almost every nook and corner of our home. Near TV, in windows, on stairs, hanging from ceilings and almost every place. No wonder trees make our surrounding pleasant. I always helped mom in gardening and from there I picked this hobby. Apart from planting flowering trees, we used to plant vegetables like cauliflower, egg plant(brinjal), some beans, bitter melon, lady finger onions etc. I remember once we had around 10-15 types of cactus in our garden and most of the people will be surprised to know how beautiful flowers can bloom on cactus. They are brilliantly bright colored and very attractive. Most of them last for almost 10-15 days on plant but I remember a cactus which bloomed only once in our home and the flowers were pure white in color and bloom only for a night. Surprisingly they were so aromatic that they can easily beat jasmine which is well known for its fragrance. Now with bigger home and enough space for gardening we have fruit trees like Banana, papaya, guava, mango, custard apple etc. We even have lotus in a small tank.

Being away from home for almost for 6 years now and living as a bachelors at many places, love for plants didn't budge for me but considering different constraints at various places I couldn't do much. Still I always had at least a pot or two for my plants. Now when I moved to separate apartment with my life partner, I got a chance to have my little patio garden(8 X 5 feet). I planted daffodils and tulips in the season and now that their season is over they are replaced by marigold, zenias and some ornamental annuals. Tomatoes are dwelling nicely on my tomato trees and I am waiting for chilies to show up now. With some trips to nursery, I came to know about various varieties of tomatoes like big boy, early girl, cherry tomatoes, better boy, Amish tomatoes, plum tomatoes, Roma tomatoes etc and their maturity periods. They vary in fruit size, plant size, tastes, maturity times and these are the factors which helps to pick varieties for your garden. I choose Amish and Roma tomatoes as their plants are comparatively smaller so that I can plant them in pots and they suits close to our Indian taste buds. I learned that tomatoes plants are very rigid and hence can grow in almost any climate, place and that's the reason they are first choice for home garden. Very innovative and funny way to grow tomatoes is in topsy-turvy fashion. People grow them in hanging baskets upside down.

My garden is warm welcome to my friends in our home and for me it's a place of my own. Many times I sit in my little garden enjoying my cup of tea. Though Chicago has extreme climates but it won't stop anyone from gardening, just that we will have to bend a little to blend with city's climate.

Here are some pics of my garden, hope you like them. Keep walking, keep working...Keep your heart green.

Early morning Mural

Its 4:30 AM, the time I have rarely seen with my open eyes; often enjoying in deep sleep in cozy warm blanket. Today is something different and reminded me of those days in schools where we used to go for trips and picnics. I could hardly sleep a night before the tour. It was all excitement which would bring zillions of butterflies in my stomach and I used to get up before I sleep… Since I have a little time to get ready and get started to march over the capital, Washington DC, I am scribing this one.

Its almost 12 hrs drive from here and we decided to start at 6 AM (considering the lag as we estimate since we follow Indian standard timings). Drive is through Pittsburgh and according to our plan we will have our lunch in the famous temple there. We will be crossing borders of many states. Since I am travelling with another friend and his family it will be super fun to drive along together in van. When alarm buzzed at 4:00 AM, I thought it’s a mistake and why I kept alarm at 4:00? Crazy me? It took me around 5 minutes to come alive in world of reality and I got up. So yes that’s the change from school days and my today’s life where I used to wake up before the clock… anyways, lot many things changes over time as they say ‘Nothing stays constant, but the change’ or something like that. (On another note: I think in recent history if someone has utilized the word ‘The change’ copiously is Mr. Obama.. no matter we are yet to witness it…. Is that a reason I am marching towards DC??? No way… Let everyone manage their own worries.)

Since bags were packed at night only, now I just have to freshen myself and drive to my friend’s place. Considering this warm weather we are all geared up with summer costumes and stuff and not to mention my all weather companion… my camera. It’s beautiful morning and now I am thinking what’s more pleasant; the cold breeze through my bedroom window or the chirping birds outside who woke up without any alarm? I heard this sound after years and still ear pleasing.

Whole day I will be on road. Hope to write more about this trip.
See you when I see you

Catching up

As in the world where Mallika Sherawat is endorsing the milk shake brand, in IPL Delhi Daredevils topped the chart with yet another stupendofuntabulouslyfantastic (word I derived from Geeta Kapoor from Dance India Dance) performance, I finished preparing my cabbage curry and my wife is super glued to cell phone on India call, I am writing this post. Nothing to do much with all those facts as this one; I have not written in last couple of weeks. Since spring has finally sprung in my part of planet and things are looking quite bright n fresh. My recent activities include playing tennis, roaming around on weekends and especially to mention gardening. Yes I am doing some gardening in my 6X4 feet patio. Right now it is growing some perennials, 3 tomato plants (2 Roma and 1 Amish paste), six different marigold plants. Daffodils and some tulips were blooming few weeks before and since their season is over I will have to replace them by some other plants. Fortunately unlike job market my garden has vacancies. Most probably vacancies are to be filled with some chilies, spinach and mint.

Strategic hunger break: will continue this one after Dinner… she will kill me if I am not there at dining table in next 3.5 second…

OK I am back after devouring my dinner. So what I have been doing in last few weeks? I visited Chicago botanical garden in spring and it was really nice experience. We roamed a lot, clicked tons of snaps and witnessed ultimate beauty of nature. It was real feast for eyes. All sorts of plants, flowers were simply amazing. Though I think special attraction there are the bonsai trees and the 3 tropical glass houses specializing plants from different regions on globe. Arid, tropical and one more I don’t remember. After all roaming we were hungry like anything. We served ourselves and filled our plates with all foods and nature didn’t like it. It suddenly started cold breeze and followed by rain. I have never seen such a fast changeover ever. It was matter of few minutes and season changed from spring back to winter again. Finally we finished our buffet sitting in car with doors closed.

Season change was momentary and last weekend we visited Starved rock state park just 70 miles from my place. I went there for the second time only to find spring is THE best season to visit this place. The park is situated at the bank of Illinois River and its spectacular views attract tourists, nature lovers and shutterbugs from distant places. The park serves as camping ground and other attractions like horse riding, canoeing etc are available in particular seasons. We were four people and everyone was in proper mood to enjoy the weather, no one was party pooper. Again we took loads of snaps and the freshness was so crisp clear in snaps that I have already seen them thrice.

Before our botanical garden trip, we visited indoor water park in Wisconsin dells just to start off summer. It was just nice but nothing much to write about it.
I took some time to walk just nearby my place and took some snaps. Being away from HMX office for a week now, I am working from my company’s office which is quite near to home. Cutting off travel time is a major plus but sacrificing my book reading in train and downtown walks. After all life is equation of plus and minus right…?? (Philosophical .. ha ha )
Just before sharing some pics below, I have ordered new laptop for me and this time I thought to take chance with DELL. Let’s see my share of luck…

I will try to write more often.

ZakkasBhel@StarvedRock.com

Beautiful waterfall

Captured near my home. This is my current wallpaper

The Bonsai

alvidaa.......

Face for my Rupee

I was always wondering why Rupee has not got his face, a symbol which is globally known just like dollar ($) or pound (£). Even the lesser value cent has its own symbol (¢) then why not we. Is there any specific prerequisite for a nation to raise certain level to have a symbol for their currency? I don’t think so and to confirm my stance, Iran, Nigeria and Hungary are in the list of countries with currency symbol. I am sure they aren’t something special.

Every time I refer rupee, I have to write as Rs. or INR and incidentally Rs. is the same for Pakistan too. So now Government of India is taking steps towards mission of assigning a symbolic character to our rupee and making it eminent across the globe. Here I find the Times of India’s poll showing all the possible possibilities and plausibilities for a future rupee symbol from their designers. We can vote for the symbol you want and also can give your own designed symbol. Who knows your symbol might get selected and you will be in the league of those who became prominent overnight. TOI will suggest these poll results along with new suggestions to Ministry of Finance to take final decision (Not sure what’s their dead-line for this project).

You can vote for these at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rupeesurvey.cms

For more info on currency symbols: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_sign

Tears

“Do you write poems?” if someone asks this to me I can’t actually answer this question in a solitary word as Yes on No. It’s all about the frequency of writing poems. I started writing poems 6th or 7th grade I think; but never took it to serious level. I wrote another Marathi poem ‘Pazaay’ in my engineering 2nd year and that was published in college year book and that I would consider my first poem. Many people liked that and told me to continue with writing those. I donno. I am not like that person who can write good poem whenever he wants. I can’t force my self and that’s the reason my second poem was after almost more than seven years (yes you read it right) gap from the first one. So here it goes for you.

Poem is in Marathi so for all my non-marathi friends I will try to explain it to my level best but I am damn sure I can’t express those feelings in English. I will try to get as closer as I can.

अश्रू

होऊ दे अश्रू पुन्हा,
डोळ्यातून तुझ्या रडू दे;
ओझरता थेंब तो ओंजळीत
क्षणभर पापण्यात नडू दे...

वाटेत सुखांच्या मी,
दुखांना कुरुवाळीत गेलो;
अस्तीर त्या धूख्याना
आता तरी गळू दे...

वेडाचे भस्म माथी,
होवोनी फकीर हिंडलो;
पींड तुझ्या हाताने
झोळीत माझ्या पडू दे...

शेळ्या कोम्बळ्याची झुंज,
हर्षे पहिली मी सारी;
यातना भोगावयास माझ्या
माझे मलाच लढू दे...

उदयास सुर्य येईल,
एक दिवस तो सुजाण;
आहुती होऊनी आता
सरणावर एकटाच जळू दे...

भय कोणा नको निशेचे,
कोन्डत त्या स्मशाणात;
वेली बकूळ फुलांची
थडग्यावर माझ्या दरवळू दे...

ओझरता थेंब तो ओंजळीत, क्षणभर पापण्यात नडू दे...
ओझरता थेंब तो ओंजळीत, क्षणभर पापण्यात नडू दे...

Theme: Repent or something like that. I am a person (in poem) who has enjoyed his life as he wants. I didn’t care damn about anyone. In fact I hurt many and countless knowingly and didn’t felt anything about any one of them at all. Now I am at the end of my life. When I glance back I see what I have done in my life; all the picture is blood red. I am sure that no one can forgive me no matter what I do now and hence I am not apologizing to any one at all. I have something to say or but can’t say anything to anyone. So I am just wishing my last wish.


Poem title: Tears

Stanza 1:
Let me become tears and cry through your eyes.
But before I drop in you palms, let me rest a moment on your eyelids.

Stanza 2:
While walking on the path of happiness, I cuddled many grieves.
Let those wobbly fogs reconcile at least now.

Stanza 3:
With ashes of craziness on my forehead, I wandered like itinerant.
(Now this line is difficult to explain. In India when a person die, his relatives will give a piece of food to crows as a ritual and when crows eat that, people think that the immortal soul will get Mukti(freedom) and will RIP in heaven. That piece of food is called ‘pind’ in Marathi and the old cloth bag which beggar or nomads use for collecting food is called ‘Zoli’.)
Let the ‘Pind’ fall in my ‘zoli’ with your own hands.

Stanza 4:
I have seen lot many fights of goats or cocks (cockfighting was popular rural activity in old times for entertainment and some of the cocks will die in those fights.) and I saw them very happily.
Let me fight my self alone now to bear all these pains and aches.

Stanza 5:
There will be sunrise of sprite (fairness) one fine day.
But at least let me burn myself in crematorium unaided like an ‘Aahuti’ used in ‘Yagnya’. (‘Aahuti’ is the wood/dried twigs used in burning sacred fire or yagya which is Hindu ritual before starting any auspicious or important work. It is done in a belief of keeping all troubles away from this important task undertaken.)

Stanza 6:
Let there be no fear to anyone in that dread crematory.
Let the vine of ‘Bakuli’ bloom on my grave. (‘Bakuli’ are tiny white flowers with sweet fragrance which you can smell from a long distance)

Before I drop in you palms, let me rest a moment on your eyelids.
Before I drop in you palms, let me rest a moment on your eyelids.

Disclaimer: This poem is just an expression of my thoughts considering a virtual character. It has no relation close or distant to my life or anyone’s life or death with or without creeper of or any flowers or thorns on his or her grave. May this virtual being RIP.

Hit by Fortune

In this recession time we all know what’s the real value of money and how difficult is to make money, save money. But now my time has changed. I met my fortune fairy and she granted me a wish of getting floods of money to my bank account. In all I got $500,000 + $500,000 + $1000,000 in cash, a brand new Toyota Camry 2008 model, Five star hotel Stay and free air tickets. Isn’t that amazing? I thank you all my friends for your best wishes and big thank to almighty GOD that my wishes came true finally. I am planning a grand grand party and thinking it to be so grand that it is just out of my mind (as I never had such amount with me) and I can’t think what else I can do. So I am taking help of all the scholars, experts and party organizers (so called) in this area.

Thanks again and thanks all…..

No it’s not dream but at the same time it’s not even true or even close to truth. This is about all the fake/junk/spam (you_call_them_what) mails flowing all around the globe in recent days. I received one of the following mails and 2 of them were in my father’s inbox. My father forwarded it to me thinking that it might prove the best present to his son. Something out of class, unique and magnificently fabulous. Thanks Papa.
These mails start with some real crapy story regarding lucky draw, lottery, lotto or some of the similar things and want you to think (and believe) that you are unique luckiest guy in whole billions and trillions of the human race in this earth and that’s the sole reason fortune has hit you with bang. Chappar faadke… after this short little story they asks us to send our personal details like name address details, contact details and stuff. One of them asked ‘Next of kin’ name too… so thoughtful of him after all a man cannot spend this whole lot of money in his life time and god forsake something happen to the guy hit with this fortune, there should be someone to enjoy all this luck.. Right?
Most of these mails are claiming to be from China. One is from the Beijing Olympic committee 2008, another from Toyota dealers China and another one claiming from International Monetary Fund. All of these are so happy to give me all these dollars, flight tickets, hotel stay, nice brand new car and all goodies, I am now thinking are they some of by dearest relatives. Seriously they seem to be happier than me.

Anyway go through these mails just for fun and admire them for the sincere efforts they are doing for identity thefts. Kudos to them.
I am wondering where I can complaint against these mails so that if possible they can take action and get closer to these money mongers.

Mail 1: China Cultural Center wants to give me Flight tickets, Hotel Stay and wooping $500,000.

Subject: CONGRATULATION -[Wed, 4 Mar 2009 15:53:14 +0000]
THE CHINA CULTURAL CENTER AWARD 2008
ASIA AND PACIFIC REGIONAL ANNEX
CORPORATIONS IN ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION
IN SUPPORT OF BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC
AWARD PROVIDER OFFICE
P.O.BOX 1682 CHINA
GOVT.REF 08

ATTENTION

CONGRATULATION ONCE AGAIN iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

ITS OUR GREAT PLEASURE TO INFORM YOU OF THE RESULT OF THE CHINESE CULTURAL CENTER PRIZE AWARD 2008 PROGRAMS CONDUCTED AND FINANCED BY COMMITTEE OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN ASIA REGIONAL CONSTITUENCY. AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WAS SELECTED AMONG THE COMPUTER BALLOTING SYSTEM DONE TODAY IN THE CONTROL ROOM AS TO KEEP AWARENESS OF THE CHINESE CULTURAL AWARD CENTER NEXT YEAR CELEBRATION YOU ARE ALSO TO HAVE FIVE TICKETS AND FREE FLIGHT AND HOTEL ACCOMMODATION IN THE WHOLE EVENT. AND YOU HAVE WON THE SUM OF $500.000.00 USDA.FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE AMERICAN DOLLARS AS ALL THE BIG MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN ASIA HAS JOINED HANDS TO MAKE THIS EVENT A SUCCESS CONGRATULATION ONCE AGAIN AS THE BENEFICIARY WINNER OF THIS YEAR AWARD SPONSORED BY CHINESE GOVERNMENT FOR THE ON GOING OLYMPIC 2008

THE LUCKY WINNER IN THIS CATEGORY ALL PARTICIPANT WERE SELECTED RANDOMLY THROUGH A COMPUTER BALLOTING SYSTEM DRAWN TODAY FROM THE NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND E-MAIL ADDRESSES FROM CANADA, AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA,ASIA EUROPE,MIDDLE EAST AFRICA AND OCEANIA AS PART OF OUR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAMS WHICH IS CONDUCTED ANNUALLY. THIS LOTTERY PROMOTION IS BEING PROMOTED AND SPONSORED BY MANY CONGLOMERATE OF MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AS PART OF THERE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

WE ANNOUNCE YOUR WINNER TODAY IN THE COMPUTER BALLOTING ROOM AS GREAT WINNER AS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WON THE PRICE TO FILE YOUR CLAIMS AND BOOKING CONTACT YOUR ASIA ACCREDITED AND SATISFY AGENT MR. CHANG SHANG AND PROVIDE YOUR DETAILS FOR YOUR PAYMENT:
drmakaa@aim.com

FULL NAMES OF BENEFICIARY:........................
CONTACT ADDRESS:..................................
EMAIL ADDRESS:....................................
CITY/STATE:.......................................
COUNTRY:..........................................
NATIONALITY:......................................
SEX:.......................AGE:...................
MARITAL STATUS...................................
TEL NO:...........................................
NEXT OF KIN:......................................
ANNUAL INCOME:....................................
AMOUNT WON:.......................................

CLAIM AGENT EMAIL SECTION.
CONGRATULATION ONCE AGAIN !!!!!!
SINCERELY YOURS
ENGER. YANG YOUNG
AWARD COORDINATOR

Mail 2: International Monetary Fund is asking my details to send me my outstanding amount of $500,000 waiting in ICBC bank. They are also apologizing for the delay for the overdue amount.

From: "International Monetary Fund (IMF)"
To:
Date:
Subject: OVERDUE OUTSTANDING PAYMENT (IMF)

From Systems Operator Manager (IMF)


Dear beneficiary,


Your e-mail was discovered in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Central
Computer among the list of unpaid (Contractors, Inheritance next of kin
and lotto beneficiaries that was originated from America, Europe, Asia
plus Middle east and Africa) among the list of individuals and companies
that your unpaid fund of $500.000.00 has been located to the ICBC Bank Of
China.

Your unpaid fund insured with your E-mail Id has been approved already for
months,
Under the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
Therefore you are required to get intouch with the payee bank where your
fund has been insured for claim.

Below is the contact of the Telegraphic Transfer Section of the payee bank.
Get in touch with the bank immideately,with the following informations,
Your, Full Names,Age,Nationality,Occupation,Contact address,Phone,and Fax
number,including a Scan Copy of your, International Passport or Valid
identification for the claim of your Insured fund.

Telegraphic Transfer Section
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Guangdong Provincial Branch
Guangzhou,China.
Email:icbcbank_china@126.com
Tel:+86-2085993941
Fax:+86-20-34158442

For further informations do not hesitate to contact me,by phone call of by
e-mail.

Once again, I apologize to you on behalf Of IMF(International Monetary Fund)
Your funds which according to records in the system had been long overdue
with the Bank.

Best Regards,
Fred Rogers.
systems operator(IMF)
On behalf of Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Managing Director, IMF
+44-70-2406-4520
Email:fredrgers@gmail.com

Mail 3: Prize Award notification from Toyota China.

From: mhel_claimsagent@yahoo.com
to"hrbasti@gmail.com"

cc: iagasti@gmail.com,
ikmasti@gmail.com,
imgasti@gmail.com,
jamasti@gmail.com,
jelasti@gmail.com,
jxbasti@gmail.com,
kkjasti@gmail.com,
kmaasti@gmail.com,
konasti@gmail.com,
kssasti@gmail.com,
lilasti@gmail.com,
lucasti@gmail.com,
lorasti@gmail.com,
mbcasti@gmail.com,
mchasti@gmail.com,
mhrasti@gmail.com,
merasti@gmail.com,
mclasti@gmail.com,
migasti@gmail.com

dateTue, Apr 14, 2009 at 8:26 PM
subjectPRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION -[Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:26:23 +0000]




Toyota Car Lottery International Promotions China,
Customer Service Department
Toyota Motor Corporations, China.
28 Tanfield Road Tiaxiu lio Beijing China
PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION

DEAR Sir/MA

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement made today, You are among the winners of the TOYOTA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

As a result of your visiting various websites we are running the E-business promotions for. You/Your Company email address, attached to ticket number 719-226-1319, with serial number 902-66 drew the lucky numbers 05,12,30,11,17,43 and Bonus number 10 , Your INSURANCE Number: FLS433/ 453L /GMSA and consequently you won in the Second Category of the TOYOTA FORTUNE LOTTO DRAW.
You have therefore been approved for the payment of the sum of US$1,000, 000, 00 in cash, including a Toyota carmry 2008 model which is the winning present /amount for the Second category winners. This is from the total prize money of US$40,650,000.00 shared among the international winners in the Second category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Please be informed that your won fund of the sum of US$1,000,000.00 is now with the payee center. Contact our agent and give them your full names so that they will re-insure your winning fund under your full names. Together with the port where your winning car should be shipped to.

To begin your claim, please call our claim agent or send email immediately to:-

Mr Michael Young
Foreign Services Manager,
Toyota Motor Corporations China,
EMAIL:mhel_claimsagent@yahoo.com
Tel/Fax:+8613725459197

1. Full Name:
2. Address:
3. Occupation:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Nationality:
7. Country of Residence:
8. Telephone/Fax Number:

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers and other information provided above and below in every one of your correspondences to your claiming agent.
Congratulations'' once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Sincerely,
Madam Sophia Lang
Online coordinator
www.Toyota.com.cn

Check this. Isn’t it cool?

Daily I catch the train at 5:26 from Union station to come to home from office. If I start from office at 5:00 sharp, I have to rush to grab seat in train. So I don’t shut down my PC as it takes some time to close all applications and then shut it down. I know I know you are now cribbing that I waste energy everyday and go green and all that. But you know what I shut down my office pc remotely once I grab seat in train. Yes we can do that. Thanks to outlook. I send mail from my iphone to my office mail ID and my computer shuts down. Please don’t say that you don’t have iphone. You can shut down your office PC by sending mail from your gmail account once you reach home.

Here are things you need to do:

Step one: Create a batch file
- Open a notepad and paste following line into it:
c:\windows\system32\shutdown -s -f -t 00
- Save it as .bat file. Eg. Name it as Shutdown.bat. Check that you have to keep ‘All Files’ in ‘Save type as’ drop box. Your file will appear as system file (the one with executable or application file icon). It will no longer look as notepad file.

Step two: Create a rule in Outlook
- Go to your outlook Toolsà Rules and alerts à New Rule
- Start with Blank rule ‘Move messages with specific words in subject to a folder’. Define your own specific words. For eg: shutdown_agasti (Smart move: You should keep these specific words to yourself like password. Else if your friends know this they will be in high spirits to play prank or harass you by sending mails with those subject lines and your PC will be shutdown while you are working on critical issue… Hmm.. don’t give them chance..)
- Select any folder you want to move that mail. You can select ‘Deleted Items’ too. Press Next button twice to get to ‘Select Actions’ list and now select ‘start application’ option providing the application as batch file you created in step one.
- Save the rule and Apply.

Step three: Testing Remote PC shutdown application
Send mail from your gmail account with specific subject line and tyan da ddyyaaaaan…. As soon as your mail arrives in outlook, it will run the application and your PC shuts down.

Go green… be smart..
PS: I didn’t find anything yet to start my PC remotely …

Spoon feed Screenshots below:

Extinction is Forever - Tiger backs Tiger

Whole country and cricket fans around the globe rejoiced when master blaster Sachin hit another test ton against New Zealand in this series. I was also looking forward for his TON and his each shot was just feast for eyes. Strange thing is today I felt more proud about when I read news about Sachin supporting Tiger conservation in India. In fact when he dedicated this hundred for tigers, he just raised his ranks in millions of hearts. He is leader, path maker, guide and friend to Indian team and there are plenty other reasons that whole Team India joined for the cause. When asked to him about this initiative he commented that this was decided by whole team before coming for this tour and hence you can see banner of ‘Extinction is Forever’ at Team India’s marquee.

You might get bit amused but I read news column ‘Earth’ in TOI which keeps me close to happenings in environment zone in India. Survey says at least 1 tiger per month is killed (or dies) and according to Wildlife Protection society of India just in 11 weeks of 2009, 17 tigers are found dead. If strict measures are not taken right away tiger extension is not far from today. For the figures the count of tigers in India at the start of this century (year 2000) was 40,000 which fall down to mere 1700 today at an alarming rate. I feel no odd if our coming generation will see another Steven Spielberg’s (or his successor’s) movie like Jurassic park where dinosaurs will be replaced by extinct tigers.

Here is tiger toll for 2009:
Mar 20: Bhadrawati, Maharashtra: Forest officials nab three persons with tiger claws and bones Mar 17: Corbett, UP: Infighting claims one tiger at Dhela Range

Mar 10: Corbett, UP: An aged 14-year-old male tiger found dead at Dhela Range

Mar 4: Kanha, MP: One tiger found dead near Daman village

Feb 26: Tadoba Andhari, Maharashtra: One tigress found dead

Feb 24: Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh: Man-eater tigress shot dead

Feb 16: Chandel, Manipur: Army seizes 16 kg tiger bones, two skulls and two paws during vehicle checks near Myanmar border.

Feb 13: Kaziranga, Assam: One tiger killed in infighting

Feb 8: Pilibhit, UP: One tiger found dead near Sharda canal

Jan 31: Kanha, MP: One tiger found dead near Auraicamp

Jan 21: Kaziranga: One tigress dead of suspected poisoning

Jan 19: Katni, MP: One fresh tiger skin seized

Jan 18: Kanha, MP: One tiger found dead

Jan 10: Kaziranga, Assam: One tiger found dead

Jan 5: Kaziranga, Assam: One tigress found dead

Jan 3: Kanha, MP: Two tiger cubs found dead

Jan 3: Kaziranga, Assam: One tiger found dead

Jan 2: Bhandara, Maharashtra: One tiger found dead

(Source: Wildlife Protection Society of India)

Rise for the cause. Support the wildlife. Help to save this forest beauty.

One less of the list

Skiing was one of the things on my ‘To Do” list until last Saturday and now it has jumped to another list ‘To Do it again’. Right now it’s a list topper on the second list. We were already late planning about skiing at the end of the season and we cancelled our plans when we enquired many skiing places just to find they are closed for the season. Unwillingly we had to postpone the plan by another a year but then my phone rang.
“Are you ready for skiing?” friend on the other side asked me.
“What a joke?” I exclaimed. “Don’t tell me now, that you called me in morning and told me to get ready.”
“Ya. So what are you doing now?” he asked.
“Just got up at 11 O clock and having my tea and bread. Its weekend and I am spending as it is supposed to.” I answered.
“OK just now Kaushal called. He enquired for the skiing place and they are open. In fact these are last 2 days for this season” he told.
“How far it is? And till when it’s open?” I asked just for more info.
“Its 2 hrs drive from here and they are open till 10 PM. So get ready. We will start at 2.” He cut it short.
“OK.” I said keeping phone aside.

We started at 2:10 and drive couple of hrs on highways and local roads before we reached at skiing place. It was Alpine valley resort at the neighboring state of Wisconsin (http://www.alpinevalleyresort.com/index2.php). Checking at the packages and the equipments we finally decided on those and rented skis. When I put on those ski boots it was the same feeling as if I am waking on moon (though that’s also in my ‘To Do’ list). It was around 5-7 KG of weight and it was so stiff that I can hardly bend at my ankles. We did some initial photo shoots for our skiing portfolios and then headed towards mission impossible. After I learned some basics from my friends I achieved a milestone of being able to stand with skis on my feet. I went up with the lift and then started my first expedition of the day. After managing to come to the slope properly it was all automatic and against my will. I couldn’t control my self and the skis, no matter what tactics I was trying. I fell umpteen times with my legs twisting and curling along my body and I swear I was never before in those haphazard shapes in my life.

Getting up from the ground level was exactly the same difficult as it was easy to fall down. The first slope ride I did was almost sitting on the skis and falling at least 3-4 times till I came at the bottom of the slope. I thought of giving up but then saw a small kid doing skiing excellently with his sister and I later came to know that his sister was just 6 yrs and he was mere 4 yrs age. Shame on me. Again I went for 2nd ride and now the guy there told me some tricks to bend knees inside to slow down and those sort of things and I found that once you started skiing you will just forget all those tricks and its just a panic situation. It’s almost the same feeling when you are on roller coaster with the difference here you are doing it alone and there’s nothing to hold. I suddenly felt that there’s something wrong with earth and it has suddenly increased its gravitational pull exponentially.

Since it’s an end of the season the snow had turned into ice and when we hit against it, it was serious business. I became firm believer of the idiom ‘try and try until you succeed’ when I managed skiing the whole slope without falling at all. Difficult part now was to put sudden brakes once you are at the bottom and this part I never did correctly. If I want to apply brakes or stop I have to fall down there and there was no way. Hopefully in my next expedition I will succeed at this. Even after taking complete day rest on Sunday, I didn’t felt like coming to office on Monday so I availed a sick leave. It was wonderful experience and we enjoyed a lot with snaps and videos. Seeing at the videos now I feel like: “Yes I can do it….”

Here are some snaps to share.

On the way to Alpine valley resort

My legs tangling around me

My first milestone achieved

See I am struggling there and this kid is enjoying skiing with both hands free

We, sharing a moment

Mission Accomplished

Me by me

I travel places. I travel paths.
I gather dirt, I gather warmth.

Blues of water vies with blues of the sky for the originality of the blueness and no one really win. Battle is ON since centuries and will be ON another stint of centuries to follow. Like just a passerby I passed many, like a cozy shelter I rested at many, what differs is just everything; each and everything in its own gradient, own bounds. Some more some less in tones but really it differs in everything.

Lead the things, sway with winds,
get flooded, feel empty in vastness;
and many more shades to follow,
many more grudges to swallow.

Raving my boat with the tide and resting at anon barren land with my anchor dropped loosely in a shy wait for another blow and start un-destined voyage again, leaving things behind. A gentle hiss of breeze, razing fire in woods, sails tied to the dock with those steel chains, sovereignty of the tiny weed flower in endless pasture I gather it all.

I gather it all and move along. I move along.

How do you know spring is stepping in?

Though there is an official start date for spring as March 20 or March 21st almost every year, you can absolutely trace the silent foot steps of spring approaching towards you looking at your surroundings. As per the astronomy is concerned this date is considered when sun is exactly above the equator and due the fact earth is rotating around the sun this phenomenon occurs twice a year. The term is ‘Vernal Equinox’ and this equinox differs in date for southern and northern hemisphere of earth; the other date being September 22nd every year. In layman’s language we can call it a time when nights and days are almost same duration. So how do you know spring is stepping in without thinking about dates and calendars?

At home:
- Thicker blanket sheets on bed feel unwanted and thinner ones are dearer now.
- Sun peeps quite early from your bedroom glass window and tries to wake you up bit early.
- You can straight away get up happily (study differs from person to person and situation to situation) and move your window drapes and bedroom is flooded with bright warm light. Windows are open all most all the day.
- Morning tea makes you fresher than it used to and you don’t have to struggle a lot to make kids ready for school.

At office:
- Faces shine bright with more depth in daily greetings of ‘Good Morning’.
- You start your work fresh but with half of your mind wandering outside.
- Talks about spring fill your ears and vacation plans fill your calendars (Of course, keeping budgets in mind).
- Almost 99.09 % meetings start on time with discussion on ‘spring season and related things’ as ice breakers.
- You start from office on your usual time still you feel that you have reached home earlier. Day light makes its effect ultra distinctive.

On streets:
- In lunch break walk, you are crowded with more number of people around you and you sense like streets are amplified in their densities per square yards.
- You see more pairs of hands occupying cameras and people posing with their light and colorful jackets.
- Huge glass shopping windows on side walks getting redecorated, repainted, revamped and geared up to display their new spring arrivals.
- Diners are sitting in their extended corridors in open air enjoying their brunch with refreshing aroma of just brewed coffee in china pots.
- Reflections from the building facades are dazzling on your open eyes and you feel need of sun glasses.
- At late afternoons, the same diners get set for their new customers for early boozes with crispy French fries.

In train:
“Good morning. How are you?” a lady greets to another.
She smiles “Good. Thanks to the weather.”
First lady expresses like she has hit the jackpot. “You know what, I am seeing a little yellow nosed beaked birdie around my windows these mornings and it is trying to get in.”
“Oh really” with slight interest on face.
“Ya. I think the bird wants something from my house and Bunny, my elder dog keeps following and playing with it. The bird then peeps at another window and Bunny chases it.”
“Wow” says another.
“Ya. I am not sure what it exactly wants and there is really nothing but our nice little brown lamp over our dinning table. It’s oval and I think the birdie is seeing it to make its nest for the season”.
“Possible.”
“Ya. I am so exited. Bunny is also going out on the grass to play and children are moving out in our back yard. It clearly says its spring here”.
“Yes. That’s true.”
“So true and delightful.”

…………………and they get busy in their never ending talks, gossips with their wide array of subjects not necessarily correlating with each other..

Fire and Peace

This winter was horrible. Actually every Chicago winter is, and in the downtown temperature figure is always deceiving to what it actually feels. Sole culprit is the wind factor. It adds to the chill so much that if weather forecast (appreciating their efforts for precision ) shows you 30 F you can actually feel it as 3 F. It’s exactly as misleading as the little * for conditions apply on you new credit card APR letter. There’s whole world of IF’s and BUTs hidden in diminishing microscopic font under the term ‘Conditions apply’.

Weather is getting better now and we are apparently approaching towards spring. I and my colleagues in office decided to go for a daily short walk after our lunch. (It really doesn’t take any extra brain to know the reason. Sitting at one place in office was growing tummies all over.) We walked near the Chicago city hall as it was just few blocks away from my office building. Chicago city hall built in 1911 is a beautiful building with exceptional pieces of sculpture along all the sides (Need more info? You can get it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_City_Hall). Richard J. Daley Center is just adjacent to the city hall and it has big open space which always holds some kind of fair in summers. You can see a famous massive steel sculpture ‘The Picasso’, a gift to Chicago city by renowned sculptor Pablo Picasso. Few feet away I found a small iron fenced fire and many pigeons warming their bodies against the flame. It must have been feeling cozy like sauna bath, warming their bodies in this cold weather and the snap below shows that they were really enjoying it.

Chicago City Hall Pillars

Kids playing around the pigeons


Warming up

I thought it’s really an ironical situation. We consider pigeon as a symbol of peace (I am not sure whether only white pigeon is considered as a symbol of peace or any colored. Anyway I’m not talking about color distinction or racism.) and fire is considered as rage or turbulence since ages. Here I was seeing both together and it was really deceptive to the eyes. I compared this scene to the situation with Pakistan. They are shouting aloud “We are peace loving nation” but on the other hand they are doing these humiliating activities all over the globe. Recent attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore was pinnacle of this terror acts and more astounding was the statement coming from one of the Pakistan ministers that India can be suspected to be involved in this attack. Wow that was really thoughtful of you Mr. Minister. Despite of whole bunch of proofs, the long denial of the fact that the terrorists in Mumbai attack were Pakistan nationals shows how serious you are fighting against terrorism. Media has traced Kasab’s house, interviewed his parents, checked with some near ones to him, found other ID cards claiming his Pakistan residence ship and yet you are never bothering to term them as ‘Non State actors’. Few bunch of fowl heads sitting in government and misguiding people in the name of religion and jihad, what are you trying to achieve? It’s time to get in your senses at least now. It is not going to help anyone, not now and not in future.

Ringtones

Few days before I found a way to make our own ringtones for iphone 3G and I could hardly wait to try them. I tried and I succeeded and now I am exploring which all songs/instrumentals will be good for this experiment. I bought my first cell phone when I got my first salary from my first job. I was working in a small firm in Pune and when I got the cheque of my first salary 8000 Rs. (minus tax and lunch expenses) ,I was the happiest person in the world. I was on cloud nine and I spent almost 2-3 days thinking what I should do with this salary. 8000 Rs. was too much for me those days but that was not the issue. The problem was the vast number of choices and ways I could spend that money. When human has lots of choices it doesn’t do well at least some times.

I made my mind to purchase cell phone for me and something for mom. In those days owning cell phone was something between necessity and luxury. I thought I can go for it now to stay in touch with friends and parents. Of course, like most chaps at my age I was under the impression that gals love guys with new gadgets and all. But let me make my point that this was not and never really top on my agenda (might be on 3rd position struggling to get on 2nd). I purchased my first cell phone Nokia 1100 (the one with torch) and also laminated it at the same time to protect my priced possession. I always kept it close to me and was waiting eagerly for it to ring every time. Then started the game of missed calls and sms. It was real fun.

Very soon I was attracted towards different ringtones. We friends used to share ringtones and having latest and different ringtones was kind of being in race. Funny ringtones like “Uncle utha lo.. aapka baj raha hai….”, some melodramatic sad song music, crying baby, barking dogs were quite popular. I personally always loved the ringtone for Malgudi days. It was instrumental of title song of R.K. Narayan’s famous serial Malgudi days. Then came A.R. Rehman’s famous Airtel tune and it got added directly in my favorite list. In India we get to hear all different types, kinds, tones and tunes and sometimes I believe that the ringtone you keep on your cell reflect your personality. My theory got firm approval when I read article in The Times of India under the same title.

Compared to US India is quite vivid and at the same time lot better in mobile communication. I know there was a time when charge for incoming call was around 8-10 Rs. Per min. Time flew since then and India has made commendable progress in telecommunication industry. Major cell phone giants like Nokia, Motorola and Sony cashed on this huge market opportunity taking no time to set their manufacturing and sales offices all over the country. Service providers like Airtel, Spice, BSNL started providing novel and lucrative offers to consumers and foreign companies like Vodafone, orange and many others joined the pursuit. It was all good for consumers. More the competition lesser the service cost says the law of market. Apple iphone and its 3G service is now big hit in metro areas irrespective of its humongous cost compared to other competitors. Cell phone has stepped up far ahead from being a necessity in India. It’s the fashion statement now, the craze, the lifeline of people. Reliance plan of cell phone connection with handset all inclusive 500 Rs. brought revolution in this sector. It was the time when milk man, cleaner, rickshaw man, watch man and every talking human was seen talking proudly with cell phone in his hand. It was emerging India, growing India, and developing India.

Answering an incoming call on cell phone in US and counting minutes in back of my mind makes me think why the hell this US cell phone industry is lagging so much.

We DESIs

The word ‘DESI’ was known to me and I think that’s the reason I felt bit awkward when I heard this word in reference to Indian public in USA (obviously referred by another Desi.. oops.Did I say that?…sorry another Indian). I landed and started mingling with other companions already here and the word started sounding quite familiar to my ear, thereby dropping the level of initial awkwardness. With the passing time I came to know that ‘Desi’ is the universal set of other subsets that include ‘Indians’, ‘Bangladeshis’ and ‘Pakistanis’. Desi shop, Desi community, Desi restaurant, Desi street, Desi pub, Desi party and not to mention but Desi Girl are few very common phrases got added to my Desi dictionary. I suppose, long time back in history Desi people were considered low graded, were treated differently and were given less respect as compared to other communities . Changing times and trends brought a complete phase shift to this well established perspective and now it’s like word Desi has caught different flavor of being Brainy (at least for other foreign nationals). Apart from the IT industry (which continues to flood with Desis), other niche sectors like finance, marketing, manufacturing (whichever was spared from outsourcing to China), and politics are now showing desi heads amongst others. Some citizens, some green card holders, some ABCDs, some with EADs and better not to count ones with H1, L1, F1, R1, H4, L2 etc etc. Should I congratulate we Desis?

If I further drill down into this Desi community, I am certain that it mostly comprises of Indians and in that most are from southern part of India and in that too majority are from Andhra Pradesh. People not falling in this leg of segregation are those from Gujarat. There was (is?) a trend in AP that at least one person from each family/house must be in US. A boy (data insufficient to conclude about girls) studies well in 12th standard to get admission in a decent engineering college (a decent college is not at all a prerequisite to land in US) and competes mostly for a computers degree ( if not then followed by IT, electronics, electrical, instrumental, mechanical, civil etc…). He continues his struggle with studies to ensure a place in a good software company. I believe the term "good software company” refers to a firm that places its employee onsite earlier compare to other firms. Of course there are hell lot of ways to reach that dream destination known as “US” other than showing your talent in your company and impressing your senior. The population of people from AP in IT is so huge that it literally changed the meaning of few acronyms like SAP: Software for Andhra People or SAP: S I’m from AP, so on and so forth. Coming back to that universal set called “Desis”, we all agree that we prefer to stay in a area surrounded by desi grocery stores (like suburbs), drive mostly Honda’s and Toyota’s (civic, corolla, camry), party at home and many others. Certainly there is a peculiar and definite trend we follow and there’s absolutely nothing appalling about it.

If I go by my observation, majority of us will browse http://www.deals2buy.com/ almost everyday (ok….at least once a week) looking for deals, bargains. This site thanks people for informing them about some deals going in some store and mostly we will see Indian names getting that Thank You note (Great achievement!!!). If somebody doesn’t seem to agree then let me tell you that on my train today I saw a desi guy browsing this website on a laptop with wireless card plugged in (which I can fairly assume provided by his office/client) and this very instance inspired me to write this article. Other common websites we reach out to are http://www.greatandhra.com/, http://www.eenadu.net/, http://www.orkut.com/ for two reason one for entertainment and second to kill free time in office. Some Sports crazy desis (read as Cricket crazy) can be found refreshing their page on http://www.cricinfo.com/. It hardly matters if India or Somalia is on the fields. While others who are more worried/curious about the world around will extend their horizon to news sites like http://www.timesofindia.com/ and http://www.cnn.com/. We may share different interests but do have one thing in common and that is “Google” – next to God – that answers all our queries from H1 transfer to Oracle DB Administration. Am I sounding little rhetoric?

Go to tourist places like Niagara, statue of Liberty, Empire state building or Times Square on a long weekend and you need no expert to tell you that you will find yourself surrounded by at least 5-6 desis (you have never seen before) in a virtual circle of radius 3 feet centering you. Yes this is tried, tested and approved by me and others like me. The instance I realized this fact I decided not to explore such places on long weekend and gleefully convinced myself to waste my holiday sitting idle at home. Places like Oak Tree street in NJ or Devon Avenue and Schaumburg in Chicago, you will feel like you never left India. Ask for THE thing and you will get it with choices. Sugar cane juice, nariyal pani, Kalkatta, Banarasi, Mitha or masala pan, pani-puri, pirated DVDs (including regional languages), desi clothes like ghaaghara, chunari, dhoti and all other innumerable things which we can claim(at least till now) as purely Indian can be found with absolutely no efforts.

Having said, observed and done whatever I mentioned above sometime I and many like me wonder - In a rat race of going behind greenback and better lifestyle (apparently) do we have any idea who we are and what we are looking for.

Many thanks to Bhushan Kale for his efforts towards editing this article.

DISCLAIMER 1: No, Bhushan Kale is neither my brother nor in my close or distant relations except for the fact that we just share common last name and fall in ‘Desi’ category.

DISCLAIMER 2: The article is written in a serious attempt of jotting down my thoughts and is not at all connected to anyone living or dead, any community in or out of US and any Desi following above trend or not. Please don’t sue me :)

Frame of Reference

You are sitting in a train at train station, waiting for the train to start its journey. Another train comes on a track to your right and now it blocks the view of station you were watching earlier. You get back to your newspaper and start checking what’s going in rest of the world. Then you wish, now your train should start as you have to reach office on time. You glance out of the window and you see that finally your train is in motion and the adjacent train coaches are lagging behind you. One at a time, slowly and slowly and then picking up the pace. After sometime you again see the view of station which was blocked earlier by the train. And now you stay dumb there concluding that it was never your train but it was the other train that was moving and the motion sets you the reference in your mind depicting the motion of your train. You are victim of the wrong frame of reference. Quite a proverbial case right?

Unknowingly we the people witness many small, big instances, acquaintances in real life and the duration to realize that it was all deceptive differs. This duration can be of few seconds, minutes, hours or years. Sometime you call it as your perspective or sometime you call it as your dumbness, fate or your hard luck. Not few of these cases you will be in state of mind ‘I am dumb…’ and this statement will be followed by ‘…. not to realize that, she was cheating or … that job was never good or I should have realized that I am being duped.’ I guess there will be no exception at least in human beings (I will have to consult to Veterinaries and Botanist to know if this phenomenon or feeling exist in animals and plants respectively.. GOD please at least spare them..) not to experience this case at least once in their life span of 100* years (*Conditions apply). In fact if I call it as an average of 10 instances per head count I will not be exaggerating the statistics.

I remember my Marathi subject teacher who happened to be my class teacher for 4-5 years. We were in classes 8th 9th and 10th and we used to get a topic for an essay on every Monday. We used to get a week time to come with our writings. She always provoked us to write essays and it was kind of competition in class for writing innovative essay on simple topics. It was all about your perspective, mindset against something very common, very routine. For example very simple topics like ‘An hour spent on Bus stop’, ‘My tailor’, ‘Picnic I experienced’…. etc etc.. We were actually quite grown up to write essays on such straightforward topics and we were looking for some more challenging and demanding topics to write. But the amazing thing was when teacher used to ask us to read each one’s essay aloud in class, many essays were quite different from each other. Some chaps were adding some different stories in essay turning them to some more delicate subject or cause and that was the thing teacher was always expecting from us. Try to think different, out of the box, brand new. She use to say “Tumcha Chasmaa badlaa” (Change your glasses and then see the world). It’s the master key to lead the life. Want to see whole new world just change your perspective against something and your will yourself be astonished with the end results.

Amazing theory. Imagination is what makes us different from other living organisms. I read it somewhere that human brain is so complex and powerful that it can achieve lot of things compared to what we do in our day to day life. Numbers says that we normally use just less than 10% of brain’s capability for to perform our daily tasks and hence we leave plenty room to explore the remaining 90%.

I know this theme can be discussed over and over, again and again looking at hundreds of angles, views and examples and it will get more and more elaborate as it gets, that's why THINK, IMAGINE, CO-RELATE, JUSTIFY, VISUALIZE, DECODE, DECIPHER and see the miracles happening in front of you..