Sanjay Leela Bhansali's movie 'Black' has been selected among Time magazine's top 10 movies, according to an article by rediff.com
http://ia.rediff.com/movies/2005/dec/29black.htm?q=tp&file=.htm
Truly, this film is a masterpiece. The idea of the film is a bit on Helen Keller's life, as the main character in the film (Rani mukherji aka michelle ) is blind and deaf, and also that the methods of learning that she uses, are the same as helen keller ( spelling things out on her hand, typing out her answers etc)
Rani Mukherjee is absolutely wonderful in depicting the role, so is the little girl who plays the child role of rani's character. And of course, the big B is absolutely great in his role of the Teacher, be it strict, emotional, funny or just passionate about his work. There probably could not have been a better actor in this role than amitabh bachchan.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali has made some absolutely stunning movies, be it Khamoshi, Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Black, and his touch is clearly seen in the movie, both in the idiosyncracies of Rani's character, and the overall picture that film depicts.
If you haven't watched it, do watch it.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
I won't drink till I am 100...
CNN is carrying the news of the death of an antarctica explorer Norman Vaughan
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/vaughan.obit.ap.ap/index.html
An interesting overview of a life of a person, his shot to fame as an explorer, high and low moments in his life ( his jobs include working as a dishwasher and as shoveling snow from sidewalks, as mentioned in the article), to his great work in the exploration of antarctica.
The interesting thing here is, that he had promised his mother that he won't drink till he was 100, and in the true spirit, he kept his promise,
'Vaughan had a taste of champagne Saturday during his birthday celebration'
Guess this must have been a great memory, and a good way to end an illustrious life..
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/vaughan.obit.ap.ap/index.html
An interesting overview of a life of a person, his shot to fame as an explorer, high and low moments in his life ( his jobs include working as a dishwasher and as shoveling snow from sidewalks, as mentioned in the article), to his great work in the exploration of antarctica.
The interesting thing here is, that he had promised his mother that he won't drink till he was 100, and in the true spirit, he kept his promise,
'Vaughan had a taste of champagne Saturday during his birthday celebration'
Guess this must have been a great memory, and a good way to end an illustrious life..
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Suicide..No!
Nithya sent me a mail about an interesting article, in which the author chetan Bhagat speaks of his opinions about suicide :
Nice article by Chetan Bhagat
Last week, an IITian committed suicide. People who commit suicide do it when they feel there's no future. But wait, isn't IIT the one place where a bright and shining future is a foregone conclusion? It just doesn't add up, does it? Why would a young, hardworking, bright student who has the world ahead of him do something like this? But the answer is this—in our constant reverence for the great institution (and I do believe IITs are great), we forget the dark side. And the dark side is that the IITs are afflicted by the quintessential Indian phenomenon of academic pressure, probably the highest in the world.
I can rant about the educational system and how it requires serious fixing, or I can address the immediate—try my best to prevent such suicides. For this column I have chosen the latter, and I do so with a personal story.
News of a suicide always brings back one particular childhood memory. I was 14 years old when I first seriously contemplated suicide. I had done badly in chemistry in the Class X halfyearly exam. I was an IIT aspirant, and 68% was nowhere near what an IIT candidate should be getting. I don't know what had made me screw up the exam, but I did know this, I was going to kill myself. The only debate was about method.
Ironically, chemistry offered a way. I had read about copper sulphate, and that it was both cheap and poisonous. Copper sulphate was available at the kirana store. I had it all worked out.
My rationale for killing myself was simple—nobody loved me, my chemistry score was awful, I had no future and what difference would it make to the world if I was not there.
I bought the copper sulphate for two rupees—probably the cheapest exit strategy in the world.
I didn't do it for two reasons. One, I had a casual chat with the aunty next door about copper sulphate, and my knowledgeable aunty knew about a woman who had died that way. She said it was the most painful death possible, all your veins burst and you suffer for hours. This tale made my insides shudder. Second, on the day I was to do it, I noticed a street dog outside my house being teased by the neighbourhood kids as he hunted for scraps of food. Nobody loved him. It would make no difference to the world if the dog wasn't there. And I was pretty sure that its chemistry score would be awful. Yet, the dog wasn't trotting off to the kirana store. He was only interested in figuring out a strategy for his next meal. And when he was full, he merely curled up in a corner with one eye open, clearly content and not giving a damn about the world. If he wasn't planning to die anytime soon what the hell was I ranting about? I threw the copper sulphate in the bin. It was the best two bucks I ever wasted.
So why did I tell you this story? Because sometimes the pressure gets too much. Like it did for the IITian who couldn't take it no more. On the day he took that dreadful decision, his family and friends were shattered, and India lost a wonderful, bright child. And as the silly but true copper sulphate story tells you—it could happen to any of us or those around us. So please be on the lookout, if you see a distressed young soul, lend a supportive, non-judgemental ear. When I look back, I thank that aunt and that dog for unwittingly saving my life. If God wanted us to take our own life, he would have provided a poweroff button. He didn't, so have faith and let his plan for you unfold. Because no matter how tough life gets and how much it hurts, if street dogs don't give up, there is no reason why we, the smart species, should. Makes sense right?
-------------------------------End of Article
I used to have a different opinion about suicide, thinking that well if you think you had had enough of life, you should be independent to take this decision.
I changed my mind, and very much so, after u realise the value that this life had given you. If you ever feel that you don't have a lot in life....
If you are a human being, you are probably among the luckiest living beings on earth....its a gift that God has given you,
Living in a civilised society, where your personal freedom is not taken from you, its a gift that not many people have...
If you have good health, you are gifted with it, a gift that many people spend their life dreaming about...
If you can simply read this blog entry, you have received a gift of education, which a good majority of people on this planet have not had....
And Suicide is leading you to? If you think tht you'll have a better life in your next birth ...i wonder who ever went back to his or her previous birth to speak about the wonderful life you had....
Doing good deeds in your life, hoping for a better life in your next birth, is a valid and acceptable action, according to me, because that in some way collectively makes this world a better place to live in. Giving up things or sacrificing good things in life, might also be an acceptable way of going towards it, though people have different opinions about it...
But then, life is a gift....a gift that God has given you, and you have to live on........
and if you feel tired, just think that you are performing a duty that God has given you, and the road will be easier...
Maybe this sounds philosophical...but then thats how it is...my opposition to the concept of suicide stays on....
Nice article by Chetan Bhagat
Last week, an IITian committed suicide. People who commit suicide do it when they feel there's no future. But wait, isn't IIT the one place where a bright and shining future is a foregone conclusion? It just doesn't add up, does it? Why would a young, hardworking, bright student who has the world ahead of him do something like this? But the answer is this—in our constant reverence for the great institution (and I do believe IITs are great), we forget the dark side. And the dark side is that the IITs are afflicted by the quintessential Indian phenomenon of academic pressure, probably the highest in the world.
I can rant about the educational system and how it requires serious fixing, or I can address the immediate—try my best to prevent such suicides. For this column I have chosen the latter, and I do so with a personal story.
News of a suicide always brings back one particular childhood memory. I was 14 years old when I first seriously contemplated suicide. I had done badly in chemistry in the Class X halfyearly exam. I was an IIT aspirant, and 68% was nowhere near what an IIT candidate should be getting. I don't know what had made me screw up the exam, but I did know this, I was going to kill myself. The only debate was about method.
Ironically, chemistry offered a way. I had read about copper sulphate, and that it was both cheap and poisonous. Copper sulphate was available at the kirana store. I had it all worked out.
My rationale for killing myself was simple—nobody loved me, my chemistry score was awful, I had no future and what difference would it make to the world if I was not there.
I bought the copper sulphate for two rupees—probably the cheapest exit strategy in the world.
I didn't do it for two reasons. One, I had a casual chat with the aunty next door about copper sulphate, and my knowledgeable aunty knew about a woman who had died that way. She said it was the most painful death possible, all your veins burst and you suffer for hours. This tale made my insides shudder. Second, on the day I was to do it, I noticed a street dog outside my house being teased by the neighbourhood kids as he hunted for scraps of food. Nobody loved him. It would make no difference to the world if the dog wasn't there. And I was pretty sure that its chemistry score would be awful. Yet, the dog wasn't trotting off to the kirana store. He was only interested in figuring out a strategy for his next meal. And when he was full, he merely curled up in a corner with one eye open, clearly content and not giving a damn about the world. If he wasn't planning to die anytime soon what the hell was I ranting about? I threw the copper sulphate in the bin. It was the best two bucks I ever wasted.
So why did I tell you this story? Because sometimes the pressure gets too much. Like it did for the IITian who couldn't take it no more. On the day he took that dreadful decision, his family and friends were shattered, and India lost a wonderful, bright child. And as the silly but true copper sulphate story tells you—it could happen to any of us or those around us. So please be on the lookout, if you see a distressed young soul, lend a supportive, non-judgemental ear. When I look back, I thank that aunt and that dog for unwittingly saving my life. If God wanted us to take our own life, he would have provided a poweroff button. He didn't, so have faith and let his plan for you unfold. Because no matter how tough life gets and how much it hurts, if street dogs don't give up, there is no reason why we, the smart species, should. Makes sense right?
-------------------------------End of Article
I used to have a different opinion about suicide, thinking that well if you think you had had enough of life, you should be independent to take this decision.
I changed my mind, and very much so, after u realise the value that this life had given you. If you ever feel that you don't have a lot in life....
If you are a human being, you are probably among the luckiest living beings on earth....its a gift that God has given you,
Living in a civilised society, where your personal freedom is not taken from you, its a gift that not many people have...
If you have good health, you are gifted with it, a gift that many people spend their life dreaming about...
If you can simply read this blog entry, you have received a gift of education, which a good majority of people on this planet have not had....
And Suicide is leading you to? If you think tht you'll have a better life in your next birth ...i wonder who ever went back to his or her previous birth to speak about the wonderful life you had....
Doing good deeds in your life, hoping for a better life in your next birth, is a valid and acceptable action, according to me, because that in some way collectively makes this world a better place to live in. Giving up things or sacrificing good things in life, might also be an acceptable way of going towards it, though people have different opinions about it...
But then, life is a gift....a gift that God has given you, and you have to live on........
and if you feel tired, just think that you are performing a duty that God has given you, and the road will be easier...
Maybe this sounds philosophical...but then thats how it is...my opposition to the concept of suicide stays on....
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Is this where your taxes go?
Read this news on cricinfo
"Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, announced this while adding that "a great injustice has been done to Ganguly because of politics in the game". "
I guess , people should seriously consider not payin taxes, if the parliament is going to take up such issues...
First, there is no substance...as in its not like zimbabwe or something, where cricket is being politicised, and there is a direct crisis. It's simply about one man not performing, and hence been given the axe.
If these guys think that they are angry at the selector's mistake, then why did they so much support the selectors when ganguly was taken back inspite of repeated failures...
Whatevre be the case, its a sport, and its an issue which has to be solved at tht level only..such cases cannot be brought to parliament....if u really have so much time, think about literacy, education, population control, agriculture, industry, external affairs, ,.....but not cricket......its not really what we are paying you for....
Sucks!
"Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, announced this while adding that "a great injustice has been done to Ganguly because of politics in the game". "
I guess , people should seriously consider not payin taxes, if the parliament is going to take up such issues...
First, there is no substance...as in its not like zimbabwe or something, where cricket is being politicised, and there is a direct crisis. It's simply about one man not performing, and hence been given the axe.
If these guys think that they are angry at the selector's mistake, then why did they so much support the selectors when ganguly was taken back inspite of repeated failures...
Whatevre be the case, its a sport, and its an issue which has to be solved at tht level only..such cases cannot be brought to parliament....if u really have so much time, think about literacy, education, population control, agriculture, industry, external affairs, ,.....but not cricket......its not really what we are paying you for....
Sucks!
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
My Contribution to Wikipedia
This is exciting. When i first came across Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), i was shocked to see the information these guys had, and was thinking how they got it.
A simple idea, but works, and works well. Just leave some broken links and allow people to finish them, like I did today, added some more information about my home town of mulund, and now this excitement is going to lead me to do much more of it.
Of course, saw on TV a few days back, about misuse of this technology, by people writing bad things about other people, and yes, that is a negative, but minus that, this thing seems to be building up one of the largest resourse of information on the globe....
guess i fully support this one!
A simple idea, but works, and works well. Just leave some broken links and allow people to finish them, like I did today, added some more information about my home town of mulund, and now this excitement is going to lead me to do much more of it.
Of course, saw on TV a few days back, about misuse of this technology, by people writing bad things about other people, and yes, that is a negative, but minus that, this thing seems to be building up one of the largest resourse of information on the globe....
guess i fully support this one!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum
If the name of the post doesn't make any sense to you, it's normal, its not supposed to...
IMDB points out (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093578/trivia), that in the first scene of the famous film Mr. India, Ashok Kumar is explaining something to students and interestingly, this is written on the board...
'Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum'
Boney Kapoor is anil kapoor's bro and the producer of the movie..
Also reminds me of one scene in the film Troy , where a plane is accidentally visible in a film , which is set in an ancient age.. :)
Any more such comments?
IMDB points out (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093578/trivia), that in the first scene of the famous film Mr. India, Ashok Kumar is explaining something to students and interestingly, this is written on the board...
'Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum'
Boney Kapoor is anil kapoor's bro and the producer of the movie..
Also reminds me of one scene in the film Troy , where a plane is accidentally visible in a film , which is set in an ancient age.. :)
Any more such comments?
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Lazy lazy saturday
So its saturday...
The importance of a saturday realy comes into play after 5 days of work :(
i realised tht 5 days after i started working at qualcomm last summer. Seemed as if i had lost tht happiness..but hv seemed to gain tht again....
Have to do a lot of work again today, but then...laziness is really winning me over today....
lets see how it goes...
The importance of a saturday realy comes into play after 5 days of work :(
i realised tht 5 days after i started working at qualcomm last summer. Seemed as if i had lost tht happiness..but hv seemed to gain tht again....
Have to do a lot of work again today, but then...laziness is really winning me over today....
lets see how it goes...
Monday, October 31, 2005
Fire...
Today, I was moving around in SF downtown, hunting for a good place (non-Mexican and non-burger) to have lunch, when I suddenly heard a lot of sirens and saw a lot of fire and police vans zeroing upon a particular area.
Did not take much time to realise, that a part of a small building was on fire. It seemed big to me, and seeing the response of the fire dept, it was probably a pretty big one. Anyways, luckily enough, there were no casualties reported
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13046356.htm
Anyways, one more example from my side, to appreciate the efficiency of emergency systems in this country, though, from a lot of experiences, in India these services are doing good too now...
Did not take much time to realise, that a part of a small building was on fire. It seemed big to me, and seeing the response of the fire dept, it was probably a pretty big one. Anyways, luckily enough, there were no casualties reported
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13046356.htm
Anyways, one more example from my side, to appreciate the efficiency of emergency systems in this country, though, from a lot of experiences, in India these services are doing good too now...
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Power of blogs
Animesh Pathak had put this post on his blog some days back
http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/2005/10/nexus-between-railways-officials-and.html
I am not sure whether it was this blog, the fwded emails, or maybe some other things, but Animesh got 1850+ hits in 2 days...and soon enuf
And lot of action has been taken, some of which can be found here
Well, some where shows us, the power of blogs, and the world coming to a new age...
Many many years back, newspapers and the press were the main tools for people to start revolutions, inspire people to unite and fight for a common cause, and I would guess, that somewhere I see blogs in the same league....
Speaks a lot about the power of the internet (though this incident also depicts the terrific unity of students at usc, and in the US in general), and also the fact tht the world is steadily moving towards making the internet a more than integral part of their life....
I guess its the greatest invention since the wheel!...
Vinton Cerf probably deserves a Nobel Prize man!
Signing off/.///2:15 am on oct 13, 2005....
http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/2005/10/nexus-between-railways-officials-and.html
I am not sure whether it was this blog, the fwded emails, or maybe some other things, but Animesh got 1850+ hits in 2 days...and soon enuf
And lot of action has been taken, some of which can be found here
Well, some where shows us, the power of blogs, and the world coming to a new age...
Many many years back, newspapers and the press were the main tools for people to start revolutions, inspire people to unite and fight for a common cause, and I would guess, that somewhere I see blogs in the same league....
Speaks a lot about the power of the internet (though this incident also depicts the terrific unity of students at usc, and in the US in general), and also the fact tht the world is steadily moving towards making the internet a more than integral part of their life....
I guess its the greatest invention since the wheel!...
Vinton Cerf probably deserves a Nobel Prize man!
Signing off/.///2:15 am on oct 13, 2005....
Friday, September 30, 2005
finally did it
Well, I finally did it..all by myself and without neone's help
What?
Nothin much for most geeks, but today i formatted my hard drive and loaded it back.....
Well, dont knw why, but I have always had a phobia of doing this, interestingly enough, the reason i cite for this is, that I am a bit (ok, well mebbe more ) disorganized, and I tend to get confused with the order of things. Add to this, that I really get disappointed if any data is lost, especially some good photographs, which I get absolutely emotional about.
Though, I really get bugged by one thing...almost always...and that is, can't data be retrieved at all?
Well, strangely enough, the answer is yes, and whilst we all know that, most technical support ppl (esp the ones with whom I have interacted), would advise you to simply format your hard drive, sayingm that there's no other option if your windows system has crashed.
Utter rubbish, i would say.
First, there is a simply way of doing it, load the OS on one of the partitions, so u might stand to lose data only on that partition. And if you have been organized enough, you will def have one such drive
second, there coould me a large number of ways, and even after everything fails, remember that there are people who do data retriaval, and maybe could save part of your data.
I would really find it very foolish, if i formatted my hdd today, and tomorrow someone wud say, well..u shud hv tried it, it wud hv probably worked..and saved my precious data...
well abt it for today...
signing off..
Harshit
What?
Nothin much for most geeks, but today i formatted my hard drive and loaded it back.....
Well, dont knw why, but I have always had a phobia of doing this, interestingly enough, the reason i cite for this is, that I am a bit (ok, well mebbe more ) disorganized, and I tend to get confused with the order of things. Add to this, that I really get disappointed if any data is lost, especially some good photographs, which I get absolutely emotional about.
Though, I really get bugged by one thing...almost always...and that is, can't data be retrieved at all?
Well, strangely enough, the answer is yes, and whilst we all know that, most technical support ppl (esp the ones with whom I have interacted), would advise you to simply format your hard drive, sayingm that there's no other option if your windows system has crashed.
Utter rubbish, i would say.
First, there is a simply way of doing it, load the OS on one of the partitions, so u might stand to lose data only on that partition. And if you have been organized enough, you will def have one such drive
second, there coould me a large number of ways, and even after everything fails, remember that there are people who do data retriaval, and maybe could save part of your data.
I would really find it very foolish, if i formatted my hdd today, and tomorrow someone wud say, well..u shud hv tried it, it wud hv probably worked..and saved my precious data...
well abt it for today...
signing off..
Harshit
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Mini, nano, crash!
Well, the news is in...
Apple has confirmed of some defective pieces in the iPod Nano
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-09-28T205826Z_01_HAR851003_RTRIDST_0_TECH-APPLE-NANO-DC.XML
Though, it claims that it is less than 0.1 %, it would be huge number given the fact tht apple sells out a huge huge number of ipods...
Well, neways just a bit of information...else apple is the best!
Apple has confirmed of some defective pieces in the iPod Nano
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-09-28T205826Z_01_HAR851003_RTRIDST_0_TECH-APPLE-NANO-DC.XML
Though, it claims that it is less than 0.1 %, it would be huge number given the fact tht apple sells out a huge huge number of ipods...
Well, neways just a bit of information...else apple is the best!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
one more blog
well,
i finally decided to break my silence on the blog
u knw, i sometimes think, that when will ppl read my blog? or rather when should they?
to be frank, i am not sure, but one day i would like people to read this blog.
Don't know if you know about Anne Frank,
Anne Frank was a direct victim of Hitler's atrocities against Jews during the second world war period...
She and her family, along with another family were constantly in hiding, and during that period, Anne wrote a diary, which was read for the first time, after Anne died :( .
However, what she writes in her diary, has been made into movies, and her books have been quite famous. I would seriously recommend that you guys google her up, or find things on the net.
ie if u read this blog, which i suppose you won't
Same is the story with the diary of Robert F. Scott, who led an expedition to Antarctica, but could never make it back. He too wrote a small diary, (in a strange similarity to Anne Frank, who hd to use different books borrowed from people, as she didn't have a diary..she even mentions margot's subject books, scott too had to save on oil, and he didn't have sufficient light) in which he mentions how things were going, how one of his brave companions decided not to be a burden any more, and instead embrace death...its interesting.
blogs and modern technology, give us a better way of doing such things...we should use them well...shudn't we?
i finally decided to break my silence on the blog
u knw, i sometimes think, that when will ppl read my blog? or rather when should they?
to be frank, i am not sure, but one day i would like people to read this blog.
Don't know if you know about Anne Frank,
Anne Frank was a direct victim of Hitler's atrocities against Jews during the second world war period...
She and her family, along with another family were constantly in hiding, and during that period, Anne wrote a diary, which was read for the first time, after Anne died :( .
However, what she writes in her diary, has been made into movies, and her books have been quite famous. I would seriously recommend that you guys google her up, or find things on the net.
ie if u read this blog, which i suppose you won't
Same is the story with the diary of Robert F. Scott, who led an expedition to Antarctica, but could never make it back. He too wrote a small diary, (in a strange similarity to Anne Frank, who hd to use different books borrowed from people, as she didn't have a diary..she even mentions margot's subject books, scott too had to save on oil, and he didn't have sufficient light) in which he mentions how things were going, how one of his brave companions decided not to be a burden any more, and instead embrace death...its interesting.
blogs and modern technology, give us a better way of doing such things...we should use them well...shudn't we?
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Bangalored
:)
Tejas sent me this mail, which highlights the use of the term 'Bangalored' . Put Bangalored in google search, and you'll find what it means.
Probably, the word bangalore may soon find a place in the dictionary, similar to places like Mecca(used to say...its the mecca of engineering kinds), Rome (when u r in rome, do as the romans do), etc etc etc
Dont know, first it sounds funny, but on second thoughts, it prob feels insulting. Sometimes i feel, bangalore should go on strike, and show these people, how incomplete their companies would be if people off shore did not do their work, how expensive their softwares would be, if we did not do their work at cheaper rates...
Guess, its a bit too much....for all things the various political parties in India oppose, this is one thing they should absolutely oppose..
Tejas sent me this mail, which highlights the use of the term 'Bangalored' . Put Bangalored in google search, and you'll find what it means.
Probably, the word bangalore may soon find a place in the dictionary, similar to places like Mecca(used to say...its the mecca of engineering kinds), Rome (when u r in rome, do as the romans do), etc etc etc
Dont know, first it sounds funny, but on second thoughts, it prob feels insulting. Sometimes i feel, bangalore should go on strike, and show these people, how incomplete their companies would be if people off shore did not do their work, how expensive their softwares would be, if we did not do their work at cheaper rates...
Guess, its a bit too much....for all things the various political parties in India oppose, this is one thing they should absolutely oppose..
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
2 yrs down the line
I completed 2 yrs at USC yesterday....
there are a lot of things i gained and lost in these 2 yrs.....lost some wonderful post BE outings /picnics when friends back in India lived up their freedom to their maximum, lost a good time with my family.....list some money, some good opportunities...
and wht i gained..
a lot of new friends....a strength to fight life and to live it as it comes....
a desire to live life...and never give up...and a personna to make new friends..and establish good contacts with people....
maybe its my luck that has brought me to the same spot as i was 2 yrs back, temporary accomodtion, looking for jobs, running out of money and missing home...
i dont knw...cant finish this blog...
there are a lot of things i gained and lost in these 2 yrs.....lost some wonderful post BE outings /picnics when friends back in India lived up their freedom to their maximum, lost a good time with my family.....list some money, some good opportunities...
and wht i gained..
a lot of new friends....a strength to fight life and to live it as it comes....
a desire to live life...and never give up...and a personna to make new friends..and establish good contacts with people....
maybe its my luck that has brought me to the same spot as i was 2 yrs back, temporary accomodtion, looking for jobs, running out of money and missing home...
i dont knw...cant finish this blog...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Salaam Mumbai
Nithya sent me this forward highlighting some events which make every Mumbaikar feel within him the spirit of the city....
MUMBAI'S GLOOMBUSTERS Home Delivery While for most of Mumbai Tuesday brought unmitigated chaos, for the residents of Chand Society in Juhu it brought a baby girl delivered by the neighbours. Sonali and Bishwadeep Basu had been told that their baby was due on August 8, but soon after the rain hit the city on Tuesday, Sonali started feeling pangs of uneasiness. By the time her husband and father-in-law got back home at midnight, the discomfort was acute. The Basus set right out, but all the roads leading to local hospitals were submerged, forcing them to return home. By the time Sonali had climbed the four floors to her apartment, the baby was due. As soon as she entered the house, her waters broke, and her panicky mother-in-law called in her neighbour Mitali Sen, a teacher at Utpal Sanghavi school. Sen admits that she was not exactly experienced. "I tried speed-reading the Reader's Digest Family Health guide but there was nothing on home delivery,'' she says. An unexpected educational aid came to her rescue: Hindi films. "From all those scenes, I knew two things were needed-hot water and clean cloth,'' she says. But the baby could barely wait-as soon as Sen moved Sonali, she felt the baby's head, and almost before anyone could think, "Hoi gayche'' (it happened), screamed Sen. This was just half the job. "I didn't know how to cut the umbilical chord,'' says the debutant midwife. Luckily Sonali's husband had been busy on the phone, and through the yellow pages had connected with Asha Maternity Home in Malad, which gave her stepby-step instructions to cut the umbilical chord exactly two inches from the baby's navel. After sterilising the scissor, Sen plucked up the courage to do it. "I think we all said a prayer at that point,'' she says. "Because all they had was one candle. It was some time before they could tell it was a girl.'' The experience has changed Sen's views on delivery. "I've realised that it doesn't always have to be in a hospital and at such expense,'' she says. Now, she laughs, she and Basu are planning on getting into a partnership to deliver all the babies in the society.
Brush With Altruism Like thousands of other Mumbaikars, Lokandwala resident Manjunath Hegde left town on Tuesday late afternoon in his car. By the time he reached Khar, it was Wednesday morning, and he had given lifts to many others, including a pregnant woman who needed to go to the rest room every half hour. Luckily, Hegde knew many of the hotels on the arterial roads, and he was able to persuade them to let her use their facilities. His kindness was repaid in full when he passed Bandra on Wednesday morning and found residents distributing biscuits and tea to stranded commuters. One old man offered them to Hegde, who had been fasting for two days but was compelled to refuse. Reason: he was icky about eating anything without brushing his teeth. When the old man heard the reason, he went away without a word-only to return, much to Hegde's amazement, with a toothbrush and toothpaste. We're sure the old man got a torrent of gratitude along with the Close-Up smile.
Puppy Love The water was icy cold (just like in the Titanic, but filthier and without Leo di Caprio), there were dead rats, garbage, and the filth of the world afloat in it, and the young Pfizer employee who had driven to work in her smart Santro that morning couldn't believe that she would have to wade through this muck to make it home. But since her Santro was bobbing like a boat and a night had already been spent in the office where everyone had to queue up for a strictly rationed slice of bread and jam, she decided to take her chances. As if it were not bad enough to be wading through slimy, rotting water streaming down the road from the nearby market with a current that seemed to have consumed a cask of Viagra, she found that she was being accompanied by a stray dog. Not one to drool over strays, the dog's persistent presence made her edgy, and there seemed to be no way to shake it off. It took her a long time to realise that the dog meant no harm at all, and was in fact acting as a friendly guide to, incredibly enough, show her portions on which she could walk without going under. It ran ahead of her, cocked its head back and waited till she came abreast, then set off again. All the way up to her flat, a 45-minute journey, the dog played scout. And then, without waiting to be thanked, it scampered off. The Welfare of Stray Dogs may have got itself another sympathiser.
Mangal Mangal Asunshine story of a different kind came from a certain actor who was stuck along with the plebs on the traffic-thrombosed roads. In deep animated conversation with his friend, he had a security man who kept shooing people away from the car. Finally one of the more curious bystanders asked him who was inside and the bodyguard (who could probably do with some lessons in discretion) replied "Aamir Khan''. The news spread like the currents in the flood water, and people abandoned their cars to get a better look. The actor was gracious enough to wave to everyone and even answer a few queries politely. A thought: the real happy-shiny story would have been if he'd offered some struggling souls a lift, but even inadvertently brightening up a gloomy situation qualifies, we think.
Tough Tactics If Aamir Khan had been north of Bandra, he probably would have had pedestrians forced into his car willy-nilly. Bands of young toughs on the jammed Swami Vivekanand Road from Santa Cruz to Borivli were busy all of Tuesday and Wednesday forceopening car doors and 'requesting' owners to drop weary office-goers on the long trudge home to their destinations. The cheery young toughs had it all worked out: all available seats to be filled up and women to be sent in pairs for safety. As a rule we don't approve of strong-arm tactics, but this is one dadagiri that gets our vote.
City Of Gold We hate to trot out the cliche one more time, but the thousands of volunteers who braved the lashing rain and filthy flood waters to help others proved that Mumbai has a heart. Residents along S V Road abandoned the comfort of their warm homes and stood in chestdeep water all night to guide vehicles and pedestrians. At spots between South Mumbai and Mahim where the traffic had stalled completely on Tuesday morning, shopkeepers and stall owners on the road handed out tea and biscuits to people to keep them going. When the local municipal school at Dahisar (West) closed for the day, many bawling tots waiting interminably for their parents were rescued by local Gujarati housewives-the women took the kids in and fed them until their parents turned up. At CST station, Churchgate and Mantralaya, ISKCON workers distributed 20,000 hot packets of khichdi made in the organisation's Tardeo and Girgaum kitchens. "We normally send out 30,000 meals to schools, but in this emergency situation we are distributing food to stranded commuters,'' said Brijkumar Das of ISKCON. And then there were those who played good Samaritan even after going through a gruelling time themselves. Sunil Assar walked for eight hours from Mantralaya to Santa Cruz on Tuesday evening, and reached past 1 am. The next morning when he was out on the roads with his friends, he saw volunteers distributing tea and biscuits. Taking a cue from them, the group went home, got money and bought biscuits and 200 vada pavs which they started distributing at around 11.30 am on S V Road, Santa Cruz. When their stock got over by 3 pm, they helped a family that was handing out cups of tea from a bucket. They then bought medical supplies from Asha Parekh hospital, and jumped on to barely moving buses to hand out food and medicines to weary travellers. This, of course, isn't even a fraction of the kindness and compassion demonstrated by Mumbaikars on those terrible days. What else can we say but Salaam Mumbai?
MUMBAI'S GLOOMBUSTERS Home Delivery While for most of Mumbai Tuesday brought unmitigated chaos, for the residents of Chand Society in Juhu it brought a baby girl delivered by the neighbours. Sonali and Bishwadeep Basu had been told that their baby was due on August 8, but soon after the rain hit the city on Tuesday, Sonali started feeling pangs of uneasiness. By the time her husband and father-in-law got back home at midnight, the discomfort was acute. The Basus set right out, but all the roads leading to local hospitals were submerged, forcing them to return home. By the time Sonali had climbed the four floors to her apartment, the baby was due. As soon as she entered the house, her waters broke, and her panicky mother-in-law called in her neighbour Mitali Sen, a teacher at Utpal Sanghavi school. Sen admits that she was not exactly experienced. "I tried speed-reading the Reader's Digest Family Health guide but there was nothing on home delivery,'' she says. An unexpected educational aid came to her rescue: Hindi films. "From all those scenes, I knew two things were needed-hot water and clean cloth,'' she says. But the baby could barely wait-as soon as Sen moved Sonali, she felt the baby's head, and almost before anyone could think, "Hoi gayche'' (it happened), screamed Sen. This was just half the job. "I didn't know how to cut the umbilical chord,'' says the debutant midwife. Luckily Sonali's husband had been busy on the phone, and through the yellow pages had connected with Asha Maternity Home in Malad, which gave her stepby-step instructions to cut the umbilical chord exactly two inches from the baby's navel. After sterilising the scissor, Sen plucked up the courage to do it. "I think we all said a prayer at that point,'' she says. "Because all they had was one candle. It was some time before they could tell it was a girl.'' The experience has changed Sen's views on delivery. "I've realised that it doesn't always have to be in a hospital and at such expense,'' she says. Now, she laughs, she and Basu are planning on getting into a partnership to deliver all the babies in the society.
Brush With Altruism Like thousands of other Mumbaikars, Lokandwala resident Manjunath Hegde left town on Tuesday late afternoon in his car. By the time he reached Khar, it was Wednesday morning, and he had given lifts to many others, including a pregnant woman who needed to go to the rest room every half hour. Luckily, Hegde knew many of the hotels on the arterial roads, and he was able to persuade them to let her use their facilities. His kindness was repaid in full when he passed Bandra on Wednesday morning and found residents distributing biscuits and tea to stranded commuters. One old man offered them to Hegde, who had been fasting for two days but was compelled to refuse. Reason: he was icky about eating anything without brushing his teeth. When the old man heard the reason, he went away without a word-only to return, much to Hegde's amazement, with a toothbrush and toothpaste. We're sure the old man got a torrent of gratitude along with the Close-Up smile.
Puppy Love The water was icy cold (just like in the Titanic, but filthier and without Leo di Caprio), there were dead rats, garbage, and the filth of the world afloat in it, and the young Pfizer employee who had driven to work in her smart Santro that morning couldn't believe that she would have to wade through this muck to make it home. But since her Santro was bobbing like a boat and a night had already been spent in the office where everyone had to queue up for a strictly rationed slice of bread and jam, she decided to take her chances. As if it were not bad enough to be wading through slimy, rotting water streaming down the road from the nearby market with a current that seemed to have consumed a cask of Viagra, she found that she was being accompanied by a stray dog. Not one to drool over strays, the dog's persistent presence made her edgy, and there seemed to be no way to shake it off. It took her a long time to realise that the dog meant no harm at all, and was in fact acting as a friendly guide to, incredibly enough, show her portions on which she could walk without going under. It ran ahead of her, cocked its head back and waited till she came abreast, then set off again. All the way up to her flat, a 45-minute journey, the dog played scout. And then, without waiting to be thanked, it scampered off. The Welfare of Stray Dogs may have got itself another sympathiser.
Mangal Mangal Asunshine story of a different kind came from a certain actor who was stuck along with the plebs on the traffic-thrombosed roads. In deep animated conversation with his friend, he had a security man who kept shooing people away from the car. Finally one of the more curious bystanders asked him who was inside and the bodyguard (who could probably do with some lessons in discretion) replied "Aamir Khan''. The news spread like the currents in the flood water, and people abandoned their cars to get a better look. The actor was gracious enough to wave to everyone and even answer a few queries politely. A thought: the real happy-shiny story would have been if he'd offered some struggling souls a lift, but even inadvertently brightening up a gloomy situation qualifies, we think.
Tough Tactics If Aamir Khan had been north of Bandra, he probably would have had pedestrians forced into his car willy-nilly. Bands of young toughs on the jammed Swami Vivekanand Road from Santa Cruz to Borivli were busy all of Tuesday and Wednesday forceopening car doors and 'requesting' owners to drop weary office-goers on the long trudge home to their destinations. The cheery young toughs had it all worked out: all available seats to be filled up and women to be sent in pairs for safety. As a rule we don't approve of strong-arm tactics, but this is one dadagiri that gets our vote.
City Of Gold We hate to trot out the cliche one more time, but the thousands of volunteers who braved the lashing rain and filthy flood waters to help others proved that Mumbai has a heart. Residents along S V Road abandoned the comfort of their warm homes and stood in chestdeep water all night to guide vehicles and pedestrians. At spots between South Mumbai and Mahim where the traffic had stalled completely on Tuesday morning, shopkeepers and stall owners on the road handed out tea and biscuits to people to keep them going. When the local municipal school at Dahisar (West) closed for the day, many bawling tots waiting interminably for their parents were rescued by local Gujarati housewives-the women took the kids in and fed them until their parents turned up. At CST station, Churchgate and Mantralaya, ISKCON workers distributed 20,000 hot packets of khichdi made in the organisation's Tardeo and Girgaum kitchens. "We normally send out 30,000 meals to schools, but in this emergency situation we are distributing food to stranded commuters,'' said Brijkumar Das of ISKCON. And then there were those who played good Samaritan even after going through a gruelling time themselves. Sunil Assar walked for eight hours from Mantralaya to Santa Cruz on Tuesday evening, and reached past 1 am. The next morning when he was out on the roads with his friends, he saw volunteers distributing tea and biscuits. Taking a cue from them, the group went home, got money and bought biscuits and 200 vada pavs which they started distributing at around 11.30 am on S V Road, Santa Cruz. When their stock got over by 3 pm, they helped a family that was handing out cups of tea from a bucket. They then bought medical supplies from Asha Parekh hospital, and jumped on to barely moving buses to hand out food and medicines to weary travellers. This, of course, isn't even a fraction of the kindness and compassion demonstrated by Mumbaikars on those terrible days. What else can we say but Salaam Mumbai?
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Irregular Blogger
Well, how much ever I try, this is one thing I am not regular at....'
When I first started blogging, I thought I would definitely put in a blog a day, with maybe one miss every 2-3 weeks.
However much I try, I can never be as regular as maybe Animesh (http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com), whose blog is updated almost daily.
When I first started blogging, I thought I would definitely put in a blog a day, with maybe one miss every 2-3 weeks.
However much I try, I can never be as regular as maybe Animesh (http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com), whose blog is updated almost daily.
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