Tum dil ki dhadkan mein

Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling. Beyond hope, there is a memory. Beyond their journey, there is a love.

from the movie: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Million Dollar Baby

The story of J K Rowlings life:

I had read an article on the authors life in the Readers Digest some years ago and of the many impressions that were left with me, the overriding one was of her "Rising against the odds".

In the official version on her site , her story reads slightly different, maybe as the time line is longer (childhood to now ) and more facts based, but the memories of the earlier article were still in my consciousness.

What is common to biographies and all our lives is that the facts will rarely differ. Date, time and place of birth, schooling, marriage or relationships, children, professional graphs etc. And yet, it is the memories that colour the outline of the picture - it is only the emotions that fill it in and give it meaning. And when we deny (play around with) emotions or expressing it, don't we modify truth itself?

The story of my life:

While I enjoyed the RD article more, some lines from here were so similar to my life. Except of course, the happy endings bit- unless an idea just "falls into my head" and I act on it, I have no hope in hell of achieving anything- let alone best selling author who is richer than the Queen of England. I read today, .. that happy people never have happy endings because they never fight. That, I think, is the story of my life!

The story of J K Rowlings life-The story of my life-II

A story about sisters

......We both resented our labels. I really wanted to be less freckly-beach-ball-like, and Di, who is now a lawyer, felt justifiably annoyed that nobody had noticed she was not just a pretty face. This undoubtedly contributed to the fact that we spent about three quarters of our childhood fighting like a pair of wildcats imprisoned together in a very small cage.....

About losing your mother

...I think most people believe, deep down, that their mothers are indestructible; it was a terrible shock to hear that she had an incurable illness, but even then, I did not fully realise what the diagnosis might mean....

About living up to expectations;

.....I had succumbed to parental pressure to study 'useful' modern languages as opposed to 'but-where-will-it-lead?' English and really should have stood my ground....

About rising every time you fall, keeping the fight going

...Whenever Jessica fell asleep in her pushchair I would dash to the nearest cafe and write like mad. I wrote nearly every evening. Then I had to type the whole thing out myself.

Sometimes I actually hated the book, even while I loved it.

Finally it was done. I covered the first three chapters in a nice plastic folder and set them off to an agent, who returned them so fast they must have been sent back the same day they arrived. But the second agent I tried wrote back and asked to see the rest of the manuscript.It was far and away the best letter I had ever received in my life, and it was only two sentences long.

It took a year for my new agent, Christopher, to find a publisher. Lots of them turned it down. Then, finally, in August 1996, Christopher telephoned me and told me that Bloomsbury had 'made an offer.' I could not quite believe my ears. 'You mean it's going to be published?' I asked, rather stupidly. 'It's definitely going to be published?' After I had hung up, I screamed and jumped into the air; Jessica, who was sitting in her high-chair enjoying tea, looked thoroughly scared.

And you probably know what happened next.

And about endings

Luck? Fight? or... just....Life!

Role-models & leadership

I hope to continue this thought with more posts in the future, about where is the intellectual leadership today in society? I usually turn to thoughts of people such as Dr. SR, CR and such-persons who are no more in our midst, but in their time blazed new paths and illuminated the path of the common man who were struggling in the dark with issues to do with freedom stuggle, social ills and change. For today, as I always prefer to let the person speak who can tell it better than me, and Fali Nariman in this piece exceptionally captures the person who has in recent times provided us with any intellectual leadership, both in science and politics. I've re-produced the text below;

It is probably been floating on the net for some time, as I am catching on some reading backlog, it may not be new but some thoughts are evergreen.

We'll miss you, Dr Kalam

Fali S. Nariman

We will miss him — that unconventional figure who became India's First Citizen in July 2002. Never pompous, not even 'presidential' (in either deportment or demeanour), he walked into the Palace at Raisina Hill with few worldly goods — he now leaves with even fewer: "I will go with only two small suitcases," he wistfully said last Thursday. We could have asked him to stay: but we didn't.

There were excuses (there always are). It was said that apart from Rajendra Prasad there had been no 'precedent' for a second term. But as any lawyer will tell you, if you have a good case in court there is no need for a 'precedent'; it is the good case that makes the precedent! But all this is in the realm of wishful thinking: as the poet says: "We look before and after and pine for what is not..."

The stark reality is that this lovable figure — popular, sometimes even populist, but never ostentations — now exits from Rashtrapati Bhavan in the same frame of mind as he entered it: with an overriding concern for the 'underdog'. Hear this: one year into office, on the morning of July 14, 2003, at 8.40 am, the RAX in the office of the secretary to the president rang. President Kalam was at the other end. "Mr Nair," he said in a voice that was (as always) cool and composed, "last night I could not sleep because my bedroom was leaking..." P.M. Nair froze and muttered something. "Any other president," he now recalls, "and my head would have rolled, although for no fault of mine."

At the other end of the line, the president (sensing Nair's embarrassment), continued reassuringly, "Don't worry Mr Nair, I know you will immediately set things right in my bedroom. What I am worried about are those houses on the President's Estate where they may not have a second bedroom to shift to when the only one that is available leaks." So Nair got moving, and with the help of the CPWD, the old staff quarters — until then dilapidated and
neglected — were transformed into bright new leak-proof houses: in almost record time. Nair tells me that he was greatly impressed at the concern and compassion shown by the president — not for himself but for other inmates on the Presidential Estate. It has been said that no man, however great, is a hero to his own secretary or his own valet. But as with all such sayings there are exceptions — from that point on, Nair had found his hero!

Now another revelation — so far kept under wraps at Rashtrapati Bhavan (under presidential orders): In May 2006, President Kalam's relatives from the south decided to descend on him (as relatives tend to often do). On instructions of the president they were welcomed by his staff at the railway station, and were looked after right up to the time they departed. But the Controller of Household was under strict instructions to keep a meticulous account of all the expenses incurred on behalf of the relatives — all 53 of them. Not once was an office vehicle used for any of them.

It was made clear by the president that he would pay — not only for the transport of all his relatives to and from Delhi, and also within Delhi, he would also pay for the various rooms occupied by them at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the food that was consumed by them — the rooms at the prescribed rate, the food on the basis of expenses actually incurred.
When his relatives left after a week's stay, the president was of course sad to see them all go, but he was also lighter in his pocket: the total expenses debited to his personal account was Rs 3,54,924! As we practising lawyers often say in court "the facts speak for themselves": President Kalam has set a high benchmark of rectitude in public office — worthy of emulation. And as a living embodiment of 'Transparency-National', his parting words of advice were: "Don't accept gifts." Delicately put: what he meant to say of course was: "Don't accept gifts for favours in return."

Yes, we will all miss him. Me, too. Although I had publicly criticised him for putting his signature on the Bihar Dissolution Proclamation, and for not insisting on a personal meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi during his presidential trip to Myanmar, in retrospect, these were but aberrations — small lapses — in a hugely successful presidency.

Of him it can be said, as Winston Churchill once said about his departed king: "He nothing common did, or mean, upon that memorable scene." Memorable scenes are rarely re-enacted, but they are always remembered.


The writer is an eminent jurist and a former Advocate-General of India.

Feathered friends update

I had asked in an earlier post, If Leeds castle in England can have peacocks why can't we have peacocks in Mumbai? Isn't it our national bird?

Got around to posting this picture of one charming white feathered friend eating out of my hands! Circa: 2006

Gesundheit

How cute is this- read this quote in the newspaper today.

"I am afraid to meet God face-to-Face. If he sneezes what should I say? "

Direct Dil Se

It gives me so much joy, makes me so happy - I am checking to see if saying it twice in two different ways makes it sound more happy - to have my blog name back to the original one of my site. Most of the text in some parts from the four main sections I have moved here. The couple of others I will do soon. Fitting end to October.

Sharad Purnima- 2

I am informed, and am suitably chastised about "we Bombayites" who are supremely insular to rest of the country- that Sharad purnima is celebrated all over the country. It is laxmi pooja in West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra. But in the north, In UP and in Mathura and Vrindavan, especially, it is celebrated for being THE raas leela night, when Govinda dances with all the 16, 000 gopis and bhog is made and in Rajasthan, all the people dress in white, eat all white coloured food (to honour the silver of the moon) and take a picnic . So I guess that national holiday ki zarrorat nahin. I can die happi knowing the nation is celebrating anyways.

I do feel now it is the bestest day, as if that was possible anyway!

Enjoy responsibly

No this is not about Don't Drink and Drive.

This is about Diwali and firecrackers.

Having grown up in Mumbai in one of the most polluted suburbs with the highest incidence of asthma and other respiratory disorders, Diwali is a season of dread. The joy of the festival overshadowed by the suffering caused by the smoke caused. I also remember how an elder in our family, a heart patient would hardly get any rest during diwali- this is true of other senior citizens too.

Any one who has owned pets, will testify to how the poor dog is terrified and shivers and trembles with terror at the loud noises. For children, ailing persons, pets and such, irresponsible manner in which firecrackers are chosen and burst - any time, deafening bombs etc depict an appaling lack of civic sense.

It is time that we have fireworks display only in common grounds/area's which is for all to enjoy. Beautiful, visual ones. Only a few non-noisy and smaller crackers should be available in restricted measure to individuals, for religious use- such as early morning after the traditional bath or for home use.

This would ensure responsible and equitable enjoyment. All sections of society will be able to participate, unlike now. Not to mention the increased fire safety as things like this get regulated.

Hopefully, in a ripple effect, other issues of unorganised sector production such as child labour in the industry also will get streamlined as today someone who does not wish to pay a higher rate for authorised products, buys them at lower rates which are supplied by of course, those who have lower rates of production costs.

But more than any economic reason, the social and development issues involved are not minor for us to ignore as cities become increasingly urban and sophisticated.

I'm the best, I'm the best

There was this song some years ago in some hindi movie. I neither knew or saw the movie nor do I know anything about the song except this refrain that repeats itself I think some 934 times (not) and that it ends with "we're the best". I always imagine it was to do with some boys/girls college fest.

So why this today?Because (big grin), today is Sharad Poornima, the day in the year when the moon shines brightest and by the Indian calender(panchang/tithi), which some Indians still follow at home, that makes it "mera wala moon"- or my 'star' birthday as south Indian's term it. Kyonki aaj mera happy birthday hain.

If you live in this city and checked, you'd have realised that the bright light streaming into your room last night was not the tube light of the street lamps, but the laughing moon. Of all the poornimas, I had to pick the best one, to pop out of an adoring momma to an even more adoring dad. Also called Kojagiri, in Maharashtra it is celebrated as Laxmi Pooja. As first born and baby girl, I was thoroughly and totally doted upon - a fact my sibling when we meet, never fails to use with/against me with big tears threatening to fall out of her beautiful eyes, pouting lips et.al.

Of course, with my calender birthday having just got over some days ago and which falls in Navratri or Diwali or some holiday every year, as usual it is just one round of partying all month. As one of my close friends says, the only other person who celebrates a whole month of birthday is Queen of England. I grin some more and go shop for more gifts. I begin the countdown early and extend it all the way, I am gonna do it as long as I live. And I secretly nurse a hope that after I die it will be some national holiday - like Oct2 Gandhijis birthday you know- lovely, lovely, lovely. When it comes to birthdays, I haven't crossed age 11.

So what did I do on my birthday? Nothing much different than most other days. Celebrate life. It was a weekend, so chutti from work (which I anyway enjoy too); On Mahanavami, a visit to a temple- at the Ramkrishna Math at khar, did a matha tek to the strength, goodness & beauty that is the beautiful Devi Ma Durga. Some chocolat, some cake, lotsa food.. goody, goody. Presents are all already tucked away. More smug smiles.

Dussera also signifies destruction of all negative tendencies. So it was significant that my ego was totally annihilated. One important lesson is never to be proud even of a "virtue" - not that I was aware I had any till then. Me of the "never waste food, take only what you need, plate should be clean" fame, I actually just could not eat one morsel more. For the first time in my life, at least as I remember, I left food on my plate. Seriously, I just could not eat any more- it was weird. I felt if I put the morsel in my mouth it will come out of my ears. Weird I tell you - nothing like this ever happened to me. So mentally, I acknowledged the defeat, and said, Ok you win God, you are the greatest, you rule, no one else but you, Like the BEST bus of Bombay, you are the king and such refrain.

It now makes sense how the Upanishads evolved. Hymns of glory to the powers almighty. Hmmmnn. Good thing it happened all those thousands of years ago, or seriously, imagine it being done today. BEST Bus?

What else, birthdays also mean one day closer to death. So who will cry when you die? Hopefully no one- all should be happy with that national holiday thingy.

What would I like on my obit? She died as she lived. Peacefully.

(Please don't quibble if it physically isn't so, it does not matter where,how,when)

Then? Well if there is place on the tomb stone, or the column space/number of words is paid for, or if nothing else, then in google space I leave this verse by Emerson that I love so much;

"Teach me your mood, O patient stars!
Who climb each night the ancient sky.
Leaving on space no shade, no scars,
No trace of age, no fear to die."

For all who remembered, thank you for your love, blessings, good wishes, gifts. For those who didn't, I know you love me. Kindly send me cake and chocolate too. Never late for that.

16 greatest moments in web history

Today on MSN a list of what made, shaped, breaked, waked, the wow wow web. Do read.

Not one more list ..again.. I thought at first. But do go .... it reads so well- I enjoyed it.

At each milestone, I felt like a little girl at a carnival who when every time she sees a new thing, wants to clap hands and jump up and down with joy and point it out to every one else !

P.S. While on the site, the page also points to a number of other links too, such as most embarrassing web moments, most useful sites etc.

Coffee, tea or me?

There is a new ad for a tea brand here in Mumbai at least. In the ad, there is the average guy who is drinking tea and approached by a neta presumably canvassing for election and he asks him questions such as age, qualifications, track record etc. After an annoyed and flabbergasted politician/ candidate leaves, the byline says- wake up India!

I thought, it is rather a stretch for a cup of tea, but different from the run-of the-mill refreshment positioning and good corporate citizenship by the company as India and it's cities are waking up to electoral reforms. Urban centers more so because of the many implications under the JNURM manifesto. So there is a "danda" (stick). The carrot is of course, better cities free of corruption systems.

But how effective are top-down initiatives of change? Other than the leadership it provides, and the resources that come with it, any real and lasting change that is to be of value, has to be bottoms-up and in the case of electoral reforms, if it means the large urban , educated, middle class segment- at least in Mumbai who reported a less than 40% turnout in the last local elections.(Mumbai Matters blog has more on this). It goes without saying that the distribution of free TVs and mid-day meal programmes won't do it. How much time and effort does this segment profile have to spare? With the average man/ woman running to catch the train, come home and cook/ take studies, spend some time with kids, manage in-laws, vacations, boss, home-repairs, loans, unwind with some TV, social climbing, bonding, worrying about teenagers, religion- it never ends. A segment fairly that is fairly "value concious" Think "Happy Price" menu and you get the picture.

So you see, make it social, make it fun, make it about food and the turnout is high! (Source, again Mumbai Matters). The lessons are there staring in the face, if only one is willing to learn. Ah.. that painful process...learning.....which starts by saying, I do not know, tell me, I'd like to adapt.

That is why I like the tea ad. Because medium such as humour, advertisements, films, radio etc have so much potential for being used as tools for change, by making that learning fun and as good as not having made the person go through the pain of any learning at all.

Conducting change with such segments will require patience,innovative methods and deeper committments than mere manifestos. Any organisation does not merely exist in its manifesto booklet (or vision statements). The ones who have tried have eventually perished. In reality, it is only humans/people who make or break issues, reputations and organisations- wether business companies or other organisations. People before Products is probably the only really good book I have found on the topic.

Unless handled in sensitive and strong measures, the change that takes place may be one only in name or ineffective. Or change will take place, but very slowly, very painfully and probably at the cost of many sections of society such as poor,weak and vulnerable. And the what is now called middle-class, because by which time they would have disappeared/merged into the poor or rich segments.

And while India struggles with these issues of elctoral reforms, once again ICT comes to the rescue in other places.

Quote:

Independent Electoral Commission, South Africa: Using ICT to support fair and open elections, from registering voters to quickly and accurately recording and tabulating national results.

Determined to conduct free and fair elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) used ICT to register voters and collect and tabulate their votes quickly, with integrity and transparency. The IEC made effective use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the creation of a multitude of spatial management reports required for election planning, logistics, registration, and results processing. The IEC also effectively applied call center technology, including an 800 number for the public with where to register details, illustrating the importance of combining computer and telephone technologies to address the realities faced on the grass-roots level. A GIS application helped desk operators pinpoint the exact location of a voting station for registration purposes by referencing the municipality name, suburb and cross-streets as supplied by the voter.

Recognizing low literacy levels (and other information access problems in South Africa), this facility assisted the voter in identifying the voting station within his/her voting district by merely making a toll-free call.The geographical database compiled for election purposes is a national asset that can be used by various state departments and private organizations for spatial planning. For example, the GIS can be used to spatially determine the best location for a clinic based on the proximity of young children and people over 60 years of age in a particular area. : End of quote

Tab tak ek cup chai ho jaaye? You read, while I go make a cuppa.

Ctrl C-Ctrl V

How interesting is this?

.. from the mint web site..

Moneycontrol.com ordered to desist from publishing Mint articles.

HT Media claimed that an article “Sensex 2007=Nasdaq 1998” written by its journalists was copied verbatim on http://www.moneycontrol.com

Who guards the guardians? story re-told.

An inconvenient index

At the Frankfurt book fair, they now have what is known as a most stolen book index.

And apparently , Al Gore's, An Inconvenient (or is it uncomfortable?) Truth scores the top place.
"The most-stolen books are usually the most-sold later on," Claudia Hanssen of the Goldmann Verlag publishing house told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which published a list of the 10 most stolen German-language books this year. "They're the popular ones and are most likely to end up on the best-seller lists," (from web site)

Google for terms, stolen book index for more details!

This is really funny and yet, why didn't anyone think of it earlier?

Yeh Jeevan hai

यह जीवन है, इस जीवन का
यही है - यही है - यही है रंग रूप

थोड़े गहूम् हैं, थोड़ी खुशियाँ
यही है - यही है - यही है चों धुप
यह जीवन है...

यह ना सोचो इसमे अपनी हार है के जीत है
इसे अपना लो जो भी जीवन कि रीत है
यह जिद चोदो, बन्धन युह ना तोड़ो
हर पल एक दर्पन है
यह जीवन है...

धन से ना दुनिया से, घर से ना द्वार से
सासों कि डोर बंधी है, प्रीतम के प्यार से
दुनिया छूते, पर ना टूटे, यह ऐसा बन्धन है
यह जीवन है...

यह जीवन है, इस जीवन का
यही है - यही है - यही है रुन्ग्रूप
थोड़े गहूम हैं, थोड़ी खुशियाँ
यही है - यही है - यही है चों धुप
यह जीवन है...

I heard this yesterday and remembered how beautiful it is and how much I like it. Yet another evergreen melody by Kishore Kumar.

If you want the lyrics in english it is here:

http://www.hindilyrix.com/songs/get_song_Yeh%20Jeevan%20Hai.html

Roots & Wings

"We can give our children only two things.
One is roots,
the other is wings"

This is not a new quote, yet everytime I read it- it has a freshness about it and seems so eternal. This one line covers a whole book on parenting, teaching and coaching.

Today I also read a small book on the joy of books. One of those gift books with little couplets and nice paintings. I just love the way paintings and verse are chosen. As I have resolved not to buy any more books, I reluctantly put it back on the shelf of the bookstore. But I have a feeling I will be going back for it.

My mother's daughter

What is it about senior citizens and going to fetch milk? (or it is fruits). I know of so many friends who are at their wits end because of this one aspect. Their really old parents insist on going to the market or corner shop to get something.

This collegue calls up home to check on his aged parents and, where's Dad? Gone to get milk is the answer. At seven in the evening. Is it really neccessary, he despairs. With the dangerous state of roads, drivers and potholes, it is as if an accident is waiting to happen with brittle bones and failing vision. Mostly in the city now, every small shop organises home delivery of small items and medicines and such and a phone call would suffice. An evening walk in the garden would provide exercise and social interaction. But making use of all these facilities is eschewed for the "running an errand". I muse, is it a question of feeling useful, asserting independence through the small rebellious act,( after all old age is second childhood) or is it just a plain old death wish. We'll never know.

And by the time we are old (er) we will never accept that we are doing the very thing that made us mad when we were young (er).

I know when I was a child, I'd find it greatly mystifying and amusing, even sometimes laugh when my mother shed a tear/s at a "senti" movie scene. Now, I remember a poem that I used to read at the British Council as part of their poems on the undeground,the transport system of London.

Is it the same with fathers and sons too?

Technology and poverty

ICT for development as a topic is quite a rage and within that the aspects of mobile technology being deployed and used is being studied with great interest. This article from the NYT covers developments in the microfinance arena in South Africa. It is quite an old article but I just found it among my references and thought even if late, it may be of interest to those who missed it and are active in the microfinance area. There is also a similar version on the IHT blog.

You may get an idea about why there abounds so much interest and demand for mobile telephony licenses in India and also for Indian business houses for doing business in Africa.

All I know is that over the weekend I went to my "nursery/phoolwala" , a chap who is quite a common sight in Mumbai. They park themselves at any open shady space, and set up a few pots and shrubs for sale and soon it morphs into a regular little make-shift nursery business- none of it legal or licenced or anything remotely business like, but they sell earthern pots and saplings for sometimes even as small an amount as Rs.5. Now that I do not have a garden to tend, I love the few minutes walking around the make-shift enterprise- it has no walls, no power , no poster or name plate, no power lines, no nuthin.

A small oasis of greenery, just off the busy dusty road, usually wet and just freshly watered, the plants and flowering shrubs thrive as if defying all elements in a show of hope and stubborn cheerfulness. This time, he showed me branded packets of seeds (the kind I thought I'd have to go to Green Growers or Byculla or Chembur) to buy and when I asked him about a particular sapling I wanted, he whipped out his mobile phone and said," Number dijiye, main aapko phone karke bata dunga jab aaye." Basically telling me to visit only after he confirms that he has got it, taking customer service and technology both to a new level. Just a dhoti clad bhaiya running his small (uh-huh?) enterprise under a tree.

I love plants & flowers.I love my humble enterprising folk. I love technology.

Future of knowledge and sharing

Everytime I feel overwhelmed by a backlog of professional reading or understanding to catch up on, it is always good to be reminded about what is happening in the world of Knowledge Management and find something that I have missed.

The reference to the Kronberg Declaration caught my attention- though I still don't know who are the experts mentioned therein- due to the co-ordinators team at undp-se who have included the reference in their monthly newsletter. Thanks guys!

It mentions the "four pillars of knowledge" thus;

-learning to know;

-learning to do;

-learning to live together;

-learning to be.

Very Nice-uh?

Healthy mind in a healthy body

Every day one reads of some health survey, findings,results and they have become so many that more often than not, what one study proved another one disproves. But ever so often, an occasional study catches my eye. I have come to realise that if it makes an impact on me,it is one that I hold true in any case- or close to a value that I believe in , for instance this latest one on Parkinsons disease, titled "make your bed, save your brain". on how concentious people seem to display lesser signs of the disease.

In my other life,I am also a yoga student and teacher, which means all topics to do with health and mind-body connections in good health interest me. I admire and have deep respect for medicine and all its contributions, penicillin, aspirin, antiseptic and surgery is something no one can ever hope to substitute.

Sometimes, people mistake yoga for therapy or therapeutic value when it is only preventive and a "life-management" tool or process. If I go on, I realise I am breaking my self-set rule about not to blog here on yoga topics- so I will stop and urge you to read this article.

In the interview,I found the line, .....It seems to affect your ability to tolerate the pathology and maintain normal cognitive function....... ....." particularly significant as it seemed to echo what I normally tell anyone who cares to ask my view on the topic of mind-body connection in health.

For those who suffer the pain of having loved ones assailed by parkinsons as well as a fear of "will it be me too?" this study may well provide some light on the subject.

All the while as I was reading this, I could only think of Dr. Jayadevs words in my mind. Duty. The lessons of Karma Yoga.

The India that can be

Rediff had last year posed the question of:
What made you angry this year? Tell us!

and i had posted on it. It so happens that when any one googles me the results show up with the first few lines of someone else's post and I thought I'd post my response here too, so my readers don't have to sift and also because in any case, very little seems to have changed.

The same things that made me angry last year. And sad too.

1. Complete disregard for the environment,flora and fauna.

-this from a country that celebrated vanamahotsav and whose favorite God exhorted worship of Govardhan.

2.Rampant Corruption.

-in a country that has Satyameva Jayate as the National Motto.

3. Decling value systems- whether in concern for the aged, orphans, animals, destitute; respect for women or community and civic sense.

-Shravan is a forgotten relic of past, woman as mother and devi is only on 9 days of navratri and community life is only on "Ek Chabi hain pados mein" on TV.

4. Farmer suicides and forgotten jawans.

- whatever happenned to Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan?

5. The amount of waste that goes on.

- Of time, of resources, of words. Whether project over-runs or ostentious celebrations or just on a daily basis. Can we afford it? Who pays the price for it?

I could give few more examples but I think that most of all, losing our links with our roots and spiritual heritage.

In the area of sprituality, organising events (more and more ostentious every year) & attending talks (preferably in VIP enclosures, and arriving in chaffeur driven (let him worry about parking) expensive cars, of some spiritual leaders seems to be the substitute for actually living a life on spiritual tenets....collecting donations for your cause seems to have overtaken all tenets of charity begins at home and of work ethic- shramdaan.

The hypocrisy and double standards makes me angry.

You and I

My thoughts on the new vodafone ad;

1. I hope "No animals were harmed or injured in any way during the making of this ad"
2. The pug is cute and all that, I like the pug, but where is the little boy he follows?
3. The "Change is good" tag line - The poor pug appears lost, out of breath, tired and anything but "change is good" ambassador. Don't see him dancing with joy or happy with the change.

On the service. Bad. No signal in many areas. Not a beautiful world at all..when signals are bad- n'er mind wot the jingle says. Actually they seem to have replaced the jingle with only a signature tune.. hmm...wonder why.