End of World : 21 December 2012

Dt: 17 Nov 2012


So if you have been following some of the news on TV for the last few years you must be very much aware of the famous Mayan calendar and the fact that the Mayans who were so bored that they started developing the future calendar stopped their exercise when they reached the fateful date of 21 December 2012.The date that some people now believe will be the date when the world ends or at least the EOW is triggered.

                                                              MAYAN CALENDAR

Normally these things just come and go .In the last decade many such predictions have been made .One of the most publicized being the 2000 date for end of world.I vividly remember a video with a man carrying a placard reading 'The End of World is Near' .And finally when 2000 came around the corner nothing much happened.Y2K problem got solved and apart from a few natural calamities the world was back to normal to see a 9/11 and many other more cruelties.But the world did not end.

Coming back to 2012 ,there have been discussions of  reversal of Earth polarities and other major natural calamities which may trigger the EOW .But no one has actually hinted at  a political situation ,a world war leading to this phenomeneon.Even as  I am writing this there are tensions erupting between Israel and the Palestinians and no major world  power is intervening.Problem here is that there is a slow and significant shift of power in the world towards the east .Now history is witness to the fact that no major shift of power happens peacefully .It happens with a war where the new leader asserts his command over the old one.The WAR will come in the near future ,whether this will be a peaceful one or a destructive one will only be known later .If indeed its a destructive one then it will definitely be told to be initiated by some other feud .The big guys will fight thier war and project it as if they were just trying to resolve  someone else's small feud.

Now lets not get into the details of how the EOW comes .Lets for a moment believe that this prophecy is TRUE.Now lets have a look at the calendar.ALAS you have only a months time left with you in this beautiful world.Individulas in the world have been told before that they have some time left in this world .Some deal with it seriously .Others go about enjoying.But what if an entire civilization is told that their time has come. What if you you know that all of your friends ,all your companions are going down together.

Now think about what you could do to enjoy those last moments together.For starters you can forget about money .Revert back to the old Barter system(I believe some European cities are trying this out to come out of the Euro crisis).

 Imagine there is no competition amongst peers.No race to win.Imagine a world where everyone is willing to share what is surplus.No stocking up for the future.Imagine you forgive all you enemies.Make peace with people who hurt you.Imagine there are no borders you are free to visit any place in the world and indeed travel is free.Remember we dropped money right at the beginning. Wow suddenly the world is looking like a better place.Will there be chaos /confusion.Well its anyways going to come sooner or later .IMAGINE...


The possibilities are infinite .But in case the world doesn't end then no need to worry .you can still hop to a nearby cinema hall and watch DABBANG2 releasing on 21.12.2012.(This is called Confidence)

Cheers :-)

Birthdays and Friends

Dt :29 Oct 2012.


So it was yet another birthday this year.Just another day of course but with the advantage that you can take a leave at office and stay home and reflect at the year gone by .

The other fascinating thing about birthdays is  friends and their wishes .Now when we used to be in college there was a race to be the first  to wish your friend.If you wished first does that mean that you are my closest friend.Well it may or may not be so  In college however we like to  play these games and its fun too.But the truth  is that this whole business of wishing YOU first carries on into adulthood.

Now people who are commited would like to be wished first by their fiances/girlfriends/wives and understandably so.Going by that logic I feel that when you are single its your parents(in most cases) that you are closest to and they must be the first to wish you.Now most parents especially those born in the 50s dont think its that important to wish at midnight and rightly so .The day starts at sunrise doesnt it ??

Well I just dont like receiving calls at midnight especially when your family is asleep.So I decided to switch off my cell last year on my birthday so that I could take calls later in the day.But that of course did not go down too well with my friends and I got some real good bashing from them on my birthday.I apologised to them and somehow convinced them to forget about this .

This year I decided to be a good friend and was awake till after midnight to receive calls.But surprisingly there were no calls .For most of them  I might have spoiled the 'Who Called First Game' last year  itself  and some others might have decided to not waste their energies trying to reach me..What that also means is that most of them have accepted the way I am and will be calling tomorrow.Thats why friends are so special coz they understand you and adjust/change to accommodate you....

For all those lovely friends I would like to say that even I  changed a bit to accommodate you this year :-) 

Cheers and catch you on another birthday ....

PMs calculated risk - Reforms in India

Dt : 15 Sep 2012

So finally the Congress government has decided to take some policy decisions which will help it to shrug off the tag of a non active government and also help in winning back investor confidence.The effect of the reforms announced have already been felt in the Sensex with the markets responding favourably to the governments decision.

                              

First in a sequence of bold steps announced by the government is the hike of diesel and LPG .Fuel is a commodity which directly affects the cost of living for the common man .It can be clearly inferred that this would not go down well with the public.Yet the government which is already losing people's faith decided to take this tough decision.

Secondly allowing FDI in multi brand retail and in the aviation sector.Again this was a crucial reform which till date was stuck as almost all the allies of the government were against this decision.On FDI there has been a debate that it may kill the small retail shop owners.But the other side of the argument is that it will create employment and infrastructure which is much needed for the growth of the nation.Though this has the potential to affect a few people at the base,but  overall FDI in retail is only going to bring in competition and thus reduce the prices .It is a good thing for the consumers.The government has to take care that the suppliers and retailers are not unfairly treated in this.

                                   

Getting Indian government to approve FDI may also be seen as a  resounding win  for the Obama administration who might have otherwise been struggling to convince the American business houses to support their reelection.As far as Indians are concerned we can only hope to get more work visas approved now :-) .This move has shown that India has always been supportive of free trade unlike some of the developed nations of the world .
 

So coming back to the discussion on reforms, the government has taken these bold steps knowing pretty well that it may fall tomorrow due to these decisions.These decisions though have proven for the first time in 3 years that this indeed was a majority government and that Congress indeed has the numbers unlike some of the previous Non-Congress governments.

They could not get black money back,could not cancel all coal allocations neither accept responsibility for the 2G scam.It was almost certain that the government would not comeback to power in 2014.But by taking these bold decisions , the government as a whole and the Congress in particular have taken a chance to win back the trust of the nation.

It might be too late in the day .But just for attempting these changes the prime minister needs to be given a pat on his back.You cannot always ridicule him .For this brave move you have to say 'Well done Prime Minister'.

The Volkswagen AD

Dt: 11 Sep 2012

So after almost one year another there is yet another innovative ad from Volkswagen.This time they attached a vibrating device which uses the concept of a photo diode to create the energy for the vibrations .

Dubbed as ‘Feel the shiver of excitement?’, the new campaign promotes the recently upgraded variants of the Polo and Vento which feature new headlights with black bezels, new alloy wheels, leather upholstery, a navigation system, reversing camera, Bluetooth phone pairing and steering-mounted controls. 

It fails in comparison to the talking newspaper ad though which literally became the talk of the town.But anyways its good to see some innovation if not in the cars then at least in the ads.

 

A strange coincidence

Dt: 8 sept  2012

I was travelling to work as usual .Normally the trans would be jam packed during peak hours .But today I was a bit late and this being a non working saturday there was some breathing space.

As the train stopped at Airoli,two women with a small dholak like instrument in their hands  entered the train .They were accomapanied with two small kids .The kids were supposed  to dance to the beats of the drum which was meant to entertain the travellers.

                                                  

My attention was caught by this kid .She looked like the girl from Swades in the song 'Ye tara wo tara'.She was not interested in doing this stuff and clearly showed her disappointment.By this time one of the women  started hitting the kid with the same stick she was using to beat the dholak..She dealt a couple of blows which literally shook the kid.Before I could stop her she started beating the drum and both the kids started their dance.Its the same thing that madari asks his monkey to do.i felt disgusted .

Luckily they didnt extend this for too long.I felt bad for the kid and decided to give her a coin.(which I normally dont do).Unfortunately she went the other way and the other kid came to me.I though had decided that I would give the coin to the first kid and would also ask the women  not to hit her the next time.I pulled out a 5 rupee coin to give it to her. But when the kid eventually came to me the train had already reached Ghansoli.Within seconds the entire group got down and ran for the next bogey.It hurt that I could not do anything to help this child from this misery.

As I was travelling back this evening by the same route I saw a similar group of a women and a kid.I checked a couple of times to see if it was the same girl.It wasnt her .

This kid had more or less accepted her fate and was going through the routine.I reached my pocket and again fetched a coin .It was the same 5 rupee coin that I had thought of giving the kid in the morning train.I gave that coin to this little girl and wished in my heart that someone could rescue these kids from this plight.

Why Raj Thackeray could be the best man for Maharashtra.

Dt: 8 Sep 2012

Today I had the fortune of sitting through an entire Arnab interview.Now normally Arnab would not let anyone on his show speak for more than 2 minutes.But today he was interviewing Mr.Raj Thackeray, leader of the youngest upcoming polticla party in Maharashtra.

                              

Now I have never ever missed a Raj Thackeray interview.It is because though I may not be totally in sync with his ideologies I do admire him as a brilliant orator.His command over the subject of discussion and his attacking style of putting his thoughts across has gained him significant fan following.

This is one thing that the politics of the nation is missing.Apart from a Sushma Swaraj ,Arun Jaitley,Chidambaram(even hes floundering nowadays) there aren't too many eloquent speakers out there.A good orator can manage any organization with his oratory skills ,Pramod Mahajan was one with tremendous command over his words.The speakers of some of the top political parties are no better than the stand up comedians when they speak.

But coming back to Maharashtra ,the state genuinely requires a leader of Raj's caliber ,who has the capability to command respect with his words,Unfortunately for Raj his PR machinery is not that strong to have an influence on media(especially the Hindi channels).And as I went through his interview I indeed felt that his words are often potrayed in a negative manner to make  a villain out of him.

The aggressive style of oration is a tried and tested move in politics of the world.Hitler was known for his aggressive speeches.As far as the speeches arent inflamatory to provoke someone they might  as well be beneficial for the people of this state.It is sad that the media has not highlighted the work done by MNS workers.Recent example of monitoring the toll nakas was one which was completely ignored by national media.

The current government has left the state in a mess and the state needs an alternative.Raj did not hesitate to point out that the state govt and police are both under pressure to maintain the North Indian vote bank.I feel that this elections will be a make or break situation for his party .It would be interesting to see how Raj responds if he is given control of the state.I  have got a feeling that he may be another Modi is in the making and if news reports are to be believed then the both have already spoken greatly of each other.

But rather than having him as a minority leader he has to be trusted completely by the Marathi speaking public atleast.It is difficult to see MNS emerging as a single largest party in Mahrashtra but it would be better of for Raj to cut out other votes than eat into the Sena vote bank.A lot of decisions for the MNS to take before 2014.....

Marathi Asmita.

Dt: 3rd September 2012.

I am taking a risk by writing something on this sensitive topic,Who knows someone may threaten to throw me out of the state for writing this.But such are the rights bestowed upon by the Constitution of India to every citizen that I am compelled to write out and lash out against our so called guardians  of prestige and honour.

It hurts me deeply to see that how low has governance gone in my state of residence .Firstly you allow scores of people to assemble at the nerve center  of Mumbai and allow them to go beserk with weapons in their hands.You defend yourself by stating that you did not anticipate the crowd to go out of hand.

Within a month despite there being a court order to prevent people gathering in groups to avoid riot like situation, you allow a gathering of people and you allow a speaker who has a history of delivering sensational speeches a platform to go about his antics.

Today you allow the same people to question people coming from another Indian state and threaten them Why cant you take action against these people.By keeping silent arent you endorsing these people and their thought process.

In the past few days there has been a lot of talk about Marathi Asmita.It is amazing how their Marathi pride rises whenever there is an election date nearing or it is time to gain some political vendetta.

Today the city has seen the first major rainfall of the season and the entire public transport  has literally surrendered to the rain Gods.You have stayed for so long in this state,in this city.How much does it hurt your pride when the city comes toa standstill year after year due to heavy rains.Where is your pride when farmers of our state commit suicide?Where is your pride when the state gets hit by terrorists year after year?

You win a couple of elections and then put up huge posters declaring yourselves the baadshahs of the city/state.The question to you is what have you done in so many years to put the state on the roadmap of development.You question everyone who hurts the Marathi Asmita.Point is what have you done in your life time to enhance it?

My earnest request to my fellow Maharashtrians .Vote sensibly.Don't fall for gimmicks.


  

Testing Blogging from Email functionality

Dt: 6 Aug, 2012.

Blogger has provided a functionality to blog from your email client.

Trying to test this functionality.

Lets see if this works.

A thousand views

Dt:01 July 2012

Glad to see that my first blog  'MY HEART '  has seen a 1000 pageviews/hits since the time I beagn writing this blog.Over the last few months with Google spiders starting to track this website .The page hits have improved dramatically.

For the record there have been 66 pageviews last month alone .Now thats a significant increase over the past years.Seems like the blog is finally coming to its own .





Thank you readers for making this possible.

Nokia vs Samsung

Dt: 18 June 2012

    There was a time as a kid when I felt that mobile phones were only manufactured by one company.NOKIA.The familiar start up tone.The graphical image of two hands coming together.And the famous tagline 'Connecting People'.Now at that age if I had also been investing in stocks, then I would have surely picked stocks of Nokia ..an ever prospering company with a future so bright that growth could be taken for granted.

    But in comes a company named Samsung which is apparently not satisfied with its TV and electronics business and wants to venture into mobile phones.Within a period of less than a decade this organization just steals the thunder from Nokia in India's cellphone market .India where people at one time used to only use Nokia and would not even bother to think of another brand.

    So what made people change their mindsets.Firstly its the pricing .In the Asian markets where the consumer base is large, pricing is the main decisive factor influencing  consumer preferences.So when you  paid 5 grand for a Nokia candy bar phone and u could get the touch screen samsung phone for about the same price,the novelty of touch coupled with pricing  ensured sales for Samsung.But it was not only the pricing but the quality which Samsung delivered over the years which meant that Nokia suddenly lost considerable ground in a market where it had a monopoly of sorts.

    So what did Nokia do wrong .Were they too confident about their products.Were they too casual in their approach or something else.Whatever may be the reason they were stunned.Even today Nokia's quality of products cannot be questioned but they have suddenly fallen behind in the technology race . Nokia has announced around 10,000 job cuts something which is not worthy of a big organization and which is a clear indicator that this organization is on its slide.

    Association with Microsoft is being touted as the next big thing for Nokia.Only time will tell how much Nokia will benefit out of this.In time they may still be able to cover up some lost ground .But once the monopoly has been broken they can no longer command the same price in the Market.


 Note:If you are a Nokia fan and hate this article don't curse me  coz  I use a Nokia even today.

Malayalis : The Most Beautiful Indian Women

Dt : 20 April,2012

  It was yet another lazy Saturday morning at home. And as usual a time when the family discusses the week gone by .On certain days interesting topics also come up for discussion. Incidentally this Saturday the Mallus were celebrating their new year Vishu .

    Vishu is a Hindu festival celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala and in the Mangalore and Udupi districts of Karnataka, usually in the second week of April in the Gregorian calendar. It marks the new year in accordance with the Malayalam calendar, known as the Kolla Varsha.

   Mom who had apparently taken notice of the Malayali women in their sarees while she visited the Ayyappa temple that morning  ,commented that they must be the most beautiful women .Dad who usually  is reserved when it comes to women also seconded her opinion.I didnt comment on this but felt that might be they were right.

  

So what is it that sets the malayali women apart. Firstly its their eyes .They must be the ones with the most beautiful pair of eyes .Next you will see a majority of them having long hair something that most women of other states have shunned .Also they have a peculiar hairstyle which  I cant categorize thanks to my limited knowledge in this field .Malayalam also happens to be the one of the sweetest Indian languages .It must easily be the sweetest of all south Indian languages especially the tone with which they(Women ,not men :p) speak.Add to all this the traditional Indian saree and you get a deadly combination which is simply hard to beat.

  The mundum neriyathum is the cultural costume of women of the Malayalee community and often referred as Kerala saree. The grace and appeal of the golden borders contrasting with the otherwise plain white mundum neryathum of Keralite women has come to symbolize Malayalee women.

    So the Jury is out .They must be the most beautiful of them all !!!

Note:Text in Italics from Wikipedia.

   
  

Book Draft --- Intro

INTR0

   HE was only a kid then .He used to go to school,play, learn like any other kid of our age .But he also used to work .Work which was demanding physically as well as mentally. Yaksha belonged to one of the many families which lived in Dakshin Kannada.

   Before 1860, Dakshin Kannada was part of a district Kanara which was under a single administration in the Madras Presidency .In 1860, the British split the area into South Kanara and North Kanara, the former being retained in the Madras Presidency, while the later was made a part of Bombay Province in 1862.

   People belonging to this region used to speak Tulu and would fondly call their region the TuluNadu.The place was famous for red clay roof tiles, cashew nuts and unusual cuisine.With its proximity to the Arabian Sea the region was known for its hot & humid climate .Closeness to the sea also meant that most of the families were fishermen by profession.Yaksha belonged to the Mogaveera community. Mogaveeras are a fishermen community in coastal Karnataka.They formed one of the largest communities in the Tulu ethnic group. 

   Yaksha was born in a free India.The atrocities of a tiresome British Rule were overthrown by Gandhi's non cooperation movement,  and a dream of  a new and strong Indian democracy took over peoples imagination. After Indian independence in 1947, South Canara was divided into Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

    Independence meant freedom of movement and the beginning of migration in a new nation.Till 1956 the Dakshina Kannada district was with Madras province and after formation of Karnataka state in 1956, November 1,it  become part of Karnataka .Many of Yakhsa's older friends had just  completed their High school  that year.Some joined their parents and helped them in the family occupation of fishing while others made their way to the city of dreams,Bombay.

    Even as a kid Yaksha knew that some day even he would have to make that decision.' title ' follows Yaksha as he makes this decision and many more important ones  in his lifetime.

     

Note:This is a draft version of an intended book which might be published some day.

End of a great Innings.

Dt :10/03/2012

While I had made it a point to stop blogging about cricket and explore into different fields of life.Today is one day where I am compelled to blog about one of the greatest cricketers of our generation.

Even though I used to follow cricket since the early nineties ,it used to be more of ODIs and home test series .I started following international  Test cricket prominently from the India tour of England in 96.Incidentally it was the same tour on which two of Indian crickets greatest batsmen made their TEST debut.It was Lords where Saurav Ganguly made a century on debut while Rahul Dravid missed what could be a great debut 100.

                                        
People who know me may wonder if I may start praising Saurav again in this blog but no this one is dedicated to the WALL of  India --Rahul Dravid. The day that he missed that 100 he looked very disappointed with it and must have decided to not let the next chance go by. He missed another but soon got his first test hundred.His position in the ODI squad was always debated because of his slow approach to scoring runs .He not only rectified this by cementing his place in the ODI squad but also became a key player in the RCB T20 squad for IPL.Eventually he went on to get 36 test hundreds and 10,000 runs in both formats of the game.With a record no of slip catches he became a complete package for the team.                                                             

                                                            
How Rahul influenced the youngsters.
For most of us,especially myself  growing up in the nineties our priorities were broadly academics.Apart from studying hard the only other thing that used to get my maximum attention used to be cricket.Therefore Saurav , Rahul ,Sachin became our role models during the those years.While I learnt aggression from Saurav ,I learnt humility and dignity from Rahul.

I remember playing cricket with friends in the locality . I was never a great batsmen, I would spend more time  bowling when playing overarm.But in the evening when we used to play underarm box cricket,each one of us would try to 'cover drive' like Rahul.We would practice that shot all along as HIS had class written all over it.I wonder how many kids playing in the cricket  clubs he would have inspired.While fielding in the slips he was a great example of concentration and technique.Everything that he did had a methodology attached to it.Though this might have meant that his captaincy was also a bit method oriented but he was at his diplomatic best as captain in press conferences and post match presentations and that is how it should really be. 

He is a brilliant orator and would make a great commentator but judging by the way things have gone I wonder if we will ever have him in the commentary box.May be the spectators may not get Rahul as a commentator.May be he is destined for bigger things.Who knows only time will tell.
Thanks Rahul for being  an entertainer and a teacher .

[Sharing with you : Paper cut out of Adelaide test victory. 2002-03 which Rahul won us with his batting.Also in the pic Saurav's hundred in the first test on that tour and other role models back then .The pic is of my cupboard door .These people were a source of inspiration for me .]