MTV Revolution

MTV is generally not considered a good channel by the parents, as i have seen. Children are emphatically discouraged to watch it. However now i am not a child and whenever i get the time and the TV, i prefer to watch Channel V or MTV.

Now only the night before yesterday , i was watching MTV and having my dinner when there was an announcement about  a program which was like a chat show with the leading sportsperson of india. And NO, Sachin Tendulkar or Dhoni or Dravid or Sehwag were not invited. They were players whose names are known to none of us. There is one swimmer who has qualified for the olympics and is the Arjuna Award Winner, there are shooters, there are athletes and weightlifters and many more about whom we do not even hear about. The players asked the viewers to see the show and pronounced their achievements and and the end it said “India plays more than just Cricket”. How true!! We have been so overwhelmed by the glamour of cricket that the other sports have been like thrown in the waste baskets. Where cricketers earn millions , many of the renowned and medal winning olympians are lost in anonymity and are barely surviving. The sports scene is really pathetic.

This MTV campaign is really worth an applaud. At least all the youngsters will know that there are other sports in the country than cricket in which we have a lot of potential which is being wasted due to sheer negligence. Another campaign that they are showing is of CRY ( Child Relief and You) . It was a wonderful ad to see. There are also debates about whether there should be sex education in schools or not?

In all this, I see a sensible use of the power that they have over the youngsters. It seems to be giving a message that there is a need of a revolution which the youth of the country are expected to start at their own personal levels rather than expecting the old politicians to do something about it and just crib.

Three cheers to these efforts.!!!

With MTV talk going on i cannot fail to mention the spoof of Dhoom which was recently made named “GHOOM”. I hear it was a total crap. But still i like the MTV fully faltoo and bakra

I should now go back to work.

Adios !!!

Decision

For two long years, I have been confused and pestered by the eternal question “What will I do after I graduate?” I have slept thinking about it and woken up thinking about it. The problem was that with the given options I could not see myself fitting in any of those. I could not see myself doing a Phd, i could not see myself grilling for MBA or i could not see myself just sitting in an office doing a stagnant job. So, basically i had not found that dream thing that would make me happy.

Well, actually doing nothing at all will make me the most happy but then the food that i need to continue that happiness…who will provide that?? So, i dropped the idea of doing nothing and ventured forth to find something else that would give me satisfaction if not happiness. With the three options that i had earlier, i was being forced by myself to like one or the other while deep down i was not willing to do any of it .

Today, I was just struck by the idea of what i will actually like to do. And at the moment it seemed so obvious and natural and so suited a choice that i wondered that why did i not think of it earlier? Fortunately, it is not purely my field of graduation which i wanted to avoid but it is so much related to it that I will be in an advantage. It just seems so right the thing that I am as sure about it as I have never been about anything else. I still don’t know what my parents will think about it! I hope they agree happily.

Its an out of way thing, not many people go this way, but following the tradition of my choices that only increases its certainty. I can now clearly see what courses I will be doing for the rest of the two years and what will I be heading to. I am so elated. Today i am so sure about one thing that has always been a source of confusion. I dont know that what will happen after that . Its not a long term plan that I have made but still I am sure and that is what is important to me at this point. I hate being a stereotype. Till now i have succeeded in every way that would make me non-typical and this is another. May be thats why it is attracting me so much.

Yippee!!…I am happy so i will treat myself today ( wow! another self made reason to have a party) . I will go and have a chocolate mousse at Barista (as if i always do things like these on an occassion ).

Its nice to be sure na!I can feel it now. It seems that for all these years i was wandering purposelessly but now i have a purpose after all. Life is so much more nice to live now with a goal to achieve.

But i am happy and thats most important. Hai na??

And oh yeah! I love this wordpress theme so much that i could not resist getting back to it.

Some thought, some photography

Why do i always end up making the wrong decision, without a fail ??….

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In an entirely different context from above..these are the two pictures below that i like quite a lot than the rest i have taken..not the quality may be but there was something in both that made me click it .

 This tree is in my hostel. Just any other tree but once i was standing under it and looked up suddenly and it seemed immensely capturing and beautiful to me. I brought my camera and took this one.

The pic below is one that i took outside the temple in Badrinath. This was a kind of shop which can be found outside all the temples specially in north india. The striking brilliance of the golden polish caught my eyes and i instantly took a snap.

A loot and an attempt to murder

Adjacent to my house, there is a bungalow. Owners are rich people and the house reveals a lot about the money. Yesterday morning, every man of that house was out for some reaosn or the other.Only the ladies were inside. This was the scene at 6 a.m. Two men arrived on a motorcycle. They stopped at the gate. One went inside while the other waited outside. Inside, he shot a lady of the house in the face and looted the coffer and other things like mobile,chain etc and both of then vanished with their bike. No one , absolutely noone came to know about it. When after quite a time someone found the woman bleeding so heavily, they suspected a brain haemorrage or something of the sort. When she was taken to the doctor only then it was revealed that she has been shot and then they searched for the money which was all gone.

This is the state to which our society has come to. Anyone can casually walk in and murder you. All for the bloody money.They will not try to work to get it. How could someone be so unconcerned that some other person lives or dies. How can someone kill a person with his own hand?? Is the paper (money) that you get more valuable than the life of some other person?? Is there no apprehension to break in a house and kill people…

The news shocked me! Getting to know the extent to which these money loving people can stoop down to and the level to which their audacity has increased is simply flabbergasting!!

A hilarious bus journey…

 Travelling in a public transport in Bangalore at the peak hours can be real fun or frustration. It depends. Yesterday i had a fun experience. I got into this bus which was  jam packed. A person could not even turn his neck. To add to it, about 8 more people got into the bus at the next stop. Now if you have travelled in a bus, standing ,then you might know that it is important to hold the bar above to keep yourself from falling everytime the driver brakes or moves on..interia thing. But here, you could easily stand without any support and however much you try, however sharp the turns, however hard the brake is you would not move. All this was happening when the bus conductor urgently needed to move from one end of the bus to another. We all tried to make space for him and we succeeded in giving him an inch to move about. Now not being a matchstick, but a normal human being , it was impossible for him to do so. So we continued trying.Somehow i happened to be in a very good mood that day. Normally, anyone would get frustrated and most of the people were. I had never anywhere seen a bunch of such irritated people huddled together and i don’t know what kick it gave me that i started laughing. The volume with which i laugh, made all the necks do am impossible task:turn towards me. Off course, most of them took me for half mad and i enjoyed it. However, not willing to be labelled as psychic, i controlled my laughter but left the smile shining on my face.

 I cannot comprehend what was so funny about it??…But i really had a good laugh and was cheerful the rest of the day. It is really strange. If you keep a cool head how not even the most disturbing of the things can bother you. I have learnt this. I will now always try to keep a cool head and control my urges of bursting out laughing in public, lest i be entered in an asylum by someone.

My Football Fever

With all the fuss about the FIFA World Cup in the air all around….I could not stop myself from posting something about it …

Although i am not a very gr8 fan of Football and i don't even have the technical understandings but i still manage to have my reasons for loving it . One reason is the stamina that they have….On an average a footballer runs about 10-11 kms in a match and out of it he is in contact with the ball for maximum of half hour.!! Fascinating.

Now some other more persistent and convincing reasons are given below. Check it out..you might also just start loving the game. Enjoy football!!! :)

                  

    
 

Advice or Order???

Few days back i heard someone saying "jab manna nahi tha to advice li kyun??" She was really furious at someone for not acting according to her advice. I felt very strange at the moment but later when i thought I recalled that I have seen many people with the same attitude. The meaning of advice has been distorted. When people come to you asking for an advice they are seeking directions. They want to know whether you have any other view which they have not considered. They do not come to you to take your command. Acting or not on your advice is totally their discretion. How strangely some people want to rule the lives of others. Not following your words may not always mean that the person does not consider you at all..it may simply mean that he/she got a better option suiting her situation.

I could feel nothing but disgust at this statement and I really wish that people begin to believe that advising is not equal to giving an order. The difference should be realized. May be i now know why some people got angry at me in the past when i could find no reason at all. It might have been this. Well, one more way to offend people added to the list: Do not follow their advice.

So Long,

~ShallowOcean 

Try Vedic Mathematics

Last night i casually picked up this book to read which has been lying with me since 4 years but i could not move a page further from the preface.Reason being nothing particular except that it was always considered secondary when compared to the other books. This long neglected book is called "Principles of Vedic Mathematics". Yesterday, i decided to divert some of my attention towards it. So, I cut the introductory crap and moved straight away to the contents and i swear, i regretted that why did i not do this earlier!! Such amazing was the content in there. They have explained the methods to calculate squares,fractions,multiplication, division, roots and everything and it is so easy to do. The most vulgar of the mathematical numerical operations can be performed in a matter of seconds and with such ease which present knowledge of mathematics does not provide. Our ancestors surely knew fabulous shortcuts. To me , the book is as exciting as a murder mystery. There is always this kind of inquisitiveness that what is going to be the next trick which could solve this monstrous eqaution ??

I would really recommend it to all of you who have the slightest interest in Mathematical computations. Go and grab a copy today!!( No i am not being paid to advertise it…its voluntary ) At least taste the flavor. It will surely help all those students who want to prepare for exams that involve fast and tricky calculations.

I think that we need to study our "Vedas" more carefully and try to decode the tremendous amount of knowledge that is hidden there. But with the decreasing interest in Sanskrit at such an alarming rate, it seems that in a decade or two a person knowing sanskrit will be like an extinct species with remaining of its kind.

Worries later!! For now, i am quite happy to have picked it up at last. I hope that it will add certain value to me. About two weeks ago, i purchased a book called "The Enigma of Arrival" by the nobel laureate "V.S.Naipaul" for Rs.236/-.  Sadly, i am watching all this money getting wasted because i have not turned more than 2 pages. It fails to ineterest me for now. May be a month later i will be able to read it completely. However, i am trying my best.:P

WIth the books i have a problem that as soon as i get them , i want to devour all of it in one go. So, if the book is not really ineteresting or a page turner or requires patience then it becomes difficult for me because then finishing it becomes a burden..

Anyway,

~ShallowOcean

Indian Railways !!

Yesterday i was reading India Today's May 2006 edition. It gave rankings to the cabinet ministers of the UPA government. I generally do not put much trust in the India Today Rankings for its accuracy but it still gives a general idea . At No. 1 was Praful Patel (Ministry of Civil Aviation). But what intrigued me most was that at no.2 stood none other than our own "Laloo Prasad Yadav". If you are surprised, well, i share the feeling. It said that before he held the post Indian Railways was a loss making organisation heading towards a total loss of 61,000 crore rupees. And now , it is the second biggest money spinner in the country after ONGC. There was also a very funny line about Laloo saying something like: "The best thing that Minister did was that he did not turn the railway office into Bihar Bhavan.Rather, he left the important decisions to be made by the Bureaucrats ."

Whatever he did, it was all good for our rails after all. After i gained my senses, I have never stopped being fascinated by the expanse and the traffic of the Indian Railways(IR).

IR is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting just under 5 billion passengers and almost 350 million tonnes of freight annually. It's the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more that 1.6 million employees.

The railways traverse through the length and width of the country; the routes cover a total length of 63,940 km (39,230 miles). As of 2005 IR owns a total of 216,717 wagons, 39,936 coaches and 7,339 locomotives and runs a total of 14,244 trains daily, including about 8,002 passenger trains.

                  

 Map showing the Indian rail network and   headquarters of each zone

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways operates both long distance and suburban rail systems. Sikkim is the only state which is not connected through Railways owing to its hilly terrain.

More information about Indian Railways: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways

I am sure after going through it you will join me in my admiration of this one of the largest and oldest heritage of our country. I guess we need to thank the Britishers here for introducing it to us.

That reminds me that this story about Railways will be incomplete without mentioning the achievement of E. Sreedharan who completed the Delhi Metro in time and with such efficiency that had been forgotten by the Indian Society. Hail Sreedharan. Hail Indian Railways!!!

That reminds me of another thing. Once somebody pointed out that there is an advertisement of Spice Jet Airways on Indian Rail site saying "Forget Long Train Journeys..etcetc..". Now that's funny and typically Laloo ishtyle . But we can pardon him for that as long as he keeps this industry as a money spinner..

So long,

~ShallowOcean

Hindi kavitaein

This is one of my favourite poems. Simply refreshing humor. But you know, nothing can express my life better than this. These paragraphs describe exactly what I am!. I wonder how the poet felt same as me. He must be one of my clan .

Surely read. It will make your head really light. 

आराम करो

एक मित्र मिले, बोले, "लाला, तुम किस चक्की का खाते हो?
इस डेढ़ छँटाक के राशन में भी तोंद बढ़ाए जाते हो।
क्या रक्खा है माँस बढ़ाने में, मनहूस, अक्ल से काम करो।
संक्रान्ति-काल की बेला है, मर मिटो, जगत में नाम करो।"
हम बोले, "रहने दो लेक्चर, पुरुषों को मत बदनाम करो।
इस दौड़-धूप में क्या रक्खा, आराम करो, आराम करो।

आराम ज़िन्दगी की कुंजी, इससे न तपेदिक होती है।
आराम सुधा की एक बूंद, तन का दुबलापन खोती है।
आराम शब्द में 'राम' छिपा जो भव-बंधन को खोता है।
आराम शब्द का ज्ञाता तो विरला ही योगी होता है।
इसलिए तुम्हें समझाता हूँ, मेरे अनुभव से काम करो।
ये जीवन, यौवन क्षणभंगुर, आराम करो, आराम करो।

यदि करना ही कुछ पड़ जाए तो अधिक न तुम उत्पात करो।
अपने घर में बैठे-बैठे बस लंबी-लंबी बात करो।
करने-धरने में क्या रक्खा जो रक्खा बात बनाने में।
जो ओठ हिलाने में रस है, वह कभी न हाथ हिलाने में।
तुम मुझसे पूछो बतलाऊँ — है मज़ा मूर्ख कहलाने में।
जीवन-जागृति में क्या रक्खा जो रक्खा है सो जाने में।

मैं यही सोचकर पास अक्ल के, कम ही जाया करता हूँ।
जो बुद्धिमान जन होते हैं, उनसे कतराया करता हूँ।
दीए जलने के पहले ही घर में आ जाया करता हूँ।
जो मिलता है, खा लेता हूँ, चुपके सो जाया करता हूँ।
मेरी गीता में लिखा हुआ — सच्चे योगी जो होते हैं,
वे कम-से-कम बारह घंटे तो बेफ़िक्री से सोते हैं।

अदवायन खिंची खाट में जो पड़ते ही आनंद आता है।
वह सात स्वर्ग, अपवर्ग, मोक्ष से भी ऊँचा उठ जाता है।
जब 'सुख की नींद' कढ़ा तकिया, इस सर के नीचे आता है,
तो सच कहता हूँ इस सर में, इंजन जैसा लग जाता है।
मैं मेल ट्रेन हो जाता हूँ, बुद्धि भी फक-फक करती है।
भावों का रश हो जाता है, कविता सब उमड़ी पड़ती है।

मैं औरों की तो नहीं, बात पहले अपनी ही लेता हूँ।
मैं पड़ा खाट पर बूटों को ऊँटों की उपमा देता हूँ।
मैं खटरागी हूँ मुझको तो खटिया में गीत फूटते हैं।
छत की कड़ियाँ गिनते-गिनते छंदों के बंध टूटते हैं।
मैं इसीलिए तो कहता हूँ मेरे अनुभव से काम करो।
यह खाट बिछा लो आँगन में, लेटो, बैठो, आराम करो।

- गोपालप्रसाद व्यास

 This is another one of my favorites. If someone wakes me up so sweetly, i'll wake up not only in the morning but even before dawn. What use of words. Lovely!! 

बीती विभावरी जाग री!

बीती विभावरी जाग री!
                  अम्बर पनघट में डुबो रही
                  तारा घट ऊषा नागरी।
खग कुल-कुल सा बोल रहा,
किसलय का अंचल डोल रहा,
                  लो यह लतिका भी भर लाई
                  मधु मुकुल नवल रस गागरी।
अधरों में राग अमंद पिये,
अलकों में मलयज बंद किये
                  तू अब तक सोई है आली
                  आँखों में भरे विहाग री।

- जयशंकर प्रसाद

 

If you are a lover of Hindi Poetry or if you want to become one ..dont miss checking out http://manaskriti.com/kaavyaalaya/index.html. It has one of the best collection of Hindi Poems . Another website is http://www.anubhuti-hindi.org . Hope you have a nice time. I totally enjoyed today this tour.

~ShallowOcean