Monday, January 18, 2010

Driving in India

Got as fwd.. Too gud .Cant agree more on tis !

 

Read thru till the end.. :D :D :D

Driving in India For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting
India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for
survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar,
where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer.

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you
do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints
are as follows:

Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is “both”.
Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In
that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed
by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just
trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to
road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality.

Most drivers don’t drive, but just aim their vehicles in the intended
direction. Don’t you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except
for a belief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any better
position.

Don’t stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross
the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back.
Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is
moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in
town.

Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill
of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn
to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two
brisk blasts), or, just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the
bazaar.

Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them
during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister’s motorcade, or
waiting for the rainwaters to recede when over ground traffic meets
underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored
lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated
bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at
breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting with
success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshaw
and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external
combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote.

This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers
three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After
careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into
these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in
contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are
Pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions
with other vehicles
on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral
children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton’s laws of
motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules
depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like
an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels
at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a
ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they
would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are
often “mopped” off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes and
during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers
hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the
overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying
laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many
Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of
these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in
their otherwise drab lives. Don’t stick to the literal meaning and
proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you
cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive, as you like, in
reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound
hypercritical,
I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential
areas has been prevented by providing a “speed breaker”; two for each
house.

This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that
residence and is left un-tarred for easy identification by the
corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for
year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience (for
those with the mental makeup of Chenghis Khan). In a way, it is like
playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the
drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns
out to be a truck attempting a speed record? On encountering it, just
pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon
passes.

Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink
your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is
the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at
the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a
naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to
kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six
feet above the ground.
This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single
light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get
too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of
course, all this occurs at night, on the trunk roads.

During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers
will never show any Signal. (And you must watch for the absent signals;
they are the greater threat). Only, you will often observe that the
cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave
hysterically. This is definitely not to be construed as a signal for a
left-turn. The waving is just a statement of physical relief on a hot
day.

If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessons
between 8 pm and 11 am when the police have gone home and – The citizen
is then free to enjoy the ‘FREEDOM OF SPEED’ enshrined in our
constitution.

Having said all this isn’t it true that the accident rate and related
deaths are less in India compared to US or other countries. !!??

Comments are Welcum .

With Love ,

 Ram

Posted by Ram in 13:01:46 | Permalink | Comments Off

Monday, May 4, 2009

Stuck in a Reverse Gear!!!

Recently took up my Gmat xams.. Completely screwed it up… wat nxt??? 

To be frank , my mind is blank now. I could not motivate myself to put down my ass & slog.. really hard thing to do nower days… Suddenly i feel im stuck.. going now where…  Go to do sumthing… tatz one thing i know… Big dreams in my heart… no fruitful action.. 
   
Every one who ran along with me just overtook me in tis rat race…. Lots of people  i know , got admit in very gud univs..
Wrk life also suxx to the core.. completely bored up with wat i do.. I could not / did not learn any thing new for past three years.
Wat am i goin to do in my life… ? Will life stamp me as “also ran”.?
  
Yup, my life is stuck in a reverse gear!!!!!!!

I hope my life drifts in right direction!!!!

 
Posted by Ram in 14:56:29 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Karan Thapar does it again!

I had always been a fan of Karan Thapar. His knack of askin question  is unparalleled.

He pushes politicians against the wall ,  by asking them “uncomfortable” question. This time , he screwed the  block head , the duffer ,the  king pin of CPI(can also be called as Chinese Party of India )…. Hope u got the name … Yup , im talking abt Prakash karat.
Njoi the show :

Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to The Devil’s Advocate. How credible is the Third Alternative being put together by Left parties? That’s the key issue I shall explore today with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Prakash Karat. Mr Karat, I want to talk to you about the Third Alternative the Left parties are putting together. The more I find out about it, the more it seems to me that it is based on opportunism rather than ideology and principle. Is this in your eyes an act of political maturity or desperation?

Prakash Karat: Let me make it clear. We are working for an electoral alternative which is popularly called the ‘Third Alternative’ or ‘Third Front’, and the nature of it being an electoral alternative; yes we will be coming up with parties with which we do not necessarily have full agreement ideologically or politically.

Karan Thapar: But isn’t that opportunism then?

Prakash Karat: No, because we have made it clear that the Left by itself will have its manifesto, will have its stand but to the extent that we can work with other secular parties with which we can have some minimum agreement, we will go ahead with that.

Karan Thapar: You say to the extent that you can work with secular parties. One of the reasons why I interpret this as opportunism is because it conflicts with something that you have repeatedly said is your core principle. You say you are committed to the fight against communalism and yet the parties that you are either embracing or courting are allies of the BJP. Jayalalithaa has supported a BJP government, she has attended Narendra Modi’s swearing in, she hosts lunches for Narendra Modi in Chennai. Mayawati on three occasions has been brought to power by the BJP, she has even campaigned for Narendra Modi. Why then do you see these people as secular?

Prakash Karat: There are number of secular parties, number of regional parties which have been either with the BJP or the Congress. We have said that we would want to have a combination which will fight both the Congress and the BJP. The parties which are not with the Left parties have always been either with the Congress or the BJP. If we succeed in bringing them onto our platform, I think that is good enough.

Karan Thapar: Except for the fact that they are BJP allies. Look at two other parties. You are personally reaching out to Kumaraswamy in the JD(S), Mr Bardhan is extremely keen to bring into the fold Naveen Patnaik from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). One is a present ally of the BJP, the other a recent former ally. Again, this is undermining the fight against communalism.

Prakash Karat: No, I think in the case of the BSP, these parties have to show that they are capable of defeating the BJP in the biggest state in the country – Uttar Pradesh. And BJP has been progressively weakened by parties which are secular in Uttar Pradesh. We have had an understanding earlier with the Samajwadi Party but since they have gone with the Congress, we have decided that we will have an understanding with the BSP.

Karan Thapar: That may just work for the BSP although it is questionable. But what about the JD(S), what about Mr Bardhan’s keeness to bring in the BJD?

Prakash Karat: The Janata Dal (Secular), headed by Mr Deve Gowda had always been with the Left parties, except for one period when they went with the BJP in Karnataka when we broke with them. But they have now changed their stand and they have decided to come with the Left parties.

Karan Thapar: Can I quote to you your political resolution passed by the 19th party Congress on March 31, 2008. Para 2.88 says, ‘The CPM will have no truck with regional parties who ally with the BJP’. Have you done a U-turn?

Prakash Karat: All of them have broken with the BJP. If they are allies with the BJP there is no question of us having anything to do with them. All these parties have, at various periods of time, clearly demarcated from the BJP, including the Telugu Desam Party.

Karan Thapar: As recently as March, I am referring back to the same political resolution and you have said of the JD(S) in that resolution – ‘The JD(S) headed by Deve Gowda has tarnished its secular image by entering into deals with the BJP’. Are you saying that in a matter of mere a eight months it has cured itself?

Prakash Karat: If you read the rest of the resolution, it also asks our party to work to detach these secular parties from the BJP alliance. And we have done that.

Karan Thapar: So you believe that you have actually scored a point in detaching them?

Prakash Karat: Well some of them have from their own experience. Like the Telugu Desam Party decided to have nothing to do with the BJP, and for others, we have discussed with them and we have come to a common understanding.

Karan Thapar: In which case, how do you explain that Deve Gowda today wants to bring in to your fold the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. Are you in favour of political alliances with outright religious organisations?

Prakash Karat: He has not discussed this matter with us at all.

Karan Thapar: But he said so to the Hindustan Times. He said so openly.

Prakash Karat: He has not discussed this. And we don’t know of any party being formed yet by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. They have not yet formed the party.

Karan Thapar: So, is he doing this behind your back or at least not with you permission?

Prakash Karat: He is free to discuss any issue about having alliances with parties and when he discusses with us, we will make him aware of our position.

Karan Thapar: Let me come to the second set of reasons why I primarily look at your ‘Third Alternative’ as opportunistic. Your new found friends face serious charges of corruption. Let’s take Jayalalithaa first. She has not only done time in jail but she still faces three cases, including one to do with her assets and she could very well end up in prison again. By associating with her, you are damaging you own parties image for integrity and poverty.

Prakash Karat: But all political parties outside the Left have charges of corruption raised against them. Till they are proved in the court of law, we do not see that necessarily as an impediment for us to have an understanding with the party. We are not having an understanding with individuals. We have had an understanding with RJD which is led by a party president who has faced corruption charges. There are many inside the Congress party who have faced corruption charges. There any many in outside and BJP who have faced corruption charges. Why should we make this criteria for deciding whether we should have an understanding with the political party? Then you cannot have an understanding with any political party.

Karan Thapar: I will give you two reasons. First of all, without Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK wouldn’t exist, and these are charges of corruption are personally about her.

Prakash Karat: I am afraid that applies to a large number of other parties as well.

Karan Thapar: It doesn’t apply to BJP, it doesn’t apply to the Congress.

Prakash Karat: Well that is questionable.

Karan Thapar: Looking at the other ally, Mayawati, by her own admission, she accepts that her personal assets have increased by over 3,000 per cent in just three years from 2004 and 2007, and Mr Bardhan, your ally, has gone on record to say she is the best person to the Prime Minister of India.

Prakash Karat: No, I don’t think he has said that. Anyway, what he has said is, when asked a question, whether Mayawati can be a prime ministerial candidate, he said, yes that can be possible. That it can be considered.

Karan Thapar: Forgive me, I must correct you. On July 27, 2008, on this programme, Mr Bardhan said not once but twice that she is the best person to be prime minister.

Prakash Karat: Well, that’s his view. That is fine. What is wrong with that? I beg to differ. You are picking on parties which have recently entered the fray. The Congress party is the prime source of corruption in this country, followed by the BJP. All other parties come in a lower category.

Karan Thapar: Let me put it like this. Many people say that the Left believes and practice the principle that in politics, Ceaser’s wife should be above and beyond suspicion. Shouldn’t that principle apply to your allies, shouldn’t that apply to the people that you endorse as future prime ministers of India?

Prakash Karat: Fighting corruption is an issue which has to be there on our agenda of the country and the political parties but you cannot make corruption an issue for deciding political programmes and the understanding between political parties. Because then, there will be no political party which you can ally with. Here you have a government which refuses to even order an enquiry over one of the biggest corruption scandals in the telecom sector, Rs 1 lakh crore.

Karan Thapar: But you are meant to better, you set the bar higher. Don’t compare yourself to Congress. Compare yourself to your own likes.

Prakash Karat: No, you talk about a party which is a premiere party – the Congress, which does not even want to look at corruption in its own government.

Karan Thapar: You said a moment ago that fighting corruption should be on the agenda. How can you fight corruption if your ally, the BSP, has 63 MLAs out of 206, that is 30 per cent who have criminal records, and 33 MLAs who face two or more cases to this day. How would you fight corruption with them?

Prakash Karat: I would beg to differ again. The way the media talks about politicians with criminal records, all of us have criminal records. If you look at my case, I have had three criminal cases against me because I had gone and attended protests. I have broken the law by breaking IP section 144, I have been charged with rioting. You should not confuse criminal cases with cases like murder and rape. Criminal cases are there against all politicians if they are with the people.

Karan Thapar: Except that I was really talking about corruption cases, cases to do with moral turpitude and those are not the sort of cases you face.

Prakash Karat: If there are cases of corruption and moral turpitude then they must be tried by law.

Karan Thapar: But you are allying with the ladies who are facing these cases.

Prakash Karat: Let them be convicted. Let us see if it happens.

Karan Thapar: Let me come back to Jayalalithaa, let me move beyond the issue of corruption.

Prakash Karat: I don’t know why are you obsessed with these two ladies.

Karan Thapar: Because they are at the forefront of this alliance.

Prakash Karat: I would like to tell you that what we are forging alliances in each states. There are major regional parties who have substantial mass base, who have taken a position that we will fight both Congress and BJP. Only with such parties are we allying. So, if you think that corruption should be the main criteria, I am afraid that is not the way our Third Alternative or Third Force looks at.

Karan Thapar: Not just corruption, the Left is identified in the public mind as a party that stands for rationality, for a scientific mindset, for a modern attitude in contrast, Jayalalithaa believes in astrology and numerology, her partymen prostate in front of her…

Prakash Karat: I am afraid you are blind to the reality that every non-Left leaders consult astrologers. Why are you picking on Jayalalithaa? The entire Cabinet goes to astrologers.

Karan Thapar: They say a man should be judged by the company he keeps. In the company of Jayalalithaa and Mayawati, the JD(S), perhaps the BJD, possibly the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, the Left looks tainted, compromised and desperate.

Prakash Karat: Well, I can define secularism in a way which most of them don’t agree with. I am seen in company of the Congress, but I have taken a political decision at that time to defend secularism and exit the alliance. The company I keep will be on the basis of the politics and the policies that I would like to advocate.

Karan Thapar: Can you defend secularism in the company of parties that are not just communal but have been allies of the BJP?

Prakash Karat: I told you they have broken with the BJP. And because of the stand that the AIADMK will take, they took a decision not to go with the Left now. Ms Jayalalithaa had asked us eight months earlier before we even withdrew support to the UPA Government that they would like to have an understanding with us and the BJP will be left with not even one seat in Parliament from Tamil Nadu.

Karan Thapar: Let’s turn to the future, despite your former alliance with them, the BJP claims that both the TDP and the AIADMK are talking to them behind closed doors. Are you confident that your allies will stick with you?

Prakash Karat: I think that is not the issue. The issue is that as far as we are concerned, we will forge alliances with many of the regional parties and other secular parties and recent experience shows that after 1998 elections, the NDA was formed and 1996 after the elections the United Front was formed, and 2004 after the elections, the UPA was formed. So by the time, the 2009 elections are over, I am sure that an alliance will develop where a third force or a Third Alternative will emerge.

Karan Thapar: But you deftly sidestepped the issue I raised. Are you confident that the TDP and AIADMK will stay with you or are they talking to the BJP behind you back?

Prakash Karat: In fact, what we have discussed and assessed is that after the elections, not only will they stay with us, others will join also us into the third front.

Karan Thapar: You had Mayawati almost in your grasp but the July bonhomie that you established – when you were breakfasting together – didn’t last for weeks or even days.

Prakash Karat: No, I am constantly in touch with her. What we have decided is that if all of us will put our best foot forward and win a sufficient number of seats, and other secular parties will come along with us. This is what the Left parties and the BSP think.

Karan Thapar: So you still believe that you have some understanding with Mayawati even though the rest of us can’t see it?

Prakash Karat: No, we don’t have an electoral understanding but they have promised us, they have assured us that they will be part of the non-Congress, non-BJP combination. And that will appear after the election.

Karan Thapar: Suppose after the elections, its more tempting for AIADMK and the TDP to go with the BJP. After all they have been allies of the BJP for six years.

Prakash Karat: Our relationship with the TDP has developed over the last two years and we have cooperated not just for the elections but for number of other issues too. And we are confident of that.

Karan Thapar: Let me put is like this, if the next elections throws up a hung Parliament – as many people believe will be the outcome – and the only way of preventing the BJP of forming a government is for you to support a Congress-led coalition, then would the CPM be prepared to do that?

Prakash Karat: I firmly believe that 2004 results will not be repeated in 2009 where a situation developed where we were compelled or had no other choice but to support a Congress-led Government.

Karan Thapar: But if you have a hung Parliament?

Prakash Karat: Then we will sit in the opposition or we may support any other government but a Congress-led government.

Karan Thapar: So in other words you are saying that your refusal to support, under any circumstances, the Congress-led government could actually permit a BJP-led government to take office.

Prakash Karat: I don’t think that is the way it will happen.

Karan Thapar: But you are prepared to let it happen?

Prakash Karat: No, we will sit in the opposition. Why do you think 2004 will be repeated? We will support a government but it cannot be a Congress-led government. It can still be a secular government, a non-BJP government.

Karan Thapar: But not a Congress-led government in any circumstances?

Prakash Karat: I am saying that it can be a secular government which may get the support of the Left but we cannot support a Congress-led government.

Karan Thapar: Would it be easier for you to support a Congress-led government if the prime minister were not to be Dr Manmohan Singh?

Prakash Karat: I said Congress-led, it’s not based on any individual leading the government.

Karan Thapar: So no government that has been led by any Congressmen or woman can be supported by the Left.

Prakash Karat: Congress-led, yes.

Karan Thapar: Regardless of who the Congress person is, you will not support it.

Prakash Karat: But we may support a secular government to keep the BJP out.

Karan Thapar: Could it be a secular government where Congress is a part even if Congress doesn’t lead it?

Prakash Karat: I can’t say that now. It depends on the situation.

Karan Thapar: But you are not ruling it out.

Prakash Karat: I cannot say that now what’s going to happen. We are looking for a non-Congress, non-BJP government. That’s our first priority and we are working for that.

Karan Thapar: But you are also indicating to me that the government – where Congress is a part but not leading it – could be a government you would support?

Prakash Karat: No, I didn’t say that. I said we are at no cost going to support a Congress-led government. However, we will try to work a secular government. What shape that will take is something I cannot say till after the elections.

Karan Thapar: But you are not excluding the possibility that that secular government could have Congress party in a participatory role.

Prakash Karat: I cannot rule it out, but it seems unlikely.

Karan Thapar: Let me put it like this. As you look back on your four-and-a-half-year experience of supporting the UPA Government, how do you recall working with Dr Manmohan Singh?

Prakash Karat: We never had problems working as any individual, leader or prime minister. We had problems with the policies pursued by the government.

Karan Thapar: Is it the policies pursued by the Congress Government that have put you off Congress or is it that you feel emotionally and politically let down or even betrayed. Is it emotional or political?

Prakash Karat: Dr Manmohan Singh was always clear on what he wanted to do, there is no question of betrayal. Our problem was that we had got into a situation where we could not accept the Congress-led government going ahead with the strategic alliance with the US.

Karan Thapar: Is that the only reason why you did it this time and will do it now in future to keep the BJP out. You aren’t ready to support the Congress?

Prakash Karat: We don’t agree with the whole gamut of Congress policies, the economic policies, it’s foreign policies. The old differences between us remain.

Karan Thapar: I suppose what I am asking, and I will ask it quickly and bluntly, is it politics that separate you or is it an emotional experience of what you consider betrayal?

Prakash Karat: No my party doesn’t work on emotions. Our Central Committee has decided that we have to work for the defeat of the Congress and the BJP. And when we go to the people with that mandate, we will have to work with that mandate.

Karan Thapar: Prakash Karat, a pleasure talking to you.

Hope u have njoied it ….



Posted by Ram in 16:13:26 | Permalink | Comments Off

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Russel Peter’s Show

     It was one of my desires to attend RP show!. Chance came on October 18th and i grabbed it with both hands.I booked tickets well ahead for the show.The show was complete fun.It was  2 hrs of pure non – stop entertainment.
     
    I went to the show bit early.I went to venue 1/2 hr early and the show started started almost 1/2 hr late.
That was only sore point of the whole incident.First performance was from his friend ‘Angelo Tsarouchas‘.
It was really gud!!.He mocked himself for being ’fat’ and  gave reasons for it too.. Too gud.The next item of him was  about stupidity found in people. It was also nice.In between he took a dig @ Bangalore’s road condition by comparing it with ‘Disneyland’ ride. Awesum!!!

  The show ‘really’ beagn , when Angelos announced name ‘ Russell Peter’.The whole crowd literally erupted.Claps and whistles took quite sumtime to settle down.Before the  start of show , i thought how wud his show be? He can’t take dig of South asians… coz audience are mainly Indians. Hence he concentrated more on India & Indians. Too Gud is a small word to describe the show.He took dig at pot holes in B’lore road to Discotheque ban in B’lore. He really ridiculed Kolkatta.As usual ,few audience were literally torn apart :) .Then there was his favourite Chinese!.usual Stuff.When show ended , audience wanted more.Hence in encore , he told ‘Somebody is gona get hurt really bad!!!’ joke.Atlast , Audience gave fitting standing ovation.
 

It was really a memorable evening.Had lots of fun. Lookin forward for your comments.!!
Till then, Cheers!!!!!!!!

    

Posted by Ram in 08:02:16 | Permalink | Comments Off

Friday, October 10, 2008

Steve Job’s speech @ Stanford University

This is one of best motivational stuff, i ever read………

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

 ” I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.”

Posted by Ram in 11:24:56 | Permalink | Comments Off

Monday, August 25, 2008

My Stay in Deutschland!!!!!

Im staying  in  Deutschland(Germany) from July 1st. Tat was my first flight journey & tat was my first visit abroad. I had a mixed feeling… Leavin lotz of things in India like useless long chit chat wit room mates, 1st day cinema , stroll in MG road r Brigade road ,  festivals etc… Now i have entered a new world, new place, new language, new people , new culture….. It was  a kind of new experience for me. My stay in Deutschland is about end. Wen i look back , i have lotz of things which i can take back from Germany to India :like their Systematic approach in everything (They even plan  their holidays like they work. ), approach of being slow and steady and their level concentration and dedication to their work.It is an awesum thing to admire.Atmosphere in Stuttgart(where i stayed..)  is calm and serene. Sumtimes wen i lie in bed, i cud hear my heart beat !!!!

Though everything is present , i feel sumthing is missing out in my life.Sum thing i miss out. All weeks are kind of same.Monday to friday ,my schedule is to :wake up in morning , prepare urself , go to work.After coming back , switch on laptop(it is a now a new addition in basic amenity list for Indians stayin abroad.. Food , water. shelter  & laptop…!!!!), watch sum movies r comedy shows… While watchin cook for nite & tommorow…. Every day  , the routine is same. On Weekends go on for trips. I really got bored up with trips.Nothing major to see. All destination are quite same , except a few. Yesterday i went to eiffel tower.I felt it was nothing wen compared to our Meenakshi amman temple in Madurai. I really felt angry @ the Indian Government for not properly marketing tourism.India is a heaven for tourist. One advantage i got from these trips is that , it gave me urge to explore India.
 
Still one more week is left for me to travel back to India. Till then im playin ‘Yejo Desh hai mera’ from Swades in my  laptop!!!    

    

Posted by Ram in 16:15:58 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Friday, May 2, 2008

National Language of India

           

  Your answer for “National Language of India” is Hindi, then think again.   

India has the following “National Insignia”.
 
National Anthem
 JANA-GANA-MANA-ADHINAYAKA, JAYA HE 
 BHARATA-BHAGYA-VIDHATA 
 PUNJAB-SINDHU-GUJARATA-MARATHA- 
 DRAVIDA-UTKALA-BANGA 
 VINDHYA-HIMACHALA-YAMUNA-GANGA 
 UCCHHALA-JALADHI TARANGA 
 TAVA SUBHA NAME JAGE 
 TAVA SUBHA ASHISHA MAGE 
 GAHE TAVA JAYA GATHA. 
 JANA-GANA-MANGALA DAYAKA, JAYA HE 
 BHARATA-BHAGYA-VIDHATA, 
 JAYA HE, JAYA HE, JAYA HE, 
 JAYA JAYA JAYA, JAYA HE.
-         Rabrindranath Tagore.

National Emblem:
The National Emblem of India is a replica of the Lion of Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

National Animal: Tiger.

National Bird : Peacock.

National Flower :Lotus.

National Tree: Banyan.

National Fruit : Mango.

What about our National Language?
 If Hindi is your answer, then think again.
The hard truth is “There is no national language for India ”. My search to find our National Language of India in all Central Govt websites proved futile. Hindi is mentioned as “Official Language” only. Then I searched in wikipedia. From wikipedia I found following information.
The Indian constitution, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e., on 26 January 1965. The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non Hindi-speaking areas of India, as a result of which Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963, which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965. An attempt was made in late 1964 to expressly provide for an end to the use of English, but it was met with protests from across the country. Some of these protests also turned violent. Widespread protests occurred in states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh. As a result of these protests, the proposal was dropped, and the Act itself was amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament.
The current position is thus that the Union government may continue to use English in addition to Hindi for its official purposes as a “subsidiary official language, but is also required to prepare and execute a programme to progressively increase its use of Hindi. The exact extent to which, and the areas in which, the Union government uses Hindi and English, respectively, is determined by the provisions of the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, 1963, the Official Languages Rules, 1976, and statutory instruments made by the Department of Official Language under these laws.

The Indian constitution does not specify the official languages to be used by the states for the conduct of their official functions, and leaves each state free to, through its legislature, adopt Hindi or any language used in its territory as its official language or languages.The language need not be one of those listed in the Eighth Schedule, and several states have adopted official languages which are not so listed. Examples include Kokborok in Tripura, Mizo in Mizoram, Khasi, Garo, and Jaintia in Meghalaya, and French in Pondicherry.
In case of language of judiciary, four states - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - have been granted the right to conduct proceedings in their High Courts in their official language, which, for all of them, was Hindi. However, the only non-Hindi state to seek a similar power - Tamil Nadu, which sought the right to conduct proceedings in Tamil in its High Court - had its application rejected by the central government earlier , which said it was advised to do so by the Supreme Court. Now in a new move the law ministry has said that it wont object to Tamilnadu’s claim to have tamil as an official language to conduct proceedings in Tamil in its High Court.

If you are still in doubt, refer the following links:
 http://india.gov.in/knowindia/india_at_a_glance.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_symbols.php
Mistake made by Hindu news paper
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/25/stories/2007092559650200.htm
Corrections and clarifications on Hindu within the next two days, saying :”There is no national language for India”.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/09/27/stories/2007092756121300.htm

However,if Hindi is made as our National Language,it will improve our “oneness” and of course, there is no harm in learning new things.

Posted by Ram in 12:41:09 | Permalink | Comments Off

Friday, February 1, 2008

Let News Be Just News………..

 
  I really loved this article which came in Deccan Herald , after all fuss the news channels creates everyday…………..

                                
                                    ’I MISS THE NEWS IN NEWS!’
                                                                        -    Reema Moudgil
    Someone please pass on some news now. News, that does not scream, giggle or rant. News that is just news.
                    
                          ‘Sharm Karo, Govinda!,” screamed a headline across the frowning visage of Star News recently. It was accompanied by repeated shots of the actor slapping a visitor on his sets. Then followed an interview where the reporter pussyfooted around the actor’s temper and encouraged him to vent on and on.
  
                           Later the same “report” was run by the channel with an almost abusive voice over that accused Govinda of being an uncouth human-being and an unrepentant bully. A few months ago, a television actress’ husband was tailed by TV reporters who asked him incessantly why his wife had filed an FIR against him. Did he beat her? Was he drunk right now? When the man snapped and exhaled in the face of a reporter, the channel exploded with righteous anger about how the man had insulted the press.
                             What is news afterall? Is it unvarnished reportage? Is it a comment? Or a judgement? What are news channels? Are they purveyors of information? Are they kangaroo courts where erring celebrities and under-performing cricketers are stoned in absentia and family feuds resolved? Are they horror shows? Puppet shows? Comedy shows?

                             At a recent show organised by CNN IBN in Bangalore, a man said, “I miss the news in news.” He was right. No matter which news channel you switch on today, you are likely to see a show featuring news rather than just news.

                             A few weeks back, a leading English news channel was running a report on the state of Saif Ali Khan’s forearm, which in case you did not know, has been altered irrevocably. He has, you see, tattooed the name of his latest girlfriend (in Devanagri in case you are interested) on it. Another very serious news channel strains its brains routinely about who is the emperor and who the king of Bollywood and ran SMS polls last year to find out whether Shah Rukh Khan had upstaged Amitabh Bachchan with his performance in KBC. Nothing however can beat the melodrama that Hindi channels like Aaj Tak and Star News drum up. 

                             Whether it is a nobody called Jhanvi who slits her wrists before Abhishek Bachchan’s impending nuptials or Aishwarya Rai’s supposed Mangal Dosha, these channels put the world on hold to flood air time with incessant rantings. Ram Gopal Varma recently commented in an interview that he was fascinated by the ‘talent’ with which news is presented today to the viewers and that he almost became afraid for the Bachchans when a channel played up Aishwarya’s supposedly ill-aligned stars and foretold disaster!

                              Star News takes particular pride in scavenging filth and once encouraged a little girl to talk in detail about how she saw her father brutally murder her mother. On another occasion, they set up an influential man against his son and daughter-in-law and both sides fought dirty over a child’s custody.

                       They also showed in detail, a report about a blind teacher who allegedly tried to rape a student, also blind! Of course, we are grateful that news vigilantes are out there, stinging corrupt ministers, canvassing for rape and acid attack victims and showing us the mess our governments wallow in.

                      Yes, we have all been shaken, stirred and entertained by news channels. Someone please pass on some news now. News, that does not scream, giggle or rant. News that is just news.

     
Posted by Ram in 05:11:10 | Permalink | Comments Off

Friday, January 25, 2008

Great Indian Bubble Burst- Stumbling of Indian Stock Market.

Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way
                                                                                                      -  Murphy’s Law            

Location Mumbai , Dalal Street
From 21 January 2008
to 21 January 2008

News from a website on Jan 21st:
        Mumbai, India : January 21, 2008 – A great crash in the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex here today, it crashed by 2050 points, the largest fall in a single day and stumbled to a low of 16,963.96.
 The NSE Nifty fell by 714.70 points to 4990.30 points, down almost 12.5%.  Heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) dampened the market sentiment.
The Sensex has been in the bear grip for the last five trading sessions with shares dipping to a two-month low.
On October 17, 2007, the Sensex plunged by 1,743 points. The Sensex hit a low of 17,307.90 points within minutes of opening, following which trading was suspended in the market for an hour.
 The markets had crashed on the wake of Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) proposal to tighten the rules for purchase of shares and bonds in Indian companies through the participatory note (PN) route.


                                                     Jan 21st witnessed a great drama in dalal street.  The trading was stopped twice (i suppose).  Sensex experienced a  great fall. Trillions of rupees were lost in single day. Newspapers next day read:  Ambani brother lost 50,000 crore each!!!! Iam a novice in this arena, hence I sought out to find the reason for the same.

 

                                                    I think, it was all started with reliance IPO. FII’s pulled out money to buy reliance IPO and witnessing their weakness in the US market (resurfacing of sub prime issue), went on a rampage. It resulted in heavy sell off (almost all Asian markets got affected) .        

                                                    Suddenly a question now lingers in my mind, “Are we really ‘Incredible India !’ ’”. ? I feel we still did not reach position being incredible, but we are marching towards the goal. We are still susceptible to global cues.  
 
                                                     Things would have been lot more better if SEBI has regulated FII’s  more stringently. It has to be done in small steps. if not it would result in another great fall as we have seen on October 17, 2007(the Sensex plunged by 1,743 points).

                                          I feel one way mistakes can be a stepping stones to success, if we learn from those mistakes. Biggest blunder we made was believing in the effervescence created  by FII’s on Indian companies. Most of the companies was overvalued. For example, City Union Bank traded at 430.70 rupees on Jan 17th Jan  hit rock bottom(I should say, reached its intrinsic value ) .On Jan 24th,  ,  it was trading  at Rupees 44.50. It was all due heavy selling of shares of CUB  by FII’s in this week. I feel all our sins are washed away by blood bath that took place on Monday. 

 

                            I sincerely believe in the statement, “To Err is Human, to err twice is just stupidity“. I feel, at least from now investors will play prudently in forth coming days.

 

                                  On seeing all these things, I remember a good cartoon about share market.


                                                                           


 


PS: As I told earlier, iam a novice. Post presented above is from my view point and from my understanding of the subject. If you feel, my judgement is wrong, please let me know.Awaiting for your comments.

Posted by Ram in 13:41:32 | Permalink | Comments Off

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Film review – I Am Legend (2007)

I Am Legend (2007)

Genre:  Sci-Fi


                                       I was alone in my home yesterday and i called up my friend to watch a movie. Since , there was no good movies screened in nearby multiplex, we decided to watch  “I am Legend”. To describe the whole movie in one word – “Bold” . It is indeed a bold move  by director to make a movie with just 2 “main characters”. – ‘Dr. Robert Neville and his pet dog ‘

                                       The movie is a story about lone survivor in NY. In NY, except him , everyone is affected by  deadly virus which turns all residents into Zombies. Will Smith has portrayed the character just aptly. Kudos to director for making a hero, a natural one without any “holly wood masala”. This film is just a visual treat for audience. Visual effects team  have done an  awesome work. There are few scenes which really touched my heart. Scene where in Will Smith search for his dog inside a Bank. Inside the locker room, there will be lot of  money lying all over but still he searches for the dog (Analyze the above scene in a philosophical pt of view. Logically, what is the use of money anyway?) , scene where he kills his dog and scene where he cries for a company. Will Smith stand outs as an actor.

                                             Though film has lots of positives, climax was unconvincing .I should say last half an hour was not riveting I felt second half could have been handled lot better. Though, this film is not in my “must watch” list, but it was a good one for spending your one & half hour. Make sure you watch it in a theatre otherwise you will miss out  all the fun.


Rating ★★★☆☆ January 16, 2008

 

Posted by Ram in 08:02:16 | Permalink | Comments (2)