Tuesday 21 December 2010

That 'ONE' Person

I thought hard to give this post the best start that I could give. Thought of all the high fandu big words and adjectives I knew. Searched my brain with all the vocab I know of. I would be talking of a very important person in this article. And so I pondered on all the ways to make a best possible start. Soon I realised that no words can make it possible. Words are never enough to describe the best possible feeling and the best possible person. At least I am not capable of doing so. So this is how I start and I will go about telling you what I actually mean when I talk about that 'one' person in our life.

We all have one such person who brings out the best within us. Who is the actual reason for us being what we are today. This special person may be in different roles for each one of us.Some have this person as idols they follow, some parents and for most its the person they love. For most of us, this person is the one we look up to whenever we are down. They come in our life when we are down and depressed. When we have been bruised in the battle of life. That one person comes and picks us up back, helps us stand on our own feet, helps us get back our lost confidence and charm and makes us what we are today. And they accept us as we are. People say everybody changes with time. But when that change is to reciprocate the unconditional love and care we receive, its all fair and such changes are never felt as a burden.

Life has never been fair and will never be. Its the same with people around. If you say you just like everybody around then either you are lying or you really do not care about anyone. With scorpions that is not the case. We have a strong sense of likes and dislikes. At times when we do not see many people around who can be liked, this one person is enough. That one person understand the unspoken words, knows the hidden feelings and is aware of the true meaning behind the words. Life would have been really difficult in the absence of that one person. We do not have to pose or be formal in front of them. We do not have to mince words in front of them. We can be our true self which has become so difficult to be these days. And that one person still loves us, cares for us and is there for us.

It is this one person whom you think of whenever you are sad. And it is this one person you are free to talk anything that you want. We have many songs that go on and on about such people in our life but I like a few lines which I would like to quote from a old bollywood song from the movie Junglee.

"Tumne mujhko hasna sikhaya,
Rone kahoge ro lenge ab.
Aansoo ke humare gum na karo,
wo behte hai toh behne do.
mujhe tumse mohabbat ho gayi hai,
mujhe palko ki chav main rehne do"
"Chahe bana do, chahe mita do,
Mar bhi gaye toh denge duyaein."

For those who are not good with Hindi, use google translator.

So guys and girls, as soon as you read this think of that one person in your life who gives you the comfort of being loved in this world and go and tell that person that you love them and that they are special in your life. Do not wait for an occasion to say it. Cause I am sure if not for that 'one' person in your life, life would have been more difficult than it is now. And those who feel you still do not have that one person in your life yet, maybe the time has not yet come when you need them the most.

 And for those who feel I have still not been able to justify the importance of that one person. Blame it on my inability to do so.

Cheers!

Thursday 9 December 2010

The Nira Radia Tapes

            They kept on coming. We kept on receiving them. It was 2G spectrum scam first, we said 'Ohh' ; then came Adarsh scam and LIC housing scam, we said 'Ohh dear' and now comes the best ‘the Nira Radia tapes controversy’. For those who are not aware of this latest issue as they might be busy in their lifes ignoring our beloved (sarcasm this time) country, Nira Radia is the owner of a PR firm and her phone conversations ,with the top corporate and top but disgusting mediapersons, were tapped and leaked which is creating quite a drama.
            I would strongly recommend you guys to listen to these phone conversations which are easily available on youtube. Not that we are not aware that we have a country with maximum corrupt people, but listening to substantial proofs for the lobbying that happens in the corporate and political world and the way the media guys as well as judicial system is biased and flawed just makes me hang my head in shame in front of people whom I lecture for the greatness of my country.
            In the whole saga, the best thing to happen was that Ratan Tata came out clean.In his entire conversation he was just being good to Nira who happens to be the PR person for the tata group. Even Prabhu Chawala for that matter, though personally was not involved but his comments on the Ambani brothers and speaking about how even the Supreme court justice can be bought for a favourable decision cannot be ignored. If he is certain and has proofs that it happens why did he not bring all this to the public. Is that is not what the people expect from the media guys? And why are the media guys and media channels not showing this news again and again as they do for all others. For everything else they have a Breaking News, but this news has a black out. None except Karan Thapar dared to host a debate on this issue.
           And now let’s talk about the bigger devils. Will Barkha dutt and Vir Sanghvi ever be able to host an interview or show  with their heads held high again? Are you guys not a disgrace to society? Barkha Dutt seems more like a Congress Lobbyist trying to talk to people to get her people on the ministries. Not to mention that Congress is corrupt and is known for her ways to fool the country to vote for them.The way it was discussed clearly shows that we do not allocate ministry to people on merit. Ya, I know its not a big revelation for Indian Politics but trying to fool the masses is definitely a crime. Both Vir and Barkha clearly talked about manipulating the message that they want to send across to the general public. What we feel as an unbiased interview by these journos is no better than any of the reality shows hosted by entertainment channels. They fool the people by saying it is real, but it is all scripted.
         When one of my friends went into her third year Mass media degree, she had to opt between advertisement and journalism. I was a strong supporter of her going into journalism so that she can ask questions that the common man needs an answer to. She opted to advertisement. I am glad today. In one of the conversations, these journalists talk about the Ambani brothers case and say this is not good got national interest. I would like to know who gave these bloody cheats (pardon my language) the right to decide what’s good for the nation. You decide and then you manipulate the masses to believe in your thoughts. What a shame!
        In the past I have spoken about our ability to be a super power with the change in the attitudes of the people. Now I realize it will not be an easy job. A country where the people we trusted to take care of the society, the media persons and the judges, go hand in hand with the corrupt politicians is going way ahead in darkness. Next time when someone tells me he opts not to stay in India as he needs his children to grow in a society that is not biased and where the masses are not fooled, I would have nothing to do except hang my head in shame. Thanks to guys like Barkha Dutt, Nira Radia and Vir Sanghvi. And even if you come out clean, we now know how you would have managed to do that.

Friday 19 November 2010

How to make money in Stock markets...

Before we start assuming, let me make it clear that I have not made alot of money from the stock market, at least not as much as I would have liked. Fortunately ( just being modest ) I have not even lost money. However I have considered myself a player of the market from last 5 years and I have seen the entire sine wave of the market. As in I have seen the market rise from 15k to 21 k , then falling to 8k and then rising back to 21k. This exposure gives me enough knowledge to write on the matter. Here I share some common tips and trick to make money in stock markets. However please note that this tips are for Retail investors who have a proper salaried job and not for people who make a living out of stock markets.
  • The best thing ever told to you guys would be to invest in Mutual Funds. This allows professionals to take care of your money. However you are not directly involved which means less fun, less risk , less gains and less losses.It is good for people who just want to invest and not care about stock markets
  • One of the best tip is given by the man who made millions with stock markets, Warren Buffet. He says ' Be greedy when others are scared to buy and be scared when others are greedy'. Though it looks simple its the most difficult thing to follow. I can say that with personal experience.
  • Another golden rule says ' Buy on rumours and sell on news'. This rule can be called as a corollory and above rule as a theorem. Again a simple rule but difficult to follow.
  • One of the most important thing to remember when you trade in shares is that never do it on credit. In stock market terms, it is also called margin. Always buy shares with cash so that you can hold them as long as you want. Buying on margin increases your exposure to losses.
  • When you buy and sell shares for short term, technical analysis is more important than fundamental analysis. Most of the analyst coming on TV shows and recommending buy or sell of shares are technical analysts.
  • Before you start following tips for buy/sell from any technical analyst, make a thorough research on the person's calls. For at least 3 months, note down the person's recommendations and targets and find out how many times is he right. Some sites like rediff portfolios or moneycontrol can help you in this process. I, myself, go through this process and after a year of research, I follow a particular analyst blindly now. He is 80% times right.
  • Remember to respect the Stop Loss phenomenon. The analyst would always say to buy a particular share but to keep a stop loss on it. For example, he may say buy 'A' for 100 Rs with target of 110 and Stop Loss of 95. This means his call is valid for buy only till the share reaches 95 rs, Below that it is recommended to sell even if we are in a loss.
  • Averaging is a good scheme but is not always right. To keep buying more shares of a particular scrip (company) when it is going down will not always work. That money could have been used to buy shares going up and make money.
  • Always be ready for the fact that not all days are going to be profit days. Be ready for the loss days.
  • Never consider stock market as a fast and easy money making money phenomenon. It is a very analytical gambling. Set your expectations right.
  • Remember the real money is made by big players. We as retail small time investors are people who eat the left-overs. Accept this fact. Though the left overs are a considerable amount, it still will never be as big as what the major players earn.
These were a few thoughts I felt like sharing with you guys. Please do inform if you found these useful. Also feel free to ask questions on the topic if you have any or if there is any other area within the topic that you want me to write about.

Planning to write a few points on Tax saving/planning near the December-January period.

Cheers!

Thursday 11 November 2010

Search for India's Obama

  No, its not a new TV reality hunt show as the trend has been in India. It's just a thought that came across my mind after i watched the video of Obama speaking in front on the Indian Parliament. I would strongly suggest before you go further in the post, Spend 30 minutes of your time to listen to one of the great orators of these times and arguably the strongest person on planet earth, the president of the USA.



  Now if you would have carefully observed, only then will you realize that though the speech looks like is spoken impromptu or mugged up, its not. He does actually have a book below, but he did not care to look below for more than 2 times in the entire 30 minute speech. Spoke with a passion, spoke like a true leader and spoke whatever he wanted to. He has a charm and great oratory skills apart from the power the position gives him. Anyway the post is not about how good Obama is but the search for an Indian Obama.

  Compare this speech to the speech our respected PM Mr Manmohan Singh gives. A guy who is reading from a bunch of papers and speaks with no vigor or enthusiasm. The voice is low with no tonal gradations. He is a great economist but the weakest PM we ever had. He speaks and looks all like the rubber stamp PM that he is. I would not blame the world if they do not take India seriously. The man representing us does not speak with the dynamism that the country beholds. But is it only him?? Let us talk about our future PM Mr Rahul Gandhi. ( I am convinced the country is again going to vote in favour of a Gandhi, And one of the reason they will do so is cause we are out of options). We all remember how Rahul goes to places and mingles with the young crowd. He would have done alot of things in the small political career he has. But all these are planned by the real brains of Congress. The brains who know how this country has to be ruled. Do we remember one great speech from this guy? He was almost dumb before Madam decided to groom his personality so that he can be the next PM. I am sure our next leader is also going to be as lame as the current one.

  The opposition BJP had one of the greatest orators of all time, Mr Vajpayee. A man whom the world respected for his oratory skills and persona. But there has been no replacement to this guy. The second string BJP leaders do have a few good orators like Modi and Sushma Swaraj, but until one of them evolves to be the leader at the country level, we are shooting in the dark if we hope they can end our search. The problem has been that the BJP second string leaders always behaved like crabs. As soon as one wished to go up, the others pulled him down. And this is one of the greatest reasons why we do not have a strong opposition. Speakers like Lalu can be said as good, but only in their style. You cannot expect them to represent the country at an international level specially if we are portraying our self as the next probable super power.

   Regionally we might have few good orators but the politics or agenda they have may not help them evolve to a national level. I know of a certain Raj Thackeray who can impress a few with his oratory skills but the agenda of his party is more in dividing the country. He will not come in power even in the state of Maharashtra, forget dreaming about national level. Same applies for other good orators at regional levels.

   So when a leader like Obama comes to my country and speaks, it makes me wonder, if we ever will be able to find the Indian Obama. Somebody who would have the charm and the skills to lead the country. Someone who can represent us globally and speak with the same passion and authority in which Mr Obama did. I have mentioned this before and i will repeat it. We do have the capability of being the next super power provided we change the attitude. Let us have at least one leader in the forties who can speak with the same skills like Obama does. As I sincerely do not expect people in the seventies and eighties capable to show the energy and agility that the global level demands. Its time for you to rest, and not lead the country to darkness.

 I had heard of a saying which said, your team is only as weak as your weakest link. I will modify and say, your country is only as powerful as your leader is. I hope this search ends soon. I hope we have someone whom the world listens, applauds and respects. Cause I still dream of making my country the best in the world.

Cheers!

Friday 5 November 2010

The day I turned 25

I can understand the importance of 21 as you get the right to marry. I can understand 18 as you get the right to vote. I can understand 16 as its supposedly the sweetest age. I can understand 40 as its the onset of the decline of your youth. But i still do not understand what is so special about 25 apart from the fact that its the silver jubilee year. For those who failed to guess, I turned 25; completed my silver jubilee; on the 3rd of November. Ya fine, I will change my age in the profile in the blog.

The importance of my age was first shown by my mom. She asked me after wishing; "So how old are you now?" I was surprised to hear this, I thought how can my mom forget my age, then it struck me that she cannot, she is just trying to prove the importance of the year. And then one of my friend who is so scared of the number. She probably would remain 24 n half till she turns 30 kept reminding me that I am getting old.

Ok, I was talking about my day. With the time difference between India and here I was expecting some confusion among well wishers on the time to wish. Confusion prevailed. I did not have much expectations this year knowing the fact that this is my first birthday when I am away from home. I know for a fact that there are a few people on this world who would make me feel special on my day. Some of them did while some tried. But I am always thankful to God for giving me such people in my life. Got a fewer calls this time than normal and lil more mails. I, personally, do not take offence from my friends if they forget my birthday as I know myself.I am so bad with dates that some day I might even forget mine. So the day was pretty much normal with a few of them calling , few who I know might have remembered but couldn't reach me, few who were just unaware of the day and few who might have known but still did not call for some reasons. Thanks to all of them except the third and fourth kinds of people in the list ;-)

I tried to gamble on my birthday. I decided to take the driving test to get a license in USA. Now for those who are unaware, its not easy. I did clear my written earlier but then I gambled to take the actual driving test without training from a school. Thanks to the kind hearted American couple (Mary and Tim) who taught me driving by letting me drive for lunch for a week. I would not have expected an Indian here to help me learn to drive with their cars. This couple did dared. On my birthday, Tim took me to the DMV and we took the test. Ohh common, do I need to mention I passed. :-). It was a gamble, I risked failing at something on my special day but with some luck I did not. I am really grateful to Tim and Mary and we have agreed to go out to an Indian Restaurant as my birthday and passing treat.

Among the people I know here, none were aware of the day. We did have a few cake cuttings here in the past in which , the typical me, created a hype about my birthday. I assured them a treat if i get some real expensive gift. But on the day and the week, I was all quiet about it. Only during dinner, did I mention it to my flat mate that it's my birthday today. I know some of you might be thinking what sadistic pleasure it gives to keep it hidden when people were talking about it and wanted to know. I can understand your thoughts but still I get a kick out of it.lol.

All in all, a day like any other birthdays I will not forget. (Please do not take it seriously, I do not remember anything of my birthday except the past 2 years. That is how much my memory span is). So I celebrated my silver jubilee, in peace and in a calm way. God! I am getting old. Help!!!!

Cheers!

Thursday 28 October 2010

The 'Accented' Indian

THE BELOW THOUGHTS ARE MY PERSONAL VIEWS ONLY ABOUT A CERTAIN SECTION.PLEASE DO NOT BE OFFENDED BY THEM.ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ANY PERSON,LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY CO-INCIDENTAL. :-)

It is not very difficult to guess the kind of people I am talking about. As a part of my job, I meet various people from other departments. I know nothing about them except their name. I schedule a meeting and meet them. In one of such meetings I had to meet an Indian guy. Glad to see the name, I thought finally some person with whom I might be talking freely right from the first moment. This guy comes in and introduces himself. He looks perfectly Indian till he opens his mouth and speaks his name and i go like what the hell!! What went wrong with his tongue. Can he not pronounce his name properly? Has he forgotten how is it pronounced in India? And he has been in USA for just 10 years.

And you get plenty of such people here. I call them the 'Accented' Indian. These are people who fake the accents to sound more American.Its disgusting when they stoop so low that they stop saying their names properly. Now 10 years here and 30 years in India, which accent should you probably have? You know the best part about Americans and worst part about Indians is that they do what they want and we do what 'they' want. They talk English in an accent which would sound so different from the actual British English. They pronounce most of the words in a different manner. An Englishman would probably laugh his guts out if he hears them talk. He does not do so cause he comes from a place with a culture that respects humans. I can understand Indians trying to fake accent as we need to mingle with them. But Why do we have to change the pronunciation of our name? Its a proper noun. As per the dictionary, a proper noun can be pronounced in the way you want it.

As far as my experience with Americans go, they make me repeat my name 10 times and they repeat it after me to get it right. They would always call you with the right pronunciation that you teach them. But still we have the accented Indians who will avoid it. And who are these guys? They are people who could not make it big in our country. I agree we have conditions that are tough and that's why a few people can make it big. It takes alot of efforts and skill to rise to the top back in India. They chose the easy way out. They know they are not probably skilled enough to make the kind of money they make here in India as easily as they do it here. I call you guys' Losers'. We have people who come here and be what they are and go back. They know they are useful enough that others would tolerate their ways and the way they speak.

Now back in India, I come from a convent educated school. we are taught fluent English but we speak UK English. We Indians speak more pure English than other Europeans and Americans. But guess what, rather than being proud about it, we change the way we pronounce our name. That's desperation to its limits. No matter how hard a Jewish or German name is, no matter what the french pronounce, they will make sure they are pronounced properly. But the lack of dignity in us makes us do things that others will not. I know a few students coming here and then decide to settle here cause they find the work culture better here. Well lets put it straight, they know they are not skilled enough for my country. They cannot survive in the fiercely competitive Indian work culture where survival of the fittest is the key.But to be a part of American culture, you may please pronounce a few words so that the common American understands you but at least get your names right.And to add on to this concept of making them understand what we speak, All the BPOs in India teach their employees to talk in American accent. The fact is none do after they are on job. They use their accent only when they talk to their friends. And I know this for sure as I have a few of my calls routed from other countries to the BPOs back in India.

We talk about India becoming the next super-power. We can with the kind of technology we have and the speed in which we are going ahead. But to make us a super power we also need to have the attitude of being one. We lack it big time. The number of people dying to settle abroad is so huge in certain parts of my country that I am ashamed. Mr Narayan Murthy had to say that young people should not look towards IT as an opportunity to settle abroad. I appreciate him coming ahead and saying this. We need alot more people doing it.

I know alot of people would not agree to my views here. But that's just me. A guy who is proud of his culture and has different ways in life. But with disgust I would appeal to all the people wishing to settle here and the ones settled abroad already. If you cannot pronounce your names right, better change it. We are as ashamed of you guys who portray Indians as desperate wannabes as you are of the country that made you capable of relocating yourself to a better environment. So to all those 'fakers' I say, get some self respect.

Jai Hind!!

Thursday 14 October 2010

BIG BOSSS 4

Before you people get mad on the topic, let me tell you this. I am one the biggest fans of the serial. I just love watching it and except for season 2 I have watched all the episodes ( I mean it!! ) of all the other seasons. This is one serial which gives me a chance to do what i like the most, observing people. I am fond of observing and analyzing human behavior and most of the times i get it right. So for whiners who might say the serial is scripted and is not actual reality, let us consider these 2 points; 1) You cannot script all the small things that are shown and happen normally 2) Even if it is scripted, it is done by a lot of study on human physcology to make it look real and among all reality shows, it is the one closest to real life.

I am so much of a Big Boss fanatic that I would love to enter the house as a commoner.The way they did in season 1. Now let us talk on the topic i.e the season 4.We have some real good characters this time which promises alot of fun. To start with the anchor, I am disappointed. Salman might have his charm but as an anchor he cannot carry himself. The standards set by Arshad warsi and Big B were way too high. The way he talks and acts I would relate more of the word 'dumb' rather than 'dabangg' to him. The role he plays of knowing it all and then to tease the participants of the house with hints is a skill he may not possess. The director would have to do alot of work on him.

To start with the participants we have the famous lawyer who represented Kasab. Thrown out in the first week. He thought he was intelligent and smart but that is what all lawyers think and we just throw them out of the house. He kept saying the government told him to fight. Why did he not say that the govt actually just asks for applications. He fought the case cause he willed to. And how will he explain the cases he fought for the 93 blast accused and Gulshan Kumar murder case accused. But I wish he would have stayed more in the house and someone would have given him some shit soon. Some truth of what the country thinks of him.

Not everybody deserves a mention but we cannot forget the 'Splitsvilla' winner who is crying the whole time. It shows how foolish the MTv shows are and they are so far from reality. You put them in a real house with matured people and they end up like that. No wonder I never felt like watching Roadies and other MTv reality shows. The house has such an effect that Seema Parihar ; the person who so confidently keeps boasting about her stay in the jungle for 18 years; broke down before 18 days. Now she would realize that the social jungle is more difficult to survive than the forest jungle. No wonder I love the serial so much.

We do have characters like Shweta Tiwari who seems matured ;calculated and ready to take on the world. She would go a long way. And people like Manoj Tiwari; the true innocent guy who reacts to things and does not respond like calculated guys. His stay is going to be tough but I would like him to be there. The good guy Sameer Soni got a taste of truth this week by getting nominated. This is the world my friends. The same people who kept saying that Sameer is the proxy captain of the house have now nominated him to be thrown out of the house. This is true human nature. No wonder I love the serial so much.

Look at our Serial actress Sarah Khan. She was stupid in the serial Utaran and is more stupid in real life. I pity the guy who is engaged with her. She brought him to light on national television and announces she might marry him. Then within 2 days inside the house she tears the pics; speaks about ditching him. Her poor boyfriend sitting outside might just be pulling his hair and thinking what the heck happened. Some girls just need companionship. She couldn't stay alone inside for 3 months. Now she is going gaga on Ashmit Patel. ( No offence meant to Ladies; even some men are like that but we are talking about big Boss participants) . The way things are going between her and Ashmit Patel I am so sure Ashmit, You are giving us another MMS soon. I think one was not enough for you. No wonder I love the serial so much ;-)

And our guy Ashmit seems to be going all cutey over Pakistani Actress Veena Malik. I assume later we can have some filmy drama between the three of them. Veena assumes that every time if she keeps talking about how Big Boss is setting an example by calling Pakistani Actress ; it is going to fetch her votes. Sorry Boss, its a game and I am sure you will not win. Not to mention the host Begum Ali. He kinds gets the advantage to have all the bad qualities of both genders and can justify that. He is not so sure what he is. Though i feel he, Aanchal Kumar and Rahul Bhatt are not going to spice up the serial much. Lets see what happens. No wonder I love the serial so much.

So guys this is about it. I just love to watch them react and respond to situations and relate it to the true world. I hope you find it interesting too.

PS:1) No, I am not paid to propagate the serial
2) For people who feel i have lost it by writing on Soap operas now; As a matter of fact among all the posts, my post on the opera "Utaran" has maximum hits, comments and so much that if you type my full name on google its among the top 3 results.

So I will end with: Big Boss Big Boss kya hai GAME..Life is not the SAME..

Cheers!!

Friday 8 October 2010

The 'verdict' sets an example

It is not difficult to guess that I am talking about the recent 'Babri verdict'. The Indian judicial system does not give us alot of chances to be pleased. This was one of those rare decisions that made me proud of the system and I truly felt that we do have some intelligent uncorrupted people sitting out there delivering verdicts. The very rare breed of people who thought a good verdict will be more important than controversies and politics.

I am not a hardcore Hindu extremist nor among the lines of highly secular people. My thoughts are just of a common man who wants to live his life with peace and let live. I am one of the common next gen India. Dividing the land into 3 equal parts and keeping everybody happy was the best that could happen. Lets see it this way, Hindus are 2/3rd population of the country so they get that much land and Muslims are 1/3rd and so they get 33%. Now there are people who might have different reasons to be happy or sad about the verdict.

Hardcore Hindu extremists who where hell bent on building a temple will be happy that it is finally proved that the place is now proved to be the birthplace of Lord Ram and they will get the land that they wanted to use to build a temple. Muslim extremists unhappy about a mosque being demolished would be happy that finally justice prevails and the court agree that what happened was wrong and they get 1/3rd land which can be used to build a mosque. The common man is happy that finally it is over.No more politics on it. No more people dying cause of it. And yes we are unhappy that no more half days in office whenever you declare that a verdict will be announced. But thats fine :-)

The next gen India truly do not care what you build there. We are very happy with a hospital or a school in that area. Yes we are focused only on GDP and growth. We do not care about the mistakes people did in the past. We look ahead to a bright future. A future that is good for all irrespective of the religion. We are not the generation who have gone through the pains of partition. We have not suffered and so we can let go. And its high time we do let go. A young Muslim or Hindu now should only think of what is going to happen in the future and to build a good present. We are on the road to be a super power and its time we find solutions to internal problems of corruption and politics rather than worrying on whether a temple is built or mosque. Don't we have toooo many already in the country? Do you visit them all anyways that you need more?

To all the Hindu extremists I would say that lets not forget that we did demolish a historical place which was wrong. Babar who built a mosque there after demolishing temples was an unjust ruler. Let us prove to the world that we are not. We are the majority in the country and let us behave like one. Let us take the responsibility to take the country to heights we have never been before. Let us lead the way. Let us let go minor issues. We got the land, do whatever with it but let there be peace.

To all the Muslim extremists I would say that lets not forget that what was broken was a place that was no longer worshipped. The people who have done it will come to justice. You are the leading minority in the country with a population more than any other secular country. You have all your rights in this country and are a part of the country. A good future to the country is ours to be. You have the land, do whatever with it but let there be peace.

And to all the people fighting for the land irrespective of your religion, please be informed that the next generation India is together and they do not care about temple or mosques. We have the vision to look ahead. We have the heart to let go. We need a good place where our kids will be born. We need them to be born in a country which is developed and where people do not die of hunger. We want the world to realize that we cannot be taken lightly anymore. And if you are so hell bent on fighting, look around, half of Kashmir and half of Arunachal Pradesh is taken over by our neighbours. Fight with them and not among ourselves.

Jai Hind!!

Cheers!

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Law of conservation of FUN....

I know you are not surprised. After my theory of balance, this will not be a very unexpected topic. And as usual I came up with this law not after some real deep philosophical studies but soon after I finished doing 'bakwaas' with my friend Amol.Now people who do not know him much, he is a guy who will not be very talkative but his brain is made up of some real practical world examples and laws.I am sorry but I cannot quote most of them here. My posts are more like family movies you see. Some things have to be avoided :-)

So back on the topic, we all are aware of laws from great people.Like the law of Rajnikant, he says "For every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction, but when Rajnikant does some action, there is no reaction". Similarly we have the law of conservation of fun, "Fun can neither be created nor destroyed.It can only be transferred from one time to another". Makes sense right? Children who do not have fun in school or colleges are assumed to study well and make more money later.They have their share of fun in the later stages of life.So its only a matter of time when you have your fun. It, like energy, is constant. You can have fun at only some point of time.Now there can be n number of examples which can be told to prove it. I just gave one and Iam sure I will not be giving more.I want you guys to ponder on it and later agree to me ;-)

My colleagues assume I am having fun when I am on site.But it is not actually true.I am here for the money right. You cant be said to have fun when you have to go back home from office and cook your own food. And specially this to someone who is not used to even have a glass of water by self.Its not fun. But I have the money coming. Now as per Einstein, energy and mass are inter-convertible.similarly as per our law, Money and fun are inter-convertible. So now I am not having fun but money , later I can have the fun and spend that money.Seems like these guys (the newtons and group) have not only given us laws of science but also laid the foundation for real world laws that govern the world.

Again this is on the assumption that I would have the privilege to spend the money I earn. But lets say ,I get married. Now every married man knows that they can never calculate the cost of their marriage, cause they pay till they die. Then I may not be able to convert the money to fun. Or may be i can, but my theory of balance would come into picture.The total amount of fun remains constant.Yes that's right, its the theory of balance coming into play. God bless the soul who came up with that theory.

What!! Is it getting confusing? Do not mind, you would understand with time. Even the Theory of Relativity was understood by very very few people in the start. It was also as confusing as these laws and theories of mine. Or may be its confusing me also!! I think I should quit and end this post and go and have some fun.

Cheers!!

PS: I just read back what I wrote. The first thing that came on my mind was' What Crap!!' ;-)

Thursday 12 August 2010

And the US Revolted...

No, for those who know I am in USA, I am not talking about the USA revolting against me. Though I know I have the caliber where the entire nation can come together and say that it's enough. We have taken alot of your shit but not him....But that did not happen. I am not talking about that revolt.This revolution happened in the earlier centuries.Its not in the history. Guess you have watched 'Lagaan' and know the famous AB dialogue where he says "..ye kahani itihass k panno main kahin kho gayi..." something of that sort :-)

I noticed about this revolution as soon as I landed in this country. Gave it a thought for 2 weeks and then decided that let me pen this great revolution which our history books missed.May be if I earn even half the money Aamir khan earned with Lagaan, I would be more than glad. As soon as i was out on the road I noticed people driving on the wrong side of the road. ( Ya, that's what we thing 'wrong side' and not 'other side'). I was aware of this fact earlier but watching it was just the start where I thought about the great revolution. People sitting in the cars on the left side and driving on the right. That's not what we do in India as we follow the English.

Now here's the real punch. Long time ago, the English rules the entire world. Almost. it included Australia and US also. Suddenly the US people ( since they are more advanced then us, the woke up early and did not wait for 150years before starting the fight for independence) woke up and decided that enough of this shit. We revolt against the English. And that day they decided we would do everything against them.

That's when they started driving on the other side. :-) And they did not stop. They decided to do everything opposite. We normally feel that people living on credit are not so good and debit card is preferred. Here they would charge you more if you are using your debit card. Only credit cards would work in some places. Credit history is the most important. So what matters is how much you take credit and re-pay it. If you have enough money that you can pay all be debit you would be considered a fool. Even the law needs credit history. They decided that we would change the direction of electrical switches. So if in India ( we are strong UK followers ok ) we push the switch down as ON, here you would have to push it up. I mean common..and if you feel its weird wait till i tell you this.....

And do not mind if I am being gross,but they revolted against the English even in the loo. Normal Loo's will be empty. You do your work,flush and go back.Here they are filled with water. I mean what the hell!!! The first place i saw it , i thought the drainage might be choked.(please do not assume, the water was crystal clear). Later i realised that's how the Loo's here are.
You know there would be many things like that. I would not count them on but that's the great revolution the US guys did. They went opposite in everything the English did. But sadly " Ye kahani bhi itihass k panno main kahi kho gay"..lol

Cheers!!

Disclaimer: All the above information is purely my thoughts and I do not have any evidence to support my claims for the great revolution.lol

Tuesday 8 June 2010

My Favourite Hobby

The topic looks similar na? I am sure all of us would have used this topic to write an essay in our primary schools.Those who didn't would have atleast read an essay on this topic to prepare for your English exam. And we all used to start somewhat the same..I have many hobbies but my favourite one is.... Let me guess most of us wrote reading? collecting stamps? And then we grew up we had this section in our CVs and interview papers and we wrote big words like Interacting with people bla bla.... I know we have to write such things. :-)

I always wrote the essay on Reading. it was one of my hobbies. Rather its the third best thing that i feel like doing in my life. But with time i realised reading is not my favourite hobby. Its EATING.. Alright, i know i am not fat but still its my favourite pass time :-). I just love to eat.

One incident which would prove this. I reached my station 15 minutes earlier than normal time. ( its on one of those rarest of rare occasions when i om before time). I could have done a lot of things to pass time like reading newspapers, watching people ( do not read it as 'girls' cause its Kurla station which is devoid of good looking females ) etc etc. But i chose to eat. I went on to the station canteen and asked him about the dish most of the people eat. I ordered it and started hogging. Striked a conversation with the canteen vendor while eating and he offered me a complimentary Lime soda. Cool na!! Freebies are always so nice. Anyways back to the point. I chose eating over anything else.

Now this hobby of mine has taken me to places. I have eaten ( i won't use the word Dine) in places which no normal person would think. From roadside stalls which would offer you the least hygiene to the most expensive restaurant in town. I would have eaten in almost 80 % of the well known restaurants in the city. Since i stayed in Navi Mumbai, almost every restaurant from Vashi to Panvel comes under my area and is covered. Credit also goes to a few friends who forced me into some restaurants and made me travel places for it. I remember travelling all the way to Bandra to eat in the KFC opened there. ( For people who do not know me well, travelling from my place to Bandra is quite an achievement. My friends even taunted me by saying that i would need a visa to travel there).

My habit or hobby of hogging is now well known. My colleagues keep offering me food that they get and i love them so much for doing it. My mom and close friends know that the best thing to use to curb my anger is Food.I wonder will i ever start using this hobby in my CV as well. i can very explain to my interviewer on why eating is my favourite hobby and leans to my weakness at times.The only reason, i find is justified to spend money on, is food. I would prefer a bus over a rickshaw and use the money to hog on a Vada Pav.

The love to eat is boundless.i have tasted animals ranging from ducks to kangaroos. OH i love duck the most. Anyway to wrap it up, that's my favourite hobby. i hope i have more such people with weird hobbies.

PS: the part where the canteen vendor offers me a free lime soda is fiction.lol. I am just practicing fiction to develop my writing skills :-). There are no free lunches. I paid for it

Cheers !! Keep eating!!!

Monday 31 May 2010

A Guy's Silence

So much is said about a girl's silence. When she is silent she means this, when she says this she means that and it goes on and on an on.... We spend so much time analyzing silence. I guess it's time someone spoke about a guy's silence as well.

Normally it is considered that when a guy is silent he just accepts his mistake. This is the biggest mistake in understanding guys or understanding Silence in general. There are many reasons why a guy chooses to be silent.

For starters, most of the times in an argument the guy is silent cause he is not bothered :-). Jokes apart, this may be one of the reason but is mostly not. We also prefer to be silent when we realize that the argument would not lead to an understanding. We realize that if the person is adamant enough to not understand, we should quit trying to make him understand.We are silent when we feel this is not the right time to argue. Yes we have emotions and we value for them. We know when the truth would be understood and when it would not be. In the latter case, we chose to be silent.

We are silent cause we wish to finish it off. No it doesn't mean we are accepting mistakes but its just cause we know this would be the only thing leading to peace. We are silent when we do not wish to create a scene. We are silent when we are in deeper thoughts of the subject. We are silent as we are searching for a solution.

Its time the feminist realize that one should not consider men defeated when they chose to be silent. They may also chose to be silent to strike back on a better time. And Last but the most important, we are also silent cause we are designed by GOD to speak less :-)

We are silent cause we love, we care and we value.

Cheers!

Thursday 1 April 2010

Knowing ' too' much....

I always wondered on the saying 'Ignorance is bliss'.Never quite agreed to it but off late have given it a few thoughts and have started to view the positive side of ignorance or maybe the negatives of knowing too much.Not that i plan to implement it in my life soon but it did deserve enough for me to pen it down.

One of my friend told me this a few weeks ago, 'Kapil,you would never be able to do a love marriage as you know people too much'.I am still undecided on whether its good or bad. Yes,i agree i read people like books as its one of my passion and i love to do so.But lets not concentrate on the marriage part of the comment as that's a different topic but on the 'knowing too much' part.And yes at times knowing too much about anything (people included) does get the fun part out of it and gets negative.

Even in the simpler facts of life it affects.Now we all get happy when we see the government constructing roads in the month of march, we feel its to make the roads ready for monsoon. Knowing too much is when we know they are doing it to show some expenses on the budget as the financial year is closing.We are pleased when we see so much money spent on commonwealth games for the development of sports that they now require loan waivers.Knowing too much is when we know that this money has gone to corrupt officials and the wavier by government will come as the money would go from us- the taxpayers. Just 2 small examples and we are not pleased anymore.Its the same about people.

May be that is the reason why we are told humans should not be analysed or judged.i agree on the judgement part but not on the analysis part. As most of us do not know more than what we think we should and so the judgement goes wrong. But common guys analysing is not bad. And why should we not analyse humans on their behaviour and emotions when we constantly do so on their looks and body.And both genders do it on equal terms its just that the analysis is on different parts and types.

Coming back on the topic, Knowing too much has thus started to affect me in the negative sense. Its taking the fun out of everything. And the more you know about people the worse it gets. No wonder the so called 'practical' people are happy not only cause they do not bother but also cause they do not know or do not wish to know.

And please for people who would come up with suggestion that so please do not know too much about people or bother too much as it only makes matter worse, I do not think i or anybody like me should plan to change. We know too much and so our expectations from people normally turn out to be true. And this is the way we are, why should we change. Who knows the way people management skills are rated so high, there would be a time when we would be in demand and would be the domain experts in it.Someday it would help our finances too :-)
See, there is positivity and money in everything :-)

Cheers!

Thursday 25 February 2010

The Theory of 'Balance'

There are some people who are born with the qualities of speaking like a shrink whenever and where ever possible.Whether the quality is good or bad depends on the situation. I am one such person.Me along with a few colleagues in my workplace were busy chitchatting ( This is something that we do extra.The company doesn't pay for it) when i came up with my new theory of 'Balance'. Before i start talking about it here, i just googled to find out if any such theory exist. And guess what, It does.lol.So lets first read what that theory definition says as per wikipedia.

Social balance theory is a class of theories within social network theory which attempts to describe how individual desires to reduce affective cognitive dissonance influence in a group of network structures, and that individuals expect to be exposed to balanced social situations. Social balance theory is a tool to observe a social group evolving to a balanced state. It originated in balance theory, as developed by psychologist Fritz Heider. Relations among certain people characterize interactions that occur within a social system. One important component among social agents is "sentiment". These sentiments can result in the emergence of two groups. Disliking exists between the two subgroups within liking agents.

Now that was good.lol. Like me i assume 95% of the people would not have understood it.Getting back to my theory. I believe the whole universe is based on a simple concept called balance. There has to be balance in everything related to life.When one falls, to balance it out there is someone else who rises.One one poor person sweats there would be someone sitting in an AC office enjoying in place of him and drying his sweat out as there should be balance. I guess this made Einstein come up with his most famous theory that energy and mass are inter-convertible and the total amount of both is always same.

Its not something very uncommon. we face and see it daily in our lives but we hardly notice.We do the work but do not get the credit. Does that mean there is more work than balance. No ways, remember my theory of balance :-) . there is someone else who has taken the credit. Finally its balance. When a girl leaves you , there is someone else who would get her. Balance. When you enjoy the privileges of a servant, someone else slogs it out. Balance.When you lose money, someone earns.These are just a few small daily life examples that will help you relate what the theory is.So simple and yet so complicated.

So henceforth whenever you are down or low, remember that your time would come soon as there has to be balance. But as far as other examples are concerned, you would have to work hard boss otherwise someone else would take the good things to balance it out. After all for God the balance is on the society and not on individuals.

PS: i now hold the patent to this theory.Copy of this theory and usage on your name would breach the copyright rules and you might have to face the consequences for it. Someone would just get bored and hit you for it ..lol

Cheers!!!

Friday 12 February 2010

Love is all about YOU

From Political dramas to comparing cities, from all the negativities to LOVE. Definitely this topic would have surprised you all, but LOVE is the flavor of the season. After all it’s Valentine’s Day in a couple of days. This day is really important cause no matter how much you love your partner, missing out to wish them on this day would surely raise a question mark on your love. So no matter how much you gift them the whole year, a gift on this day is must. Sounds crazy to me and I know you will hate me for it .

Anyways I guess I got diverted as I do not wish to speak on Valentine’s Day but LOVE. It is such a strong feeling which we tend to use so casually and immaturely. Guys in their teens see a girl and fall in love without knowing their names. And I am sure most of you would agree that its stupid. I believe you cannot love somebody without knowing that person completely with both the right and wrong of the person. But this is not what love is all about. its not just knowing each other but a far more than that.

Love surely is Respect. You cannot love a person you do not respect. So love definitely is not just we not insulting the person but also unable to bear if someone else does so. But this is some feeling that I see so uncommon in today’s love affairs. We bitch n crib about our partners to others and thus costing them the respect people should have for them. I would certainly not only avoid speaking ill about my love to someone but would also stop if somebody tries to do so. Love is all about You and your respect.

Love surely is sacrifice and giving. Something which is again so uncommon. We, in this fight for survival, have somehow become so self centered that we tend to forget Love is all about giving. Its about your happiness. They say if your LOVE is not happy with you, just let them free and they will surely be back and if they are not that means they truly are happy without you and if you really love them, let them be happy. No it doesn’t mean we all should try this out but its an extent to which we can go. But we are so fond of ourselves and so used to fighting for our rights that we forget that Love is a privilege and not a right to fight for.

Love is something above our ego. Love is something above our adamancy. Love is something which is pure. Love is something that is sacred. And please do not feel I am writing this after watching a couple of romantic bollywood films. it’s just in the air.lol. Let’s get back to business and philosophy.

And this Valentine’s Day may we all pledge to make the lives of the people we love better. May we realize what true love is. May we strike a balance between bollywood films and true life . And we remember that LOVE is all about YOU. It never was and will never be about me or us. Its jus YOU.

Happy Valentine’s Day to the people I love and to the people in love.

Cheers!

PS: Please comment if this post was super-boring or otherwise.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Kya hoti haiii ‘Utaran’

Strange title na!! the blog was getting too negative so I opted for change. But No that’s not the only reason why I am writing this post. For people who do not know, let me introduce the title.’ Utaran’ is the name of a daily soap on the channel ‘colors’ and the title is the last line of the serial’s title song. Now for people who know me, please do not assume that finally the world has driven me to insanity and so I am watching and even writing about soap operas.

Let me give you a brief about the soap. Its based on 2 girls loving and fighting for the same guy. Now everybody knows one of them is a vamp and other the heroine. Its strange that in normal life I only see guys fighting for girls. Lucky Guy I must say or else where in our country where you have only 923 females for 1000 males do we find such cases. Ohh, I am getting diverted. Let’s continue the brief about the soap. It is actually based on one of the stories of our most famous Hindi novelist ‘ Premchand’.

One of the very strong reasons why I felt like writing about this soap was cause our beloved Mr. premchand wrote a story and finished it. He couldn’t think of more than that, but our soap scriptwriter has gone past the original story and came up with more ideas. Introducing more characters of which one is our main hero’s brother. Strangely the future says that this brother is going to fall in love with the same girl whom our hero loved. Oops, did I spill the beans?? No!! everybody knows that..lol. My father keeps saying this particular dialogue from one of the movies which goes like “ Jahan premchand ka dimaag kaam karma band kar diya wahan se scriptwriter ne sochna shuru kar diya”. Ofcourse its sarcasm as he is one of Premchand’s Fan.

Back on the story, Our hero is now forcibly married to the vamp. Its actually this which has given the scriptwriter the scope to arrange love between the good heroine and our hero’s brother. If its getting confusing, then trust me I am able to pen down the serial very nicely. One of the other interesting facts about the soap is that the vamp looks and acts much much better than the heroine. Rather the inability of the heroine to fight and her classy dialogue delivery (pun intended) makes her so irritating. I don’t think even Tulsi Virani cried as much as she does. Also we had a sizzling dance number by the vamp to seduce our hero which was above our TV standards. On discussion of this particular scene with my friend only did I realize that it’s a serial which is very popular and deserves some place in the blog.

Like every soap I know how its going to end. Its going to be over immediately as it loses its TRP. They cannot bring the story to an end cause THERE IS NO STORY at all…If this post has brought some interest please do watch this serial. it comes daily at 10 PM. After all, all married people force others to marry as they do not want to be the only people who suffer. So please watch it.

PS: I do not watch this serial but like 60% of the male brethren I am forced to watch it as its dinner time and we do have females in our house.

No, I am not ending it with my regular Cheers!
I would rather say “ Kisika jeevan sapna hai, kisika sapna hai utaran;
Wo nahi samjhe abhi, Kya hoti haiiiii UTARAN”!!!!!