JAy's Den

रामविजय

2010-10-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

The judicial process that started back in 1853 with Nirmohi Akhada's suit has finally come closer to a conclusion. Lord Ram is to get some justice in our great nation, after all. Its ironic that the Super Human who defines the identity of our nation had to go through this unjust rampage for such a long period of time.

Its nothing that recent though; Ayodhya seems to have got accustomed to the humiliation and of getting ravaged over the centuries, ever since the first islamic invaders decreed their religion with pillage of temples at the beginning of previous millennium. Ayodhya has seen the temples being destructed and converted into Mosques. She has witnessed slaughtering of innocent people and looting. Hope with this verdict, Ayodhya will get her share of respect and attention.

Lord Ram has been the inspiration for generations with his ethical , pious and generous life. There is no doubt , He will continue to rule our hearts for eternity and guide us through the journey of our lives.

Even though He is above and beyond any verdict and anyone's assertion , this verdict hopefully will help lay down the foundation for National integrity and prosperity in the form a grand Ram Temple.

Jay Shree Ram.. !!

Remembering Gandhi in Godse's words

2010-10-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

On the occasion of Gandhi's birthday , I would like to visit Nathuram Godse's last speech.

"

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other.

I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and' Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day. In fact, honour, duty and love of one's own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical, as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.

Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with, as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.

Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between

Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so- called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.

The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will and proved to be powerless.

Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish,

but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.

I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots.

I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favorable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.

I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future."

-NATHURAM GODSE

Have a breakfast .. or be a breakfast !!

2010-02-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this article by Dr. Moorthi, a prof at IIM, Banglore. It has certainly changed the way I now look at the world.

"Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.

Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"

Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?"

The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!).

So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no.

Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!

India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!

On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary!

The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly."

—Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM, Bangalore

"Challenges are what make life interesting,
Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

अप्सरा आली..

2010-01-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

मराठी चित्रपट सृष्टीचा परवणीचा काळ आला आहे याची ऊदाहरणे आजकाल भरपुर दिसु लागली आहेत. याचा प्रत्यय म्हणुन आजचे बहुतेक निर्माते आणी दिग्दर्शक बरेचसे नाजुक आणी "हटके" विषय हाताळताना दिसतात. मग तो अगदी मंगेश डाहवळे चा "टिंग्या" असो , किंवा सुमित्रा भावे आणी सुनील सुखटणकर यांचा "वास्तुपुरुष" आसो , किंवा "शिक्षणाच्या आईचा घो" म्हणणारा महेश मांजरेकर आसो, वा कलावंताची कैफियत मांडणारा रवी जाधवचा "नटरंग" असो, सच्चा मराठी प्रेक्षकास ह्या मेजवानीची आता सवयच झाली आहे .

तमाशा प्रधान चित्रपट मला कधीच अवाडले नाहीत. "पिंजरा" सोडला तर असे चित्रपट मी पहिल्या पासुन avoid करतो. पण "नटरंग" बद्दल "हा चित्रपट तमाश्याच्याही पुढे जाऊन विविध स्थरावरचे विषय मांडतो" असे अतुल कुलकर्णींचे भाष्य ऐकले आणी म्हणुन तो पाहण्याचा ठरवला. अतुलचे म्हणणे तंतोतंत खरे होते हे चित्रपट संपल्यावर कळाले. अतुलची स्वत:ची या चित्रपटासाठीची मेहनत चित्रपट अंती आपल्याला थक्क करुन सोडते. त्याच्या अभिनयास तोडीस तोड देणारे किशोर कदम, सोनाली कुलकर्णी, विभावरी देशपांडे यांचे अभिनय अतिशय अप्रतिम आहे. अजय अतुल या जोडीने दिलेलं संगीत चित्रपट पाहिल्यानंतर बरेच दिवस डोक्यात वाजत राहतं. नेपथ्य, दिग्दर्शन , चित्रीकरण, छायाचित्रीकरण, संगीत, नृत्य अशा सर्व पैलूंनी ऊकृष्ट असलेला "नटरंग" आपल्या मनात कुठेतरी घर नक्कीच करुन जातो.

कलेचं प्रेम माणसास सर्व संकटांना तोंड द्यायला कसं शिकवतं हे या चित्रपटात अप्रतिम दृष्ट्या दाखवलं आहे. त्याच बरोबर perseverance , dedication, passion म्हणजे काय असतं याचं प्रगल्भ दर्शन प्रेक्षकास मिळतं.

एका गावातील एका रांगड्या पैलवानाची ही कथा आहे. यास तमाशाचं प्रचंड वेड. स्वत:चा तमाशाचा फड असावा आणी त्यात आपण राजा म्हणुन मिरवावं हे त्याचं स्वप्नं. पण कालमानापरत्वे या राजाचा "नाचा" कसा होतो हे या कथेचं मर्म आहे. पैलवान ते नाचा हा मानसिक, शारीरिक प्रवास अतुल कुलकर्णींनी सुरेख रित्या दिर्शविला आहे. माणसाचं profession त्याच्या वैयक्तिक जीवनात कसं हस्तक्षेप करु शकतं हे या कथेतुन प्रतीत होतं.

सर्वच बाबतीत ऊकृष्ठ असलेला हा चित्रपट Oscar साठी गेला तर मला तरी काही नवल वटणार नाही. "नटरंग" is truly a masterpiece. मराठी रसीकाने तो जरूर पहावा..

दैव देतं आणी कर्म नेतं.

2010-01-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

"तु सोमवारी सकाळी ११ वाजता काय करतोयस? तुझ्यासाठी एक surprise आहे !! ", शुक्रवारी माझ्या एका मैत्रिणीने मला विचारलं. "काही विशेष plan नाही ", सुट्टीवर असलेल्या माझं रटाळ ऊत्तर ..
सोमवार ऊजाडला. हीचा सकाळी दहाच्या सुमारास फोन आला. देशस्थी style मध्ये मी सांगितलं की अजुन तयारी नाही. माझं सगळं निवांत चाललेलं होतं. सोमवार असला तरी माझ्यासाठी ती पुण्यातील सकाळ रविवार सकाळ सारखीच होती. अकरा वाजता परत फोन .. ही सिहंगड रोड वरील संतोष hall जवळ आली होती. संतोष hall माझ्या घरापासुन पाच मिनीटांच्या अंतरावर आहे. वातावरण एवढं तापलेलं वाटंत नव्हंतं .
अकराचे साडे अकरा झाले. साडे अकराचे बारा. फोन येत होते. पण "लवकर ये " या पलिकडे बाकी काहीही सांगण्यात आलं नाही. शेवटी साडे बाराच्या सुमारास मी संतोष hall जवळ पोहोचलो. ही चिडलेली दसत होती. मला घेऊन ही जवळच्याच एका building मध्ये गेली. एका घरात आम्ही दोघेही शिरलो.
एका सुंदर तरुणीने आमचं हसत मुखाने स्वागंत केलं. आरे ही तर्रर्रर्र... !!! संदिप खरेची बायको!!! .."या बसा.. !! " .. आम्ही बाहेरच्या खोलीत बसलो. मी हीला विचारलं "अरे ही तर संदिपची बायको ना ? " .. ती -थोडं चिडुन - "हो ! अरे हाच तर surpise आहे ना .. " .. मी - "तुझी मैत्रिण आहे का ?" तेव्हड्यात सौ. खऱ्यांनी पाणी आणुन दिलं मी तेला म्हटंलं "sorry.. ऊशीर झाला. मला माहित नव्हतं. " .. सौ खऱ्यांनी हसुन म्हटंलं, " that's okay. तुझ्यासाठी surprise होतं".. सौ खरे एकदम kewl आहे.
मग संदिप बाहेर आला. तो मात्र वैतागलेला वाटला. आम्ही एकमेकांची (?) ओळख करुन् घेतली. "आजी म्या ब्रह्म पाहिले" अश्या mind set मध्ये मला काय बोलावं ते कळेच ना .
मी काहीतरी विचारायचं म्हणुन --" तु bay area त आला आहेस ना ? "
संदिप - " हो आलोय " ..
माझा नाही तिथे खरे पणा नडला . " तुझे programs miss केले यार मी .. " ..त्याला तो माझा पुणेरी आघावपणा वाटला असणार.
संदिपचा मी अतिशय मोठा चाहता आहे. पण तो पुढे ऊभा राहील्यावर काय बोलावं काहीच कळे ना.
तो एक मिनीटं वगैरे बोलला. "गेल्या दिड तास तुझी वाट पाहतोय.. मला recording ला ऊशीर झालाय. " . मला ऊशीर झाल्याचे effects दिसु लागले. सौ खऱ्यांनी मात्र स्मित हस्याने आमचं आतिथ्यं केलं होतं. शेवटी आम्ही त्यांच्या घरातुन निघालो. सौ खऱ्यांनी जाताना काजुच्या वड्या हातावर ठेवल्या. आणी हसत आमचा निरोप घेतला...
buildingच्या खाली आल्यावर मग खरी रणधुमाळी सुरु झाली. ही भयंकर चिडली. "अरे त्याने त्याच्या नवीन पुस्तकातील एक कविता तुला dedicate केली होती. " .. बऱ्याच वेळ हीने मला गोष्टींची किंमत कशी नाही, मी किती मुर्ख आहे, नालायक आहे , वगैरे वगैरे ऐकवल. आणी तिचं म्हणणं मला कुठेतरी बरोबर वाटत असल्यामुळे मी अजुन जास्त शहाणपणा नकरता हीचा राग कमी होईपर्यंत शांतीला धरुन बसलो. (ही एक महत्वाची गोष्टं मी शिकलो आहे की generally चुक आपली असली की गप्प बसणे!! )
वातावरण निवळल्या नंतर तीने सांगितलं की गेले काही दिवस फक्त माझ्यासाठी तिने संदिपला मला भेटण्यासाठी convince केलं होतं त्याची किंवा त्याच्या बायकोशी काहीही ओळख नसताना.. !! फक्त माझ्यासाठी .. !! आणी माझ्या मुर्खपणामुळे रंगाचा बेरंग झाला सगळा.. श्या!!

हीनं संदिपला opology चा sms केला .. त्यानंही gentlemanly respond केलं-" ... परत तुम्हाला वेळ मिळाल्यास गप्पा मारुयात..."..

या सगळ्यात मला माझा देशस्थी बेशिस्थ पणा नडला हे लक्षात आलं.

She's always a woman to me !!!

2010-01-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child,
But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love
She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe you
And she'll take what you give her, as long as it's free
Yeah, she steals like a thief
But she's always a woman to me

CHORUS:
Oh--she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh--and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

And she'll promise you more
Than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you
And laugh while you're bleedin'
But she'll bring out the best
And the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself
Cause she's always a woman to me
--Mhmm--

Bridge

CHORUS:
Oh--she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh--and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She is frequently kind
And she's suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She's nobody's fool
And she can't be convicted
She's earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me

Simply Amazing song by Billy Joel !!

Happy New Year !!

Witty Reply

2009-11-30T12:05:00.000-08:00

Just another forwarded emails. Thought that it was funny and interesting. Its probably just a cooked up conversation; but you never know , may be true as well.. :D

CEO's (of J.P Morgan) Fantastic reply to a Pretty Girl

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?
I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York CityGarden(? ), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've met a few girls who doesn't have looks & are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, & who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

Awesome reply:
Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money": Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position". If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased". Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in "leasing" services, do contact me...

signed,

CEO
J.P. Morgan

एक वर्ष झालं.

2009-11-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

एक वर्ष झालं,

हुतात्म्यांना जाऊन ,
आम अदमीला होरपळुन ..
नराधमांना यमसदनास पाठवुन..

तेच ते राजकारण,
त्याच त्या मेणबत्त्या...
तोच तो आरडा-ओरडा ..

सुरक्षा प्रणालीत काही फारसा फरक नाही..
मृतांना अजुन अर्थसहाय्य नाही...

राजीनामा देणारे परत कामाला लागलेत..
निमीषमात्र ऊभेराहुन श्रध्दांजली वाहुन गेलेत..

करणारा शेजारचा उलटा करतो शीरजोरी..
त्याला काही बोलण्याची देखील चोरी ..

पुन्हा सगळं "जैसे थे" !!!
एक वर्ष झालं. एक वर्ष झालं. !

काय होणार भारताचं .. :.(

Wishes

2009-11-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Two Desi guys , mid aged , meet for the first time. Its a usual scenario. A friends party. the guys get introduced by a common friend. Both start talking about their professional background. the same old jargon. when and where they graduated from. What's the domain they work in, current money market, Technology trends, next "big thing" , business ROIs, economy. Everything is same.

But there is one thing that's uncommonly common in such interactions, and those are the dreams, the wishes. Everyone dreams of starting something of their own. Here comes the mentioning of the Venture Capitalists (VCs) and the "Angels" .. The talks about the start-up pains . "Ohh , my friend and I are strongly thinking about it" .. " aha.. I know a guy , who knows an angel .. " .. "I really wanna try my luck out , maann.. "

This the part of all these mundane conversations that i like the most .. The Wishes.. I hardly come across a mid-aged Young software professional here in the bay area , who does not mention about floating a venture , that of course includes me too..

So in the midst of all the economic melt downs ,negativity , hardships and troubles , This very human emotion of "hoping" and "aspiring " that helps us going, I think.

aah.. just a blabber i guess ..

Nobel Obama

2009-10-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama has been phenomenal in revolutionizing the relationships amongst various cultures of the world. He has shown strong leadership skills towards reuniting the Islamic world and the West. He has provided us the hope we all were striving for. After his Cairo speech early this year, the view of Islamic world towards the West and the US in general is changing for sure.

He has been working tirelessly to fix the US economy and stabilize the world financial meltdown. His strong efforts towards ending the Iraq war are truly praiseworthy. Its hard to find things about him to make fun of for even for the best critics such as Bill Maher and other comedians.

Having said all that, I still was perplexed by the Nobel committee decision to award him the most ever prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The decision is surely premature and politically motivated and also uncalled for.

Its too early in President Obama's political career to give him the Nobel.

Ironically, it actually belittles his capabilities and burdens him with extra expectations.

I still wish him all the success in finishing the mammoth tasks in front of him such as the middle east crisis , Iranian Nuclear issue, North Korean challenges, Financial crises , Nuk Reduction efforts between The US and the Russia , Global Green house problem, Fuel crisis and million others.

To strike a balance and to be fair, here are some of the comic strips from the US media that provide strong rhetoric about his Nobel win.

Disclaimer : The Cartoons here are off course not my creations, I hereby acknowledge the original author and the copy rights of these comic strips. Pls don't sue me for using them. Peace. :-)

The Return of the King

2009-09-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

He's back. Steve Jobs is back in action. After about eight months medical leave to get a liver transplant, It was great to see him back on stage at the Apple event early this month.

He certainly has lost a lot of weight and looks too pale. But everybody liked his return and that got reflected in the stocks as well. He has been the most celebrated techie CEO over last 30 years or so. And is well known for his come backs.

I think the Apple convention was over-hyped and Apple didn't live up to the expectations, with announcements of only an iTunes latest version and an iPod with a video camera. Everyone was looking forward to the Apple tablet. There had been rumors that it would be announced in Sept but seems like its not to be made official yet.

With mobile market heating up with impressive competing products from Palm (Palm Pre and Pixie ) based upon Web OS, and multiple Android phones from Nokia (Clique ) , Motorola , LG,
we can expect Apple to improve more upon their iPhone. Its a huge market and there would be atleast 4 to 5 companies that would eventually succeed. But with a strong track record of innovation and intuitive product line, Apple will always be ahead in the race.

And with Steve's return, Apple is looking better than ever to take on this domain. He has been phenomenal in his vision about the product lines and making the "Apple" brand stronger and powerful. Apple App store has been an incredibly successful within just couple of years since its inception.

I have no issues mentioning that i am a true follower of Apple. I wish him good health and look forward to more of the new great products from Apple.

A Frenchman and Hinduism

2009-08-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 22nd Aug, I attended a session -- "Hindu Holocaust -- The Untold Story" by Francois Gautier, who happened to be in Sunnyvale. One of my colleagues from KT who is actively involved in Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), a sister organization in US that comes under the umbrella of Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from India, invited me.

It was overall a good experience and a bit ironic too. Ironic in the sense that I have never come across an European (except Stephen Knapp from his website about Tejo Mahalaya -The original version of Taj Mahal ) , who talks so ardently and affectionately about the original pre-British version of Indian History. As we all now know that British -- for the socio-political gains -- maligned and altered Indian history and presented an inferior version of India to the world. This was part of their psychological campaign to rule India by demeaning the Indians about their culture. So it was refreshing to see this Frenchman talking about Ramayana , Mahabharata and Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

It was kind of awkward to hear a Frenchman trying to awaken the sleeping hinduistic ideology. Isn't it so true that today we don't want to be recognized as Hindus. We try so hard to portray ourselves as so called secular people. I am not against secularism, its just that when people show pseudo equality that belittles our own culture, it gets on to my nerves. And this is happening especially in today's young generation of India. I want to humbly try to tell our fellow young Indians to look at the Greeks and the other cultures. Even in today's futuristic technology savvy United states, these guys take pride in their (however screwed up ) values.

It worries me how the kids of the new generation borne to Indian parents here in US are unaware of our heritage. But at the same time, Non Profit organizations such as Sanskar Bharti that are working hard to teach our values to such young Indian American kids, give me a hope.

This Sunnyvale event was a fund raising event towards establishing an Indian History museum in Pune. I give my sincere wishes to him for his efforts.

आभिषेक

2009-08-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

आभिषेक .. सहा ते सात वर्षाचा typical ABCD मुलगा. माझ्या (दुरच्या) काकाच्या म्हणजे राजेशच्या दोन आपत्यांपैकी हा एक. दुसरी त्याची बहिण ऎश्वर्या. ती जवळपास बारा/तेरा वर्षींची आहे. माझ्या या काकाला "काका " म्हणणं त्याला आणी तसं मलाही अवडत नाही. फक्त काही वर्षांचाच फरक आमच्या मध्द्ये. लवकर लग्न झाल्यामुळे मुलेही लवकरच झाली. सुमारे वर्षभरापुर्वी आम्ही colleagues होतो. त्यामुळे नावानेच बोलणं होतं त्याच्याशी आणी त्याच्या बायकोशी. तर.. असो.

राजेशला अमेरिकेत येऊन झाली असतील पंधरा एक वर्षे. cupertino मध्ये छान टुमदार घंर आहे. मी काही वर्षापुर्वी CA ला shift झाल्यावर पहिल्यांदा त्याच्या घरी गेलो . तेंव्हा पहिल्यांदाच अभिषेक आणी ऎश्वर्याला भेटलो.

ऎश्वर्या शांत आहे. typical american teenager .. totally confused.. पण अभिषेक एकदम बडबड्या. बरेच वर्षं लहान मुलांशी काहीही दुरदुर पर्यंत संबंध नसल्या कारणाने पहिली भेट अतिशय विचित्र होती. मला एकदम साक्षात्कार झाला की मला लहान मुलांशी काय आणी कसं बोलायंच असतं ते बिल्कुत येत नाही. त्याचे असंख्य प्रश्न !! आणी मला त्याच्या वयाला अनुसरून काय ऊत्तरं द्यावी काही कळंत नाही.. त्यामुळे माझी विकेट ऊडते, हे दिपालीला (राजेशची बायको) कळत असल्याने ती नेहेमी मदतीला येते.

एकदा मी त्याच्या घरी गेलो तेव्हा अभिषेक हातात क्रिकेटची bat घेऊन आपल्या बाबाशी काहीतरी बोलत होता.
मी : (कुतुहलाने ) : काय अभिषेक नवीन bat दिसतेय.
अभिषेक : हो न दादा/काका . (त्याला मला काका म्हणावं की दादा हा नेहेमी प्रश्न पडतो. कारण त्याच्या
घरी येणारे त्याच्या बाबाबरोबरचे सगळे लोक त्याचे "काका"च असतात .. ) आजोबांनी
पाठवली.
मी : मग तुला काय आवडते , batting ki balling ? (अतिशय मुर्खासारखा प्रश्न.
पण काय करणार काही तरी बोलायला तर पाहिजे ना.. !! )
अभिषेक : अरे मला balling येत नाही. शिकवशील का. ?
मी : शिकवेन की.

मग माझा त्याला balling बद्दल सांगण्याचा प्रयत्न. पण एक दोन मिनीटातच मला कळलं की मला ते सुध्दा ठीक जमत नाहीये कारण तो अधिच confused झाल्या सारखा वाटला. माझा बोलताना नेहेमी एक गोंधळ होतो की त्याच्याशी "विंग्रजी" मध्ये बोलु की मराठी मध्ये ? कारण त्याला काही काही मराठी शब्द कळत नाहीत. आणी मला ते explain करता येत नाहीत .. :-)

त्या दिवशी त्याला जवळच त्याच्या काही मित्रांच्या घरी खेळायला जायचे होते. राजेश काही तरी करत होता मग मी म्हटलं "चल मी सोडवतो तुला" .. त्या दिवशी पहिल्यांदा माझ्या कार मध्ये कोणी लहान बसलं. मी रेडिओ लावला तर तो म्हणे "मला रेडिओ आवडत नाही .. दादा अरे बंद कर ना" .. bay area Wild 94.9FM वर लहान मुलांचे कार्यक्रम लागत नाहीत हे मी तरी कसं काय विसरतो हे मला सुध्दा कळंत नाही. :-)

गेल्या वर्षी माझ्या पेशवे प्रेमामुळे भारतात गेल्यावर भिकबाळी घालुन आलो होतो. राजेश कडे गेलो तेव्हा अभिषेक चा पहिला प्रश्न : " अरे दादा हे कानात मुली सारखं काय घातलंय.. " ..
मी : " अरे याला भिकबाळी म्हणतात. पेशव्यांपासुन रामशास्त्री प्रभुणे, लोकमान्य टिळक आशा great लोकांनी घातली होती. मला आवडते म्हणुन घातली मी सुध्दा. भिकबाळी पुर्वी काशीला जाऊन studies केल्या शिवाय घालंत नसत.. "
अभिषेक : चेहऱ्यावर खुप मोठे प्रश्नचिन्ह !! आज "दादा असं काय बोलतोय " वगैरे आविर्भाव...
" हे प्रभुणे कोण रे .. ?"
मी : माझी परत विकेट ऊडालेली.. "अरे रामशास्त्री प्रभुणे खुप मोठे न्यायाधिष म्हणजे Judicial system मधले Judge होते. "

त्याचे पुढचे प्रश्नांचं bombardment सुरु होण्यापुर्वी राजेश माझ्यामदती साठी आला.
अभिषेक : " अरे दादा ते सगळं old झालं .. अमेरीकेत कोणी नाही वापरंत. that looks wierd .. "

निरागसतेत किती सामर्थ्य असतं हे मला त्या दिवशी कळालं.. माझं पेशवेप्रेम, मराठी चा अभिमान आशी अनेक भिकबाळीची कारणं त्याच्या एका वाक्यांत विरघळुन गेली. त्याला नसेल कळंलं पण "when in rome do as the romans do " ऎवढीं साधी गोष्टं त्याने मला नकळंतच सांगुन टाकली.

अभिषेक हा पहिला मुलगा असेल ज्याने मला माझ्या eventual fatherhood ची ऒळंख करून दिली. भविष्यात कधी ना कधी तरी मला ही असे असंख्य प्रश्नांना तोंड द्यावे लागणार आहे त्यामुळे हे लक्षात ठेवणं गरजेचं वाटलं...

काय रे देवा !!

2009-08-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

काही माणसं आयुष्यात न भेटलेलीच बरी असतात. ऊगाच त्या आठवणींच निर्जीव शरीर ओझं म्हणुन वाहायला आपल्याला भाग पाडतात. मृतदेहच तो, दुर्गंधी येणारच त्यातुन .. !!
Dr Helen Fisher, Biological Anthropologist च्या मते आपण मजबुत नात्यांपेक्षा तुटलेल्या नात्यांबबत जास्त भावुक होतो. परवा youtube वर संदीप आणी सलील चा "आयुष्यावर बोलु काही" चा ५०० वा प्रयोग पहात होतो. फक्त आपल्या शब्दांनी कोणाच्या ह्रुदयात हात घालण्याची कला अवगत असलेले लोक बहुदा कमीच. त्यातलाच हा एक कवीवर्य श्रीकृपेने आमच्या पिढीत जन्माला आलाय. या कार्यक्रमात बऱ्याच सही कविता होत्या पण देवालाच गाऱ्हाणं देणारी "काय रे देवा" लाई भारी वाटली आणी ऊगाच काळजाचा ठोका चुकवुन गेली.

"
आता पुन्हा पाऊस येणार , मग आकाश काळं निळं होणार, मग मातीला गंध फुटणार, मग मधेच विज पडणार मग तुझी आठवण येणार, काय रे देवा !
आता पुन्हा पाऊस येणार , मग आकाश काळं निळं होणार, मग मातीला गंध फुटणार, मग मधेच विज पडणार मग तुझी आठवण येणार, काय रे देवा !!

मग ती आठवण कोणाला दाखवता नाही येणार,
मग मी ती लपवणार ,
मग लपवूनही ते कुणाला तरी कळावंसं वाटणार,
मग ते कोणी तरी ओळखणार ,
मग मित्र असतील तर रडणार, नातेवाईक असतील तर चिडणार, मग नसतंच कळलं तर बरं असं वाटणार आणी या सगळ्याशी तुला काहीच घेणं देणं नसणार .. कायं रे देवा !!!!

मग त्याच वेळी दुर कुठेतरी रेडीओ चालू असणार ,
मग त्यात एखादं जुनं गाणं लागलेलं असणार,
मग त्याला ऎस. डी. बर्मननी चाल दिलेली असणार,
मग ते साहीर ने लिहीलेलं असणार, मग ते लता ने गायलेलं असणार, मग तुही नेमकं आत्ता हेचं गाणं ऐकत असशील का ? हा प्रश्न पडणार,
मग तुही नेमकं आत्ता हेचं गाणं ऐकत असशील का ? हा प्रश्न पडणार,
मग ऊगाज छातीत काहीतरी हुरहुरणार, मग ना घेणं ना देणं पण फुकाचे कंदील लागणार ! काय रे देवा !!!

पाऊस पडणार, मग खिडक्यांचे गज थंडगार होऊन जाणार,
मग त्याला आकाशाची अस्वलं जडणार,
मग खिडकीत घट्ट बांधुन ठेवलेल्या आपल्या पालथ्या मुठीत ते टपटपणार ,
मग पाच फुट पाच ईंच देह अपुरा अपुरा वाटणार,
मग ऊरी फुटुन जावसं वाटणार,
छाताडातुन ह्रुदय काढुन त्या शुभ्र धारांखाली धरावसं वाटणार,
मग सारंच कसं मुर्खासारखं उत्कट उत्कट होत जाणार,
मग सारंच कसं मुर्खासारखं उत्कट उत्कट होत जाणार, पण तरीही श्वासांची लय फक्त कमी जास्त होत राहाणार, पण बंद नाही पडणार ! काय रे देवा !!

पाऊस पडणार मग हवा हिरवी होणार,
मग पाना पानात हिरवा दाटणार,
मग आपल्या मनाचं पिवळं पान हिरव्यात शिरु पाहणार, पण त्याला ते नाही जमणार, त्याला एकदम खरं काय ते कळणार, मग ते ऒशाळणार , मग ते पुन्हा शरीराशी परत येणार, सर्दी होऊनये म्हणुन देहाला वाफ घ्यायला सांगणार,
चहाच्या पाण्यासाठी फ्रिजमध्ये कुडमुडलेलं आलं शोधणार,
ऎस डी चं गाणं ही तो पर्यंत संपलेलं असणार ,
रेडीओचा स्लोट भरलेला असणार,
मग तीच्या जागी ती असणार , माझ्या जागी मी असणार, कपातलं वादंळ गवती चहाच्या चवीने पोटात निपचीत झालेलं असणार,

पाऊस गेल्या वर्षी पडला, पाऊस यंदाही पडतो,
पाऊस पुढल्या वर्षीही पडणार, ...... काय रे देवा !!!
"

कोणीसं म्हटलच आहे की Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together. यंदा कर्तव्य असल्या कारणाने विचार केला की पुढं तर जायलाच पाहिजे आयुष्यात. बऱ्याच जणींना भेटलो आणी भेटतोय.. पण ती मजा येत नाही आहे. एक अनुभव तर आसा आला की मला वाटलं की आपण professional deal signing साठी date वर आलो आहोत का ? collaboration केल्या सरखंच बोललो आम्ही एक मेकांशी.. मी आता नवनवीन कारणं सुध्दा काढायला शिकलोय.. आधी असा नव्हतो मी.. !!

काही महिन्यांपुर्वी माझं नशीब ऊघडलं आणी परत तीला भेटणं झालं, ती तीच्या मैत्रिणीकडे आली होती सनीव्हेल मध्ये. शनिवारी संध्याकाळ .. थोडं गारच होतं बाहेर.. बऱ्याच दिवसांनी तीला पाहिलं , म्हटलं "खुप खराब झालीस गं " .. तीचा मात्र -- no response.
त्यानंतरही गेल्या काही महिन्यात बरंच रामायण घडलं.. पण असो.. पर्वा संदीपची ही दुसरी कविता ऐकली आणी मलाही वाटलं ---
"
ईतकी नाजुक , ईतकी नाजुक ,
ईतकी नाजुक की जेव्हा ती पावसात जाऊ बघते ।
भिती वाटते कारण जळात साखर क्षणात विरघळ ते .. ॥ ईतकी नाजुक ...

ईतकी नाजुक की आता तर स्मरणाचे ही भय वाटे ।
नको रुताया फुलास असल्या माझ्या जगण्यातील काटे ॥ ईतकी नाजुक.. "

ट्रेकर कसा ओळखावा..! *

2009-08-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

खरेतर हा आहे फॉरवर्ड ई मेल. कदाचित मुंबईतल्या कुणीतरी हौशी ट्रेकरने बनवलेला. निनावी...पण, खूप छान आहे. श्रावणात ट्रेकिंगची खरी बहार. त्यामुळंच तो इथं देत आहोत...(लक्षणे तुम्हीही वाढवायला हरकत नाही...!!!)

ट्रेकरची लक्षणे अर्थात ट्रेकर कसा ओळखावा :-

१.चेहरा: बहुधा रापलेला . दाढ़ी मिश्यांचे नक्कीच काही ना काही कीडे केलेले असतात. त्यातही French beard किंवा सैफच्या टशन स्टाइल मिश्या यांच्या फार आवडत्या. काही ट्रेकर्स असेही असतात जे दाढ़ी मिश्या ठेवत नाहीत त्यांना मुली असे म्हणतात :)

२.केस: एकतर अतिशय बारीक़ कापलेले किंवा खुप लांब ..मुले मुली दोघांचेही :)

३.वेशभूषा: आठवड्यातील दिवसाप्रमाणे

सोमवार ते गुरुवार: चेक्सचा शर्ट , जीन्स, पायात चप्पल. खांद्याला चिंगुली सैक हीला ट्रेकच्या भाषेत पिट्टू म्हणतात. त्याला एखादा snap किंवा रंगीबेरंगी स्लिंग जरुर अडकवलेली असते.

शुक्रवार रात्र: निघायची तयारी ...ख़राब फीटिंगची पण प्रचन्ड comfortable ट्रैक पँट , Bombay Natural History Society चे कुठल्या तरी दुर्मिळ पक्ष्याचा फोटो असलेले टी शर्ट , कमरेला वेस्ट पाउच (ही एकखासचीज आहे ...हिच्याविषयी विस्ताराने पुढे येईलच ) ,पायात अनुभवी बनचुका ट्रेकर असल्यास स्लीपर / मध्यम अनुभवी असल्यास फ्लोटर्स / अगदीच नवखा असल्यास भारी बूट :)

शनिवार दुपार ते रविवार दुपार: वर उघडाबंब , डोक्यात माकडटोपी , खाली ट्रैक पँट ...काही ट्रेकर्स उघडे नसतात त्यांना मुली असे म्हणतात :)

४.सापडण्याची जागा: आठवड्यातील दिवसाप्रमाणे

सोमवार ते शुक्रवार सकाळ: आपापला धंदा नोकरी व्यवसाय ...नाईलाजाने.

शुक्रवार रात्र: CST स्टेशनच्या मोठया घडयाळाखाली ... ही trek साठी भेटण्याची जागा.

शनिवार पहाट: कर्जत, मुरबाड, लोणावळा, कसारा, इ. इ. S T stand

शनिवार दुपार ते रविवार दुपार: कुठल्यातरी गडावरील केव्ह

५.अन्य विशेष लकबी:हे कुठल्या ना कुठल्या ट्रेकिंग क्लबचे मेंबर जरुर असतात , पण ९० % वेळा दुसऱया club बरोबर ट्रेकला जातात :)

ट्रेकला वा शहरात कुठेही कोणताही प्लास्टीकचा कचरा टाकत नाहीत .... साधी गोळी जरी खाल्ली तरी कागद व्यवस्थीत खिश्यात ठेवतात. कोणत्याही प्रदूषणाचा यांना तिटकारा असतो. पण किल्ल्यावर केव्हमध्ये कधी कधी ध्वनी + वायु प्रदुषण जरुर करतात :) त्यातही त्यांची फारशी चूक नसते. रात्री उशिरा निघणे, वेळी- अवेळी खाणे, दगदग यामुळे बिचार्यान्चे पोट थोड़े फार बिघडते :)

बोलता बोलता मध्येच खालील शब्द फेकतात : आजोबा, अलंग, कुलंग, कोल,केव्ह, traverse , तिकोना, पिंचहोल्ड, हंप इत्यादी इत्यादी

यांचे एकंदरीत काम अगदी सुबक असते , एखाद्या सराईत गृहिणीसारखे : उदाहरणार्थ सैकमध्ये प्लास्टीकची पिशवी, तिच्यात कपडे, कपड्यांच्या घदीत प्लास्टीकची छोटी पिशवी, तिच्यात छोटी डबी , तिच्यात कागदाची पुडी आणि तिच्यात शिट्टी :) यांचा wastepouch ही एक धमाल चीज असते : यात caluclator , nail कट्टर पासून सुई दोर्यापर्यंत जगातील काहीही अफलातून गोष्ट असते . एका ट्रेकरच्यापाउच मध्ये मी एकदा फॉर्म १६ A बघीतला होता आता बोला :) सैक सुद्धा अशी सुरेख भरतील की पाहत रहावं .

६.खाण्या पिण्याच्या सवयी:

कशालाही नाही म्हणणार नाहीत :) हवे ते हक्काने मागून घेणार :)

काहीतरी विचित्र करून दुसरयाचे लक्ष वेधून घेण्याची वाईट खोड . बिस्किटे पाण्यात बुडवून खाणे , श्रीखंड पाव , केळ पाव खाणे इत्यादी :)

पाणी अतिशय जपून वापरतात . बाटलीतील पाणी ओतायची यांची खास पद्धत असते . बाटलीचे झाकण उघडून बाटलीच्या तोंडावर डाव्या हाताची तर्जनी आणि मधले बोट दाबून धरायचे आणि थोडीशी मोकळी जागा ठेवून बाटली हळूवार कलती करायची यामुळे पाणी भस्सकन पडत नाही

७.गडावर असताना यांची करमणुकीची साधने:

खणखणित आवाजात पोवाडे गाणे

जुन्या ट्रेकच्या आठवणित रमणे

बैटिंग ला जाणे :)(बॅटिंग म्हणजे क्रिकेटमधील नाही. सक्काळी सक्काळी खुल्या आभाळी एखाद्या आडोशाच्या पिचवर जी होते ती.)

८.यांची दैवते:

off course शिवाजी महाराज

रायगडचा जगदीश्वर

हरिश्चंद्र गडाचा खिरेश्वर , रतन गडचा अमृतेश्वर इ . इ .

९.यांची तिर्थस्थळे:

राजमाचीचा तलाव

बाण चा ब्लू लगून

नाणे घाटातील केव्ह

कोंकण कडा इ . इ .

आणि हो ज्याप्रमाणे प्रत्येक आज्जीचं एकदातरी काशीयात्रा करण्याचे स्वप्न असते त्याचप्रमाणे प्रत्येक ट्रेकरचे निम् (नेहरू इंस्टिट्यूट ऑफ़ mountaineering) ला जाऊन बेसिक कोर्स complete करून A ग्रेड घेउन यायचे स्वप्न असते :)

१०.ट्रेकर्स विषयी काही मोठ्ठे गैरसमज

यांना मुली आवडत नाहीत

*टीम ई सकाळ : Original author hereby acknowledged .

कारगिल चे सिंह

2009-07-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

३ जुलैला करगिल च्या युध्दास दहा वर्ष पूर्ण झाले. आणी जसा विजयोत्सव साजरा करावासा वाटला तसंच रणांगणावर धारातिर्थी पडलेल्या शूर महानायकांबद्दल दुरचित्रवाणीवरती बघुन डोळेसुध्दा डबडबले. अशक्य अश्या परिस्थितींशी सामोरे जात दुर्गम हिमालय पादाक्रांन्त करत आपल्या वीरांनी विजयश्री खेचुन आणली. त्यांना माझा अदबिनं सलाम.. मनाचा मुजरा.. !!

विजयाचं मोल तब्बल पाचशे सत्ताविस शुरांनी आपल्या प्राणांनी चुकविले. हिशोबात कधीही न चुकणारे हे भारतीय सैनिक.. "काळ " जरी आला तरी न डगमगता सामोरे गेले.. आपल्या सर्वांसाठी. !! त्यांच्यामध्ये एक नाव प्रकर्षाने समोर येतं आणी ते म्हणजे कैप्टन विक्रम बत्रा यांच. एक पहाडी सर केल्यानंतर "ये दिल मांगे more ! " हे ब्रिदवाक्य देऊन ते पुढच्या मोहिमेवर गेले.. न परतण्यासाठी.. !

"पुन्हा दुसरं कारगिल होणे नाही " हे जरी पूर्णपणे खरं असलं. तरी हे झालंच कसं हा प्रश्न भारतीय लष्कराने स्वत:स असंख्य वेळा नक्कीच विचारला. सुब्रमन्यंम आयोगाने बऱ्याच चुकांकडे लक्ष्य वेधुन दिले. यातील बऱ्याच चुकांची दुरूस्ती झालीही पण हे पाकिस्तानी घुसखोर कारगिलवर न थांबता त्या नंतरही बऱ्याच कारस्थानांकरवे भारतात अराजकता मजवत राहीले. संपुर्ण भारतात बऱ्याच ठिकाणी झालेले bomb हल्ले याचं जिवंत प्रमाण आहेत. २६ नोव्हेंबर २००८ रोजी झालेला मुंबई मधला हल्ला कोणताही खरा भारतीय आजन्म लक्षात ठेवीन. २६ नोव्हेंबर २००८ रोजी झालेला मुंबई मधला हल्ला कोणताही खरा भारतीय आजन्म लक्षात ठेवीन. २६ नोव्हेंबर २००८ रोजी झालेला मुंबई मधला हल्ला कोणताही खरा भारतीय आजन्म लक्षात ठेवीन. २६ नोव्हेंबर २००८ रोजी झालेला मुंबई मधला हल्ला कोणताही खरा भारतीय आजन्म लक्षात ठेवीन. (वक्याची पुनरावृत्ती जाणुनबुजुन केलेली आहे ) करकरे, कामटे आणी सालस्कर यांना कधीही विसरु शकणार नाही. हा वार भारतीयांच्या बराच वर्मी लागला आहे हे (ना)पाक लांड्यांनी लक्षात ठेवावं आणी याचा वचपा जरूर काढण्यात येईल हे सुद्धा विसरू नये.

दहावर्षे झाली, पाकिस्तानची उरली-सुरलेली लख्तरं त्यानंतर पुढे अजुनही विखरत गेली. स्वत:हाचं घर सांभळता न येणाऱ्या या लोकांनी दुसऱ्याच्या ऊखाळ्या पाखाळ्या काढण्यातच सगळी हयात घालवली. पण आपल्या भारतीय जवानांनी या नपुंसकांना त्यांची जागा दाखऊन दिली. आर्थीक घडीतर कधीच विस्कटली आहे. त्यातुन ईस्लाममुळे आंधळे अफगाणी पाकिस्तानला अजुनच तोडु पहात आहेतच. "स्वाट" अजुनही जळतंय.

दहा वर्षापुर्वी एव्हढी जाण नसेलही मला या विषयाची, द्वितीय वर्ष अभियांत्रिकी महाविद्यालयात होतो तेंव्हा, आणी आजही तेव्हढी असेलच असंही नाही पण एकच सांगु ईच्छितो की भारताकडे कारगिलच्या सिंहांची कमी अजिबात नाही.

अप्रासंगिक अप्रत्याशी प्रश्न

2009-06-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

सुमरे साडेतीनशे वर्षापुर्वी संत तुकाराम महाराजांची सदेह वैकुंठ गमनाची कथा आपणा सर्वांनाच माहिती आहे. आणी असे आणखी बरेच वृतांत आपण लहानपणापासुन आपल्या आजी आजोबांकडुन ऐकत अलो आहोत. आपण मोठे झाल्यावर या विज्ञानयुगात वावरताना त्या लहानपणी ऐकलेल्या गोष्टीमागील शास्त्रीयविवेचना करुन शहानिशा करण्याची खुमक मझ्यासारख्या बऱ्याच जणांना येत असेल.

संत ज्ञानेश्वरांनी घेतलेली जिवंत समाधी जैविकशास्त्राच्या कक्षेत बसु शकते का ? त्यांनी म्हणे चांगदेव योगींचे गर्वहरण करण्यासाठी निर्जीव भिंत चालवली. त्या मागचे भौतिक शास्त्र आम्हापामरांना कधी कळु शकेल का ? चांगदेव महाराजांचे तेव्हाचे वय सुमारे १४०० वर्षे सांगण्यात येते. याचे काही शास्त्रीय स्पष्टीकरण मला तरी सुचु शकले नाही. भीष्म पितामाह जेंव्हा बाणांच्याशय्येवर होते तेंव्हा त्यांचे वया अडीचशे वर्षे सांगण्यात येते. ते मी समजु शकतो कारण दीर्घायुषी बनविणाऱ्या कंदमुळांबद्दल मी ऐकलेले आहे. पण १४०० वर्षांच गणित मला तरी सुटण्याजोगे दिसत नाही.

प्रभुश्रीरामांना आणी श्रीकृष्णांस आपले ईतिहासप्रवर्तक मानणाऱ्यांपैकी मी एक आहे. श्रीरामांस युगप्रवर्तक न म्हणता फक्त एक परी कथेतील (mythology ) पात्र मानणाऱ्यांच्या अस्तित्वाबद्दलही मला संशय येतो. ह्रषींचे कुळ आणी नदीचे मुळ विचारू नये असे जे म्हणतात त्याच प्रमाणे ईतिहासपुर्व काळात तर न शिरणेच योग्य होईल. पण एवढेच म्हणेन की पिढ्यानपिढ्या सांगत आलेल्या कथांमध्ये थोडातरी अपभ्रंष होणे सहाजिकच आहे. वानरसेनेने बांधलेल्या रामसेतुचे अवशेष आजही हिंद महासारगामध्ये सापडतात. समुद्रतळावरुन आजही द्वारकेचे भग्नावशेष आपल्याला कृष्णकालीन सुबतता आणी वैभवाचे प्रतिक देतात.

पण हेच सुत्र (logic) काही शतकांच्या पुर्वीच्यागोष्टींना लावण्यास मन धजावत नाही. या सर्व खटाटोपात या थोर संतमहात्मांचा आणी महापुरुषोत्तमांचा कुठेही उपमर्द करण्याची कुचेष्टा आणी महापातक करण्याची माझी बिलकुल ईच्छा नाहीये हे ईथे प्रकर्षाने सांगु ईच्छितो. आणी म्हणुन आशा अप्रत्याशी आणी अप्रासंगिक प्रश्नांना तशीच अप्रत्याशी ऊत्तरे शोधण्याचा हा एक प्रयत्न.

संत तुकारामांच्या वैकुंठ गमनास extra-terrestrial encounter म्हणता येईल का.. ? देवश्री नारदमुनी time traveler or multiverse traveler असतील का ? महाभारतात वर्णील्याप्रमाणे ही अर्जुन वगैरे मंडळी वरकरणी स्वर्गाच्या वाऱ्याकरुन यायची ते alien interactions तर नसतील ना... आणी आत्ता आत्ताच्या काळात शिवाजी महाराजांना भवानी मातेने जेव्हा भवानी तलवार दिली त्याला सुध्दा असेच अप्रत्याशी प्रयोजन (alternative explanation ) देण्याचं धाडस करावंस वाटतय.

ब्रह्मसंबंधा(भुत, पिशाच्च्य)बद्दलच्या अनेक (दंत?)कथा सगळ्यांनीच ऐकलेल्या असतात तेव्हा अशा कथांना एका नव्या द्रुष्टीकोणातुन (new perspective) बघण्याचा हा प्रयास हस्यास्पद असु सुध्दा शकतो पण हा एक सच्चा प्रयास आहे हे नक्की. यातील बऱ्याचश्या प्रश्नांची ऊत्तरे आपण Tier 0 (Tier zero ) civilization असल्यामुळे कदाचित आपल्याला माहित नाहीत किंवा आपल्या समजण्याच्या पालिकडची आसतीलही. पण त्यांचा परामर्श घेण्यातच सुज्ञपणा नाही का ?

Neda -Rest in peace.

2009-06-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Islamic states have been well known for oppressions and human right violations. The thumb rule says that such religious societies remain non modernized. With sharia law in place, the concepts such as gender equality and women rights do not seem to bother such societies.

May it be middle eastern countries such as Iran, the Saudis or the countries from the Indian continent such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Islamic states are becoming more and more volatile due to their fanatic religious beliefs and efforts to stop modernization. Talibanization of Pakistan shows similar effects. The swat valley has been burning for a while now. So also , many European countries are worried about cultural destruction by the increase influx of Muslim immigrants .

Having said that we must also take into considerations the tide turns that have happened in the history. No society can handle prolonged suffering and remain dormant for ever. There are going to be repercussions. People are going to wake up some day and come on to the streets and fight against totalitarian regimes.

With staged elections in Iran showing many discrepancies, Iran is observing nation wide protests. There were student uprisings in late 90's in Iran to move towards the democratic Iran. But they were limited to university groups and didn't see direct and overwhelming participation of the people. The people's choice for the presidential role , Mir-Hossein Mousavi has played more of a level headed role in the past and people were expecting him to be the winner in elections 09. But Iranian people strongly believe that the election process was flawed by the current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has had a history of notorious press statements and policies against the west that hampered the Iranian reputation in the world.

A young women named Neda who was taking part in demonstrations during a protest rally in Tehran with her father was shot dead reportedly by a paramilitary volunteer. She was one of the thousands and thousands of people who are protesting in Tehran since the election results are out a few days ago.

She has become a symbol of the people's revolt and this is going to have a long lasting effects towards Iranian socio-political arena. May she rest in peace. Her death will certainly not go in vain.

I have a mix feelings about her death. On one hand i am appalled by it , but I also feel happy to see an Islamic nation moving slowly, painfully but steadily towards holding a true democratic place on the world stage. Democracy has its cost to pay after all.

Carente Profissional

2009-06-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's one of my favorite Brazilian singer , Ana Cañas singing one of her off beat portuguese song " Carente Profissional". At 26, she is already well renounced in in São Paulo’s night life. Many well known names in the Brazilian music industry have applauded her. I like her unique singing style and flamboyant outlook.

Now i don't understand portuguese so i asked one of my Brazillian friends Rosangela to translate it to english for me.

Beijosss .. !!

Carente profissional

Lacking professional

Tudo azul

everything blue

No céu desbotado

In the discolored sky

E a alma lavada

And the soul washed

Sem ter onde secar

Without have where to dry

Eu corro

I run

Eu berro

I shout

Nem dopante me dopa

Nor dope??? Dope me

A vida me endoida

The life drive me crazy

Eu mereço um lugar ao sol

I deserve a place in the sun

Mereço

I deserve

Ganhar pra ser

To win to be or for being

Carente profissional

Lacking professional

Se eu vou pra casa

If I’m going back to home

Vai faltando um pedaço

It’s missing a piece

Se eu fico, eu venço

If I stay I win

Eu ganho pelo cansaço

I win for the fatigue

Dois olhos verdes

Two green eyes

Da cor da fumaça

Of the collor of the smoke

E o veneno da raça

And the poison of the race

Eu mereço um lugar ao sol

I deserve a place in the sun

Mereço

I deserve

Ganhar pra ser

To win to be or for being

Carente profissional

Lacking professional

Levando em frente

Taking in front

Um coração dependente

A dependent heart

Viciado em amar errado

Addicted in wrong love

Crente que o que ele sente é sagrado

Believer that one that he feels is sacred

E é tudo piada.

And is everything joke

Tudo piada!

Everything joke!

Eu mereço um lugar ao sol

I deserve a place in the sky

Mereço

I deserve

Ganhar pra ser

To win to be or for being

Carente profissional

Lacking professiona

Carente profissional

Lacking professional.

Thanks Rosi for the help with the translation .

The Political Drama

2009-05-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

As the Indian Election 2009 is over, Here are some of the Political Drama by the center stage players.

Here is "young" Gandhi taking up some load for his constituency.

Here is the Almighty Karunanidhi on life threatening fasting for 4 hours :-)

First time in the world history, the fasting was done for 4 hours and that too with all the amenities to provide extra help such as the air conditioner. It started after a breakfast and
ended before lunch. hmm.. an interesting one.. !!

I "< scrap >" U .

2009-05-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

Since its genesis, the man kind has been the most 'attention seeking', 'self bragging' , 'self aware' species of all. This seems to have more to do of the Darwinian roots than the
intelligence. Since the good old days from the prehistoric period when someone invented the idea of adorning ones head with the feathers of 'a game' -- to inception over the ages of language and dancing, singing and painting, sculpturing -- to public speaking -- to warmongering -- to as recently, having ones personal profiles on the Internet, as the 21st century, the aspects of Social Engineering have evolved beyond ones imagination.

Talking about the socializing over the World wide Internet, the mesh of social networks exploded during early years of the 21st century with Friendster being the first of its kind. The eUniverse employees who had accounts on Friendster quickly recognized the value proposition and business case in socializing over the 'Net'. This resulted in the professional effort towards launching MySpace in Aug 2003, around the same time when Facebook’s prequel - The Facemash - was conceptualized. The acquisition of MySpace resulted in a deal of about $600 Mil in Jul 2005.

By this time, the social networking notion had picked up the momentum. And with Facebook’s Founder - Mark Zuckerberg - deciding not to sell his company , Facebook emerged as one of the best social interaction site gaining its popularity mainly in students in the US. In Sept 2007, after Microsoft bought 1.6% shares for around $240 Mil, Facebook’s valuation skyrocketed to around $15 Bil.

On the other coast in the United State, during mid 2004, Orkut Büyükkökten, a Google employee, came up with his own version of social networking. He named it with his first name - Orkut. It first became popular in the States but eventually spread all over the world with India and Brazil having the highest number of users.

And Then came the “Twitter”. Its based on a simple and seemingly benign concept of sharing personal updates in less than 140 characters. These updates, called as “Tweets”, help users tell each other what they are up to. Its equivalent to sending an SMS and works as a multicasting approach of sharing updates with other users. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has gained huge popularity across the globe. And with its users count reaching about 9.5 Mil by March 2009, It is not surprising to hear the rumors that Twitter’s bid has crossed the $1 Bil valuation mark. Across the board, the valuation estimates are based upon how much a single user account on these sites gets evaluated to. There are other news claiming Big players such as Apple showing interest in buying Twitter, though i don’t see a strong business case here.

With the rise of about 150 of such social networking sites, terms like ‘scraps’ became pretty common amongst young generation. These players follow mostly advertising based revenue model , the best example being Google’s AdSense. Other players such as Yahoo and Microsoft were too late to catch up losing market revenue share in the social engineering arena.

Apart from using ads postings, Twitter might pursue following scenarios for revenue generation.

1. They may come up with "Pro Services" for entities such as the Police and other Govt Organization, public service organizations , media including the press for multicasting their tweets to the users. For universities interested in broadcasting short announcements to their students, Twitter’s this approach may earn them good money.

2. They may provide Pro tweeting services for individual players like artists , politicians for announcing their upcoming events.

These are my speculations for the business case of "Pro Users" for posting updates to users who “Follow” them. But Twitter may think about charging money for posting updates to those users who aren’t following your tweets thus infringing the privacy. But i think this will results in more of a spamming problem.

People have already been using social networking sites such as Twitter for good social causes. Recently during Southern Californian fires, people were giving fire updates to each other to help them evacuate safely. Other sites such as Orkut provide the essential podium for strong healthy social debates over variety of topics. This further helps in cross-cultural exchange of values. This certainly is making the world come closer than ever before.

There is other side to social engineering as well - a darker one. About twitter, a user expressed following comments in a public forum. :-
“Twitter is something that again shows the true face of our present society's attention seeking unstable egos. We have to know everything about everyone so we can compare our lives to others just to see if were worth more, less or about the same. Is this really how we want to spend our time? ....”

There have been incidences such as fraud, impersonations, cheating, false propaganda, crimes against women committed through these social networking media like Orkut. In India, Police have registered many such complaints.

There are other other social experiments on the Internet as well. Youtube has emerged as one of the most favorite places to share personal videos. And with Google backing its engine, it is no doubt the best as far as user interaction and experience is concerned.

Finally, as an ever exploring species, we will keep on pursuing newer and more sophisticated ways to tell others about ourselves. And I think this is just the beginning of our efforts of socializing over the Internet. With the notion of cloud computing still in its early stages, we must expect more and (may be) better ways of socializing on the internet in the near future.

Reference: Hail Google :-)

Computer Advertising of the Good old days.

2009-05-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I came across some computer related ads of the bygone era. They were interesting and have historic importance. These ads help us understand how far we have come in computer evolution and eventually broken the Moore's Law.

Manthan - The Election Saga

2009-05-17T03:55:00.000-07:00

With the Indian General Elections 2009 results out, everyone who relates to India in some way, is surprised. The Congress (I) led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has won 255+ seats and clearly on its way to form the next government. This time the Indian electorate has spoken very clearly and fortunately opted to go whole-heartedly for a national political party instead of a conglomerate of regional motley and avoided a fractured mandate. A precariously hung parliament can never deliver in-favor of the people.

Until a week back, the election analysts and forecasters such as Yogendra Yadav of CNN-IBN indicated that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had an upper hand and L. K. Advani would be the next Prime Minister of India. Being a Right Wing Hindu Nationalist, I was very excited and happy about it. But seems like something has gone drastically wrong for the BJP and her allies.

From Congress’s perspective, their ‘Rahul Gandhi’ card was successful in hitting the right nerve of the electorate so were the other young leaders such as Sachin Pilot (Ajmer seat) , Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada . They have played the politics of hope, which is what twenty first century India really needs. The key aspect of Congress’s win is in using “development and economic progress” as the major agenda though their pseudo-secularist vote bank politics has always been questionable. Seems like the white witch has successfully conjured a spell yet again !!.

Dr. Manmohan Singh is certainly a highly qualified candidate but not a politician . Having a puppet at the Prime Ministerial post -- The highest Democratic chair-- of the Government is not a healthy sign for especially the largest democracy in the world. So also, any dynastic politics is a shame and that’s what has been happening in Indian politics.

Last government has be painstakingly ineffective in regards to national security issues and addressing the terrorists threats to the nation. Even after 60 years of independence, the separatists haven’t been buried into the ground. I wonder why NSA is not applied to people such as Arundhati Roy who stupendously make pro-separatists comments. I wonder why incapable people like Shivraj Patil are asked to handle the sensitive cases such as “The Amarnath Land row”. The 26-11 incident and many other blasts across the nation have not been deciphered yet.

BJP needs to go through a lot of self introspection in the coming months and years. And with her young blood (Varun Gandhi) too busy cutting hands raised against Hindus, BJP will have to look elsewhere for a stronger young leadership that will talk about socio-political reforms, job creation, development, slaying inflation, cutting taxes, addressing climate change, pollution, rural education and health issues and billion other. Even though BJP has done exceedingly well in states such as Gujrat, Karnataka, Bihar( With Nitin Kumar), There have been some startling results from states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Even though the results are not quite what i expected, there are few things that i am happy about. Now the regional parties won’t be able to monopolize at the national level against the nation’s interest. The government would be much more stable and hopefully less corrupt. And with the so called Third Front receiving a major blow in their strong holds, CPIM leader Prakash Karat et al can resign to avoid further humiliation. The left was never a good alternative mainly with its anti-development strategies that would take the nation back by few decades if not centuries. Fortunately enough for India, all the prime-ministers in waiting - Sharad Pawar, Mayawati (?) , Lalu Prasad Yadav (a what ? ) , Jayalalita (?) , and many others have been silenced. Lalu Yadav’s implosion to a single digit is a great sign for a better Bihar.

Finally, National progress in the form of infrastructure development and betterment of lives of ordinary people is what would benefit India in the long run. But while doing so, maintaing her cultural identity as being the largest Hindu populated country with tolerance towards other religions is also necessary as well as important.

Das ist nicht einmal falsch*

2008-05-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Being a Homo Sapien, I share the same questions and fascinations about the life with other fellow Sapiens. The existence and the very awareness of self mesmerizes me equally as it sometimes agonizes me. I thank the entity that we call God for not imprisoning me to the present like other species and for giving me the conscience of the past and anticipation of the future. This boon sometimes feels like a bane, though...

As I grew up and the grasp of thoughts exceeded beyond my city, my country and eventually my planet, the clockmaker has been intriguing me with his artifacts which we refer to as the universe, , the galaxies, the super massive black holes, the warm holes, the stars and the supernovae. Eventually to know that He's also virtual after all, when initially Darwin and recently Dawkins shook up the very foundation of my Hindu faith system. I instantly became a fan of the nuker team.

I developed freakiness for the 'Conspiracy Theories' .. may it be Majestic 12, Jasson's scholars, bilderbergers , alternative 3, the Roswell incident ('n the autopsy) ,the golden bird; coming down to sitings of a running alien during viking landing.. to the mars faces(yeah. they were just low resolution images after all.. damn it.. !!)..The alleged moon landing hoax.. They all just simply fascinated my young mind.. I avoid going with or against these theories, though. But certainly their anomalies that they point to baffled the amateur explorer in me.

I got introduced to the String theory and the M theory (M as in Membrane, Master, Magic, Mother etc. ) a.k.a the Theory of Everything through a pbs documentary "The Elegant Universe" somewhere during my graduate school days few years ago. Just like any grad student who likes sci fi stuff(who doesn't.. ?) , I was fascinated by The String theory's capability to explain the time travel, singularity, origin of the universe and the multiverse. It was too good to be true. By no means, i am in a position to vouch for or against it, as i don't have intense mathematical background required to do that. But by sheer feeling that the sci fi fantasies could in fact be the realities of tomorrow was merely amazing.

With ten or eleven to as much as twenty one dimensions, it tries to envisage the universe in its current form of space time continuum called as branes that can be visualized as sheets floating around and colliding once in a while. These collisions are reasoned to be the beginnings of universes with sub atomic particles such as gravitons seamlessly traversing across them.

There have been a variety of versions or variants of the String theory out of which five is considered to be an acceptable number.

Recently started reading "Not Even Wrong" by Peter Woit. The author refutes the String theory's viability through out the text ( as the name of the book suggests) and sounds more drifting towards the other clique of physicists who tend to tag it as a conspiracy theory in absence of any experimental evidence.

For me, "the perception of absence of proof is no proof of proof's absence" seems to be the correct stance.

* The phrase was originally used by a Austrian Theoretical Physicist Wolfgang Pauli that means "This is not even wrong." and has two meanings - Positively means the thing is not completely explored to tag it as "wrong" or "absurd", negatively meaning it actually IS the most wrong thing ever.

Root Three :-)

2008-05-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

i fear that i will always be
a lonely number like root three |
a three is all that's good and right..
why must my three keep out of sight ||

beneath the vicious square root sign
i wish instead i were nine |
for nine could thwart this evil trick
with just some quick arithmetic ||

i know i will never see the sun
as one point seven three two one |
such is my reality a sad irrationality
when harked this is what's this i see
another square root of a three ||

this quietly combulsing by
together now we multiply |
form the number we prefer
rejoicing as an integer ||

we break free from our mortal bonds
and with the wave of a majic quance |
our square root signs become unglued
love for me has been renewed !!!

--From "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay"

एक आवडती, एक नावडती....

2008-03-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

आटपाट नगर होतं.. त्या नगरातल्या राज्याला दोन राण्या होत्या.. एक आवडती आणी एक नावडती... आवडतीचा महाल सोन्याच्या लखलखाटाने पुर्ण राज्यात ऊठुन दिसायचा... नावडतीसाठी मात्र वेशीजवळच एक जुना पुराणा दगडी चिरेबंदी वाडा.... राजा मासात कधीतर नावडतीकडे आपल्या लवाजमासमवेत भेट द्यायचा.. स्वारी आली की राणीवशात दिपावालीच असायची... पण राजासाठी सवतीमत्सरानुषंगे आलेली स्पर्धाच तेव्हढी मनोरंजनीय ... !!!

ही साठा ऊत्तराची कहाणी पाचाऊत्तरी आपण सगळ्यांनीच बर्याच वेळा ऐकली असेल.. विचार केला की ही कथा आजच्या युगात किती लागु पडु शकेल... एकदा गमतीने तीला म्हटलं होतं.. "अगं.... ऊद्या जर मी आजुन एक पाणीग्रहणं केलं..तर तुझी प्रतिक्रीया काय असेल..? हो... पण आवडती मात्र तुच राहाशील ..." .. तेव्हा त्या गमतीनेसुध्दा झालेली तीची चीडचीड मला आजुनही स्पष्टपणे आठवते आहे....

पण खरंच जर विचार केला तर ह्या सारख्या जुन्या चालीरीती एक द्रुष्ट्या या युगात नाहीत तेच किती चांगलं आहे.. येथे लोकांना एक सांभाळता सांभाळता नाकी नऊ येतात तर polygamy वगॆरे तर सोडाच. एक आवडती, एक नावडती, एक अशीच राणी ... असा काळ गेला.. माझ्या स्वत:च्याच घराण्यात माझ्या माहिती नुसार दोन अर्धांगिनीं असण्याचं ऊदाहरण माझ्या आजोबांच्या पिढीत होऊन गेलं.. त्याला सुध्दा झाले आता जवळपास सत्तर एक वर्ष.... पण खरंच म्हटलं तर जनविवंचना डावलुन मस्तानीसाठी स्वतंत्र महाल बांधणारे असे कीती बाजीराव आजच्या काळात राहीले आहेत ?

त्यामानाने आजचा पुरुष स्वत:ला जेव्हढं जास्त metro sexual portrait करता येईल तेव्हढं करतो..आजचा पुरुष बाहुबळाने लढण्यापेक्षा डोक्यानेच जास्त लढतो.. यात त्याचा काही दोष नाही .. करण जसं युग बदललंय तशी रणांगणेही बदलली आहेत.. पण हे जरी खरं असलं तरी पुरुषांना (कुठल्याही युगातले का असेनात.. ) राकट पणाच (राऊडीपणा) शोभतो.. भावनाप्रधान वगॆरे होणे पुरूषास परवडण्याजोगे नसते. स्वदेशी-स्वग्रुही असल्यास एखाद्या वेळेस मातोश्रींचा पदर मिळेलही वेळपडल्यास; पण परदेश्यात मात्रुसुखच काय बाकी काही मिळण्याची अपेक्षा नसावी. आणखी म्हणजे किती स्त्रीयांना "muma's boy" असलेले पुरुष आवडतात... ? याचं ऊत्तर negative infinity कडे झुकते.. आणी त्यात काही गैर आहे असं मलातरी वाटत नाही.. याचं महत्वाचं कारण म्हणजे त्या स्वत:च mood-swings शी cope-up करण्यात गूंतलेल्या असतात. (थोडं विषयांतरच झालं म्हणायचं..)

आता श्रुंगाराच्या अनुषंगाने या विषयाकडे बघायचं झालं तर शात्रांनुसार पुरुषास आयुषामध्ये तीन ह्रुण चुकवावयाचे असतात : देव ह्रुण - जे भगवान नारायणाचे असते आणी द्न्यानार्चन करुन चुकवले जाते. ह्रुषी ह्रुण- जे भगवान महादेवाचे असते आणी दानधर्म करुन चुकवले जाते. आणी पित्रु ह्रुण- जे भगवान ब्रह्मदेवाचे असते आणी पुत्रप्राप्तीने चुकवले जाते.
एक नारीच पुरुषाला यापॆकी तीसय्रा ह्रुणातुन मुक्त होण्यास मदत करु शकते. त्यासाठी एक "आवडती" असली म्हणजे झालं .. प्रभुरामचंद्रांनी देखील एकपत्नीश्वरता आपल्या अवतारात जपली होतीच की .. !!!

पण जर आपण स्रुष्टीच्या नियमांकडे लक्श दिलं तर प्रकर्षाने जाणुन येतं की जी असते ती नेहेमी "वरमाला"च असते.. विकल्प (choice .. or rather the ability to make a choice --- (even though choice is merely an illusion as the decisions have been already made by the divine higher authority )) हे स्रुष्टीने नारीजातीला दिलेत..

polyandry ची अशी किती ऊदाहरणे ईतिहासात सापडतात.. ? अग्नीपुत्री महातेजा पांचाली सोडली तर मला तरी आजुन कोणी आठवत नाही.. मनवतेचं सोडा निसर्गातही अशी ऊदाहरणे कमीच आहेत.....

एकंदरीतच अंत्यत: असे म्हणणे येते की

तीच्यासाठी जगावे ।
तीच्यासाठी च मरावे ॥
दुग्धशर्करेसम
समरुप व्हावे ... तीच्यामध्ये... ॥॥

No pain No gain

2008-03-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I played any games (pun intended :-) ) . So it was a really refreshing to have a few hours of Cricket being played with my Cisco colleagues over the Friday evening.

I rediscovered my bowling skills and as always batted well. And by the end of the day my whole body muscles were paining. Ohhh .. that was really a great and sweet feeling. Especially when i tried to laugh my stomach muscles were crying out loud.. Its such a wonderful feeling.

As far as i remember, Its must have been almost 3/4 years since i played cricket. It was back in grad school days . So i thought i might have actually lost touch. But i could revamp with ease and enjoy the game. No body cared who was winning or losing ..( really ? :-) ) . By the end of Friday everybody was exhausted.

I had a great night sleep on Friday night. It was tough getting up on Saturday morning but i was enjoying it.. I could feel it even while walking, moving things around, doing mundane work. And today( Sunday) the pain is on the way out..

Ill have to figure out some thing to get this goin. I think i kindda enjoy it .. :-) . may be i should start working out or something..

Fwd: :-)

2008-01-30T14:51:00.001-08:00

I generally don't read the forwarded emails .. as the sender or rather forwarder probably has done the same. so my brain has been (artificially) trained to hit the delete button for such emails...
But once in a while something looks out of the place and is defiant enough that demands my attention (of course that happens like once in a million or something .. yeah yeah.. i get heck of emails from all over the places .. the professional front .. the personal front and what not.. ;) )...

Here's one of the stupid email that i recently got and actually touched my heart (yeah that reminds me that i do have that organ somewhere on the north-east ... naaahh north-west corner of my body i guess... )

Its a stupid short story about a man's lie to his girlfriend whom he marries...
here it is..

He met her on a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he so normal, nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the
party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was
too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, she thought, please, let me go home.... suddenly he asked the waiter. "would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee."
Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously; why
you have this hobby? He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I like playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my
hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there". While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched.

That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home. Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story.

They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!

Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married to the prince, then they were living the happy life... And, every
time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee e, as she knew that's the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said: "My dearest,
please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so
nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I never thought that could be
the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie
to you for anything...

Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste.. But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for
anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and
have you for my whole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again".

Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday, someone asked her: what's the taste of salty coffee?

It's sweet. She replied.

Love is not 2 forget but 2 forgive, not 2 c but 2 understand, not 2 hear but 2 listen, not 2 let go but 2 HOLD ON !!!!

Don't ever leave the one you love for the one you like, because the one you like will leave you for the one they love..

Find a guy, who calls you beautiful instead of hot.
Who calls you back when you hang up on him.
Who will stay awake just to watch you sleep.

Wait for the guy who kisses your forehead.
Who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats. Who holds your hand in front of his friends.
Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you.

Wait for the one who turns to his friends and says, "...that's her."

Even though its really a childish tenegarian story , I think due to my recent exotic India trip I have started appreciating the happiness in the smallest things in life.. and may be because of that I found this forwarded story amazing and amusing..

After all as they say.. “everything is fair in love and war. “ .. :-)

My beautiful mind...

2008-01-30T00:22:00.000-08:00

Watched “The beautiful mind” for like the quad-zillion'th time today. Whenever I watch Dr. John Nash I get this urge of getting back to the grad school. It’s like I say to myself – “maaaaaaaannnnn I need to get back to school... huussshhhh“.

As I am currently going through a lot of turmoil in my personal life, this time what I noticed more vividly was Alicia’s commitment towards John. I am sure that the real life must have been harder than what has been shown in the movie. One scene that I particularly remember and would like to mention here is after John’s schizophrenia is discovered and they have a kid Alicia goes through a lot of hard time. This one time Richard Sol expresses interest in Alicia and hints her to leave John. That’s the time when she expresses her true feelings about John and restates her commitment towards him. That was so adorable. We (I mean Indians) always keep blaming the American culture for not having that strong foundation and question some of the types of relationships out here…

But in spite the type of social background Alicia belongs, it’s really adorable to see her commitment and I am sure it’s not the culture but the sanity and sanctity of a relationship that matters the most.

One of the few questions that came to my mind while writing this is that do our women (I am talking about Indian women) really committed in their relationships... I know it’s weird for me to write about relationships and all as I have never been this much serious about it ever before. (May be)...

For ages, it’s the men who have been blamed for showing the commitment issues and stuff like that.. (And in one sense we did/do/and would have such issues ;) but aren’t today’s women having the same issues? May be it’s a universal NP complete problem as to why commitment is so hard... and yeah I am talking about a real true, honest, celestial, holy , sacred commitment. Not just some stupid playing around.

स्वप्नायते राजनी....

2007-08-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

मध्यरात्र ऊल्टुन गेलीये... थोडी बोचरी थंडी सुध्दा आहे.. रवि वर्मन क्रुत कथेवर आधारित ’अनाहत’ चित्रपट आत्ताच पाहुन संपवला..

’अनाहत’ चा विषय थोडा गहन होता पण योग्यरितीने हताळल्यासारखा भासला.. पंचसहस्त्र वर्षे चालत आलेल्या नियोगाच्या प्रथेवर आधारित आहे हा चित्रपट.

आधीच मी जुन्या काळात रमणारा माणुस.. त्यातुन आश्या कथेवरती आधारित चित्रपट.. म्हणजे माझं विचारमंथनात गुंतुन जाणं सहाजिकच होतं. आणी मग त्यातुन ऊपजणारा निद्रानाश .... हा अनुभव माझ्यासाठी काही नवीन नाही.. वैचारिक बांध घालण्यात आम्ही देशस्थ एकदम पुढे.. त्यातुन सौंस्थानिकांचं रक्त असल्यामुळे कालमानापरत्वे आधुनिकता आली तरी हे जुन्या गोष्टींचे वेड काही केल्या जात नाही..

किती स्वप्नमय आणी जादुमय होता तो काळ आणी त्यातील ते गद्य-पद्यसम्राट.. मग महाकवि कालिदासापासुन महाकवि दण्डि, बाणभट्ट, भास, वेदव्यास, महर्षी वाल्मिकी सर्वांच्या लेखणीतुन प्रत्यक्श देवि सरस्वतीनेच दर्शन दिलेले...

मी पोहोचलोय ऊज्जयिनी राज्यात .. माझी पर-पर-परदादी ऊज्जयिनीच्या प्रधानाची कन्या होती म्हणे... असो.. हरवलोय मी त्या वत्स्यराज ऊदयनाच्या समुद्रग्रुहात ... "स्वपनायते राजनि" ऊदयना समवेत पहुडलेली दासीवेषातल्या मगधेची राजकन्या वासवदत्तेचा विषाद पाहुन मलासुध्दा खंत वाटते आहे.. वाटतंय तिला सांगावं .. "यौगंधरायणावरती विश्वास ठेवा.. आपली लवकरच अद्न्यातवासातुन सुटका होईल.. पद्मावती समवेत महाराजांचा विवाह झाल्यावर.." ...
खरंच किती सुरेख आहे महाकविभासाचे स्वप्नवासवदत्तंम .. .

तेथुन मी निघालोय ते थेट आरण्यातील शिवालयात जाऊन थबकतोय.. एक नव युवती नुकतीच स्नान करुन अर्चनेसाठी आली दिसते आहे.. आणी राजपुत्र द्वाराजवळ नवयुवतीची अर्चना पुर्ण होण्याची वाट पहातोय... महाकविदण्डिचे बाकी नऊ कुमार तो पर्यंत नऊ दिशांमध्ये हरवलेले असावेत. मी त्याला सांगु ईच्छितो की तुम्ही सर्वजण परत जरुर भेटणार आहात.... (दण्डि रचित दशकुमारचरीतम बद्दल बोलतोय मी.. )

तसाच भटकत भटकत पहातोय तो समोर ऊभा हा तरूण ज्याला आपल्या विदुषी पत्नीने घरातुन बाहेर काढलंय.. हाच तो महान महाकवि जो कालिमातेच्या क्रुपाप्रसादाने कालिदास नाम धारण करुन आपल्या अर्धांगीनीने विचारलेल्या "अस्ति कश्चित वाग्विशेष:" या प्रश्नातील तीन शब्दांनी सुरु होणारी तीन महाकाव्य लिहीन.... धन्य ती विदुषी ... अणी धन्य तो महाकवि.........

महाकवि कालिदासांच्या मेघदुत, कुमारसंभ यांची सुध्दा आठवण होतीये.. ऊजळणीच होतीये असं म्हणाना.. शुद्रकाच्या म्रुच्छकटिक ची स्मरण होतंय ..

"सेहत के लीये" चांगलं असतं असं मनन करण .. अशी माझी स्वत:ची संकल्पना आहे.. अरे हो.. चला.. बंरं झालं पर्वा कोणीतरी विचरलंच होतं की बरेच दिवस काही लिहीलं नाहीस म्हणुन .. मी म्हटलं होतं की माझी प्रेरणाच हरवलीये.. तिचा शोध घेतोय.. बहुदा ’अनाहत’ च्या संयोगाने पुनश्च गवसल्या सारखी भासतीये...

In Murphy I really do trust.

2007-08-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

The other day someone asked a question – ‘Did Murphy ever smile at u??’ and there started my voyage into the ‘thought spiral’ that normally ends in the singularity.

He has smiled at me not once or twice but in fact many times. He keeps on smiling all the time. I think he is a man no more. Is he the Almighty or the Almighty is him?

Interestingly though, I have gone through so many anomalies that defy him and his laws. And that to an extent sometimes I strongly feel that he has a secret ally with the God. Or as I mentioned before may he be none other than the God himself as only He can flaw Himself.

Einstein once said, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” Murphy materializes this illusion in a narcissistic way. One can see his presence in all aspects of life ranging from day today personal lives to the politics, wars, business, r ‘n d. His laws should not be taken pessimistically. As a matter of fact, they teach the importance of change to humanity. A constructive congruence with him and his laws provides us with an edge to succeed thus proving him to be one of the best mentors and saviors. Change is the only constant thing in this world. Though it’s portrayed as bad thing in most of Murphy’s Laws, I think if we are able to decipher them appropriately and comprehend them, they are not that sadistic after all.

Most of the mere mortals fear him and his laws just the way they fear God. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins would strongly rebuke this equivalence I make of Murphy with the God because of the strong scientific foundation of his laws. But it’s intriguingly true that his laws don’t have any Darwinian traces in them. (No. I am not an atheist. I prefer keeping science apart from my faith. I try not to mix them. This helps me avoid insomnia and remain sane. )

In conclusion, I am glad that whenever I am being dragged (either by myself or by the circumstances ) towards the edge of a cliff and over it, when I am about to die hard, he smiles at me, or rather laughs at me and complements me for my valor and sets me free. He always either catches me in such situations or teaches me how to fly.

फाळणी

2007-07-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

Note:Hereby the author of this poem is acknowledged.

The Compliments

2007-07-15T02:29:00.000-07:00

As they say 'carve down the compliments you received on a rock so that they would never be lost and write your insults on the sand so that the next wind will make them vanish away.'

Here are some of the compliments that i remember . If there is one that you gave, just wanna say thank you. and if i forgot to put it here, pls don't mind. your reminder would certainly help :) !!

"were you a knight in your past life. ? " -
there was this woman, who said it to me once. For a man, thats surely one of the great compliments to receive!!

"you have a great voice" -
i get this from both men,women. No. i am not a singer, its the normal talking voice that they some how like about me.

"you are like the khaki color. Its classic , and never out of fashion." --
first of all , no , i didn't knew that 'khaki' is a Persian word. This was certainly interesting !!

"I love the way you treat yourself."--
this was kinda tricky, actually. As they say, women never say what they think and never think what they say. But i took it as a compliment. who knows(except the person herself) what she meant. lol. but under the circumstances that it was being said, i think it was a compliment.

"ohhh, you are such a politician." -
i actually liked that. Some people might say, its not a positive thing if somebody calls you 'a politician'. But ohh, what the hell.. i liked it. !!

"I wish i had a great close friend like you." -
I was helping out on of my close friends for something, and after the task was over someone said these sweet words to me. It was really great to hear that.

One question that always pops up in our mind -- why do we do certain things the way we do it?. Lets consider about compliments we give. Some times its merely the infatuation. Sometimes we are just caught in the moment. One can come up with many reasons.

So far in my life, I have given some crazy compliments. won't /can't write every one of 'em, of course ;) lol.

During my early days in here, this one time, I said to a great looking woman "is there a way in formal english to tell a woman that she has a great ass". -- and she took that compliment really sportingly. and actually explained to me that its kinda harder to get it right most of the times. lol
One time in a pub (i guess we were in oakland or san leandro, do'nt remeber exactly), this bartender was wearing great ear rings. Its not that i have an in depth knowledge of ear rings, but i did compliment her and asked her if i can - 'check them out in proximity ' lol. and she was more than happy that someone actually noticed her new ear rings. So as a result, she let me play with them for a long while. lol.

Its not always about the physical appearance, but I do'nt mind complimenting someone even if i need to go out of the way to do it.

In my eternal pursuit to understand women, one of the things that i have gotten across so far is that they like being appreciated and especially if someone actually notices the details and most importantly listens to what they are saying.

Hail the All Mighty ;) :P

गांधी, गोडसे.आणी मी

2007-06-24T23:18:00.001-07:00

दोन महापुरुषांसमवेत ऊभा, हा असा मी. या दोघांपुढे माझं अस्तित्व माझं मलाच जाणवेनासं झालंय.

पहिला, त्याच्या अहिंसावादी तत्वांसाठी संपूर्ण प्रुथ्वीतलावरती प्रसिध्द. तर दुसरा, गांधी हत्येचं तथाकथीत पातक माथी घेतलेला. आणी मी ? त्या भरतीय मातीतील गर्दीचा प्रतिनीधी.

मातेच्या स्वातंत्र्यासाठी गांधींचे योगदान वाखाणण्याजोगेच आहे. टिळक स्वातंत्र्ययुध्द ऎन परमावधीत सोडुन गेले. त्यांच्या नंतर मी वेडापिसा झालो. आहो, कार्य करणं सोपं असतं हो. पण त्यासाठी कर्त्याची ऊपस्थिती आवश्यक असते. आणी हेच झालं टिळकांच्या अनुपस्तिथीत. स्वातंत्र्य तर हवं होतं मला, पण त्यासाठी नक्की काय करावं लागतं बुवा हे कोणास ठाऊक? ईंग्रजांनी त्यांच काम पुर्ण कौशल्याने केलं होतं. माझा अहम चारी मुंड्या चित केला होता. "आपण स्वत:चे राजे असुच शकत नाही. ईंग्रजच त्या लाईकीचे आहेत. राज्य करावे तर ईंग्रजांनीच." अशी ठाम मनोभावना करुन दिली होती त्यांनी. १८५७ च्या निर्फल ऊठावानंतर तर आपल्या स्वातंत्र्यवीरांचं नांवही घ्यायला तर नव्हतो. "बामणांनीच पेशवाई बुडवली!!" असे तर मी अत्ता अत्ता पर्यंत ऎकत होतो. नको ती आठवण पेशवाईची. मन विषण्ण होतं, त्यां शेवटच्या दिवसांबद्दल विचार केला की.

आणी अशा गहन परीस्थीतीत आले गांधी. अंतु बर्वा-च्या भाषेत सांगायचे झाले तर - "साधी ब्यारीष्टरी चाल्ली नाही त्याची". रथी, महारत्थांच्या ह्या भुमीस अहिंसा वगॆरे गोष्टी थोड्या नवीन होत्या. श्री रामचंद्रांचा अनुयायी मी. अन्यायी, अत्याचारी रावणांना चोख ऊत्तर द्याण्याची शीकवण माझी. मग प्राण गेले तरी बेहत्तर पण शेवटच्या रक्ताच्या थेंबापर्यंत लढण्याची तयारी माझी. अशा मला "एका गालावर ठेऊन दिली, की दुसरा गाल पुढे करा ..!!" असा सांगणारा हा कोण तथाकथीत उचशिक्शीत युवक आला आहे, असा प्रश्न जरुर पडला असणार. पण काय करणार.. म्हणतात ना - "अडला हरी आणी गाढवाचे पाय धरी !!" तशी गत झाली माझी. मग लागलो गांधींच ऎकायला. द्रुकशाव्य साधनांचा एव्हढा चांगल्या प्रकारे ऊपयोग करणारा "नेता" या आधी मातेनेही पाहीला नव्हता, आणी मी ही !!
१९४२ पर्यंत, त्याने माझ्यावरची त्याची पकड अगदी मजबुत केली. ईतकी मजबुत की मी 'चले जाऒ !' चे ऎन रंगात आलेले आंदोलन फक्त त्यांच्या सांगण्यावरुन तसेच विफळ होऊ दिले. मला नेहेमी प्रश्न पडायचा, की येथे माझ्या मातेचे स्वातंत्र्य महत्वाचे की गांधींचे स्वनिर्मीत आणी स्वत: साठीचे नियम. ?

गांधी नेहेमी रंगात आलेली आंदोलने स्वत:चा जीवाची धमकी देऊन उल्थुन टाकायचे आणी मी ही दुसरा कुठला ऊपाय नव्हता म्हणुन ते म्हटतील ती पुर्व, असा वागायचो. भगत सिंग आणी त्यांच्या साथीदारांच्या बाबतीतही तेच झाले. तोपर्यंत गांधींना मी सर्व्वॊच्च पदावर बसवुन, त्यांना देवपण वगॆरे देऊन टाकलं होतं. त्यामुळे त्यांच्या हातात असतानाही जेंव्हा त्यांनी भगतास बलीवेदीवर जाण्यापासुन रोखले नाही, तेंव्हा मी ही पहात राहीलो , शुंभा सारखा !!

नेताजी सुभाष चंद्र बोस यांसारख्या मात्तबर मंडळींना गाधींनी अतीशय सराईतपणे बाजुला सारले आणी ह्या गोष्टीकडे माझे लक्श गेले नाही कारण मी गांधींचे गोडवे गाण्यात मग्न होतो. स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकरांसारख्या लोकांचे नशीबच तेव्हढे बलवत्तर नसल्यामुळे राष्ट्रीय पातळीवर त्यांचे वजन म्हणावे तेव्हढे कधी पडलेच नाही. आणी माझेही त्यागोष्टी कडे गांधीमग्न असल्यामुळे लक्श गेले नाही.

या सर्व पसारयात मी ह्याही गोष्टी कडे दुर्लक्श केले की मातेचे स्वातंत्र्य फक्त गांधींमुळे न मिळता हिटलरचा ही त्यात थोडा वाटा होता. त्याने आंग्लांना अग्नीवर्षेने सळो की पळो करुन सोडले होते. चर्चील लपण्याच्या नवनवीन जागा शोधत होता. राणीचे राज्य (राणी कसली हो ती. चोरच म्हणाना. माझा कोहीनूर अजुन मला मिळालेला नाही.!! ) कमकुवत झाले होते. तीची दक्शिण आफ्रिकेतली पकड संपुष्टात येवु पहात होती. त्या मुर्खाने जर ती चुक केली नसती (मी , ब्रिटनची मोहीम मध्येच सोडुन पुर्वेस कूच करण्याच्या आणी रूस वर आक्रमण करण्याच्या हिटलरच्या चुके बद्दल म्हणतोय.), तर ईंग्रजांना माझ्या मातेस स्वातंत्र्य "द्यावे" लागले नसते. ते नेताजींनी हिसकावुन घेतले असते.

होय. फक्त गांधींच्या मुर्खतेमुळे ईंग्रजांना हे करणे शक्य झाले. त्यांनी सत्तांतरणाचा सोहळा अशा प्रकारे केला की जणुकाय माझ्यावर आणी माझ्या मातेवर स्वातंत्र्य देऊन त्यांनी ऊपकारच केले. अरे, स्वातंत्र्य ही हिस्काऊन घेण्याची गोष्ट आहे, दान म्हणुन घुण्यासारखी वस्तु नाही. दानात दिलेले स्वातंत्र्य ते कसले स्वातंत्र्य ? आणी त्यामुळेच तो स्त्री लंपट आयुष्यभर ईंग्रजांची "हंजी हंजी" करत राहीला. (ज्यांना कळाले नसेल त्यांसाठी सांगणे येते आहे, मी नेहेरु बद्दल बोलतोय.)

फाळणी टाळता आली असती का ? झालं ते योग्य झालं का? पाकीस्तान ला जे पॆसे दिले गेले ते योग्य होतं का ? अश्या अनेक प्रश्नांपासुन पळतोय मी.. अशी पळवादी प्रव्रूत्ती नव्हतीच माझी कधी. पण गांधींनी माझं पुरुषत्वच संपुष्टात आणलं. बत्तीस लढाया एकामगोमाग एक जिंकणार्या बाजीरावाचा वंषज मी , पण मला हे अहिंसेच खुळ घालुंन दिलेलं. कसाकाय सामोरा जाणार आशा नरभक्शक प्रश्नांना.

मग ऊभा राहीला एक माझ्याच मातेचा सुपुत्र. नथुराम . तो नाही आहारी गेला गांधींच्या. मला ही त्याच्या सार्खंच सगळं स्पष्ट पणे दिसत होतं पण त्याने योग्य तो निर्णय घेण्याचं साहंस दाखवलं. आणी मला आणी माझ्या मात्रूभुमीला आणखी एका दास्यातुन सोडवलं.. गांधीदास्यातुन. !!!

कसेकाय फेडणार हो तुमचे ऊपकार , गोडसे. !! तुमच्या बद्दल लिहावयास माझ्याकडे शब्द नाहीत. हे सगळं कळतंय हो गोडसे पण वळंत नाही ये ना. म्हणुनही ऊघड पणे तुमचं समर्थन नाही करत मी. किंवा , नाही करु शकत मी .. असं म्ह्टलं तर जास्त योग्य होऊ शकेल.

आणी अत्ताचंच बघाना, गांधींना माझ्या मातेपेक्शा वरचा दर्जा दिलाय मी. मग करतात नेते त्याचा दुरूपयोग .. आजही झगडतोय मी माझ्याशीच . एक परतंत्र्य संपलं की दुसरं आहेच ..
आणी हेच चलु राहिलंय ...

शेवटी, सगळी श्रींची ईच्छा !!

माझं ईतिहास प्रेम !!

2007-06-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

आज कुणाएकीचा मराठी कवितांचा blog वाचला आणी आपणही आपल्या मार्तूभाषेतुन काही तरी लिहावं असं वाटलं म्हणुन हा सर्व खटाटोप.
लिहीण्याजोगं बरंच काही आहे. आयुषाने बरेच अनुभव गाठी बांधावयास दिले. त्या गाठी ईतक्या झाल्यात की आता ते यद्नोपवीत आहे की समस्त तुकड्यांचा एक गोळा आहे हेच कळेनासे झाले आहे. तरी सुध्दा हा ब्राह्मणपुत्र नेहेमी नवीन आवहानांच्या शोधात असतो. त्यांना तोंड देण्याचं सामर्थ्य कोठुन मिळतं हे तर श्रींनाच ठाऊक. आसो. ऊगाच नसता फापट पसारा नको.
बरं मी पु. लं. ही नाही आणी जी. ऎ. ही नाही (किती जणांना जी. ऎ. आठवत आहेत आत्ता..मी जी. ऎ. कुलकर्ण्यांबद्दल बोलतोय. ) त्यामुळे माझी लेखी भाषा थोडी जास्तच गद्य वगॆरे भासु शकते. जी. ऎंचा ईथे ऊल्लेख अश्या कारणास्तव आला की त्यांनी रेखाटलेला तो अश्वत्थामा आजही माझ्या डोळ्यासमोर स्पष्टपणे ऊभा रहातो. पर्वा कोणी तरी मध्यप्रदेशात भग्न किल्लयांच्या अवशेषात राहणार्या एका गुढ व्यक्तिमत्वाला- "तोच तो अश्वत्थामा !!" म्हणुन संबोधीले आणी मला सर्वप्रथम कोण आठवले तर जी ऎ. आणी त्यांचा तो स्मशानात सरणा जवळ ऊभा राहून नवयुवक राजकुमाराला हितोपदेश करणारा महापुरुष.. !!
हे विषयांतर आहे का ? तर मी म्हणेन आहो ईथे विषयच मुळी ठरवलेला नसल्याने विषयांतराचा प्रश्नच कुठे येतो.

होय मला ईतिहास आवडतो .. आणी ही आवड नसुन स्वत:लाच शोधण्याचा एक अनौपचारीक का होईना पण प्रामाणिक प्रयत्न. शालेय जीवनातला ईतिहास मला कधीच आवडला नाही. जो पर्यंत स्म्रूती जाते आहे त्यावरुन असे लक्शात येते की हे प्रेम आंग्लदेशात आल्यावरच जास्त ऊफाळुन आले. जेव्हा ईथले ग्रीक सांस्क्रूतीचे ऊगाच गोडवे गाणारे पाहीले तेव्हा आतुनच आवाज आला - "अरे मूर्खा जागा हो.. लहानपणी संघात काय ऊगाच वेळेचा अपव्यय करावयास जात होतास का ? " आणी मग सुरू झाली एक अतिशय आत्मरम्य अशी सहल.. मग सत्संगीयांचे द्न्यान कोश आसोत ..किंवा बुध्दीनुरुप जे काहे थोडेफार जेथे कोठे वाचावयास मिळेल ते वाचत राहीलो. असे म्हणतात की ईतिहासाच्या बबतीत आपले जसे ग्रह असतात त्यांप्रमाणेच पुरावे मिळतात .. तसे झालेही असेल .. पण अंत्यत: एक नक्की आहे की आपला ईतिहास त्याचा पाठलाग करणार्याला आंग्लांच्या बौधिक सामर्थ्याच्या सीमा पार करून अनंतात नेऊन सोडतो. होय .. (मला आंग्लांबद्दल आतीव राग आणी घ्रूणा आहे... आणी त्याची कारणे काही नवीन नाही.. पुन्हा केव्हातरी लिहीन वाटलं तर. )
यात आजुन लिहीण्या जोगो खुप काही आहे .. पण जमलं तर पुठच्या अध्यायात.. !!!

ऋग्‌वेदः

2007-06-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Found it somewhere thought of recoding it here .. So that it it could be referred whenever required

हिरण्यगर्भसूक्तम्; ऋग्‌वेदः 10.121
ऋषिः हिरण्यगर्भः प्राजापत्यः
छन्दः त्रिष्टुप्‌
देवता कः (प्रजापतिः)

हि॒र॒ण्य॒ग॒र्भः सम॑वर्त॒ताग्रे॑ भू॒तस्य॑ जा॒तः पति॒रेक॑ आसीत्‌।
स दा॑धार पृथि॒वीं द्यामु॒तेमां कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥१॥

य आ॑त्म॒दा ब॑ल॒दा यस्य॒ विश्व॑ उ॒पास॑ते प्र॒शिषं॒ यस्य॑ दे॒वाः।
यस्य॑ छा॒यामृतं॒ यस्य॑ मृ॒त्युः कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥२॥

यः प्रा॑ण॒तो नि॑मिष॒तो म॑हि॒त्वैक॒ इद्राजा॒ जग॑तो ब॒भूव॑।
य ईशे॑ अ॒स्य द्वि॒पद॒श्चतु॑ष्पदः॒ कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥३॥

यस्ये॒मे हि॒मव॑न्तो महि॒त्वा यस्य॑ समु॒द्रं र॒सया॑ स॒हाहुः।
यस्ये॒माः प्र॒दिशो॒ यस्य॑ बा॒हू कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥४॥

येन॒ द्यौरु॒ग्रा पृ॑थि॒वी च॑ दृ॒ळ्हा येन॒ स्वः॑ स्तभि॒तं येन॒ नाकः॑।
यो अ॒न्तरि॑क्षे॒ रज॑सो वि॒मानः॒ कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥५॥

यं क्रन्द॑सी॒ अव॑सा तस्तभा॒ने अ॒भ्यैक्षे॑तां॒ मन॑सा॒ रेज॑माने।
यत्राधि॒ सूर॒ उदि॑तो वि॒भाति॒ कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥६॥

आपो॑ ह॒ यद्बृ॑ह॒तीर्विश्व॒माय॒न्‌ गर्भं॒ दधा॑ना ज॒नय॑न्तीर॒ग्निम्‌।
ततो॑ दे॒वानां॒ सम॑वर्त॒तासु॒रेकः॒ कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥७॥

यश्चि॒दापो॑ महि॒ना प॒र्यप॑श्य॒द्दक्षं॒ दधा॑ना ज॒नय॑न्तीर्य॒ज्ञम्‌।
यो दे॒वेष्विधि॑ दे॒व एक॒ आसी॒त्कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥८॥

मा नो॑ हिंसीज्जनि॒ता यः पृ॑थि॒व्या यो वा॒ दिवं॑ स॒त्यध॑र्मा ज॒जान॑।
यश्चा॒पश्च॒न्द्रा बृ॑ह॒तीर्ज॒जान॒ कस्मै॑ दे॒वाय॑ ह॒विषा॑ विधेम॥९॥

प्रजा॑पते॒ न त्वदे॒तान्य॒न्यो विश्वा॑ जा॒तानि॒ परि॒ ता ब॑भूव।
यत्का॑मास्ते जुहु॒मस्तन्नो॑ अस्तु व॒यं स्या॑म॒ पत॑यो रयी॒णाम्‌॥१०॥

नासदीयसूक्तम्‌ Rgveda 10.129
नास॑दासी॒न्नो सदा॑सीत्त॒दानीं॒ नासी॒द्रजो॒ नो व्यो॑मा प॒रो यत्‌।
किमाव॑रीवः॒ कुह॒ कस्य॒ शर्म॒न्नम्भः॒ किमा॑सी॒द्गह॑नं गभी॒रम्‌॥१॥
...
इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टि॒र्यत॑ आब॒भूव॒ यदि॑ वा द॒धे यदि॑ वा॒ न।
यो अ॒स्याध्य॑क्षः पर॒मे व्यो॑म॒न्त्सो अ॒ङ्ग वे॑द॒ यदि॑ वा॒ न वेद॑॥७॥

Took a Stupid Geek Test.. duhh..

2007-02-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

I recently took a one of those online tests to weigh my geekyness.
And as expected got the following results..

It was not that interesting, or funny at all. but i did went till the end.. may be that's the reason why i got this score.. its good for one try though..

Sanskrit & OOPS

2006-04-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

Sankrit, ohh what a great language.. Many scholars have felt the need of it even in todays generation. Its said to be one of the best grammatically perfect languages ever existed on this very earth. I have always been entrigued by the scriptures and great 'granthas' written in sanskrit.

Serious scholars are beginning to marvel at the rigour, reach and secularism of Sanskrit. M A Lakshmi Thathachar’s(Prof .at the Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melkote Karnataka)view of Sanskrit's nature may be paraphrased as follows:

Words in Sanskrit are instances of pre-defined classes, a concept that drives object oriented programming [OOP] today. For example, in English 'cow' is a just a sound assigned to mean a particular animal. But if you drill down the word 'gau' --Sanskrit for 'cow'-- you will arrive at a broad class 'gam' which means 'to move. From these derive 'gamanam', 'gatih' etc which are variations of 'movement'. All words have this OOP approach, except that defined classes in Sanskrit are so exhaustive that they cover the material and abstract --indeed cosmic-- experiences known to man. So in Sanskrit the connection is more than etymological.

It was Panini who formalised Sanskrit's grammar and usage about 2500 years ago. No new 'classes' have needed to be added to it since then. "Panini should be thought of as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages," say J J O'Connor and E F Robertson (researchers in this field).So Sanskrit is a versatile language which is very much suited for OOP.

One day surely i would be able to use a computer Operating sytsem completely written in sansrkit (or rather Saunskrut). and will the day come till i am alive..

A Kiss from Twin Blondes.....

2005-08-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing true story about a simple man who always believes that he can think big and most of the times ends up amazing people around him.

One day, this guy is in the middle of a research meeting with four to five big shot professors. He is the only student who is part of this research group. They are discussing some optimization strategy for a resource allocation problem. The unofficial head of the group- one of the professors, starts presenting his work. The professor is giving an example and trying to explain he’s algorithms to optimally solve that problem. In this example, there is this situation wherein say two machines have similar amount of resources (e.g say 40 units of resources) to offer for doing a particular task. And the resource scheduler can decide which machine’s resources can be utilized for doing this task. The professor suggests that in such a situation it doesn’t matter which machine the scheduler selects for providing the resources to this task execution. The man disagrees with the professor in the middle of his presentation. And says that’s not true. It would surely matter from which machine the resources are taken by the task. The professor says, “no”.
This guy doesn’t want to interrupt the professor , so he keeps mum. After the research meeting is done and the man is back in his apartments, he starts thinking how come this be possible. It’s obvious for him that some is missing. He starts thinking and comes up with the example which he emails to his professor.
He goes like this..
“
Dear professor,
I have been thinking about this example for a few hours and I was able to come up with a counter example that would prove that it really does matter from which machine the resources were actually offered for a given task to execute.

Consider that I am standing at time square and looking around. There are these twin blonde chicks coming towards me. They are really cute and sexy. Both of them are ready to offer me a kiss. This is similar to having two machines ready to provide resources to a task.
Now consider that I accept a kiss from one of the blondes. I got home that night , sleep well have great dreams and the next morning tell everybody how sweet it was to have kissed a sexy blonde.
Now consider this other case , I accept a kiss from the other blonde. I go home that night, sleep well but to my surprise the next morning when I wake up I see that I have a black spot on my chick. Then I realize that I was allergic to that chic’s lipstick and my day is ruined.
So here’s the important effect of a decision . It surely matters from which blonde the kiss is taken (from which machine the resources are accepted) because it gets reflected the next day (in the near future, the execution paths that would be followed would totally depend upon that.)
Isn’t it correct Doctor?”

The professor laughs like anything for this answer and both have lots of fun.
Well, the man in this story is my self and the prof is one of my geeky professor.

Welcome to JAy's Den

2004-07-05T15:05:00.000-07:00