Apart from the CWG fiasco, the other hot issue in India is the impending HC verdict in the Ayodhya case. And just read a news item on TOI that poll of people in Ayodhya shows that the people there have no doubt that it is Ramjanmabhoomi! The people (read Hindus) have no doubt what it is and the others (read Muslims), or at least those interviewed, didn't really air their views except voice concerns at the aftereffects of the verdict!
And that is my point as well...how does it matter whether Ram was born there or not? How does it matter whether there should be a temple there or a mosque or a church? Isn't it more important to live your life how Ram lived his? The man willingly gave up his thrown to keep his father's word...and we are fighting to build a structure where he was born?! Thousands died in the riots 18 years ago - yes it has been that long! Thousands have died since, in various different riots/blasts which have happened in the aftermath of that incidence...who knows what will happen, if and when the verdict is delivered...is this what Ram stood for? Or for that matter, is this what the Prophet preached?
The CWG fracas is a classic example of the deteriorating moral fabric of the society...where the behavior of those involved would be making Ram turn in his grave! People need to realize the real challenges that lay ahead and tackle real issues rather than fight over what to build on a piece of land.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Encore
It's been about 2 years to date that I tried my first ever (indoor) triathlon. After missing last year due to vacation, decided to have a go at it again. After all, have been pretty regular with visiting the gym (not considering the fact that every 4-6 months I manage to injure myself and am out for at least 2-3 months :-p).
Like last time, could not really train as I wanted to...this time, work schedule really did not permit it! So there I was, all gung ho and expecting to do better this time..had managed a 54m 50 odd secs last time..hoping to at least do a 51m this time round! And the way I started the 3K of rowing, that target looked a reality..until I reached the half way mark when I thought 55 would do as well...and by the time i got done and onto the bike, even 1 hour started looking like a distant dream :-p But then the legs suddenly found strength and with first SA and then SM there to cheer me on, kept pushing and got the 5miles of biking done in under 16 mins!! But the part which I had thought would be the easiest....running for 1.5 miles, turned out to be, literally an uphill struggle, till SM pointed out why - was running on an incline :-p And on correcting course, finished the run in 15 odd mins with a grand total time of 49 m 08 secs!! Yayy!! And I missed the best time by just 38 seconds!! :-p
So, all the hours working out and playing vball seem to have paid off, with a firm resolution to increase my cardio time from next week! :) Let's see if I can beat the 45m mark next time! :-D
-uv.
Like last time, could not really train as I wanted to...this time, work schedule really did not permit it! So there I was, all gung ho and expecting to do better this time..had managed a 54m 50 odd secs last time..hoping to at least do a 51m this time round! And the way I started the 3K of rowing, that target looked a reality..until I reached the half way mark when I thought 55 would do as well...and by the time i got done and onto the bike, even 1 hour started looking like a distant dream :-p But then the legs suddenly found strength and with first SA and then SM there to cheer me on, kept pushing and got the 5miles of biking done in under 16 mins!! But the part which I had thought would be the easiest....running for 1.5 miles, turned out to be, literally an uphill struggle, till SM pointed out why - was running on an incline :-p And on correcting course, finished the run in 15 odd mins with a grand total time of 49 m 08 secs!! Yayy!! And I missed the best time by just 38 seconds!! :-p
So, all the hours working out and playing vball seem to have paid off, with a firm resolution to increase my cardio time from next week! :) Let's see if I can beat the 45m mark next time! :-D
-uv.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Idol Worship
Happened to watch a TV show called Lift Kara De earlier today. Now the show is hosted by the super amazing KJo (of the MNIK fame ;)). The concept is quite interesting...u get a movie star to come on the show...there are 3 fans identified from about 15 cities who compete to be the #1 fan of the dude(ette) and who ever wins the contest (goal is to make the most money) gets to meet the star in person...the good part...all the money the winner makes, is I think, multiplied by some number, and given to a family in need!
Today they happened to have Big B on the show (which is one of the reasons I watched it :-p). And very interestingly, the 3 contestants who were chosen, all considered him as A God in the literal sense...they actually perform AB's puja everyday morning...talk about idol worship!! And that got me thinking...are these people nuts?! I mean, even I like the Big B, but this is taking things way too far...one of them has even written an arati for BB, which he sings everyday morning! One of them has not worn any kind of footwear for the last 15 years in the hope that he will get to meet the superstar some day...one went and shaved his head and got into the character of Pa! They celebrate his birthday and distributes sweets to everyone in the neighbourhood! mark u, they apparently don't celebrate their own child's birthday in the same manner as per one of the kids interviewed! And I guess this is my pain point with the whole thing.....you can idolize/worship anyone u feel like, but it should not be at the cost of your family! and definitely not ur kids where they feel they are being ignored! We already have way too many kids in the country being burdened by unrealistic parental expectations, peer pressure etc etc....this is one extra thing we can definitely do without!
I didn't see the end of the show, but I am hoping that Big B told the winner to stop such nonsensical worship and focus on the more important things in life! :) Ditto for all the other stars who have already come or will be coming in the future...
-uv
update: 02/21: Saw the remainder of the episode and at least the good part was they multiplied the amount the winner earned (630 INR in this case) and multiplied it by 1500 to give the family in need ~9.5L and Big B added 1.25L from his side, to give a ray of hope to at least one family :)
Today they happened to have Big B on the show (which is one of the reasons I watched it :-p). And very interestingly, the 3 contestants who were chosen, all considered him as A God in the literal sense...they actually perform AB's puja everyday morning...talk about idol worship!! And that got me thinking...are these people nuts?! I mean, even I like the Big B, but this is taking things way too far...one of them has even written an arati for BB, which he sings everyday morning! One of them has not worn any kind of footwear for the last 15 years in the hope that he will get to meet the superstar some day...one went and shaved his head and got into the character of Pa! They celebrate his birthday and distributes sweets to everyone in the neighbourhood! mark u, they apparently don't celebrate their own child's birthday in the same manner as per one of the kids interviewed! And I guess this is my pain point with the whole thing.....you can idolize/worship anyone u feel like, but it should not be at the cost of your family! and definitely not ur kids where they feel they are being ignored! We already have way too many kids in the country being burdened by unrealistic parental expectations, peer pressure etc etc....this is one extra thing we can definitely do without!
I didn't see the end of the show, but I am hoping that Big B told the winner to stop such nonsensical worship and focus on the more important things in life! :) Ditto for all the other stars who have already come or will be coming in the future...
-uv
update: 02/21: Saw the remainder of the episode and at least the good part was they multiplied the amount the winner earned (630 INR in this case) and multiplied it by 1500 to give the family in need ~9.5L and Big B added 1.25L from his side, to give a ray of hope to at least one family :)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Random Ramblings
Visited my blog after ages...was pleasantly surprised to see over 1100 hits :-D And also saw how my enthu has dipped over time...from 36 odd blogs in 2K6 to just 5 in the whole of 2K9! I would like to blame it largely on Facebook, where you can instantly share what is in your mind and exchanging comments back and forth with friends on the topic! :-) Of course, I have been busy with work as well and the Bay area traffic dictating my work hours to a large extent...further making it difficult to blog :-p
And if I really sit to list them out, I could come up with another 100 excuses for not having written anything in a long time (my personal favorite that I use a lot is that I am suffering from a writer's block...lol :-D)
So to kick start 2K10, according to me the last year of the first decade of the new millennium, I shall start by sharing this link to privacy on Facebook (courtesy SS) and with a rare resolution to be more regular with blogging this year! :)
-uv
And if I really sit to list them out, I could come up with another 100 excuses for not having written anything in a long time (my personal favorite that I use a lot is that I am suffering from a writer's block...lol :-D)
So to kick start 2K10, according to me the last year of the first decade of the new millennium, I shall start by sharing this link to privacy on Facebook (courtesy SS) and with a rare resolution to be more regular with blogging this year! :)
-uv
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Indian History!!
I have been egged by many people to write the next post, so I shall attempt to scribble something :-p
This ones for Lakshmi and Mr. SS (not Neta and not Chin!!) :-)
Of late, have been having a lot of discussions about a lot of things..but one thing that has surfaced a lot is India- it's past and to a slightly lesser extent, the Hindu religion! One interesting point that Chimney brought up and which I liked is: There is no Indian mythology - it is all Indian history!!! The stories from Ramayan and Mahabharat, about Indian Gods etc, which the West likes to call mythology, are actual events that happened and not some myth! Another thing that is largely unknown is the existence of civilization even before the Aryans came to India! The thing people are not aware of is that a lot of these facts were distorted by the British since they, probably could not accept the fact that Indians could have an older civilization than what the Brits knew and that it was much more advanced than those found elsewhere in the world.
We Indians are largely to be blamed for this as well, since we are not proud of our history and have hardly invested time and resources to find and provide conclusive proofs for these things. IIRC, there was recently some evidence found proving the existence of the stone bridge mentioned in the Ramayana! But how many people know about it? We have evidence of Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilizations, but it is not taught properly even in India, forget elsewhere in the world! Chimney even gave an example of what is taught about Indian history in the US (unfortunately I don't remember exactly what it was :-p), but it was something vague and inaccurate!
There are a lot of points which have come up, but it would take an entire day to list those :-p
But the idea behind this post is to get people thinking and where possible educate the rest about facts! We are doing our part by educating our non-Indian friends to the best of our ability :-)
And yes, the other topic I mentioned, Hindu religion, am not delving into details since that can quickly snow-ball into an argument about religions :-)
This ones for Lakshmi and Mr. SS (not Neta and not Chin!!) :-)
Of late, have been having a lot of discussions about a lot of things..but one thing that has surfaced a lot is India- it's past and to a slightly lesser extent, the Hindu religion! One interesting point that Chimney brought up and which I liked is: There is no Indian mythology - it is all Indian history!!! The stories from Ramayan and Mahabharat, about Indian Gods etc, which the West likes to call mythology, are actual events that happened and not some myth! Another thing that is largely unknown is the existence of civilization even before the Aryans came to India! The thing people are not aware of is that a lot of these facts were distorted by the British since they, probably could not accept the fact that Indians could have an older civilization than what the Brits knew and that it was much more advanced than those found elsewhere in the world.
We Indians are largely to be blamed for this as well, since we are not proud of our history and have hardly invested time and resources to find and provide conclusive proofs for these things. IIRC, there was recently some evidence found proving the existence of the stone bridge mentioned in the Ramayana! But how many people know about it? We have evidence of Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilizations, but it is not taught properly even in India, forget elsewhere in the world! Chimney even gave an example of what is taught about Indian history in the US (unfortunately I don't remember exactly what it was :-p), but it was something vague and inaccurate!
There are a lot of points which have come up, but it would take an entire day to list those :-p
But the idea behind this post is to get people thinking and where possible educate the rest about facts! We are doing our part by educating our non-Indian friends to the best of our ability :-)
And yes, the other topic I mentioned, Hindu religion, am not delving into details since that can quickly snow-ball into an argument about religions :-)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tip of the Week!
Last week managed to drop yet another bluetooth headset in water and as expected it stopped working!
I was a lil disappointed as I had take great care since my last disaster and I had pulled this out instantly! But alas, that 1 second dip was enough for the thing to conk-off :-(
Anyways, was talking about this to bandhu (Mr. SA, my good pal in office) and he offered me some very interesting piece of advice...keep it in the freezer overnight and in the morning keep it in the sun! Yes, I could not believe my ears that he had just asked me to put a piece of electronic equipment in the freezer!! Well, I decided to give it a shot...i had nothing to lose and a minimum of 60 bucks to save! Next day took the headset out and kept it in my car the whole day (yes, it is that freaking hot these days)...went home, charged it and Voila! it started working!!!
And guess what, the dude has tried this with his cellphone and some other stuff and it has worked each time!
so the next time you drop some electronic item in water, head straight for the refrigerator! :-)
-uv.
p.s. don't forget to remove the battery (if any) before freezing it :-D
I was a lil disappointed as I had take great care since my last disaster and I had pulled this out instantly! But alas, that 1 second dip was enough for the thing to conk-off :-(
Anyways, was talking about this to bandhu (Mr. SA, my good pal in office) and he offered me some very interesting piece of advice...keep it in the freezer overnight and in the morning keep it in the sun! Yes, I could not believe my ears that he had just asked me to put a piece of electronic equipment in the freezer!! Well, I decided to give it a shot...i had nothing to lose and a minimum of 60 bucks to save! Next day took the headset out and kept it in my car the whole day (yes, it is that freaking hot these days)...went home, charged it and Voila! it started working!!!
And guess what, the dude has tried this with his cellphone and some other stuff and it has worked each time!
so the next time you drop some electronic item in water, head straight for the refrigerator! :-)
-uv.
p.s. don't forget to remove the battery (if any) before freezing it :-D
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Positives!
I am a subscriber of AWAD and the person who manages it, manages to send words with interesting themes each week and he follows it up with a weekly digest of sorts where he collects interesting reader feedback. This weeks theme was : Forgotten positives and the featured words were:
evitable, wieldy, exorable, gainly, corrigible (spell-check is reporting the first 3 of these words as misspelt words!! :-) )
Reading this week's feedback i came upon this very interesting bit of poetry (no am not becoming a poem lover :-p)
A very Descript Man .... J H Parker
I am such a dolent man,
I eptly work each day;
My acts are all becilic,
I've just ane things to say.
My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt,
I'm gusting and I'm span:
I look with dain on everyone
And am a pudent man.
I travel cognito and make
A delible impression:
I overcome a slight chalance,
With gruntled self-possession.
My dignation would be great
If I should digent be:
I trust my vagance will bring
An astrous life for me.
It is a wonderful piece of work mainly because it uses only positive words! try coming up with a piece which uses only positives and you will hopefully appreciate this as well...:)
evitable, wieldy, exorable, gainly, corrigible (spell-check is reporting the first 3 of these words as misspelt words!! :-) )
Reading this week's feedback i came upon this very interesting bit of poetry (no am not becoming a poem lover :-p)
A very Descript Man .... J H Parker
I am such a dolent man,
I eptly work each day;
My acts are all becilic,
I've just ane things to say.
My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt,
I'm gusting and I'm span:
I look with dain on everyone
And am a pudent man.
I travel cognito and make
A delible impression:
I overcome a slight chalance,
With gruntled self-possession.
My dignation would be great
If I should digent be:
I trust my vagance will bring
An astrous life for me.
It is a wonderful piece of work mainly because it uses only positive words! try coming up with a piece which uses only positives and you will hopefully appreciate this as well...:)
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