Without Title

Hadu Bondhu Das, a farmer in Kalahandi district of Orissa, a father of 3 children, is contemplating suicide. The never ending draught and loan has left no hope for the future.

Rajiv Ranjan 'Guddu' (who was a good student once) has formed a gang of four to kidnap kids of rich people in Bhgalpur, Katihar, Munger and Begusarai districts region of Bihar. The joblessness in the state has left nothing except this way of earning a living for him and his gang men.

Jokhu Prasad now works as a daily laborer in his village in Gorakhpur, UP at less than half of what he used to earn two months back as an autorikshaw driver in Mumbai. The wave of attacks on North Indians in the city had left him bleeding on the streets two months back. He somehow managed to flee away with his wife Putli and daughter Renu.

Khumukcham Gokul is planning another bloody revolution for Gorkhaland statehood. He thinks that the growth of his community people is not possible in WB.

Naxal groups in Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, AP, Chattisgarh are planning a united approach to combat the police.

Ratan, a clerk at municipality office of Jabalpur has decided to take out his both sons from convent school and enroll them in a government school where his two daughters study. He can not afford the increased school fee of the convent school.

Gopichandar and his family of 4 arrived to Hyderabad this morning. Looking for daily laborer job. Their farmland in Guntur district in AP has been taken by govt which will be used for an SEZ.

Shobhit, a newly joined SET of Infosys has postponded the plan to buy a bike for now and will go to office by BMTC bus. Reason: Increased fuel price and heavy traffic in Bangalore.

The prime minister of India has won the trust vote in parliament today.

At least somebody is happy in India.

What’s in a name?

The family which has done the greatest good to India is the Nehru-Gandhi family.
What else can be the reason for naming several hundreds of important institutes, airports, hospitals, colleges, roads, govt. programs etc after some member of this family. From Indira Gandhi International airport (Delhi), Rajiv Gandhi International airport (Hyderabad), Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Kamla Nehru Road, Jawahar Rojgar yojna………………… and the list goes on and on. Actually it will be hundreds of things for each of the family member. Take Rajiv Gandhi for example:

Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for the children of working mothers, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for SC/ST candidates, Rajiv Gandhi National Awards Scheme for Original Book Writing, Rajiv Gandhi Bharat Samvrudhi Yojana-Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, , Rajiv Gandhi Udayam Mitra Yojana, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidytikaran Yojana (RGGVY, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Rajiv Gandhi foundation , Rajiv Gandhi shiksha Mission, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Rajiv Gandhi shelter scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan, Rajiv Gandhi Computer Saksharta Mission, Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Rajiv Gandhi Swavlamban Rozgar Yojna, Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation package for fishermen, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Awards................... to name a few.

Actually as a progressive thinker, I suggest we start naming buildings and institutions on the name of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi (Vadera) and her children. Ultimately these are the people who will do the utmost service to the nation in future. Right?

Is this Democracy or Monarchy?

???

According to an estimate (my own estimate by observing the placement statistics at some Indian engineering institutes websites), nearly 65-70 % of all engineering graduates join IT companies. Interestingly, the institutes have only 10-15% seats for computer science/ IT streams. So I was wondering why we teach so many students Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Civil etc subjects when we know they will eventually end up working for some IT company. Why not have 70% seats in the computer science class and the remaining 30% seats shared by other branches?

Singh is King

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh,

Congratulations for being able to do what you believed was right. Your academic background leaves no doubt that you are an eminent scholar and expectedly you have contributed extremely well as an economist at different national and international positions. But as you yourself admit, you are a politician by accident; I did not have much hope from you as a PM, apart from being free from corruption.

But please accept my hearty congratulations for fighting the lonely battle and at the end convincing your party and allies (barring left) to back you on the Indo-US nuclear deal. I am quite sure that had it been any other Indian politician in your place, s/he could never dare to stake the govt for this (at the time of record inflation and resurrecting opposition). Not that I am happy about the performance of your govt in the last 4 years. I think it was quite pathetic. But this time I am convinced that no one else could have done this. The soft spoken man in turban had the last laugh. I am surprised that media is not highlighting this brave effort of yours. Now, even if your govt falls, you won hearts. Singh is King.

Yours Sincerely,
Sushil Upadhyay

The confession of a finance professional

Check out this article on rediff.com if you have not already. And we thought that one can make money in stock market.....it actually befools many to make fortunes of the very few. And we dream that we will be among those selected few.

Indian Rail - Indian people - Unparalleled

Look at this video of indian rail.

Enjoy this poem

Enjoy this poem.

Poor tax payer

This is in continuation to the previous post.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/may/27oil1.htm

This happens only because of the vote bank politics. I understand that the govt. of India has no control over the international crude oil prices, and hence our oil companies are bleeding with loss. So the govt. has a great idea to bail them out. It’s easy, ask the money from the tax payers.

My point is, why don’t stop subsidizing the petrol and diesel? So that everybody pays what s/he uses. But they won’t do that. Particularly in this election year. The easier way out is to enforce extra cess in our annual tax.

But if I use a bike for commute (because of environmental, economic reasons and commute time) why shall I pay extra tax? To give subsidy to a person who is driving a Mercedes Benz or any other high power low mileage vehicle?? Is it justified to tax me in order to provide petrol at subsidized rate to that fat ass. Why not let everybody pay what what s/he uses? Anybody listening?? Perhaps in the election year, the govt. can’t listen. Sad.

Rising fuel price

Here is a great analysis from Mr. Maulik Zaveri, which he posted at timesofindia.com.

From: Maulik Zaveri, Ahmedabad (Mobile:9898002186)
Why Rate per Ltr. of petrol is same for vehicle giving averae of 2,4 or 8 per ltr and 40,60 or 80 per Ltr?

Example:
If we take base Rs. 30/- per ltr of petrol and 40 Km. per Ltr. as standard then Vehcile giving average of 2, 4 or 8 Km. per ltr. are consuming 20, 10 or 5 times more that vehicle giving average of 40 per ltr.

So that if price for ltr. of petrol is Rs. 30/- for vehicle giving average of 40 Km. per liter then prices for vehicle giving average of 2, 4 or 8 per lt. will be Rs. 600/- (20*30), Rs. 300/- (10*30) and Rs. 150/- (5*30) per ltr. respectively.

Suppose Mr. X runs car having Avg. of 2Km/Ltr daily for 20 Km., he uses 10 Ltr petrol per day. If we take Rs. 30/- per ltr. of petrol and 40 Km per ltr. as a base his car is using 20 times more petrol than standard so he would be charged Rs. 600/- per ltr. of petrol (20* Rs.30/-). He has to pay Rs. 6000/- per day for use of 10 ltr. petrol in fact he is paying Rs. 300/- only so Rs. 5700/- per day is subsidy to him and for year Rs. 20,80,500/- (Rs. 5700*365. If their are 10000 users of car giving avg. of 2 km/ltr than subsidy to him is 2080,5000000 (Apprx. Rs. 2080/- Crore)!!!!!!.

1)Don't you think that at present governemt is giving subsidy to a purcahse of petrol whose vehicle are giving average of 2, 4 or 8 per Km
ltr. and burden of same is passing on the vehicle owner whose vehicle is giving averae of 40, 60 or 80 per ltr. ?

मिलन - Meeting You

नयन से नयन जब हमारे मिले
मन मधुर राग था गुनगुनाने लगा
रूप देखा तो सूरज जवाँ हो गया
चाँद बादल में चेहरा छिपाने लगा

स्वप्न में जो लिखे थे तुम्हारे लिए
गीत वो फूल बनकर खिलेंगे कभी
प्रेम के चित्र जो कल्पना में बने
रंग तुमसे चुराकर सजेंगे कभी

सेम की बेल जो उस बगीचे में थी
आम के पेड़ से वो लिपट उठ गयी
देख उनका मिलन दॄष्टि हर्षित हुई
स्वप्न तुमसे मिलन का संजोने लगी

अप्रतिम शुभ्र सौन्दर्य की स्वामिनी
प्रेम सागर हृदय में छिपाती हो क्यों
अर्ध मुस्कान पर नेत्र नीचे किये
शर्म में डूबकर मौन रहती हो क्यों

चंचले सुन्दरी कल्पना की परी
गीत के स्वर मेरे यों सम्भल जायेंगे
ग़र बुझा दो मिलन प्यास मधुवर्षिणी
शब्द मेरे मधुर काव्य बन जाएँगे

This one's a random mix of thoughts

Pursuing our dreams is the ONLY way to get satisfaction.
On close inspection we observe that the majority of the things we do are a result of circumstances. Just observe how many things you do today because you wanted to do that, and how many of them you strongly wanted to do? For me the count is very less.
The things we want to do can be classified as our dreams. E.g. I wanted to become a journalist, and became an engineer, that’s surrender to the circumstances. Had I chased my dream, perhaps I would have received the Padma Shree along with Barkha Dutt (my favorite), Vinod Dua and Rajdeep Sardesai. (too much, eh?) But chasing the dream requires a lot of energy. As we drag ourselves on the path to our dream the entire universe seem to oppose. And most of the people surrender, some at the beginning, some midway.
I give more weightage to perseverance than to bright ideas. Simple ideas, if persisted, can do wonders. Ideas alone do not give any result. Execution does. Before scratching your head for new avenues for success/satisfaction, just think how many of such ideas are pending in your mind. Each one of them has the potential to give you the desired success.

India does not need any more bright ideas, at least at the moment. What is needed is doing simple things with dedication, till the end. Results will come.

Lord, give me the energy to persevere to fulfill my dreams. Amen.

Indian Heroes:

I was just thinking about the journey of independent India so far, I thought of listing (ranking) the few people who have contributed the maximum for the good of our country. And here’s my list. You can share your list/views.

1. Mahatma Gandhi (though he doesn’t have much contribution in the independent India, but surely he was the most prominent reason of the existence of something called “free India”).
2. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan – Father of Indian green revolution whose efforts made India food sufficient.
3. Indian Farmer – Who, despite of all odds, is providing enough food to feed the nation.
4. The first generation of Indian technocrats – who dared to cross the national boundaries and challenged the west with there intelligence.
5. First generation of Indian entrepreneurs e.g. Jamshedji Tata/JRD Tata, G.D. Birla, Dhirubhai Ambani and few others who created such big industrial powerhouses from ZERO that too in the license permit raj.
6. Dr. Manmohan Singh – Who started the economic reforms against all oppositions, which triggered the accelerated GDP growth.
7. Sachin Tendulkar – Who became the world’s best in his chosen sport.
8. Amitabh Bach Chan – Who is an icon in his profession, miles ahead of any competition.
Note for points 7 & 8: Some may feel that entertainment industry is not something which has contributed in our growth, but as it is a multi billion dollar industry, it provides thousands of jobs apart from entertaining us.
9. Baba Ramdev – There has always been many yoga gurus in India, but this man has taken the yoga to the household. Lakhs of people worldwide has cured themselves using yoga and pranayama.
10. Indian Media – Though this is also a product of economic reforms, but the comprehensive (and mostly unbiased) coverage holds a high value to the nation.

Well, there are some well known scientists, the likes of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Vikram Sarabhai and others but there is no way India can be called a leader in this area. There efforts, in my opinion, were too less to be counted at the world stage. That is why there is no scientist in my list.

Only for you darling

This one is for my lovely wife:

सुबह तुम्हारी मुस्कानों से
सूरज को किरणें मिलती हैं
रात तुम्हारी अलसाई सी
अँगड़ाई से ही होती है

सुन्दरता की परिभाषा भी
देख तुम्हें परिभाषित होती
फूलों की कलियाँ भी तुमको
देख रंग यौवन पाती हैं

इन्द्रधनुष में रंग तुम्हीं से
पंछी की उमंग तुमसे है
झरनों का संगीत तुम्हीं से
फूलों में सुगंध तुमसे है

मेरी आँखों में देखा जो
जीवन का उपहार दिया है
पलक झुकाकर और उठाकर
नयनों ही से बात किया है

नूपुर की इस मधुर ध्वनि में
जीवन का संगीत सुना है
मेरे मन ने तुमको प्रियतम
जीवन भर का मीत चुना है

गंदे फिरंगी

After reading this, I don't think I would ever want to go to UK :-)
But wait, can't it be true for the USA people as well?
Ram Ram Ram.....Thank God I am flying back to India this weekend. A dip in the holy Ganga will be my first priority when I visit my hometown Varanasi (Banaras) soon after. :-)

PS: I am sure this is not true for Indians, what do you say?

United States Air Force Museum Visit

First let me give you an idea of the kind of weather I am forced to survive here:


This weekend I visited the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio. Dayton is the city of many scientists. Wright brothers, Neil Armstrong are the most famous among them. I hope the following pictures will give you a virtual visit to the museum:




Rotary Engine of an aircraft:


A Nazi bomber used in WW II:


An aircrft engine:


Camera used to photograph the target from the aircraft:


Three directional bullet firing by the pilot:


Some Nazi weapons:


909 Bomber:


The Wright Brothers:


Entering a giant bomber:


Cockpit:


Surrounded by deadly bombs inside a bomber:


The Dream Girl:


Engineering complexity:


Nuclear Bomb:


A Rocket Engine:


Apollo 15:


Standing between giant rockets:


Space food:


Commander Doggy:


These are some of the pictures to give you a glimpse of the museum. All the arcrafts, missiles, rockets are reals and not the models (except commander doggy).
After visiting this museum I got the realization that I am not eligible to call myself an engineer coz the work I do is several light years behind the kind of engineering involved in these things.