tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87562737870886694232024-03-14T01:33:11.425+05:30Baba's wordsI speak my mind ... do you?Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-75710646539059362282011-04-06T14:43:00.000+05:302011-04-06T14:43:05.095+05:30An appeal to Anna HazareDear Anna,<br />
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I am writing this post to make you aware that you are wasting your time and life for the people of this country. Why are you doing this?<br />
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A person has to live with bribe in India - from birth till death. We can't simply avoid it. As soon as a child is born, the bribe one has to pay for getting his/her birth certificate is a warm welcome to this country. Not to forget, once someone dies, we have to get the death certificate by paying bribe again. It's from birth till death here. Anna, How can you expect to change this? <br />
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We take pride in getting our work done fast by paying some amount to Govt officials and we also tell the world that' "I didn't stand in the line, I got my work done sitting home." We are so proud of this bribe culture, how can you make us change? Don't let us feel ashamed of ourselves by not paying bribes to Govt officials. Anna, Please don't take our pride away.<br />
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When a policeman stops an errant driver on the highways or city roads, he is doing good for a family, his family. The policeman takes bribe so that he can take good care of his family at home. What's wrong in that? In fact, what's wrong if that erratn driver kills some innocent people on the road accidently. We should be and are proud of our corrupt police force! Anna, Why you're taking our pride away?<br />
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It's with joy that we tell everyone that,"I got my passport in 15 days." Do you know how much effort goes to get it as fast? Do you know the "Joy of Giving"? Every Indian (mind you when I say 'Every') pays some money for the police station's hawaldars to 'Give them Joy' so that they can share your happiness when your police clearance gets through. You can't get your passport without the Joy of Giving! Anna, Why are you taking away our happiness?<br />
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To get a Govt contract, we have to make sure that the concerned officers are treated well. What's wrong in that? If someone gives you a gift, won't you accept it happily? Its sheer love and affection. Anna, Why are you taking away our love and affection?<br />
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It takes a huge effort to make things like Common Wealth Games happen in a 'Developing Country' like India. Do you know how much money and efforts went into making the game successful in New Delhi? Do you know how many 'extra miles' the officials went to get the games going in such a wonderful manner? You don't Anna! You really don't know anything.<br />
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So please stop worrying about us Indians. We are really very happy with our way of life. We are happy giving bribes and it's in our blood. Our generations have lived with this and we can't change for anyone. We're ok if our children or elderly die on roads due to errant drivers who have paid brives to get the driver's license. We're ok if our next generations get filthy roads and infrastructure. We're ok if India gets rotten with the contribution of corrupt Govt officials. <br />
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We're Indians! We are proud of the rampant corruption going on in the country. We are happy to talk about corruption in airconditioned rooms, offices and hotels. To be on the roads, someone needs to be a fool like you Anna! A fool who has for, some reason still the love for India alive in him and a fool who cares for a billion people.<br />
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An IndianBabahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-67929115871540417862011-03-21T07:57:00.004+05:302011-03-24T14:30:26.526+05:30India's FIRST Supermart on Facebook!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Now Indians can buy fresh fruits and vegetables while they talk to their friends in Facebook. Yes! That's true!!!<br />
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These Farm2Kitchen guys have taken the grocery shopping to a next level in India. They have a shopping option on their Facebook Fan Page where the fans can start shopping directly without visiting their site (farm2kitchen.com).<br />
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This is indeed a great way of shopping for the people who like to utilize their time more effectively. I mean, just imagine if you can shop for your vegetables and fruits while being logged into Facebook! <br />
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All you got to do is be a fan of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/farm2kitchen" target="_new">Farm2Kitchen Facebook Page</a> and visit the link 'SHOP' in the menu to start shopping for your kitchen needs!<br />
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Check out their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/farm2kitchen" target="_new">Facebook Fan Page</a> by clicking the below image. You won't be disappointed for sure!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/farm2kitchen" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5f3FHV_IkYk/TYa3Dd5knaI/AAAAAAAAC1g/ZDm1EbD73uk/s400/BIG%2BLOGO.png" width="400" /></a></div></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-53328930665824435662011-02-13T21:02:00.002+05:302011-03-21T18:02:48.790+05:30Now shop for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Online in Gurgaon City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The world is changing with evolution of technology and time is becoming more n more previous for everyone in today's world.<br />
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The Indian Women of today are not an exception to this and to help these women, a site called Farm2Kitchen.com is now delivering fresh vegetables and fruits online in Gurgaon City.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.farm2kitchen.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gKyG3cZqGjk/TVf37MBMXiI/AAAAAAAAC0c/LBqA-WxozX4/s400/Farm2Kitchen.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">These guys are having some interesting options to choose for. They have categories like "Automatic Delivery" which allows anyone to shop for his/her frequent needs in the kitchen just once and these guys take care of delivering the same to your doorstep for any number of weeks you want! Now that's real convenience, especially for the busy generation of today who hate to go to shopping malls just to shop for weekly needs of vegetables and fruits in the kitchen.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">They also have a category called "Pregnancy Special" and this caters to the pregnant women in the millennium city. We all know that a pregnant woman has special nutrition needs. These guys have made this category nicely so as to take care of all the special needs like folic acid, calcium, proteins etc.; which are essential for a pregnant woman.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">They also promise to delivery FRESH produce from local farmers and are assure 100% satisfaction on all their produce available on sale.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">This kind of service is a revolution for the busy people in Gurgaon who have to manage their time effectively and looks like this Farm2Kitchen stuff might be helpful to cater to the busy and tech savvy people of Gurgaon City.</div><br />
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</div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-15301809148244772942010-11-21T23:47:00.001+05:302010-11-21T23:47:52.912+05:30Spare 13 minutes of your life listening to Sunitha please.<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jeOumyTMCI8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jeOumyTMCI8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="385"></embed></object>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-36486761762000414742010-11-19T01:46:00.007+05:302010-11-19T01:51:57.065+05:30What kind of Story do you want? (Indian Journalism - The Real Face)<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Earlier today Open Magazine posted audio conversations tapes between Nira Radia (corporate lobbyist ) and Barkha Dutt (NDTV Journalist) on their website. Openmagazine page isn’t accessible due to heavy traffic but somehow DholiBaba managed brief content from their site.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I am not a journalist and neither I have taken the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>"</span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt;">ठेका</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>"</span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt;">सुधार</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>this country. I have always tried to speak up my mind here (no matter if it matters to anyone) and I stick to that. This is my personal space and only you're responsible for your irresponsible behaviour after reading my posts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">While reading current affairs on the internet today, I came across this 'emerging story' where the top journalists (or powerbrokers?) are trying to 'fix' things for politicians and corporates. It's interesting to read if you wanna know what kind of people are 'Breaking the News' on TV and everywhere else in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Disclaimer:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dholibaba does not claim if the tapes/transcripts are genuine or not & neither he is associated with any political party. I got these transcripts from Open Magazine’s website and some search on the internet with the help of available search tools (I am an IT guy after all!).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If you're from Open Magazine and feel that I should get this post removed, I will be more than happy to do that. I respect your copyrights! Just drop me a mail. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If you're Barkha Dutt or anyone from NDTV, I am not responsible for anything you read here. I have just tried to share it with fellow Indians as the Open Magazine servers crashed sometime ago. I have nothing to do with these tapes and the transcripts and am not a forensic expert to tell you that the tapes are genuine!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Background of the story:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As talks between the DMK and Indian National Congress (‘them’) broke down over joining the Government in May 2009,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Nira Radia<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(don't know if she is a Ms or Mrs) was actively involved in opening channels between the two parties through, among others, television journalist</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Barkha Dutt</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;">Link for Audio Tapes:</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/dnwUGJ"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b>http://bit.ly/dnwUGJ</b></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/dwwlMv"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b>http://bit.ly/dwwlMv</b></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/bjzltz"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b>http://bit.ly/bjzltz</b></span></a></span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/9jE0Cm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b>http://bit.ly/9jE0Cm</b></span></a></span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/aZ35ms"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;"><b>http://bit.ly/aZ35ms</b></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The below conversations (which you can also hear in the above tapes) took place between Nira Radia and Barkha Dutt of NDTV.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Transcripts of the conversations:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">DATE 22 May 2009 TIME 09:48:51</span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Hi, did I wake you up?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, no, no. I’ve been up, ya, most of the night. The stalemate continues, yaa.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Yeah. Listen, the thing is that they need to talk to him directly. That is what the problem is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Haan so, apparently PM’s really pissed off that they went public.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: But that’s Baalu’s doing, naa… he was not instructed by Karunanidhi to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Oh, he wasn’t?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: This is not. He was told to come away and tell Congress that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: And he went public<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Well, the media… media, the media was standing outside.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Oh God. So now what? What should I tell them? Tell me what should I tell them?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: I’ll tell you what it is—the problem and I have had a long chat with both his wife and with the daughter right<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Haan, haan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: The problem is if the Congress has a problem with Baalu, if they have no problem with anyone. They need and go talk to Karunanidhi. They have very good relationship with Karunanidhi directly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Correct, haan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Because you see, in front of Baalu, in front of Maran, they can’t talk.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Yeah<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: So they have to tell him directly, there [are] enough Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu. They need to go in and tell him exactly—the biggest problem is that the following of Alagiri is saying that you cannot give [inaudible] a cabinet [inaudible] and keep Alagiri in the MoS state.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: That’s right. But will Karuna drop Baalu?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: He… look, if you tell him that Baalu is the only problem. I would imagine, he will drop him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: But you see the problem right now is also over the choice of portfolios, naa…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: No. They’ve not said anything. The portfolios have not even got discussed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Congress claims, for whatever it’s worth, that the DMK wanted surface transport, power, IT, telecom, railways and health.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: You see, you see my honest advice…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: ..is that you tell them that they need to tell him directly that we are happy because Kani’s [Kanimozhi, DMK Chief Karunanidhi’s daughter] got no issue being about independent. But Alagiri is now telling her that you cannot take an independent charge if Maran remains cabinet minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: I see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: And Congress is sending messages through media and through various sources, saying that. And Maran is telling everyone that he is the only acceptable person.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Person, yeah, yeah, yeah. That I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: But that’s not correct, naa?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, I know. We’ve taken that off. We’ve taken that off.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Also, but, but the Congress needs to tell Karunanidhi that we have not said anything about Maran.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Okay. Let me talk to them again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Yeah? The choice of candidate we will leave to you. We have some reservation about Baalu. And let them tell the reservation. And we have not said anything about Maran. We are not talking<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">+++<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In another telecon, Barkha Dutt offers Niira Radia the assurance that she is on the job as a reliable go-between<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“That’s not a problem, I’ll talk to Azad. I’ll talk to Azad right after I get out of RCR” —BARKHA DUTT<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">DATE 22 May 2009 TIME 10:47:33<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Haan, Niira?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Barkha, what I’m told is that the Congress yesterday, apparently, God knows who they are talking to in the DMK.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Haan, well must be Maran…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Relayed—no, they relayed that the infrastructure portfolio should not be given to Maran or Baalu.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, that’s because they want to keep it for themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: No, they wanted to; they didn’t want any infrastructure, that’s what Prime Minister said, so he said that’s why they give him labour, fertiliser, chemical—and telecom, IT, they said for Raja. So what has happened is, is that message not relayed to Karunanidhi?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Oh I see!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: They might have told some minion down the line or told Maran who is not relaying the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: I think they have told Maran.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Yeah, now what they need to do is, they need to speak to Kani so she can set up the discussion with her father, because even the Prime Minister’s discussion was … she was the one who’s translating, and it was a very brief discussion for two minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: That we’ll try and work it out, and the let’s not you know take it a hasty easy decision. That’s the type of conversation that happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, I’ll set it up as soon as they get out of RCR.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: What she saying is that, you know, that someone senior like Ghulam [Nabi Azad, senior Congress leader]—because he is the one who is authorised to speak. ….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Right? Was to speak to her then she can tell her father that I have got this message from the Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Theek hai, not a problem. That’s not a problem, I’ll talk to Azad—I’ll talk to Azad right after I get out of RCR [Race Course Road, presumably, the PM’s residence].<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Yeah, and then she said when father lands, I can speak to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">+++<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The two conversationalists touch base again<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“I’ve had a long chat, I had a long chat, and they promised me that Azad will speak to her” —BARKHA DUTT<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">DATE 22 May 2009 TIME 15:31:29</span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: They will speak to her?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Who? Ghulam?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Ghulam. Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: You know, the problem is she’s catching a flight at five haan, going back. Dayanidhi Maran is attending the swearing in when only Raja has been authorised to attend, so he’s gone and told his leader that Ahmed Patel has told me especially to attend the swearing in.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Ahmed says this is rubbish …<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: But I am telling you but this. Karunanidhi’s very confused.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, but why can’t Kani stay also and attend it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: She doesn’t want to attend no because her father told her to come back. She has to follow what she’s father says, no. Call Ghulam then.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Let me call him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: She’s leaving at five. She’s catching a flight at five.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">+++<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Niira Radia and Barkha Dutt discuss cabinet composition possibilities—with Raja’s inclusion or non-inclusion the big question<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“I am telling you, nahin hai. </span><span lang="FI" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Trust me. Nahin hai” —NIIRA RADIA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">DATE 22 May 2009 TIME time 18:09:06</span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, you see Congress’s condition is Baalu should not get surface transport. Not Baalu, DMK should not get surface transport, beyond individuals right?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Correct, correct, and they are not individuals. Let me tell you one thing’s for sure, 3 plus 4 was yesterday; because of Maran, they wanted to make it 4 plus 3.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Okay!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: So, now it is back to 3 plus 4 that was already worked on the table?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: No, so why does this formula not sound right then?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Because of Alagiri naa, if you make Alagiri… not cabinet. No, he’s not got cabinet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Oh, Alagiri got what, according to these things?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: You see, according to her, he’s got Health, but he can’t be cabinet. Either Maran is not cabinet, either Raja is not cabinet or Baalu’s not.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Alagiri’s got Health and that’s a big compromise by Congress because they said we won’t give them Health. So that’s their face saver. No, but Alagiri, Health can be cabinet?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Agreed, but then Raja is MoS.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Raja is MoS!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Then is Baalu MoS?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Nahin ho sakta. Nahin, nahin, nahin, if Baalu gets the Heavy Industries and Alagiri is in the Fertiliser, according to …. Baalu gets Fertilizer; Alagiri gets this thing, Health.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Maran gets Telecom and IT.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Maran gets Telecom and IT. Raja gets demoted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Who gets…?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Raja. Nahin hoga?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: I am telling you nahin hai (laughing). Trust me, nahin hai.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Achcha, theek hai.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">+++<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In yet another telecon, Barkha Dutt explains her situation to Niira Radia<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Everybody I know in the Congress was at the swearing-in, so I haven’t been able to speak with the top guys, and now I just finished and I am going to make my set of calls” BARKHA DUTT<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">DATE 22 May 2009 TIME 19:23:57</span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: You see, what happened was everybody I know in the Congress was at the swearing in, so I haven’t been able to speak with the top guys, and now I just finished and I am going to make my set of calls.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Kani just landed in Chennai. Just now. I just spoke…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Where is Daya? Where is Maran?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: Daya didn’t turn up for the swearing in because he was called back, because he went and told Karunanidhi that I have been asked by Ahmed Patel to come for the swearing in. But the leader said then you join the Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: (laughs) So now?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">RADIA: So Raja was the only one who’s authorised to attend which he’s done and Raja’s catching the 8:40 flight…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">BARKHA: Okay<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">---------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">You can also read about famous journalist <b>Vir Sanghavi's</b> conversation with <b>Nira Radia</b> at the link below (I hope the Open Magazine site is up by this time).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/what-kind-of-story-do-you-want"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;">http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/what-kind-of-story-do-you-want</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">---------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I tried to check the Open Magazine site but I got the below:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOWIvDjjOdI/AAAAAAAACzU/LYpMNgYtEVA/s1600/open.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="144" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOWIvDjjOdI/AAAAAAAACzU/LYpMNgYtEVA/s320/open.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
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</div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-29613695520647036652010-11-15T20:22:00.004+05:302010-11-15T21:12:12.708+05:30My State Dinner - Part II (Grand Finale)<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Now that you know what all happened in the first hour of my stay at the Bhavan, it’s time for me to tell you the remaining part. So here it comes – My State Dinner Part II.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ok for you all who think that the dinner was just to welcome the US President, hold on! There were a few other reasons to celebrate India on that night. The first one was the successful completion of the Common ‘Wealth’ Games and the second one the successful auction of the 2G Spectrum in India! What more can an Indian ask for? Celebrating two of the most successful events in the history of Independent India. There have been a lot of events in the history of India before this but these two stand out as these events are showcasing India’s power (whatever that means) to the whole world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOFFJ1bSQkI/AAAAAAAACzM/tAnCzhmnWgs/s1600/BABA+with+Obama.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOFFJ1bSQkI/AAAAAAAACzM/tAnCzhmnWgs/s320/BABA+with+Obama.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">( DholiBaba seen here with Mr and Mrs. Obama and Mr. Manmohan Singh )</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Great Kalamadi and The King ‘Raja’ were the center of attention at the dinner table. Oh Yes! The dinner table was a huge one – which could easily accommodate at least 300 guets at one go. Later I came to know that the Presidential Palace had ‘purchased’ it at an auction of the ‘remains’ of the ‘Games Village’! The center table was much talked about at the gathering. Everyone was wondering how Kalmadi and his team ‘imported’ the ‘special’ wood which was used to manufacture the table. Everyone rose to the occasion and a toast was the starting point of the dinner. A successful completion of such a big event without a pinch of corruption was a matter of pride for everyone present there. I could see Mr.Kalmadi laughing (all the way to his bank account) & cheering everyone. I never expected but the cheering was carried out by some ‘cheerleaders’ specially imported from the US. Yes! They were from the ‘Washington Redskins Cheerleaders’ group which was hired by Vijay Mallya for his IPL team a couple of years ago. The cheerleaders got the guests ‘going’ and swing to the latest Bollywood numbers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">One favorite song among the guests was, “Munni Badnaam Hui ….”. It was simple for me to understand the reason behind it. Everyone else (except Kalmadi) were replacing ‘Munni’ with ‘Dilli’ while gyrating their pelvis to the item number. The sheer joy and happiness was sponsored by none other than the King of Good Times – Mallya! I can see the pride in his eyes. First cause the same cheerleaders which enhanced his team’s appeal were gracing the occasion and second, the sheer joy of seeing KingFisher rule everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">While all this was happening, I could see Mr and Mrs Obama having a good time together. And yes, Michelle was the tallest (man) at the gathering! She was wearing some handicrafts she had bought in the afternoon from one of the ‘Handicraft Mela’ organized specially for the Obamas. She loved it and her love for her wardrobe was visible in her sparkling eyes. Barack was also chilled out so I thought why not have a word with him. There was my moment in the history (of my life) – me standing next to Mr. President of the United (48) States of America. America – which was ‘discovered’ by a guy called ‘Columbus’ after he missed his bus and took a boat to roam around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As I went to Mr. Obama, he welcomed me with a smile. I didn’t tell him that I have a history (good one - at least I can say that and a few others say so) in IT Industry, else he would have completely ignored me (for reasons well known). I introduced him myself as – “Anand Dholi: Just another Indian who feels proud of the ‘Adarsh’ with which we successfully completed the Common ‘Wealth’ Games.” I was curious to know how a simple (?) man can be the president of America. I was curious to know his vision about ‘World Peace’ (I knew it was not any Miss World/Universe pageant where all the participants are worried about their makeup and ‘World Peace’). So I asked and apt came the reply <b>“Yes! We can!!!”.</b> To which I said in my mind, <b>“</b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt;"><b>कर तो हम भी सकते है!</b></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>”. </b>When I asked him to explain more about his ‘Can’ word, I guess he was confused with my pronunciation (me being schooled in Marathi medium all my life) and said that ‘Coca-Cola’ was on the right hand side of the dinner table. Without further delay, I said bye to him and moved on.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOFFVSnxDRI/AAAAAAAACzQ/I4EdWYW63qE/s1600/Baba+Singh+Obama.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The surprise of the dinner was Rahul Gandhi sitting next to an old man called L K Advani. I was just wondering what they must be discussing while sitting next to each other. One guess was – How the East meets West? How can they screw up Mayawati’s plan of becoming the next PM of India, considering the old man was never able to fulfill his dream of a lifetime all these 85 years and the younger one hopes to become the PM one day. But I couldn't make any further guesses into their discussion as their age difference was huge!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;">I could see another old man called Krishna (MEA and not MA as in "Agneepath") making some notes. I think he was preparing himself to talk to the American President about our beloved </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">neighbor</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;">. The sheer anger I could see in his eyes was not for the issues with our neighbor but the chicken that had been served to him. I guess he was not happy with the preparation and I saw him calling one of the ‘Chefs’ and explaining how he should make notes before preparing anything. Then there was the King – RAJA! He looked like one. Any ‘G’ (be it ‘Games’ or ‘2G’) is a hot topic at any political gatherings and the sheer joy of being at the center can only be felt by people like Raja. I was very happy to see that Raja was using BSNL movile service. Made me proud cause at least they have one customer who must be happy with the services of BSNL!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sitting at one of the corners were a lady and a gentleman, named Jaylalitha and Karunanidhi respectively. The lady was wearing one hell of an ensemble and the gentleman was flashing his goggles (you can also Google to find out the man who wears his goggles 24x7) in the dark. I guess Karunanidhi has signed a huge deal as a brand ambassador with Ray-Ban, else he wouldn’t be wearing those 'spectacular' specs all the time – even when he goes to bed! But one thing I didn’t notice was the chair in which the lady was sitting. I realized it a bit later. The chair has some huge wheels so that the guest sitting on it can be moved smoothly from one place to another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">While all this was going on, the guests heard a huge thud – like that of an earthquake. I ran to the nearest pillar hearing the same. After a few moments, we all realized that it was a guy called ‘Gad’kari (‘Gad’ means a ‘Fort’ in Marathi language) who had slipped on the floor. I have seen him slipping his tongue a few times (since he became the president of a party) but this was the first time I saw him slipping literally. The US secret service guys immediately arranged one crane to lift him up from the ground. With that kind of body, one needs a crane to get lifted for sure. The action of the secret service was quick though (I later came to know that the Delhi Police had arrived at the Bhavan next day noon cause some one really panicked after the thud and dialed ‘100’).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">With the tuxedos the secret service guys were wearing at the dinner, I could hardly laugh at my ‘Jitendra’ (the Bollywood actor of yester years) getup – a white shirt and a white trouser! But then, I wanted to be just one of ‘them’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The food was really good and I think (not sure) that the order of the dinner was placed with ‘Karims’ from Chandani Chowk. But one thing got my attention like none other. I saw two women cooking food at one of the corners. They had their ‘choolha’ made up of stoned and wood there. They were preparing some special dish for some special guest. Both the women looked like they were coming from the ‘real’ India, economically weak and deprived. Their clothes were saying that loudly. I was moved. I just went to see what they were cooking and what brought them to this gathering. When I asked them about the special food they were preparing, pat came the reply – “</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;">हम राहुलजी के लिए खाना </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">बनावत</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;"> है. उनको</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">हमरे</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 28px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;">हाथ का खाना बहुत अच्छा लागत है!</span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">” </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(in Obama’s mother tongue it means, “We are preparing the food for Rahil-ji. He loves food cooked by us.”) I had no words to say & seeing Rahul-ji having food at many places on TV, I just had to move to another corner of the dinning room.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I was really amazed by the experiences that night. I got to see the cream of India - one I had never dreamt of ever seeing at one place. I was hungry so I moved to the table where all the preparations were put together. The man that I am, I was happy with my </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt;">झूनका भाकर</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> (Zoonka Bhakar – A preparation made up of Besan and Bajara Roti). I didn't try the sweets as the memories of that dinner are the sweetest thing that I will have with me forever!!!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>P.S.: There is no 'Part III' of the 'My State Dinner' series as I heard that ‘Rakth Charitra’ has only 2.</b></span></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-45027533358915337092010-11-15T00:52:00.014+05:302010-11-15T01:57:53.452+05:30My State Dinner - Part I<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I generally avoid dinners organized by others because I love to pay for my own dinner. But this was something different. How many times in your life will you be invited to a state dinner by ‘The President of India’?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, here I was. I think I was the lucky one chosen from a tough process. The President had ordered inclusion of a few ‘Common Indians’ to the State Dinner she had organized in the honor of the President of USA (<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%;">)</span></span>– Mr.Barack Obama. The selection process was tough. The Income Tax Dept of India was asked to choose a few people who had struggled to get their IT Refunds back from the Govt. I being harassed by the Dept for 4 yrs suddenly was in the news for I was one of the lucky ones to get selected!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would go for a state dinner at the “Rashtrapati Bhavan”. It was once in a lifetime opportunity and I never wanted to miss it. It took me a few hours to find a white shirt and a white trouser which I thought of wearing for the dinner. The politicians like to look ‘clean’ with the white colors on and I thought if I wear something else, I would look like the odd one out. I had no other choice but to go for ‘white’. I couldn’t afford to buy a new ‘Ambassador’ car and I drove with my old Honda to the venue.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It was ‘the’ place to be that night. I mean, you guys can’t even imagine. The place, the lights, and the security – everything was like a dream or a Hollywood movie. I was sure, no trespassers would make it to the dinner unlike they do at the ‘Whitehouse’. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was taken to the ‘Bhavan’ after I somehow managed to park my car. I went alone as I was invited alone. So don’t think that I was with ‘someone’ at the party (sorry ‘Dinner’). </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As I walked through the corridor of the Bhavan, I was able to see the pictures of all our ex-Presidents and ex-PMs! What a sight that was. For once I wondered if I was visiting an Old Age Home because all the Presidents looked like they were abandoned by their families in the OLD age and then they came to power (?) as the President of India. Well, the PMs were a good sigh of relief for me. I did see all the PM’s pictures closely and was happy that apart from the gentlemen called ‘Vajpeyi’ and ‘Deve Gowda’, all other PMs were awake while their pictures were taken. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOA2en7ptLI/AAAAAAAACzI/0VKUcaKOrPo/s1600/Obama+and+Pratibha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOA2en7ptLI/AAAAAAAACzI/0VKUcaKOrPo/s320/Obama+and+Pratibha.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">( I clicked this picture with my 'Yashica' camera! )</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I was really very happy to be there. I thought I was the luckiest ‘Common’ man to be there. Then there was the moment, I was waiting for - To get introduced to the elite of Indian politics, business and cinema (these cinema buggers always jump in at any event). The person accompanying me took me to the President and proudly introduced me saying, “He wasn’t able to get his IT Refund for 4 years only.” The President smiled back and said, “</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="line-height: 115%;">कमीत-कमी तुला पैसे मिळाले तरी. इथे बर्र्याच लोकांच उभ आयुष्य निघून जात रिफंड ची वाट बघत.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%;">” (which in Obama's mothertounge means -"At least you got the money. Most people spend their lifetime waiting for the IT Refund.)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oh Sorry, I guess you guys know that the President is a Maharashtrian (that doesn’t mean that I was the ‘chosen’ one for the dinner, I qualified cause of my IT Refund criteria only) and hearing my last name </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(having a look at the proud badge I was wearing – ANAND DHOLI)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, she could make out that I was either a Maharashtrian or an Alien with that kind of last name!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was taken aback by the humble President. I can say that cause I had received the ‘menu’ of the dinner along with my invitation letter and it has ‘Misal Pav’ and ‘Vada Pav’ as the main course! A true Maharashtrian in every sense and a humble Indian! When the whole of Bombay lives on ‘Vada Pav’, how can the President ignore it? The ‘Vada Pav’ was from ‘Krishna Vada Pav Center’ at Dadar (West). The packing of the Vada Pav was clearly saying it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh sorry, how can I move to food topic so early in my visit? Ok. Where was I? Yeah! The introduction of mine lasted for a few minutes. I almost met all of the guests. This was on my agenda so that when I go back home, I could tell all my relatives, friends, family members that I had met the who’s who of India! While being introduced to the President of USA, the guy accompanying me said, “He is Anand Dholi and he doesn’t own a flat in Adarsh Society.” The President smiled. I felt a little awkward by this cause everyone standing tall in that hall had a stake in Adarsh Society. What a shame for me! I couldn’t manage a simple flat in this esteemed society and have wasted my life renting a house all my life. I really felt like leaving the party cause I was not in the other people’s league but I couldn't, cause this was once in a lifetime opportunity for me. How could I let you all be deprived of what all I saw that night there? So I decided to stay. Just for you! My blog readers!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOA2dzcrDtI/AAAAAAAACzE/muz213V1QiA/s1600/Obama+at+the+Bhavan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TOA2dzcrDtI/AAAAAAAACzE/muz213V1QiA/s320/Obama+at+the+Bhavan.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Obama seen here with the 'Chefs' who had prepared the dinner that night - clicked with my 'Yashica' camera)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ok. Now its time for me to stop and would request you to come back here in some days time. Don’t miss the second part of the series. What all I have written above is just the first 1 hour of my stay at the ‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’! I stayed there for nearly 3 hours and 55 minutes. So if you want to know what all happened later on, do come back here. Good option is to check this site every day!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If ‘Rakht Charitra’ can have a ‘Rakht Charitra-2’ (releasing on December 3<sup>rd</sup> 2010), why can’t my blog have a post as Part 1 and 2?</span></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-5934937148796633002010-11-07T00:38:00.000+05:302010-11-07T00:38:27.049+05:30Corporate Social Media - The Mistakes You Should Avoid!<div>While reading some stuff about Corporate Social Media and its influence on today's organizations, I came across the below list of mistakes company's generally do while organizations try to travel the road to Enterprise 2.0.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 10:</b> Overarchitecting the process. If there is one thing the consumerization of IT has taught us is that simplicity is the key to success. The social media suites are powerful and have lots of bells and whistles. If you try to use them all, the user is faced with an airplane dashboard, which is far from simple. Don't try to define collaboration, offer simple and easy-to-use mechanisms. More ornate structures will emerge if needed. </div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 9:</b> Going it alone. Enterprise 2.0 and social media are hot, hot, hot. IT departments are rightly leading the way in promoting adoption. But when a social media suite gets dumped on business users who have had no input, success rarely follows. The same thing is true when business users attempt to get collaboration going on consumer software without consulting IT. Both IT staff and businesspeople must work together.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 8</b>: Lack of executive sponsorship. Getting a budget approved is one thing. Getting hundreds or thousands of people to change the way they do their jobs won't happen without a clear message from the top. If adoption of social media is seen as optional, it will not happen. Only executives can make clear that change is required.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 7:</b> Failing to establish a starting point. Improving business outcomes is the ultimate goal of Enterprise 2.0. To tell whether an internal social media implementation has worked, you must know where you are starting from. How long does it take to do the important tasks? How frustrated are users with internal tools? If you measure at the beginning, you can tell if the implementation worked.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 6:</b> Failing to establish specific goals. In most companies, key activities such as creating proposals, resolving customer complaints and creating designs for new products all have a collaborative element. Users will wonder why a social media platform is adopted unless you explain that the goal is something they can clearly understand, such as cutting the time and expense of creating a proposal in half or making sure 95 customer complaints are resolved in 24 hours.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 5:</b> Not communicating with users. Throwing a social media platform at a company is rarely effective. When IT departments go it alone, this often happens. The arrival of new ways of collaboration must be accompanied by detailed explanations of what is expected of everyone involved. The explanations must not just be training but must be part of the user interface so that people can get answers while using the new technology. In addition, users must be able to ask questions, make suggestions and get a response.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 4: </b>Not setting clear expectations with executives. Senior management may expect 100% adoption of a new platform when 60% adoption might be the most that can be expected given the roles of the company. Adoption goals and other measures of success must be mapped out in advance with executives so that a victory doesn't accidentally look like a defeat.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 3:</b> Stopping change management too soon. Change management means educating, communicating, recognizing success and promoting cultural change. After implementation, these activities must be part of on-boarding new employees and must be reinforced for existing staff. Too often, companies forget to make use of social media a part of a company's DNA.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 2:</b> Getting distracted by the shiny new thing. Applying social media and advanced collaboration technology inside a company is exciting. Much is written about the latest developments in both technology and best practices. Enthusiasm for breaking new ground can work against focusing on the application of well-established and less exciting ways of making things work. This is especially true with respect to custom functionality. It is better to walk before running and do the simple useful thing rather than the complex magic trick.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>Mistake 1:</b> Not investing in community managers. Change takes energy. When adopting social media, the energy comes from two sources: end-users who are excited about solving long-simmering problems and community managers who are evangelists. End-users have a day job and it is a huge mistake to think that end-users alone can change a company's culture and successfully promote adoption in the long term. The day job of a community manager is making social media succeed, educating users, finding patterns of success, correcting mistakes, and in general, finding ways to expand the use of the platform. Community managers are not site administrators but agents of change. If you are spending money on software, you must spend money on change as well. Think of community managers as insurance that your technology investment will pay off.</div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-29678480429133783702010-10-28T10:30:00.000+05:302010-10-28T10:30:22.649+05:30Where will we find tomorrow's leaders?<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sMQmKHmIqY4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sMQmKHmIqY4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-16893578226701992362010-09-27T23:02:00.003+05:302010-09-27T23:13:04.215+05:30A Letter to the President (राष्टपति/राष्ट्रपत्नी) of India!<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dear President of India,</span></b></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I write to you as a proud citizen of India who is completely supporting the Commonwealth Games!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being born and brought up in this country, I know that Corruption is our way of life for us Indians. We can't just ignore it. I feel very proud that the world, which earlier had just heard about corruption in India, now has witnessed it clearly. This is a proud moment for all Indians where we have to bribe the moment a child is born (to get his/her birth certificate) till he/she leaves the earth for heavens (to get the death certificate)!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that inflation is on the rise and no wonder the games budget increased many folds. I don't want to blame anyone for this. This was bound to happen with the circumstances around. There is no way we could have tacked it and given the priority of the games, am sure that this thing called inflation can 'definitely' wait 'indefinitely'!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The way I have seen Delhi turn into 'Mohenjo-Daro' (मोहन जोदड़ो) is awesome! I don't have any words left to describe the same. I am spellbound and have literally ran out of words. I mean, just think, </span></span><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"यहाँ भी खुदा है, वहाँ भी खुदा है ... दिल्ली में तो हर जगह खुदा है!"</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Its a spiritual experience for us living in NCR for the last 2 years or so. I am glad that though we won the bid for the games way back in 2003, the Government didn't float the first tender for the work to be completed, before 2008. This has really helped me live in a better way since 2003. Just imagine if we had started the work in 2003, me and millions like me, who came to this city for livelihood would have faced a lot of difficulties for 7 years! But thanks to the procrastination of the Government, we were saved of the trauma for at least 5 years. I am very proud of this!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We see GOD in every child! Though I don't believe in GOD, there are millions in this country, who believe in the almighty. Can you imagine the pleasure of entering the stadiums which were built by GODs? I can!!! Having seen child labor all over the place during the construction of the CWG venues, I am very proud that the venues have been touched and built by GODs! Children as young as three have been seen working in dangerous piles of rubble on a construction project that has already killed at least 45 people, including a two-year-old girl! A fete certainly to be very proud of!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know we don't have enough funds to compensate the children and families who were exploited building the CWG stadiums, including those who died during its construction. We are a poor country and the very fact that many funds were directed towards the success of the games, I can very well understand your limitations. We can't support the poor. The so called 'National Pride' is at stake and we must make these games successful … we have to!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I also heard that there is a debate going on a topic – “Who will declare open the games on October 3rd?” I am surprised to see this kind of debate at this hour. Sorry, I am by now used to see things at the 11.59th hour in India, what I meant is, there is no question about this i.e. who will open the games. It should be you and only you. You are the first citizen of this country and a very proud one, given above all the facts. Please feel very proud when you declare the games open. We all Indians, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christians and every other religion, stand united behind you. We are also used to forget every grave problem that the country has faced in the past and no wonder we will be forgetting CWG by 15th October!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are a country of snake charmers as most of the western countries believe and I am surprised that these very countries are complaining about snakes in the Games Village. How can they? Knowing that what we are, they holding a snake in hand and crying foul is unacceptable. I know you are deeply hurt by these kinds of events. I am also very happy with the ‘CWG Lanes’ and the Blue and Yellow colors on the roads everywhere in NCR. They make me feel colorful. Not to mention, with the snarling traffic, you get to see more colors of life which would not have been possible without these ‘CWG Lanes’. It’s just awesome! Never before did I spend an hour and thirty minutes to travel the 6 Km stretch to my office from home but with these lanes, I am enjoying the colors of life in the form of traffic jams!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am also proud about the fact that the village was built on the banks of river Yamuna. What a feeling for those living there. With the scarcity of water in the village, the athletes can just walk to the river and do their things like washing, cleaning etc. This is called world class infrastructure. No western country will every understand this!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last but not the least; we should also bid for the Olympics! </span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This time we will raise the bar of corruption, one which no one has seen ever before. We have so many targets to achieve after these games. Education, poverty, unemployment, shortage of food grains; all these can wait but we should really focus on global events like the CWG or Olympics. We are a nation of billion dreams and now everyone has a dream, to see India bid and win the hosting of Olympics! With the present achievements at CWG 2010, I am pretty sure we have increased our chances many folds.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before closing my letter, I would like to thank you for keeping people wait to reach the heaven by holding all the mercy petitions on your table. You're no less than any GOD. You have the complete right to justify your delay in awarding the death penalty to many a criminals and terrorists, who have killed innocent people in our country. I know that your first priority is the opening of the games and you should really stand by it. If India can wait for the stadiums to be ready by 3rd October, why can't some terrorists wait another few years?</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Long live India and God (if there's any one) bless the country of billion dreams!</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Proud Citizen of India,</span></span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DholiBaba</span></span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">www.DholiBaba.com</span></span></strong></div><div><strong style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</strong></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-66910657552194157472010-09-19T16:41:00.005+05:302010-09-21T12:35:47.451+05:30Why would I watch CWG Delhi 2010?<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whatever you think of it, I am surely going to enjoy the CWG this time! Frankly before this year’s event, I thought that the only games on mother earth are the Olympics! But now that I know that there is something called CWG and that Delhi city is hosting it, I am very eager to see the games. Not to mention, the reasons are mentioned in next paragraphs of this post.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It took Leonardo da Vinci at least four years to finish Mona Lisa so what if we couldn’t get Delhi ready for the games in seven years?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">During 3</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">rd</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> till 14</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">th</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of October, I will be in Delhi cheering for Mr. Kalmadi and my country... in that order! So stop being stupid & finding faults every now and then. Yes! A toilet paper can cost INR 4000.00! We have lots (read hell) going for us. And let's prepare for the CWG. Give up your cars, your homes … Help the city, the nation and the games!!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Indians politics and bureaucracy is about experience! Sheila Dikshit is the world's oldest aunty running a Government and Mr. Advani, the world's oldest dreamer of being a prime minister (I guess he still does dream). Suresh Kalmadi is the world's longest serving chief of a sports body (apart from Fidel Castro or someone with that name). These are things to be proud of for all of us Indians! After all, we are also proud to have the oldest parliament (in terms of age of the MPs) as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Day before yesterday, we people living in NCR felt the tremors of the earthquake. All of Mayawati's statues in NOIDA have survived the earthquake as well. She surely used unadulterated cement, any questions? And for those who don’t know, the earthquake in Delhi was a planned test-case - to see if the stadiums and flyovers will hold to the ground & will not succumb to the quake. Given how bad the traffic in Delhi is, it takes some time even for the tremors to travel from Delhi to NOIDA to Gurgaon to Faridabad to Gaziabad! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For that matter, Delhi citizens needn't be alarmed by tremors that were felt 2 days back. It's just the usual for us living in NCR. Digging roads and building them, again digging them, have some cables lying on the roadside, some cement bags here and there, some iron rods … its really very usual for us. No surprise in that for NCR people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The CWG has also helped Delhi to be ‘Air Ready’! I mean, just think of the new Airport (or runway, whatever it is). It’s awesome! We should really hope and look forward to no ATC/Radar failure and for sure the guests will be able to land here. Immigration staff at the airport will be working and not chewing paan and will cause less pain the eyes of the visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So what if stars like Usain Bolt are not showing up? (I also heard from sources that Usain Bolt is running his fastest from the CWG 2010 and Mosquitoes) Our own stars will shine! We shall bring in several medals. The stadiums will have tracks which won't be submerged because there are not tracks there! You have to build the ‘lane’ in your head while running! The Games Village, which was unveiled and opened to the guests couple of days ago, will have water in taps and will not be itself in water. The mosquitoes will not be the ones which cause dengue, but the ones which are gentler on human body! Well, the CM of Delhi has already confirmed that ‘Delhi is Dengue Free’. I guess she meant, Dengue is Free in Delhi!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Trust me, I came to Delhi in 2003 and since last two odd years, it’s not the same city that it was! Well, it’s not the same if you visit the city in a week’s time these days. Thanks to CWG! I think, Delhi looks like Mohenjo-Daro (</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">मोहन जोदड़ो</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) when it (</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">मोहन जोदड़ो</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) was rediscovered in 1922 by Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India. You find more cranes in the city than you will find at any of the archeological survey sites in the universe! The cranes and the operators look like a deadly combo, which is on a mission to ‘re-discover’ Delhi! I think it should be </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">declared heritage city with great walking tours because no cars can move on the roads these days and you have to be superhuman to walk on the Delhi roads.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TJXubCgeURI/AAAAAAAACxQ/xpfwvChedCA/s1600/mohenjo-daro-ruins-285685-sw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TJXubCgeURI/AAAAAAAACxQ/xpfwvChedCA/s320/mohenjo-daro-ruins-285685-sw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>(</b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: small;"><b>मोहन जोदड़ो - Could have been transformed into a CWG City with INR 34,000 Crores i.e.USD 7.5 Billion!)</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I also think that Delhi should be declared world's first athletic city now. You have to jump so as to walk & you use all limbs to ward off Mosquitoes and manage the never ending potholes on the roads. The city will also become a heritage city soon (or it had already become one). With those loads of rubble lying everywhere, I think it's a sheer competition to </span></span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">मोहन जोदड़ो</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 1922.</span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many of the military services can also have Delhi as an ideal training venue. Where on earth a soldier can get more challenges than Delhi? And why you think these games are called ‘Common Wealth Games’? It’s not clear to me after seeing all this mess. When the Government is using ‘Common Man’s Wealth’ how can you NOT name the games ‘Common Wealth Games’? Do you have any answer? Then just shut up!</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We are also offering a high speed train for the visitors from all over the world, to take them to Agra. But my only worry is, if they are crossing NOIDA mid-way, they might confuse Mayawati's statue for the Taj! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think we will also take good care of the CWG athletes. By serving them spicy Indian food!!! It will kill two birds in one stone. First, the guests will enjoy real Indian spicy food and second, by the time they figure out where the latrine is, the games will be over. All the medals will be won by Indians and South Asian countries, which are used to spicy food!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The opening ceremony is going to be a high voltage affair. Now with a 60 Crores Rupees balloon, how can you expect something less? The ceremony will be a good show of our own (and usual) Bollywood stuff (do we care to showcase anything else to the world at such events?). And with the ‘cool’ (or cold?) theme song, we might as well fall asleep at the beginning of the ceremony itself!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ADVISORY FOR DELHI CITIZENS from DholiBaba:</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Schools are closed during the games, so send your children away. This is the best way to keep them away from mosquitoes (and Dengue) as well. Give up your travel and cars; else you might end up paying heavy fines for travelling on the CWG lanes. We have been used to filth and corruption all these years; don’t yell so much this time. Its national pride after all (read it ‘corruption’ or ‘games’ at your own 'discretion'). Enjoy the games!!!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-72306697153616832762010-09-05T20:39:00.000+05:302010-09-05T20:39:23.503+05:30कुछ तो बाकि है ...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And now some good thing about the CWG. There are people who believe in national pride and this one is a good example of the same. Surprisingly its associated with the CWG 2010!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Commonwealth Games has been embroiled in controversies with fresh allegations leveled against the organising Committee everyday. Some heads have rolled in the wake of damning allegations against hiring the services at exorbitant costs or using the services of little known firms. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But this one deal that the organising committee made that it cannot be faulted for. The bid for manufacturing mementoes of the Games mascot for distribution among the participants was abysmally low, almost a third of the next lowest.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then, for 63-year old Abninder Singh Grewal, a sense of national pride in being a part of Commonwealth Games was far more important than making money. So, the artist, who is engaged in making designer artifacts at Mohali adjoining Chandigarh, quoted a ridiculously low price for making miniature models of Shera, the mascot of the Commonwealth Games 2010 beginning in Delhi in October. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, Grewal is relishing the challenge. He says, “I quoted a low price </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">because I just wanted to get the order. The consideration of profit and loss was secondary. I am proud that I have got the chance to contribute in a small way to this grand event being hosted by India.”</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TIOxK1rvhjI/AAAAAAAACxI/83b5BbeamQw/s1600/grewal-with-shera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TIOxK1rvhjI/AAAAAAAACxI/83b5BbeamQw/s1600/grewal-with-shera.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When Grewal quoted a price of Rs 650 per piece for the model which would be presented as a memento to the VIPs and top officials from various countries visiting the Commonwealth Games, the officials from the purchasing committing of the CWG were aghast. The next minimum price quoted by another firm was Rs 1,850.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“They were incredulous and sought assurance whether I would be able to </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">deliver at such a low price. I simply asked them to believe in me,” says Grewal who got the order through his liaison with Phulkari, the Punjab government’s handicrafts and handlooms emporium which stocks Grewal’s creations.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, Grewal is intrigued by the small number of Shera models ordered to be made when thousands of athletes, officials and tourists would be coming to Delhi and would like to be presented with or purchase a Shera model. “Perhaps the </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">organisers realise there is no time left to place a huge order at such short notice,” he reasons.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For an artist, it has been a long and tortuous journey for Grewal who fought childhood debility that kept him bed-ridden for three years. “At that time I was 14. That is when I started painting and developed a key eye for art. There was nothing else I could do,” says Grewal who was once sarpanch of his native village, Nakoke in Patiala district.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">He started making sculptures of women, Sikh personalities and motifs depicting Punjabi culture. However, fame came to him very late in life when he had almost decided to wind up his art workshop. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">His creations are mostly in black stone (granite) or white marble. Now, he is engaged in making statues of decorated soldiers to be installed at war memorials. His sculptures of freedom fighters and deceased Punjab politicians are installed at traffic junctions in various cities of Punjab. But it is with Shera that Grewal has found a new identity.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 28px;">इस गंदगी में ... कुछ तो सच्चे लोग बाकि है .....</span></span></span><br />
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</span></span>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-64977892674733368312010-08-25T00:20:00.000+05:302010-08-25T00:20:03.395+05:30How to live before you die ...<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UF8uR6Z6KLc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UF8uR6Z6KLc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-88120206473109710442010-08-21T13:29:00.011+05:302010-08-21T13:44:21.128+05:30The Great Indian Middle Class and Kindle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still remember the day when we got our own telephone in our home in Nasik. That was a privilege those days and we being a lower middle class family, it was sort of pride for us. Switch to 2010 and things are different in India. Almost everyone you will see walking on the street owns a mobile phone. The famous STD/ISD calling booths have almost vanished from the landscape. It was supposed to be one of the important medium for youth to earn a livelihood not so long ago.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TG-J_Q9hd5I/AAAAAAAACw4/UZfhzrzlvhc/s1600/Middle+class.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TG-J_Q9hd5I/AAAAAAAACw4/UZfhzrzlvhc/s1600/Middle+class.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
The middle class of India has come of age and there are many a reasons for the evolution of this class. I am not gonna list down the reasons of change but something interesting. Just read some of the interesting facts about the rising Indian middle class below:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Asian middle class, powered by India and China, is fast replacing Europeans and Americans as the global consumers who anchor the world economy, says a new study by the Asian Development Bank.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><ol><li>India’s booming middle class — or, those who spend anywhere between $2 and $20 ( 93 to 930) a day on purchasing power parity basis — is now spurring consumption and innovation in the country, said the study, The Rise of Asia's Middle Class, released on Thursday.</li>
<li>However, more than three-fourths of India’s 274 million-strong middle class face the risk of slipping back into poverty in the event of a major economic shock as they are in the lowest spending bracket of $2-4 ( 93-186) a day.</li>
<li>Over the next two decades, the Indian middle class population is expected to touch one billion, it said. And 55% of the world’s middle class will be in Asia by 2030, up from 25% now.</li>
<li>The study found that Asia’s consumers spent an estimated $4.3 trillion (in 2005 purchasing power parity dollars), or about one-third of OECD consumption expenditure, in 2008 and by 2030 will likely spend $32 trillion, comprising about 43% of the worldwide consumption.</li>
<li>China had 817 million people, or 63% of its population, in the middle class bracket in 2008.</li>
</ol></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok enough said about the middle class of India. So what's it got to do with Kindle? Well, nothing! Just wanted to share with you that India has an answer to Kindle as well. The same way we have one for the iPad.<br />
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Bangalore-based EC Media will launch a desi version of the e-book reader, Wink, on September 1. It will allow readers to access their favourite content anytime and anywhere, in the language of their choice and aims to revolutionise the way people read. It will be having a 6-inch display screen and will come with a 2GB internal memory expandable up to 16 GB and can last up to 300 hours when fully charged. The product will be priced at Rs. 11,400.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TG-KS1TFQDI/AAAAAAAACw8/KT6_oIrbnRY/s1600/Wink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TG-KS1TFQDI/AAAAAAAACw8/KT6_oIrbnRY/s1600/Wink.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
The gadget will offer a one-stop e-store where consumers can access e-book titles, newspapers, magazines and journals across 15 Indian languages. Wink will initially provide access to over 2,00,000 titles and has enrolled top publishers like Penguin, Roli, Oxford University, Harper Collins and Permanent Black.</span>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-6215767448875126292010-08-15T00:06:00.008+05:302010-08-15T01:36:52.538+05:30Quit Corruption Movement<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Today we celebrate yet another Independence Day! We Indians take pride in being citizens of a free country but think again. Are we really free?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"If only we had foreseen the recent developments, probably we might have not fought for the nation’s independence from the British government!"</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">These are words of a freedom fighter and I read these in one of the columns today. What a shame for myself and my country! We all know it is there, we all know it's the reason for India's debacle in many fields and we all know it's because of us ... still it is there and spreading like a virus all across.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quit-Corruption-Movement/120466108002887" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TGbmjDtkgKI/AAAAAAAACw0/lMVq2zJTYBU/s320/QCM_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now is the time to fight back hard. Fight for a India free of corruption. YOU can make it happen. Don't wait for anyone else to clean your house. It's your duty. If you take pride in being an Indian, be one by saying NO to corruption from today. Things will work without corruption. You will have to struggle a bit in the beginning but then, we didn't get Freedom for FREE! So many people laid their lives for this country. Can't you just do one simple thing by saying NO to corruption?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Think and join the 'Quit Corruption Movement'! You can join us at Facebook as well. just click here to be a part of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quit-Corruption-Movement/120466108002887" target="_new">'Quit Corruption Movement'.</a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Today at midnight, when most of the Indians are sleeping, I am awake to life and freedom in true sense for my country. I take the pledge of making my nation free from corruption. I may be a fool and loner but I know with time, I will have some more fools joining me." - DholiBaba</span></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-26320125264076650512010-08-09T23:20:00.008+05:302010-08-09T23:44:51.563+05:30'iPad' Killer 'Adam' - Made in India!<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Believe it or not, if you have a look at this tiny thing called 'Adam', iPad will look outdated!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hyderabad based Notion Ink has developed this wonder called 'Adam'. Early prototype of Adam was first demonstrated at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the world's largest consumer tech trade show in January this year. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Never heard of Notion Ink? Its founders are six IITans and an MBA grad. With an average age of 24, they believe India has what it takes to compete with the most innovative tech companies in the world.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TGA_pPQkMTI/AAAAAAAACws/oAauFQmTwuw/s1600/Notion-Ink-Adam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TGA_pPQkMTI/AAAAAAAACws/oAauFQmTwuw/s320/Notion-Ink-Adam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What's so different about their tech? Three years in the making, the Adam tablet is the first device in the world to integrate two breakthrough power saving components - nVidia’s Tegra 2 chip and a PixelQi screen. Together, they help it achieve twice the battery life and performance of the iPad. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The chip provides an edge over the iPad with its ability to play full high definition videos and Flash on the web browser. It can offer the performance of a computer with the power consumption of a cellphone!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Adam’s 10-inch screen integrates many innovations first used in the $100 OLPC (one laptop per child) project. Unlike traditional screens, PixelQI screen has a dual mode, and can be read in bright sunlight like an e-reader. Notion Ink worked with National Institute of Design’s R&D development campus in Bangalore to build a unique touch interface that runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Enough said by Baba, you can visit the company's website by clicking <a href="http://www.notionink.in/" target="_new">here</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now don't I always say. "Be a proud Indian. We got all thats needed to be a superpower!"</span></span></div><div><br />
</div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-32803505884782218042010-08-06T23:56:00.004+05:302010-08-07T00:13:25.462+05:30वैसा भी होता है - पार्ट ३ (Miracles Do Happen!)<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I hate when the door bell rings at 7 O'clock in the morning but today was an exception! To my surprise there was a postman from India Postal Services standing downstairs and even more surprising was the fact that he had come to deliver the passport of my son ‘Arav’! My lucky day, it must be, for sure.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well as you are aware (and if you are not aware, read my older posts with the passport story of mine <a href="http://www.dholibaba.com/2010/07/blog-post_19.html" target="_new">here</a>), I was pretty sure about the way I was gonna behave in this system and follow my path … Path of not paying bribe to any Government official. I must say and am proud to say that I got my son’s passport without paying a single penny as a bribe to anyone.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To be frank, it’s not a miracle and I have not done anything great here. But I just want to tell you all that you can get your work done from Government even if you don’t pay bribe to anyone. I know it’s not simple but trust me, it’s not impossible either. What happens really is that you pay bribe for your comfort and you make these Government employees used to this thing called bribe. It’s you who can stop this and only you can make the coming generations happy with a small step.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have never liked the concept of doing a favor to anyone for getting any work done all my life. The problem with Indians in general is that they are by now used to things like doing a favor to get their work done. Well, a good example is we Indians pay bribe even to GOD! We offer him worship in the form of money, flowers and what not. Isn’t it bribe? I think so and it’s not necessary that you agree with me. I got my own thinking!. Instead of offering money in temples, if Indians start using the same money for good caused like poor children’s education or providing food to deprived children, I think the GOD (if there is one) will be more happy.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So from today, always stand against corruption in any form. You have to lead the way. No single person can bring change – I have been hearing this all my life and been told every time I fight for justice in the corrupt system, but I know that an ocean is formed cause of the drops. Billions of drops make an ocean and we are a billion people country!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Last but not the least, if you want to know whom to approach in case there is injustice to you with respect to getting your passport, please get in touch with the below people:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Appellate Authority</b> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Shri A. Manickam, </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Joint Secretary (CPV) & CPO, </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Room No. 20, CPV Division , </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ministry of External Affairs,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Patiala House, Tilak Marg, </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Delhi-110001 </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fax no +91-11-23782821</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">E-mail : jscpv@mea.gov.in</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Central Public Information Officer </b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Shri Bidhi Chand</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Deputy Passport Officer & CPIO</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Room No. 31 CPV Division.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ministry of External Affairs</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Patiala House</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Delhi - 110001</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tel & Fax : 0091-11-23388648</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Email: uscpvrti@mea.gov.in</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you don’t get any response from the above two guys, you can escalate your problems to the <b>Union Minister of State – Ministry of External Affairs,</b> <i>Smt.Preneet Kaur</i> at her mail ID <i>preneet@sansad.nic.in</i>. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In my case, I had to reach out to the Minister of State and it worked. I didn’t even go to the passport office for my issue and it was resolved by approaching her.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You can also visit the RTI (Right to Information) website at <a href="http://rti.gov.in/" target="_new">http://rti.gov.in/</a> . If you are more interested in knowing the RTI and its first four years, you can download a research paper by just <a href="http://www.scribd.com/full/35479945?access_key=key-2k8ir3hc28isdisia22b" target="_new">clicking here</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">Take an oath this Independence Day – “I will not pay bribe for any work to any Government of India official”. Your next generation will be very happy with your simple step taken today!</span></b></span></div><div></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-17840963913889244142010-08-04T12:00:00.003+05:302010-08-04T12:01:41.637+05:30फ्रेंडशिप डे (Friendship Day) ...<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Do you have a friendship band for sale?” </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">शी-शू करायची अक्कल आत्ता आत्ता आलेल्या</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">साडेपाच वर्ष्यांच्या</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">मुलीला मी एका दुकानदारास विचारताना बघितलं</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">दोन दिवसां पूर्वी.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आमची शाळा आठवली.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">फ्रेंडशिप म्हणजे काय</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ते आम्हाला सातवी-आठवीत</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> (</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">खर बोलायचं तर थोड लवकरच कळायला लागल होत हे सर्व</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> कळू लागलं. तेदेखील मुला-मुलांच्या फ्रेंडशिपबद्दलच. मुला-मुलींची फ्रेंडशिप वगैरे नाव काढायचीच सोय नव्हती. एक गाल शिक्षकांनी आणि दुसरा घरच्यांनी लाल केला असता</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">अशी परिस्थिती होती.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">शाळेत मुला-मुलींच्या गप्पा</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">मैत्रीवर अघोषित बंदी होती. शाळेनं तशी घातली नव्हती</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">पण प्रथाही नव्हती. मुला-मुलींना चिडवणं वगैरे चालायचं. एखाद्या मुलीला एखाद्या मुलाच्या नावानं जास्तच चिडवलं जाऊ लागलं</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">की ती राखीपौर्णिमेला थेट त्याला राखीच बांधायची. मुला-मुलींमध्ये एकच नातं होतं - भावा बहिणींचं! कसं अगदी पवित्र नातं!</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आम्ही वर्ग डोक्यावर घ्यायचो म्हणून सातवीत आम्हाला भयंकर "शिक्षा</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">' </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">झाली होती. मुलींच्या शेजारी एकाच बाकावर बसण्याची!</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">एखाद्या मुलीच्या शेजारी बसण्यासारखा अपमान आणि अवहेलना नव्हती!</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आम्ही मग बेंचवर "हद्द</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">' </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आखून घ्यायचो. माझ्या हद्दीत तू फिरकायचं नाही...हात ठेवायचा नाही...पेन इकडे येता कामा नये</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">एवढ्या पातळीवर ही खुन्नस चालायची.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">झ्या शेजारी राहणारी मुलगी माझ्या पुढच्याच बाकावर बसायची</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">पण मी वर्गात तिच्याशी जेमतेम एक-दोनदा बोललो असेन. तेदेखील पेन खाली पडलंय</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">खोडरबर आहे का वगैरे प्रश्नांसाठी.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">फ्रेंडशिप वगैरे करण्याचं वारं कॉलेजात गेल्यावरच डोक्यात शिरलं. स्लॅमबुक देखील वर्षाच्या अखेरीस हाती पडलं.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">पण जेव्हा पासून इंटरनेट चा आधार मिळाला</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">तेव्हा पासून सर्व काही बदलल.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ह्या</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">माध्यमातून अनेक चांगले मित्र मिळाले. कुणी माझ्या गावाचे निघाले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">कुणाशी विचार जुळले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">कुणाशी भावनिक तारा जमल्या</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">अनेकांशी दृढ मैत्री झाली. ती केवळ व्हर्च्युअल न राहता प्रत्यक्षही भेटणं झालं.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">अहो मला तर माझी बायको हि इथेच</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">भेटली!</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">असं असलं</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">तरी फ्रेंडशिप बॅंड वगैरे मैत्रीच्या देखाव्यात कधी अडकावंसं वाटलं नाही. तशा दिखाऊ मैत्रीपेक्षा खूप घट्ट मैत्री असली</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">तरी ती जगाला ओरडून सांगावीशी वाटली नाही. कधीकधी स्पष्ट बोलण्यानं</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">अलिप्त वागण्यानं काही मित्र दुखावले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">काही दूर गेले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">काहींनी अचानक रामराम ठोकला. पण जे उरले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">त्यांच्याशी छान संवाद राहिला. त्यांच्या आयुष्यात वेगवेगळी स्थित्यंतरं आली...दरवेळी मला साथीला जाता आलंच असं नाही</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">पण त्यांच्याबद्दल प्रेम</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आपुलकी</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">मदतीची भावना कायम राहिली.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">आजही आहे...जे दूर गेले</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">त्यांनाही या निमित्तानं परत येण्यासाठी ही हाक आणि जे आहेत</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">त्यांच्याशी मैत्री अधिक घट्ट व्हावी</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ही सदिच्छा!</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">फ्रेंडशिप बॅंडच्या निमित्तानं बऱ्याच आठवणींवरचा पडदा निघाला.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">लिहायचं होतं जरा हलकंफुलकं</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">पण जरा भावनांचे कढ जास्तच झाले.</span></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-84550205448850687032010-07-29T22:30:00.007+05:302010-07-30T00:12:52.772+05:30Indian Rupee Symbol - Get it on your PC!<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now that India has a symbol for its own currency, won't you like to start using it in your day-to-day activities? And what better than to have the font installed on your PC!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Its as simple as a click of a button with <a href="http://www.dholibaba.com/"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;">DholiBaba.com</span></b></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;">!</span></b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Step 1.</b> Download the Rupee Font by clicking </span></span><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/q7by6dgz6u" target="_new"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow;">here</span></b></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Step 2.</b> After download, install the font. For this </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just copy the font and paste it in "Fonts" folder in control panel.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Step 3.</b> Start using the font by selecting the font as "Rupee Foradian" as shown below. Please click on the image.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TFGxGo6qH5I/AAAAAAAACwg/tFUFqKDt8ho/s1600/Rupee+Font+in+MS+Word.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TFG05V0R-JI/AAAAAAAACwo/a4ZeO6Bvxqk/s1600/Rupee+Font+in+MS+Word.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TFG05V0R-JI/AAAAAAAACwo/a4ZeO6Bvxqk/s400/Rupee+Font+in+MS+Word.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The short cut key to type the Rupee Symbol </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">is shown below.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TFGxv4H0avI/AAAAAAAACwk/rnC4ODGudhA/s1600/Rupee+Key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TFGxv4H0avI/AAAAAAAACwk/rnC4ODGudhA/s1600/Rupee+Key.jpg" /></span></a></div><div><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you likes the post, you can click the Facebook 'Like' button below or send a cheque/check of </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">`10,000.00 </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">only to DholiBaba's Swiss Bank Account! A/C number will be mailed upon request.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-51011401572271040422010-07-19T22:29:00.009+05:302010-08-07T00:00:32.026+05:30वैसा भी होता है - पार्ट २<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't be surprised by the title. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">सच में वैसा भी होता है! Part 2 is for my <a href="http://www.dholibaba.com/2010/06/blog-post.html" target="_new">second epic</a> with the passport office. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">यह फेविकोल का जोड़ है ... टूटेगा नहीं! Looks like me and the passport office in New Delhi are very fond of each other.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TESLV1UcH1I/AAAAAAAACvo/YTOzRvZVvZc/s1600/passport.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TESLV1UcH1I/AAAAAAAACvo/YTOzRvZVvZc/s320/passport.gif" width="229" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So you must remember that sometime ago I posted about my <a href="http://www.ananddholi.com/search/label/Indian%20Passport%20-%20A*******" target="_new">2nd experience</a> with this superb office with respect to passport of my son. Just wanted to update that the Government of India has not let me down in my expectations and that my repeated mails to the so called 'Grievance Cell' and 'Complaints Officer' have been in vain! </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">I am not surprised and neither should be they. After all, its just another Indian Government Office and we are used to this. You have paid bribe so many times to these people that it has become near to impossible for guy like me to get my work done in this 'system'. Am not made up for the system and thats my failure. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 28px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 28px;">My detailed mails to the so called officers must have reached their destinations by now - TRASH! But am not gonna stop here. Next week, when time permits, I will be visiting the Regional Passport Officer. I am not sure what that will result in but can't help it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 28px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 28px;"><b>"There can't be any revolution without violence!"</b></span></div></div></div></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-48670596628544612932010-07-19T11:46:00.000+05:302010-07-19T11:46:57.045+05:30770 is not just a number!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cinema-goers watch the Bollywood movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride), starring actor Shah Rukh Khan, inside Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai, India, on July 11. The movie has set a record by completing 770 weeks of continuous screening at a cinema. </span></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TEPtpy7ixdI/AAAAAAAACvg/IAVtI_WcTYE/s1600/twip_100715_14.ss_full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TEPtpy7ixdI/AAAAAAAACvg/IAVtI_WcTYE/s400/twip_100715_14.ss_full.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-87987548518029322502010-07-16T10:33:00.001+05:302010-07-16T10:57:48.451+05:30Epic is really Epic!!! (First browser with an Indian Origin)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to the new Indian way of browsing the web!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bangalore based startup Hidden Reflex has announced the launch of its browser "Epic", which aims at making Indians all over the world proud. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Epic, which also happens to be the first entirely Indian made web browser, is based on the Mozilla platform and comes with quite a bunch of India centric features.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TD_oF9gwS1I/AAAAAAAACvc/MNudsvEFAzQ/s1600/welcome.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TD_oF9gwS1I/AAAAAAAACvc/MNudsvEFAzQ/s320/welcome.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Epic is highly customizable. I just tried a few things there and they all worked! Not to mention, the best part, which I liked was the YouTube video search. Its amazingly fast!</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Epic also comes with anti-virus protection built-in - a first for any browser. It also supports a long list of Indian languages (currently 12) and an India content sidebar that aggregates news headlines, TV to live cricket commentary and other things that matters to us Indians. It also features a bunch of productivity applications that include a free word processor, video sidebar and my Computer Browser.<br />
<br />
The Epic browser is now available for download from </span></span><a href="http://www.epicbrowser.com/" style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">here</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></span></span>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-20927473574741187092010-07-10T23:45:00.002+05:302010-07-10T23:45:42.934+05:30The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting<object height="326" width="446"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/AnupamMishra_2009I-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AnupamMishra_2009I.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=702&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=anupam_mishra_the_ancient_ingenuity_of_water_harvesting;year=2009;theme=unconventional_explanations;theme=a_greener_future;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=rethinking_poverty;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=a_taste_of_tedindia;event=TEDIndia+2009;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/AnupamMishra_2009I-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AnupamMishra_2009I.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=702&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=anupam_mishra_the_ancient_ingenuity_of_water_harvesting;year=2009;theme=unconventional_explanations;theme=a_greener_future;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=rethinking_poverty;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=a_taste_of_tedindia;event=TEDIndia+2009;"></embed></object>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-74808184235918756902010-07-09T02:20:00.011+05:302010-07-09T10:18:01.403+05:30वाह रे अमरीका! (A 'Dot-Heads' perspective)<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Disclaimer: I am not a racist and my religion is humanity. This article is just an eye opener for people who do not respect India and Indians.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometime you are forced to have an opinion. This article is a byproduct of all the rage that's going on for some fool’s post about ‘Indians’ and their way of life. Me being a proud Indian, I can’t hold my hands and watch but am literally forced to write some of my views about Uncle Sam’s country. I don’t know whether the person (I don’t want to make him any more famous, so not taking his name here) who wrote that article has visited India in this life, but I have been to </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">and have my own experience of seeing their way they live.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Enter </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">! A country discovered by mistake by a guy called Christopher Columbus who was attracted by India's wealth & had come looking for a sea route to India. He got lost and discovered … </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span lang="HI" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">!!!</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I was there …. In </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> … New country, new people and new airport! Yes, let’s start from the airport. Where on earth you pay for the baggage trolley? Yes! You do. I did at the Philadelphia airport. Materialistic start to the new journey called </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. Please come to India, we don’t charge for the trolley here, it’s for free!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I wanted to rent an apartment when I was there. It’s a simple thing, mind you! Or is it? Well, enter a country where you have to have a credit history for everything else in the world. So when I went to rent an apartment, I wasn’t given one, until I made sure that I have to pay ‘some’ money as ‘security’. Not that we don’t pay security amount in India when renting a house, but then that amount is quite paltry. In my country, you can even get an apartment without paying a huge amount of security deposit, even if you are a foreigner. If its </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">, it has to be money … honey!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Festivals! Visit India and you will realize what we mean by a festival. I was lucky (read unlucky) enough to be in </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> during Christmas & trust me, that was the one of the so many boring days I spent in that country. For God’s sake, someone from that country should visit India on Christmas. We do celebrate it with much fanfare than what I experiences there. The streets were deserted (may be people were in their homes), the stars and lights were ON but the people were OFF! Come on, you really should visit my country when we are celebrating Diwali or for that matter Christmas. We celebrate each festival with passion and that can only be experienced when you’re here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Did I say anything about my experience with buying a car and getting a driver’s license? I will not, you better ask that to some Indians staying in </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Dude, no Social Security Number, no car and I had to stay without a car for 2 months because that bloody SSN took place about 2 months to reach my door steps. I will not talk about my experience of walking miles to get to the grocery shop (call it a mall it whatever) in heavy snowfall – all ‘cause I can’t have a car till I have that coveted SSN!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I used to live nearby a school and I must say, it felts like a circus more than a school to me. I call it ‘iPodistic’ culture. We in India still carry our books to schools and not iPads, well at least not in villages for sure. iPod is good, great … amazing … tell you mama please, not me. If you prefer carrying an iPod instead of your books to school, no wonder, you would be out of your school by 15! Give me a break, I value education and I respect the way it’s valued in my country. Someone saying wrong words about Indians students in </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> is not acceptable to Indians … at least me!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">When you’re a kid, you’re supposed to play. That's the rule … everywhere in the world I guess. But by play, we ‘Dot-Heads’ mean playing with friends on the playgrounds. PlayStations and Nintendos are not for us, well not when we have loads of friends to share our life and to play with when we are kids. No wonder, I find the </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीकन</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">kids bit lost … lost in paradise of iPads and iPhones. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">A country with immigrants can’t have a culture of its own. So I would not comment further on the cultural aspects of </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. I will not be comfortable … Well; you can talk about such things (culture), when you have one. Right? India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, spanning a period of more than 4000 years, and witnessing the fusion of several customs and traditions, which are reflective of the rich culture and heritage of the Country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We 'Dot-Heads' have followed Gods with multiple arms & elephant nose for ages! Now 'some people on earth' get savvy & worship a multi-tentacled oracle Octopus. What a pity … Indians won this race as well, ages before anyone else! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">You cannot compare Apples with Oranges. So someone should never try to compare a 'Samosa' with a 'Pizza'. And if you do, do it on your own risk cause you are nuts. I was tired of the "French Fries" that I was served with almost every dish that I ate in </span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">अमरीका</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. Give me break again, humans can survive without those fries. Trust me on this. वाह रे अमरीका! </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">वाह</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">रे</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">तेरा</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">खाना</span></span><span lang="HI" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I will not talk about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">अमरीका shielding a person who is responsible and wanted for 25,000 deaths in Bhopal. I will also not talk about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">अमरीका not trusting documents sent by Govt of India as a proof of our neighbor's involvement in terrorism but believing a 'Head-ley'. After all, they can believe a 'Head-Ley' but not us 'Dot-Heads'. If there is a firing at LOC, India is blamed and a debate starts on some past! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">वाह रे अमरीका! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Put in simple words, "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">तुमने किया तो चमत्कार ... हमने किया तो --------?"</span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">If you just check out the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, don’t be surprised ‘cause you will see a few Indians there. If you check out the % of employees working for NASA, don’t be surprised because you will again see a good number of Indians there. If you try to Google who invented the ‘ZERO, don't be surprised, it was invented by a an Indian mathematician (Aryabhatta) in India before 400 BC! Well before the iPads and iPhones I must say! Or is 400 BC not enough?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Now to make this list a bit big, check out the list of some of the interesting facts about INDIA.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TDY5MO20a4I/AAAAAAAACvY/9uZVJVsyBlA/s1600/the-proud-indian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TDY5MO20a4I/AAAAAAAACvY/9uZVJVsyBlA/s320/the-proud-indian.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- Chess was invented in India.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">India exports software to 90 countries.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">- Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">Again trust me, these are very few facts which make every Indian proud. If you ask me for more, I would be making this post so long that it will last your life time.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">So you please make way for every Indian and respect us 'Dot-Heads'. At least we got heads with brains, what have you got?</span></span></div></div></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756273787088669423.post-38520870562300805172010-07-08T01:49:00.000+05:302010-07-08T01:49:54.069+05:30Octopussy ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TDTUevL1OoI/AAAAAAAACvU/cYFvRjczPSg/s1600/DholiBaba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3LaVN-zSebw/TDTUevL1OoI/AAAAAAAACvU/cYFvRjczPSg/s400/DholiBaba.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Babahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639029986346350503noreply@blogger.com