How to get rid of that extra fat on your belly!!!

Get rid of the extra fat on the belly has been the most uttered statement of my folks to me. It's not that I have too much of it but people who love you want to see you fit and healthy. I am sure that the same has been the case with almost all men and may be women as well. 

Recently I came across on the site of ToI, the following which after a sincere reading I felt to be the thing to put in practice to get rid of that extra fat.

Get rid of your belly fat now 

Apr 3, 2010, 12.00am IST

Whether you have a major paunch or just a tiny pooch and want to slim down, we have the answers for you.

Looking for the simplest way to a flat belly? Go for this creative 20-minute fat-blasting workout and you’ll begin to see a toned tummy in just three weeks and drop up to two inches from your belly in just four weeks. These four crunch-free moves are the best way to hit all your ab muscles, sculpting your belly into its best shape ever. Do them four times a week, with a day of rest in between.

Work out

Straight-leg scissors: Lie on your back with arms by your sides, legs raised, and toes pointing toward the sky. Flatten your lower back, engaging lower tummy muscles.

Inhale while lowering your right leg, so your toes are in line with your nose. Exhale, switching your legs scissor-like, so your right leg lifts back up and your left comes down. (Don’t touch the ground with your foot.) Do 3 sets of 8–10 reps.

Front plank with twist: Get on your knees and forearms with your elbows directly under your shoulders, fingers interlaced. Stretch your legs long, and come up on your toes into plank position. Exhale while twisting slightly to the left from your waist only. Inhale, returning to the starting position, then repeat on the opposite side – that’s 1 rep. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

Reverse curl plank on ball: Kneel in front of a stability ball, draping your abs and hips over the ball. Place your hands on the ground in front of you, and walk them out until the ball rolls beneath your shins; contract your lower abs and lift your hips slightly, then slowly lower them down. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

Straight-line side lifts: Lie on your left side with your legs straight and stacked on top of one another and your feet flexed. Rest your head on your straight left arm. Inhale while lifting both legs off the ground, then exhale while slowly lowering them until they’re about 1 inch off the ground. Do 10-12 reps, then switch sides and repeat to complete 1 set; do three sets.

Major paunch: Do 3 sets of 15 bicycle crunches 2-3 times a week, plus 30-45 minutes’ worth of run-walk intervals (2 minutes each) 4-5 times a week. You’ll notice big results in just 4 weeks.

Tiny pooch: Do 3 sets of 12-15 crunches on a stability ball 2-3 times a week to sculpt your belly in 3 weeks.

Eat this

Major paunch: Cut or burn 500 calories and drink 2 cups of green tea daily: Green tea alone helped exercisers drop ab fat in 12 weeks.

Tiny pooch: Eat snacks with belly-busting monounsaturated fatty acids daily: 23 almonds, 6 olives, or 2 squares dark chocolate. MUFAs can reduce ab fat in a month.

Fake it

Major paunch: Dress in a way that your belly flat is kept hidden. Go for lacy camisoles to pull in and shape your middle, plus give your chest a lift.

Tiny pooch: Get a belt that’s at least 3 inches wide and made of a stiff material or leather. A belt that won’t bend like a corset helps to hide your tummy.
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A great poem to help the man realize that God has equipped the man with all of HIS powers.

Almost from the day when I came to my senses, I realized that we, human beings, are nothing but the embodiments of God-the supreme power. Each of us were born unique and brought along with us something unique. Each of us are so uniquely designed, so uniquely crafted by the almighty that each of us are empowered with the power like God, to create a world as magnanimous as the world created by the God himself. But the society for selfish reasons does everything and anything to kill that uniqueness with which we were born with in a systematic way in order to bring in homogeneity amongst the fellow human beings for it to comfortable enough in ruling over us.

I have been of realization that there is nothing called coincidence. Whatever happens happens for good and happens only when needed/warranted/required. While going through my old papers, I laid my hands on a poem titled "Believe in Yourself" by Edgar A. Guest. A remarkable poem, indeed!!! The same is presented below in as it is form. 

Believe in yourself! Believe you were made

to do any task without calling for aid.

Believe, without growing too scornfully proud,
that you, as the greatest and least are endowed.

A mind to do thinking, two hands and two eyes
are all the equipment God gives to the wise.

Believe in yourself! You are divinely designed
and perfectly made for the work of mankind.

The truth you must cling to through danger and pain;
the heights others have reached you can also attain.

Believe to the very last hour, for it’s true.
That what ever you will, you’ve been gifted to do.

Believe in yourself and step out unafraid.
By misgivings and doubt be not easily swayed.

You’ve the right to succeed; the precision of skill
which betokens the great you can earn if you will!

The wisdom of the ages is yours if you’ll read.
But you’ve got to believe in yourself to succeed.

From a talk by Khurshid Batliwala (MSc in Maths from IIT Bombay), a practicer of Art of Living

It was not a sheer coincidence (in my experience there is nothing called coincidence) that a friend shared with me links of a talk by Mr. Khurshid Batliwala (MSc in Maths from IIT Bombay), a practitioner of Art of Living who, in addition to many interesting aspects of Hindu Ancient Wisdom Treasure, shared the traits of three gunas or qualities of nature vuz. Tamas, Rajas and Sattva and how theirs imbalance can cause change in human nature.

Tamas (Brings Sleep): Excess of Tamas guna leads to Laziness and Lethargy which in turn leads to Habitual Procrastination->Loss of Interest->Depression-> Suicidal Tendencies

Rajas (Allows Activity): Excess of Rajas guna will result in "Can't sit still, restless in the body" which in turn leads to "Bombardment of thoughts"->Impatience and Indecisiveness-> Anger and Aggression->Violence

Sattva(Purity, Beauty, Peace, Joy, Enthusiasm) (When Tamas and Rajas are in balance): Presence of Sattva will result only when Tamas and Rajas are in perfect balance and then Meditation will be effortlessly easy and will result in Lightness, Centeredness and Cheerfulness->Your efforts bear fruits very easily-> Results more and earlier than you expect-> Success and Extreme Good Luck

Hope the above helps you as well in figuring out what's wrong where and then you can accordingly bring in changes your life to lead to a stage of enrichment of Sattva guna.

Do you find contents of help file .chm not displaying?

Inspired and coaxed by my brother, I have been moving to the world of OPEN SOURCE and first application to be replaced, I decided, was my mail server. Opted to move to hmailserver instead of paying hefty money to upgrade erstwhile mail server. Installation was not tough at all once I got hold of its help file which needs to be downloaded separately. But downloaded help file was in the format of .chm and did not show up its contents on my windows XP machine till I figured out the reason to be inherent security measures deployed by Microsoft.

Downloaded help file in the format of .chm for want of security gets disabled by Microsoft in showing up its contents. To see the contents, you need to right click the downloaded file and unblock (UNBLOCK) to see the contents therein.

Hope it does save your hours which i spent before I figured out the solution.

CAMPAIGN FOR JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORMS

Have been quite busy with my work in the new year and have been getting almost no time to write/put my thoughts on various topics, including but limited to Judicial accountability and judicial reform. Today an email arrived in my inbox containing the resolution passed at 3rd National Convention on “Making the Judiciary Accountable and Responsive to the People” held on 6th - 7th February 2010 at Nehru Memorial Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi. The event was organized by an NGO named 'CAMPAIGN FOR JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORMS'. Whole my life, lived so far, I have believed that the an institution inherits its qualities from its founders. This NGO, to my knowledge, has Advocate Prashant Bhushan as one of its founders and that is enough for me to believe its credibility and genuineness. Though I am not personally involved with the NGO but mentally I do support them in their endeavors and would stand by them in the time of need. I would like to share with you the resolutions passed in the convention and the same is provided below.

The two day 3rd National Convention on “Making the Judiciary Accountable and

Responsive to the People” organised by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms was held at the Nehru Memorial Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi on the 6^th - 7^th of February 2010. The Convention was attended by over 200 people representing various organisations and movements from across the country. The Convention was addressed by a range of distinguished speakers on the twin issues of judicial accountability and reforms specifically dealing with the issues of appointment of judges and complaints against and removal of judges, the judiciary and public discourse, the judiciary and the environment development dichotomy, the judiciary and civil liberties as well as the judiciary and the poor. At the conclusion of the convention, the Campaign resolved as follows:

The present system of appointments by the Collegium of Judges suffers from nepotism, arbitrariness and lack of transparency. We need a full time Judicial Appointments Commission for selecting judges of the higher judiciary as well as members of Commissions, Tribunals, etc. This should not comprise merely of retired judges, but should include other eminent members of civil society. This Commission must first lay down the criteria for selection and the method for selection as per the criteria. In particular the understanding of and sensitivity towards the social conditions of the common people must be an important criteria for judging the suitability of judicial appointments. The selection process must be transparent and the credentials and qualifications of the prospective appointees must be in the public domain.

The difference in the retirement age of High Court and Supreme Court judges has made many High Court judges subservient to the Collegium who decide their elevation. This has led to lobbying among High Court judges and Chief Justices as well. The Campaign believes that there is no justification for a different retirement age for High Court and Supreme Court Judges.

The fact that there is considerable corruption in the higher judiciary is evident from the string of recent scandals such as the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam, the Chandigarh cash at judges door scam, the Justice Soumitra Sen and Justice Dinakaran cases, etc. The present system of impeachment has proved to be totally impracticable and ineffective for disciplining judges. There should be a similar commission for dealing with complaints against judges. This must have its own independent investigative machinery and should be empowered to examine the complaints and recommend the action against the errant judges, which would include removal and registration of criminal cases against them. The commission may appoint a tribunal of three jurists to adjudicate on the misconduct of judges before its final decision. These complaints must also be dealt with transparently. A code of conduct for judges must be framed with full public consultation and made strictly enforceable.

The Campaign notes that misconduct of the bar has also grown enormously in recent times. The Bar Council of India has completely failed in disciplining misconducting lawyers due to conflicts of interest and corruption within the Bar Council of India. The Bar too must be made accountable to a completely independent statutory body. This is important because the bar is also an important actor in the administration of justice. It is the principle feeder cadre for judges and is often complicit in judicial corruption. We feel there is no justification for retaining “scandalising the court or lowering the authority of the court” in the definition of criminal contempt and this should be deleted. Respect for or public confidence in the judiciary depends upon how the actions of the judiciary are perceived and not on preventing people from making any kind (including harsh) criticism. The laws of civil and criminal defamation are adequate to protect judges from scurrilous abuse.

The Campaign notes with regret that though the judiciary had itself declared the Right to Information as a fundamental right and had applied it to various institutions including candidates contesting elections, it is now dragging its feet and resisting the application of the RTI Act to itself. This is being done by framing rules which deter citizens from asking for information and put unreasonable restrictions on the disclosure of administrative or financial information about the court. This is also being done by the interference of the Courts with judgments of the Central Information Commission ordering disclosure of information with the judiciary such as for appointments of judges and complaints against judges, etc. The judiciary is thus defeating the object of the Right to Information Act which is to make every institution including the judiciary accountable to the people.

The Campaign finds that the judiciary has of late rendered many decisions displaying gross insensitivity to human rights and civil liberties particularly of the weak and the poor.  Draconian laws such as POTA, TADA, AFSPA has been upheld and progressive laws such as the IMDT Act have been struck down and other pro people laws such as Contract Labour Act, Industrial Disputes Act are not being implemented. The insensitivity towards human rights is also apparent from the fact that even where prosecutions of innocent persons were found to be malafide and based on fabricated evidence, no action was ordered against the offending police officers. This has led to impunity in the police and the spectre of innocent persons being framed in a large number of bogus cases. The Supreme Court has gone to the extent of saying that laws made by Parliament should be interpreted in accordance with the economic policies of the executive government. In certain instances, this has led to a peculiar situation where economic policies of the government are given the judicial stamp. This often strangulates political debate, as well as mobilisation of public opinion.

In particular, in the area of workmen jurisprudence and land acquisition disputes, the

Campaign notes the attitude of the judiciary as being dismal. The current judicial system is getting far removed from the needs and rights of the poor and deprived section of society in substantial deviation from the directive principles of state policy as enshrined in the Constitution of India and even restricting the interpretation “right to life” as delineated in earlier pronouncements of the court. In fact the common people have virtually no access to the judicial system being unable to afford lawyers and also often because the language of the court is alien to the culture. The security obsession of the superior courts is also preventing access even to visitors thus destroying the very concept of open courts. With the current technology is would be easily possible to video record and indeed web telecast court proceedings which must be started immediately.

Courts have often been used to execute the desires of the incumbent government even against the law. Thus jhuggis along the Yamuna Pushta were demolished on the orders of the court to pave the way for the common wealth games village and the Akshardham Temple , in violation of formal government policy.

The Courts have acted whimsically and arbitrarily on environmental matters and have often invoked environment to demolish jhuggis, displace forest dwellers, etc. However the same considerations have not prevented them from allowing the use of the same spaces for corporate interests. There is a clear need for the courts to strengthen and rationalise the systems of environmental appraisal and clearance. Environmental approval committees should be given statutory status and appointed in a transparent manner to represent particularly the interests of the concerned masses rather than “technical corporate or bureaucratic interests”. The statutory appellate authority should also be transparently appointed through the judicial appointments commission.

Song of SHUNYA-The Dramatic Society of Ramjas College

While going through old papers, I came across a paper with the following inscribed in my handwriting. The song re-freshened old memories of college time and of struggles, friends, fights, strives for perfection and so on so forth. I clearly remember how Himanshu (the founder of Shunya and director of the Play "तूफान से पहले") helped me i.e. Bakshu of the play overcome my inhibition in mixing with Anjali i.e. Paro of the play. The play helped me in a big way and played a significant role in shaping me up. Today I went through the lyrics of the song, I found it nothing less than words of Lord Buddha. The song seems to have summarized whole of the spirituality in few lines. How pure, how pragmatic, how powerful!!! I am sure that each of the team members of SHUNYA would be with me on my feelings about the song.
शून्य से शुरु हुए हम, शून्य पर हैं खात्मा;
शून्य ही हैं ये धरा, और शून्य हैं परमात्मा;
इस शून्य की आवाज़ सुन तू-२;
कह रही हैं आत्मा-२;

मान कर हम केन्द्र बिन्दु, शून्य पर दृष्टि उठायें;
मुस्किले राहो में आयें मंजिले पायें न पायें;
पाँव अपने ना हटायें;
इस शून्य की आवाज़ सुन तू-२;
कह रही हैं आत्मा-२;

शून्य मैं हूँ, शून्य तुम हों;
शून्य अब हैं, शून्य तब हैं;
शून्य छाया, शून्य काया;
शून्य खोया, शून्य पाया;
इस शून्य की आवाज़ सुन तू-२;
कह रही हैं आत्मा-२;

An empire of lies-an article appeared in The Pioneer

The following article appeared in The Pioneer and is available at http://dailypioneer.com/194420/An-empire-of-lies.html.

Corruption and flow of Indian moneys to Zurich — both were assured continuity by the UPA Government through the new Companies Bill, which revealed no intent of preventing more Satyam scams from recurring

Eight months have passed since the Satyam Computers scandal, but public memory, being notoriously short, has given the benefit of time and space to the real culprits behind the multi-billion dollar loot. The promoter of the fraud company, B Ramalinga Raju, may be in jail, but the country's largest financial crimes operation, the brotherhood of chartered accounts, with Price Water House at the apex, has merrily avoided scrutiny.

This week, the government reintroduced the Companies Bill in the Lok Sabha after a hiatus of 10 months. It is supposed to be based on the recommendations of an expert committee headed by JJ Irani, the former Tata Steel chairman, and seeks to make firms and their promoters responsible for their actions. But this is far from accurate. Irani’s most important proposal, institutionalising the whistleblower in corporate, was given the go-by. Irani had stated on record: “If the CEO and CFO of a firm get together to do a fraud, there is nothing an independent director can do to detect or prevent it, even if they are professors of corporate governance. Companies must install a confidential whistleblower system."

The new Companies Bill, which seeks to replace the 53-year-old Companies Act, hardly scratches at the surface of the deceitful system that has built up over the years and has manifested itself through various inglorious episodes like Harshad Mehta, the MS Shoes scam, the murder of IIT engineer Satyandra Dubey and Satyam. Irani's call for a whistleblower system assumes significance because the UPA

Government has studiedly avoided implementing this long-felt demand of honest corporate houses. Neither the Companies Bill of 2003 nor its present avatar has clauses institutionalising whistleblowers. Of course, it may be argued that even whistleblowers can be reduced to ciphers — Satyam, irony of ironies, had one since 2005. However, that may be countered saying the lack of a firm law giving the whistleblower legal backing was responsible for the duplicity carried out by the Raju empire.

The Satyam scandal has shaken the country's morale and its financial system stands exposed before the whole world. The rotten core of the chartered accountancy profession was laid bare before the public when PW House and Coopers' hand-in-glove role in cooking books over several years became known. The bubble burst only when the fraud became too huge to handle in a market hit by recession. Had the global economy not been hit by the biggest calamity since 1929 in October 2008, chances of the goings-on at Satyam coming out were remote. Clearly, Satyam was the tip of the iceberg.

In my opinion, there is hardly a balance sheet or profit and loss account filed with the Income Tax department which is an honest reflection. Financial discipline, corporate governance and tax reforms are oft-repeated jargons at seminars. But of what use are they if the underlying criminality of the financial sector is not addressed?

Routinely, there are two occasions when the corporate world cooks financial documents. One, when they have to file income tax returns, and second, when they have to put on a show before shareholders and the public that all is hunky dory in their company. It is usually seen that when a sinking or underperforming company is trying to find a buyer, its performance improves dramatically in the books. All sorts of fraudulent mechanisms are adopted to shine the face of the company and all is done by the auditors at the behest of the owners and board members of companies.

In the aftermath of the scam coming to light, we had heard that PW House and Coopers would be banned for the malpractices it adopted in league with Raju. But nothing happened to the high-profile auditors. Earlier this week, Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam declared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that Satyam's outstandings with the Income Tax department is to the order of Rs 541 crore.

I kept on looking for something substantive in the findings of the investigators into the Satyam scandal, but I learnt nothing that I didn't know. Auditors are hired by the companies to audit their accounts and paid for their services. The job of a chartered accountant is to whet a company's accounts as an independent observer upholding the Laws of the land. But, the whole system has been distorted. Today, the only loyalty shown by the auditor is to his client. Their engagement is completely at the mercy of the companies and, in a competitive environment, they perform all kinds of financial skullduggery to remain in the good books of their clients. That even PW House and Coopers could fall in line was the only education for old cynics like me.

To understand the intensity of the rot afflicting the system, wide reforms are necessary. The process of correction must begin at the stage when the chartered accountant is being groomed for his career. Let’s just know who these auditors are and how they become qualified chartered accountants. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is entrusted with a larger-than-life responsibility. ICAI has the responsibility of creating professionals who get paid by their hirers-companies to keep their accounts in accordance with the rules and provisions enacted by the government of India. It would be worthwhile to have a look at the kind of training and education these professionals are imparted with by ICAI before we expect morality from them. The CA course involves theoretical self-learning (by rote) and articled training under a qualified chartered accountant. But there is complete disconnect between what they learn in their articled training and what is required to clear the theoretical papers i.e. they draw no help from their articled training to clear their theoretical papers.

Though ICAI charges high fees from students, it provides no class room teaching to equip them with the fine nuances of financial auditing. The only meaningful interaction that a student has on the way to become a CA, is with the senior CA who gives the young rookie a chance to get mandatory articleship.

It is high time the government takes a close look at what these up coming auditors are taught at that early stage. How to make fake balance sheets, fake profit and loss accounts, fake account books, fake vouchers, enter fake entries, and manage fake receipts and what have you. In short, a new generation is equipped with dangerous weapons to sabotage the economy of the country. They are trained to make a Satyam happen every day. How can the graduates of this institute of lies be expected to be loyal to the government of India. Articleship is all about picking up the tricks of a trade that thrives on loopholes.

In short, the ICAI is producing generations of white collar criminals. The country's financial system is hemorrhaging. Our credibility before the international investor community is eroding. Under the circumstances, it is futile to talk of Swiss bank accounts. The need of the hour is bold reforms. But, sadly, the Finance Bill introduced by the UPA Government, is nothing short of ridiculous.

-- The writer is a Supreme Court advocate and an alumnus of IIT Delhi. He can be reached at somnath@bhartiassociates.in)

How close you are to your loved ones?

Usually we crave for physical proximity with our loved ones and unfortunately we all get trapped in evaluating the strength of bonding with our loved ones by how often and how long you have been physically together. The story narrated below will be of considerable help in helping you understand what is that which we really need to be concerned about in an relationship viz. quality or quantity of time you spend with your loved ones.

A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'

Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return

Root cause of all the problems humanity is confronted with:

Strange is the world where problems are loved more than their solutions because its the problems which keep them going while the solutions bring a full stop and that brings restlessness of having nothing any more to be busy with/in.

After a deep and thorough analysis and deep contemplation, to me it seems that all problems have their origin in the institution called "marriage".

With the disappearance of marriage, major ills humanity is confronted with viz. prostitution, rape, adultery, molestation, slavery etc. will also disappear within no time. And with this human beings will be freed from the cluthes of society and will be able to smell and experience the ultimate freedom.

With this freedom, every religion, sect, guru and mutt will be freed from prescribing the human beings the list of dos and donts and human beings will be freed from the disgrace of having been treated as kids.

Marriage is a sweet candy which humanity have been made to believe it to be tasty and hence they are made to crave for it. Marriage is a great tool available in the hands of society to domesticate the human beings. With marriage, a new family comes into existence and with family comes the ambitions, attempts of securing happiness and other related nuisances. Once married, forever unhappy.

With marriage steps in the great race of hording the maximum wealth in order to secure the future of not only the present generation but generation after generations.

The smallest unit i.e. family forms the basis of all the conflicts. And a nation, which is nothing but a conglomerate of such families with diverse aspirations and conflicting interests, is thus born. With the advent of nations, truth of wars appear. Wars lead to bloodshed and merciless killing of fellow human beings. I wonder what prompts the man to go to the extent of taking a fellow human being's life, what pleasure, what satisfaction does such a killing bring!!!

Just a step backward of the family is the individual and just a step forward of the nations is the universe and both these extremities are the true forms of emancipation and true manifestation of the ultimate power which we term as GOD.

For wars to stop, nations must go and for nations to go, concept of family must be abolished and to make that happen, marriages must be done away with. No marriages, no divorce. No marriages, no breaking of the families!!!

Let the man be unto himself. Let the man taste the fruit of FREEDOM and enjoy his being. Let the man be free from self-condemnation. Let the man be free from the guilt of having committed sins. Let the man see himself to be an embodiment of the Almighty.

You know you work for the government when...

The following was shared with me on email and I found it to be worth sharing with you.

You know you work for the government when...

* The process becomes more important than the product

* You don't see anything wrong with attending a meeting on a subject you know nothing about

* You feel you contributed to the meeting just by being there

* You stop raising issues/problems because you know you will be the one answering them.

* You fly first class across the country to attend a conference with 100

+

people to discuss the fact that the project does not have enough money.

* You work for an acronym, on an acronym, and your job title is an acronym.

* You understand the rationalization of an acronym composed of acronyms.

* You know that the location of a meeting is directly related to its importance.

(1) A meeting at Fort Hood requires a subordinate or a contractor

(2) The same meeting at Lake Tahoe requires your personal attention

* You've sat at the same desk for 3 years, done the same thing for 3 years, but have had 3 different business cards.

Whose opinion after all matters???

Whose opinion after all matters in my life??? This has been the base of all and almost every conflicts.

The Man in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggles for pelf

And the world makes you king for a day,

Just go to a mirror and look at yourself

And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife

Whose judgment upon you must pass,

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people might think you're a straight-shooting chum

And call you a wonderful guy.

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest

For he's with you clear to the end

And you've passed your most dangerous test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years

And get pats on the back as you pass

But your final reward will be heartache and tears

If you've cheated the man in the glass.

Protests against Mumbai attack all over the country.

My inbox is flooded with emails from angry citizens over Mumbai attack. One of such emails was from a very dear friend and the email was to thank the soldiers we sacrificed in the combat. Again it took its toll on me and I exploded. My reply was.....
I wish that we do much more than just saluting. Psychology behind this saluting is to encourage others to join the slaughter houses named defense forces, police, NSG etc. Such a pathetic use of humans to safeguard the interest of perpetrators and criminals must be avoided.
Humanity has witnessed so many wars and so much of bloodshed just because of ego of some ambitious and crazy ruler. There is enough on this earth to meet our needs. We must identify the misuse of human lives by these politicians to upkeep their ongoing power thirst.
We as a nation must ensure that each of our brothers and sisters enjoys as much and as good sleep as we enjoy. While our countrymen is J&K and North East are living a life of uncertainties, we should not and must not live a life of luxuries unless the peace dwells there.
I am shocked to see the different attitude of media, industrialists and politicians. When Mumbai witnessed just few months ago series of blasts in the local trains, no one demanded resignations from home minister or chief minister of Maharashtra. No media did a show as passionate as they are doing today. No bollywood actor or actress came forward to hold a dharana. No one organized a candle march. Today such events are organized in all metros. And the reason behind is very obvious that this time the attack was on the elitist. And all actors, actresses, the famous and ill-famous were startled when Taj hotel was attacked because they could see themselves dying in this attack. I am not saying that they are wrong in doing what they are doing today. After all everyone has a right to worry for his/her life. I am only saying that the poor who died in the train blast deserved the same treatment. CM of Maharashtra used it as an excuse of not resigning and paving the way for someone better.

This attack strangely did a wonder. It could successfully unmask the politicians across the parties. CPM through its CM of Kerala, BJP through its leader Mr. Naqvi and Congress through its CM Deshmukh and Patil went unmasked. People of India witnessed the ugly most faces hiding behind white clad politicians. It was a shock to see the CM of ill-fated state giggling on camera while answering questions of media on the attack. They have so thick-skinned that they don’t hesitate in driving mileage out of innocent’s death.

I don’t understand what will a Candle march do. May be candles are no longer in use and candles manufacturer might have some vested interest in this marches.

What will a dharana or shouting slogans do? We need people who are willing to put at stake their luxurious lives and contest elections. Unless we have clean people, people who can think unbiased, at the helm of the affairs of the ruling nothing will help.

Fortunately new generation has collapsed the old and does not have its roots anywhere but unfortunately it’s a very dangerous situation wherein they may catch hold of path of destruction.

Today’s youth has witnessed no WAR and hence perfect for spreading the message of brotherhood across the world.
But they do need some to lead them and unfortunately I find no one to play the role of that someone.

Time is ripe, I invite you to think over it and if you feel that you are that someone, please write to me and I believe that we together can and will make a difference.

India-Europe And outsourcing: A Win-Win Game?

IIT Delhi Seminar Hall witnessed another important discussion on a topic too relevant to the present times in the view of the financial crisis of which no country could remain unaffected, few worst and rest worse. As the customary duty I was again put to the task of proposing the vote of thanks. The discussion was well attended by people from various institutes in addition to IIT alumni, its students and faculty members. Panelists were Mr. Ashish Gupta( COO, Evalueserve), Mr. Jean Joseph Boillot(Economist-India & China, Co-founder, EIEBG-Paris), Mr. Laveesh Bhandari (Economist & Director, Indicus Analytics) and Mr. Joy from Sodexo Food. The discussion was moderated by Ms. Mythili Bhusnurmath (Consulting Editor, Economics Times).
Other than the usual thanks giving statements the vote of thanks consisted of the following.
.............Today’s topic for the discussion “India-Europe Outsourcing-A win-win game for both” is too apt for today’s time when the world is facing financial crisis and huge uproar in job insecurities. Thanks to Internet, world today seems as one big platform, available to everyone to be used for the betterment of oneself and humanity. Boundaries dividing the nations seem to be facing a virtual collapse. Internet is a big threat to selfish politicians because it is really a boon in uniting the world and thus defeating the purpose of the politicians to keep humanity divided and separate from each other. Today’s problems, humanity is facing, have outgrown the capacity of any one nation and hence world must seek solutions of large scale problems united. I must say that in the new world economy, boundaries today or tomorrow will vanish in their original sense and each person would be a world citizen. India has attracted the whole world to herself, owing to the huge talent pool she enjoys. I am sure that today’s discussion has succeeded in bringing India and Europe together to solve the problems both civilizations are facing. And discussion stirred today in this hall of IIT Delhi will go a long way. Discussion held here will definitely prove to be fruitful in bringing the two civilizations closer and making them work together in almost all the areas including KPO.
Leveraging the talent pool available in India has been top most priority of all companies in developed countries. Indians by the virtue of having a rich spiritual heritage (though they are unaware of it) are the most contented and best people to partner with. No wonder, the world is looking forward to patner with India and its people.
I agree with Mr. Boillot that possible benefits of bringing the talent pool spread worldover within the accessible reach of everyone and anyone are tremendous.
I agree with laveesh that this is the era of specialization and that's what should be the driving force for the upcoming economics. Unfortunately, Indian economy is woven around services, serving the world, assisting the companies world wide in customer support and we are yet to come out something original and too significant other than the excellent talent pool India possesses.
I would disagree with Ashish for his concept behind cost cutting to be the only reason for the world to turn to India for its work. Cost saving is indeed a prime reason for European or US companies to outsource their work to India but that is not the only reason. In addition to cost saving, companies are able to leverage the excellent Indian minds for a cost 1/10th of what they would have paid elsewhere.................................

Why did American economy collapse?

A friend shared with me an interesting video which is apprently funny but says a lot about the present economy crisis the world is witnessing.....

Mumbai Attack: A black spot and proof of political delinquency

I had decided to contain my feelings triggered by Mumbai Attack so that it seeps in my being to form an explosion but then it is an era of Internet and I received from a friend a request for an online compaign. Can it be easier than sitting in a cosy drawing room having tea and then clicking on a link to sign in a compaign???
I do appreciate the sentiments behind such a signature campaign but by no stretch of imagination I think that it would serve any purpose. The country lacks in political will and since pre-independence main political party has an appeasement policy towards one section of society. Such a policy has sent wrong signals to the people worldwide and in particular to the neighboring countries. Please don’t misconstrue this and think that I am of the opinion that that section comprises of terrorist or bad elements. In fact that section has been disrespected in a true sense by the mainstream political party by getting defended all the time when there is no such requirement. Terrorists have no religion as much as a politician has no caste.
You must realize that no political party has come out and said even a single statement against what is going on in Mumbai. Amar Singh, Raj Thackery, Mayawati, Lalu, Mulayam, Uma Bharti, Congress leaders they all seem to have been sucked in some black hole. I wish that some of them would have been in one of the seized hotels.
They think that by criticizing they will lose their political base amongst that section of the society which if analyzed correctly means that these politicians link the terrorists to be from that section which is not only shameful but disrespectful too to that section of society. When will we see the naked truth? Probably we don’t want to see the naked truth.

In the name of democracy we have got jokers as our leaders. These are coward people, corrupt so much so that they can sell their mother and daughters to brothels if that gets them the post of prime minister. A political leader belongs to no one but the lust to power.

The way they are after IIT shows their illiteracy. They are incapacitated from thinking for betterment in a true sense.

The country is suffering from the scarcity of good leaders, leaders who can keep the interest of country on the top of their pity interests.

Unfortunately I don’t see that our countrymen enjoy the sense of discrimination while opting to vote and hence they are equally responsible for this sad state of affairs in this country.

The only terrorist attack (which in many experts view was a concocted one by the Bush Govt for ulterior motives) USA witnessed was 9/11 and here in India we are witnessing a 9/11 every month. What’s going on?

Fake sense of India being a spiritual country contributes to this in a very big way. Mushrooming of fake gurus all around, conmen in name of politicians and false sense of pride are some of the diseases the country is suffering from which must be weeded out ASAP.

In the name of economy growth India has been mushroomed with customer support work where people with high end degrees in the greed of a high salary are getting sucked in. Such qualified people are basically put to clerical usage and thus will be useless for the vocation they were trained for.

We need revolutionaries who have no interest but to fix problems but where are they? Within 2 hours of the first attack in Mumbai, I sent an invitation to 250+ who’s who of the country to form a group to brain storm the issue of moral degradation of the country and then form policies with strict monitoring to the action plan on the findings of the group but so far I have received support from 3 people only. Are we really sick of these jokers? Do we want change?

We are having PanIIT in 3 weeks from now to discuss education, infrastructure etc. In my opinion, the first priority should go to cleansing Indian politics because education, infrastructure etc lies on the periphery of good governance.

A month ago I visited Nagar Nigam of a state capital for the appointment of standing counsel. I was told that my services and approach to the problems/legal issues are brilliant but that’s not enough to get appointed as standing counsel. I need to give the chairman of Nagar Nigam 15% commission of the fees I will charge and 10% to party fund to the ruling party. This is the state of affairs. It is easy for anyone to carry bombs in any major place in that city. No one is safe anytime anywhere. We are all sitting on bombs.

The way western culture is being followed blindly in the name of raising the standard of living in this country is one of the major though not looked at reasons for the rampant corruption amongst govt officials and political leaders. They have no option but to sell their conscience to send their children abroad for foreign education.

Shiela Dixit govt spent 150+ crores to make BRT and BJP wants to collapse it if they come to power. They will spend 10-20 crores in collapsing it. This 170-200 crores is tax payers money but who bothers.

There can’t be a better time than this to attack Pakistan full-fledged without worrying about any nation including USA but I don’t think this Govt has courage to do this. USA attacked Afghanistan within no time and no one dared to say a word against them.

I see Govt officials, bureaucrats , leaders and businessmen day in day out but hardly you will come across one still carrying a spine.

Sonia Gandhi is reviewing and monitoring the situation in this country and Rahul Gandhi is the prime ministerial candidate. What education does empower Sonia Gandhi with a vision to review and monitor security and economy situation in this country? A country of so rich a heritage, full of intellectuals and sages would have Rahul as its prime minister. Can there be a bigger joke?

For society to respect you, you need to have your house in order and headed by a strong person, a person of deep understanding of problems and deep insight. World must feel in awe by the leader country is headed by. We all know who is heading the country these days!!!

To bring rule of righteousness back to this country and save it from any further degradation, a high level committee of intellectuals, sages, industrialists, Scientists from across the sectors/streams must be put in place ASAP. And they should be empowered with law making/amending/withdrawing power without consulting anyone. Truly speaking, democracy is poisonous for this country and it needs military rule for at least a decade.

It is a shame for all of us that 12-13 people from a foreign land took the country to ransom for 72 hours!!!

If not now, we will never wake up!!!

IIT Brand- Measures to sustain it

IIT Delhi Alumni Association jointly with IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association organized a Panel Discussionon on `IIT BRAND -Measures to sustain it' on 22nd November 2008 (Saturday), at 5.30 P.M., Seminar Hall, IIT Delhi where PANELISTS were Dr. Shashi Gulhati, Ex- Professor, IIT Delhi, Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Ex - Director, IIT Chennai, Mr. Manoj Mitta, Senior Editor, Times of India, Dr. Y.P. Singh, Ex - Professor IIT Kharagpur and Mr. Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, Cyber Media (India) Limited. As a customary duty ascribed to Secretary, IITDAA I had to propose vote of thanks towards the conclusion of the event. Following is part of my talk which I think may be of some interest to concerned people.
............First come first, thanks to Prof. Indiresan who solved a long pending puzzle going on in my mind by sharing the fact that vice chancellors are paid seats. Sometime back I met VC of a reputed university and felt that there has been a heinous wrong in appointing this person as VC of this reputed university and I believed somewhere deep that some wrong is going on somewhere and today I got my answer. Today evening we witnessed a truly enlightening discussion and I must say that discussion held here should and will influence the authorities concerned whenever they deal with topics such as IIT Brand. It was truly a discussion straight from the heart. I don’t know how but there must be a way, may be through stake holders group as suggested by PG and Dr. Gulhati, to tell and convince people in power to give a patient hearing to the unbiased discussion which took place today in this hall. Such a discussion can be expected only from fearless people. I think that people in power, people who decide don’t really know the repercussions of what they decide and they are unaware of ground realities. I don’t think that any well wisher of the country and humanity at large would decide to open more IITs when there is scarcity of resources to meet the demands of the present IITs. Today, all problems are everybody’s problems. World look up to institutions like IITs to solve the large scale problems as cited by Mr. Saluja in his inaugural address the humanity is facing today. An institution which is so important should not be touched unless it is absolutely warranted. I received an email from Mr. Chetan, an alumnus of IIT Delhi saying that how many IITians have really restricted their area of work to what they studied at IIT and then gave a list of IITians who have excelled in non-technology areas. I would like to tell Mr. Chetan with your due permission that institutions of excellence like IITs help its students outgrow the education it provides and help them become solution providers be it through technology or otherwise. Guru is the one under whom the students learns not only the subjects but learns the very art of learning and that’s what happens at IIT and I have witnessed it. Thanks to Mr. Manoj Mitta, Senior Editor, Times of India who brought before us the ongoing anomalies in cut off system of JEE and I am sure that IIT is listening and soon will come out with a proposal on how to address the concerns raised.
Thanks to Dr. Y. P. Singh for sharing with us the brain-drain joke and sir, it is true across the sectors including the Bharat Ratna award. Apparently it does seem that unless you are drained, you are not a brain i.e. only a drain brain is a brain and others are not. In my experience, I am yet to come across an incident where someone living in this country without having any affiliation with any political party has been honored with a prestigious award.
Dr. Gulhati, even though Govt may not have a direct say in the IIT system but the game Govt is playing is much deeper than our eyes can penetrate to. The Govt by enacting mechanisms with ulterior motives is weakening the system and then they will instill their people through whom the politicians will do proxy ruling over IIT system. I do see a parallel of this in Kashmir problem. Pakistan by force and other illegal means has been successful in implanting its people in the valley and now is advocating the mechanism of self-determining system to decide the fate of valley. It is Pakistan’s people and hence they will definitely opt for to be in Pakistan............................... ....

Raj and His Divisive politics

It has been quite sometime that I wrote for the blog last. Today I received from a dear friend an article written by the spice lady of yesteryears, Ms. Sobha De which I am reproducing as it is. This prompted me to write my understanding of the problem and a larger problem of which I draw analogy from Raj event.

Me, Marathi
written by Shobha De

Correct me if I am wrong, Raj... but I consider myself an assal Marathi manoos. Born in Maharashtra to Maharashtrian parents etc. Proud to be Marathi (even though my language skills in my mother tongue are embarrassingly dodgy). I don't know how to make the perfect puran poli but I do love aamti.. This is clearly not enough anymore. Going by the checklist, I could be disqualified on several scores. I am married to a Bong, who has lived and worked in Mumbai for over 30 years (but alas, has not been appointed ambassador to the state of West Bengal yet!). He attends Durga Puja regularly and prefers maacher jhol to vangi bhaat.

Fortunately, we don't have a daughter-in-law to name a college after, either in Kolkata or Mumbai.... And our children (like yours) did not attend Marathi-medium schools.. We employ people based on their competence, not caste or region. And I have never asked the vegetable vendor, breadwalla, taxi driver, dhobi, sweeper, elevator attendant, security guard, pizza delivery boy or any of the other people who make my life easier, which part of India they come from.

This is Mumbai, meri jaan! Who cares where anyone comes from? Dhanda is all that matters.. Mumbai is India 's most powerful magnet. Once you get here, you never leave. Don't believe me? Ask those innocent bhajjiwallas and doodhwallas who were beaten up and stoned by your men last week. Even with blood-soaked bandages around their heads, and broken hearts, they are staying put. As they should.

Aaah, the natak of your dramatised 'arrest' was not lost on anybody.
Had Rakhi Sawant's slapping stunt not grabbed those eyeballs on Valentine's Day, viewers would still be stuck with the image of a nattily dressed you (mmmm...loved the styling), clambering in and out of the police van. If Rakhi cleverly stage-managed the incident, what should one say about your brilliant coup? Overnight, Raj Thackeray was elevated from being the discarded Thackeray to a national figure.
In one well-orchestrated move, you went from being a neglected nephew of an ageing tiger, to a sharp-clawed, teeth-baring cub with an independent act of his own. The circus acquired a brand new star attraction — you!

It was never easy being a Thackeray. Ask Balasaheb. If he targeted south Indians in the '60s, you smartly headed north. Same agenda, diametrically different directions. By questioning the bona fides of those who have made Maharashtra their home, both of you tapped into the vulnerabilities of the average Marathi manoos. It is worth asking the very people whose interests you are protecting, whether they really want to do the dirty work currently being handled by the northies.

Will the Marathi manoos agree to put in 18 hours a day plying taxis, selling veggies, washing clothes and so on? Who's stopping them from turning into vendors of milk, food grains, and other commodities?
Perhaps, the Marathi manoos considers such occupations demeaning? The truth is, these jobs have always gone abegging, and there have been any number of hungry, unemployed people from other states ready and willing to grab them. Kick the 'outsiders' out at your own peril, and see what happens...

Why do farmers commit suicide in such numbers only in Maharashtra ?
The answer, dear Raj, may surprise you.

In your defence, let me say you received the worst press — biased at best, and shrill to boot. Most of the semi-hysterical reporters from prestigious news channels were embarrassingly ill-informed as they blabbered incoherently each time a leaf moved outside the magistrate's court!

Surely, you are not complaining? Everything seems to be going according to the master plan. You have 'made it' in one swift move.
And women are finding you kinda cute in that sleeveless baby blue pullover. Great copy, great photo ops. What more does a neta want? To keep Mayawati and Lalu out of Maharashtra ? Now, that's a tall order!

My Reply to the whole event:

Good one!!! But Raj Thakery is doing something which may be immoral
but not illegal. The Maharastra state law promises to provide
reservation upto 80% to Maharastrians in the local jobs. And clearly
states each hoarding/board to be Marathi. He is only exploiting a
provision provided in the state law.

And if you permit me to draw an analogy, what Raj is doing to
northies, Christians in america are doing to Asians. Boundary of any
sort, national or state, need to be dropped in such a time when
problems like hunger, health and education no longer belong to one
country but to entire humanity and unless the world fights such
problems unitedly, no country is equipped to solve all its problems on
its own. Like India needs business from US to cure its poverty and US
needs spirituality from India to fix its disoriented people and
drug-addicts.
Humanity needs no boundary because problems humanity is
facing today has outgrown the capacity of a single country. The
divisive politics the world is into must be dropped. The world can't
sustain the looming threat of a world war. The nuclear and destructive
weapons the world has amassed can wipe out this world 1000 times but
the world unfortunately has yet not stopped accumulating such weapons.
Everybody is not Jesus Christ that a resurrection would happen.

I know that Raj is doing a gruesome wrong but then so is George Bush,
Manmohan Singh and all world leaders. Restricting my scope to India,
Raj should be tried for sedition, disruption of public harmony etc.
but who has the guts to arrest and try him in court for such offenses
because no party and no politicians would like to be noticed by locals
for opposing their interests which Raj, at least in their eyes, seems
to have taken up.

Politicians' problems can still be understood but
what about Amitabh Bachhan who went to the extent of apologizing Raj
for his wife having spoken in favor of Hindi in Mumbai. In addition to
the larger-than-life Amitabh enjoys on his own, he also enjoys the
friendship of top most Industrialists like Anil Ambani and of top
ranked politicians like Amar Singh. if someone of his stature and
contacts had to apologize for no fault of his or his wife, what
message he is passing on to the people of India and to the world. He
failed to stand against the injustice while he had the support of law,
muscle power and money power. People look upto him as an ideal and he
did such a cowardice act for which he must not be forgiven.

Indian politics is probably at the lowest rung and what more down it can go to now. But my understanding which I wrote above, politics doesn't bother for right or wrong. Raj wants to project himself as a leader of national importance and he succeeded. It is the politicians and their lust for power which throughout the history has been responsible for gruesome massacres of billions of people. The very nature of politics and politicians is that and expecting them to
behave for betterment of human beings is same as expecting sea-waves to be peaceful. But our problem is that we are not trained to think of a world without politicians and hence we have been and will be made victims of their ambitions.

If peace at all is warranted in the world, it must be made devoid of
politicians!!! We just need administrators to administer various
functions of a good governance and NOT politicians.
We must reach the very source of the problem and not just keep curing
the symptoms.

IIT-JEE: Existing Pattern and what lies ahead

A couple of days ago I was approached by a journalist for my comment on existing IIT-JEE standard and whether it is enough to gauge the standard of an IIT-JEE aspirant to get him a seat at the prestigious IITs. And I came up with the following to form the basis of my comment which figured later during a program at their channel.

Genesis of the problem lies in the menace of commercialization of every aspect of life and there is nothing today which can't be weighed against the money. Of course there are things and people which/who are beyond the realm of money but then such things/people are beyond the reach of common people as well. Education industry and that too in India has not been able to keep the pace with other industries. And while other industries have redesigned their financial struture to attract the best of the minds, Education Industry has miserably failed to lure intelligent minds to take up teaching as a career option. Usually it is the left overs from other industries who decide to take up teaching as a career and this has led to decline in the standard of education across the relevant sections and throughout the country. The yardstick to measure the quality of education itself is on a steep decline.
Any change in the quality of education can have two consequences. Decline in the quality of education being imparted has resulted in sub-standard students, sub-standard at least from the view-point of the standard required for IIT-JEE . Government instead of taking corrective measures to stop the decline in the standard of school education and further improve upon it to make it meet the standard required for JEE, opted for the easy way-out i.e. lower the standard of IIT-JEE to meet the standard of sub-standard products of the present school system. And thus the original JEE was replaced by 2-tier examination which in quality was definitely lower than the original JEE.
Coaching institutes are meant to fill in the gap between the requisite standard of IIT-JEE and the sub-standard students the schools are producing. This they were supposed to do by raising the standard of students qualitatively but they also opted for the shortcut and devised ways and means to make students just somehow make it to IIT.
All such institutes are totally commercial in nature and hardly bother about any qualitative improvement in the enrolled students. Their only concern is to beat others in numbers. The kind of process students are made to go through in learning the tricks of cracking of JEE papers are such that though they end up in cracking the JEE papers but they do so without learning the know -how of the subjects. Many of the professors at IIT Delhi have confirmed the above observation by saying that they no longer meet quality students.
Coaching institutes are proof of the sub-standard education being imparted at schools. Instead of lowering JEE standard the Goverment needs to form policies in order to improve upon the quality of school education so that the students get equipped with proper learning at school itself to clear IIT-JEE.
In the time to come, where will the mindless policies of the govt. take the country to is not tough to predict!!!