It seems to me that everyone under 25 is obsessed with three things in India. They are

1. IPL
2. Chetan Bhagat’s new novel and
3. Orkut.

I don’t blame them for the first two since even above 25 are obsessed with them . But I can’t understand the lure of Orkut. Orkut is considered as a social networking website where you can catch up with your friends but I have found that people who were considered as serial murders during college have friend list crossing 100 (I have less than 150 friends).

Its surprising that orkut is helping people discover friends with whom they rarely spoke but made a point to share sutta. Boys who were scared even to ask for notes from gals are scrapping them as if they were his best buddies in college. (And the buddy added in the friend list is busy scraping the same gal). If u ask me, Orkut has launched a revolution by making Indians realize that its a national duty to have atleast 100 pals and to scrap atleast 10 people a day.

But what I am unable to understand is the role played by offices and colleges in this national movement of friendliness. Where ever I have gone orkut has been banned . Even proxy servers are unable to help us to perform our duty. Offices are treating orkut as a nuisance where employees spend precious resources by sending long scraps to people who reply with “HI. How r u?” or “Fine”. I am unable to understand the mentality of management. Do they think by banning orkut they will be able to make employees work. I doubt it. What didn’t work in last 3 years is not expected to work ever .But I don’t want to blame the management, they can make mistakes while going through tedious process of making stupid decisions , playing golf and finding scape goats for their poor decisions.

What I really have objection against are the-colleges. Why are they unable to acknowledge that how important is for student to scrap people whom they share bench before and after lunch. It seems colleges have underestimated their ability to churn out students without any employable skills. It is this network and not kotler or Theraja’s or Boylsted which will help them to achieve their monthly target of insurance/profits, or locate a fault or design an RE model etc. J

To conclude -

It seems that youngsters are obsessed with orkut and oldies with preventing them from doing so J. Hence I would request you to follow the age old dictum. Love (Scrap) thy neighbor; but don’t get caught.

WINNER

“ you can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses”

I am a winner

I have beaten odds to get where I am today.

I have felt some pain every time I have walked another step forward, yet after having taken one step back , I have known the regression and giving up were not options for me. I have felt the emptiness of separation as I have moved in the wrong direction.

I have learned the arts persistence , tenacity and dedication. I know how it feels to watch my world and dreams shatter to a million pieces at my feet. I know what it is to run until there is nothing left inside of me , and then run some more.

I know how it feels to be loved, and I know how it feels when the love grows hard and cold.

I know how to be happy . I know how to smile and spread joy into lives of others with that same smile.

I have learned that one conversation can make or break a fragile mind and heart, and thus I have learned to chose my words carefully.

I know that enthusiasm is the key to everything, and yet I know how it feels to completely lack enthusiasm.

I have learned that winning is not everything, but sometimes it feels like it is the most important thing. I have learned that the other colour ribbons only prove to make that blue so much sweeter. I know that my chief competitor is always myself.

I know that sometimes my best isn’t good enough for others and that people can be cruel. I know that sometimes I get frustrated with myself, specially when others get frustrated with me.

I know how it feels to have something mean so much to me that it is me. I have experienced wrath , outrage and fury, but have still made it through the storm as a survivor.

I know what it is to love. I know how to spread joy and how to extract it from even the darkest situations.

I know what is hope is, and I rely on it as my last refuge.i know that darkness must exist if only to make those tiny bits of light seem that much brighter.

I know that success is self made , and that luck is a relative term.

I know that I am strong.

I know that miracles do exist, angels do find us in our hour of need, and there is always something behind me , pushing me forward.

I believe in myself at all times, even when I think that I don’t and even when I feel like no one else does.

I know how it feels to be lost .I also know how it feels to be picked out of a crowd . what it is like to be the winner, and how it feels when ,for one moment, you are the star of the show.

Above all , though, I know that all of this has made me ME .

I know that being a winner is not about winning whatever race faces me in the moment. I recognize I am winning just by pushing myself everyday and by waking up each morning feeling blessed by the day that lies ahead of me. Through this I am winning in the most important race ever, the race I entered at birth—this race we call LIFE.

ME AGAINST MYSELF

Why are we so alone? This is the question I ask myself frequently.

But we aren't!!!!!!!!what with all those people around us -our family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and even strangers- in fact we are surrounded by a sea of humanity.

Yes we are! the sea of humanity is nowhere to be seen if you look carefully enough. The decisions we make are our own, the upheavals our mind goes through day in and day out are felt by none but ourselves, only our heart bears the testimony to the blows it is subjected to, in none of our endeavours the sea of humanity makes it presence felt.

C'mon man! don't we celebrate with our family and friends with utter joy and undying fervour, are they not around to relieve us of our sorrows, and aren't they the same people we look for advice when in moments of contemplation. These gems are the reasons our lives sparkle so bright , they make this stupid world worth living in (this last line is lifted and adapted).

Where does the sparkle vanish when the shadows emerge? When the destiny plays its sinister plan and throws us into a blackhole of never-ending struggle, the only people who emerge are the naysayers proclaiming sarcastically "didn't-i-say-so".The trust is lost, the confidence is lost, the spirit is lost; what is not lost is life- life,whose weight we must drag along on our solitary shoulders through the rocky terrain before us.

The struggle gives meaning to life. The struggle which tires us, saps us out of our breaths, ready to crush us into a million small shards of nothingness also polishes us, works like a sculptor with his chisel shaping us up in perfect symmetry to bring up a masterpiece. And after all that sweat drenched time when we come back home to witness the pride glowing on our father's face, the pent-up unconditional love of our mother being showered on us in enormity, the mischievious curl of our brothers' lips saying more than any words can and the open arms of our friends beckoning us with all the gusto- then what we experience is pure elation, an elation which lifts us off the ground and leaves us light as a feather.

But when the sculptor deals us a brutal blow and what is left is broken pieces of what could have been a masterpiece but now is a pile of uncomprehensible shapes. When this happens then we come back home to not pride, not smiles, not gusto, no not any of the above but only dissapointment and sighs, drooping lips and drooping shoulders. We can feel the sharp gaze of the world boring through our body, making us scream which they are silent to because they only heed success. The brutal world does not recognise philosphy, this cruel monster calls a failure "Failure" and not "A-stepping-stone-to-success", and it distances itself as far as it can from us.

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THE ARGUEMENT SEEMS TO HAVE NO END. I REQUEST MY FRIENDS TO PUT FORWARD A FITTING CONCLUSION TO IT - IT MAY BE EITHER WAY.

BESIDES THIS YOUR VIEWS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME, IN FORM OF COMMENTS, ON THE PIECE ITSELF.

NRI's & NANDIGRAM

74 NRIs, belonging to a diverse group of academics, professionals, lawyers, activists and students, many of them volunteers and supporters of the organization - Association for India's Development – have filed a collective Right to Information application at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC.

The Questions raised are the following:

ü Have demanded information on the number of people killed or injured in the current spate of violence since November 4;

ü The reasons for delay in the protection of citizens and human rights activists who tried to visit the area;

ü The number of police force deployed in the area;

ü The actions taken by the government to restore peace, provide relief, rehabilitate the displaced villagers, and book the criminals who perpetrated the ghastly acts of violence and those who blocked the entry of media-persons and CRPF jawans in Nandigram;

ü The status of land-acquisition and the SEZ project in the area.

What is commendable is NRI’s who we think as runaway dream chasers are doing real good work by doing their bit by demanding accountability from the pathetically rotten system.

But my question is.... A Govt. which can kill mercilessly & commit Genocide at will -----

WILL IT CARE TO EVEN ANSWER THE RTI..? umm............. I dunno...what do you say..?

The UNTOUCHABLE

The untouchables

She , the high born one’

on her way to the righteous temple

gathers the ends of her flowing sari

around the pristine ankles

as she passes me

muttering prayers

cautious in her dislike

she edges past

I ,the untouchable smile!

He , the chosen one

From the pinnacles of height

The pretentious pinnacles of education

Looks down –down and down

What along way it is!

Looks down at me

I who carries the burden of his waste

The scavenger , the ragpicker , the undertaker

He wrinkles his roman nose

the delicate nostrils flare

I ,the shunned one , smile

The politician inspects

He probes, ponders pontificates

He shakes his head wisely

Waxes eloquent on my miserable state

Thunderous applause,acclainm , accolades.

Follow in wake of such wisdom.

Unseen Unknown Unacknowledged

Amongst the debris of the great

I trudge wearily but

I,the unknown hero smile.

Obama versus McCain

When it comes to election taking place in America, racial comments will always have a role to play upon idealistic politics. The overstretched candidature election between Obama and Hilary has pushed Obama into the sight of keenly-noticing-world. His agenda is clearer than that of McCain's-atleast to the people of America. A nation where not more than 5% of its residents know if there is a world outside its frontiers, it's a wasteful effort for both the candidates to put their views over the third world- that we live in. The America will be same whether it gets a white president or a black one. Nonetheless, Under the brilliance of his ideology, Obama's skin colour gleams fairer than McCain's. The present republican government has gotten rust of the unpopular war in Iraq. Another republican president would be injustice to those who have suffered the trauma of the war, albeit McCain claims renewal in the policy for Iraq. However, Obama has taken up a defined and circumscribed opinion that he, as a president, would draw the troops out of Iraq. Arguably, it will entice peace-lover Americans as well as those who boast of America's magnanimity. Obama has also pointed out the reviving Taliban in pakistan. This could be a major turnaround in the mindsets of Americans. He said it would rather be strategically beneficial to spend the withdrawn troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the two nations have caught world's attention over last couple of months.
To have McCain as the president would be as stupid as to have rotten cheese reprocessed and repacked. If America really want s to give up the worn-out shoes and put on new ones, it has got to have Barack Obama step into the white-house.Rest of the world can do nothing but wait for Obama to swear in and spark off a wave of change in the opinion the third world holds about the USA.