58 years and still no National War Memorial

Screams the TOI headline http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/58_years_on_no_memorial_to_honour_martyrs/articleshow/2732885.cms

As an Indian I am ashamed. :-((

For whatever it's worth, in her own little way this humble Indian pays her respects to all those who gave their lives to keep India free and independent.

My very own Amar Jyoti for the martyrs of 1947-48 J&K operation, the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and the 1999 Kargil. I know I owe you big time.

Happy Republic Day India!

Everyone is gaga about the first woman President Pratibha Patil taking the Guard of Honor on India's 58th Republic Day. I suppose as a woman I should be proud and happy. But I am not. I am a fan of Mr. Kalam and of the opinion that we should at least have a President who is not a politician.

Another thought - won't I be acting gender-biased if I feel proud that the Indian President is a woman? :-)

Happy Republic Day India! You are and will always remain my sweetheart :-)

The cracked pot

Today one of my best friends forwarded me a very nice story. Here goes.....

"An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream."I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table."Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw…

But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them."

I thought of some of my gender-biased colleagues. And then sent a message to my friend on chat "Some of the people here are so cracked that there are no sides left"! :-)

SAARE ZAMEEN PAR

After the recent blood bath at D-Street I found this in my mailbox:

Latest Blockbuster "SAARE ZAMEEN PAR" ..

Premiered Yesterday at BSE and NSE..

Directed and Produced by Ambani Bros. ,

POWER ON.. MARKET GONE

Just a few days back I was mad like hell at Men(and Boys) in Blue because they didn't pack their bags and head back to India from Down Under. I am still mad. But I am also happy that we won at Perth. Ricky Ponting and his thugs couldn't manage 17th win despite trying all dirty tricks to win the 16th match.

In case you didn't notice Ricky, dishonesty never pays, never!

Digital Fortress

I had been searching for it for days in the library but finally could lay my hands on it last Monday. I am talking about Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress! Ideally I would have liked to read it in one go but life turned busy the way it does when you want to do something important. :-) So it was late night Friday when I turned the final page.

The final climax was so nail-biting that I was snapping at any family member who was trying to strike a conversation while I was reading it. Finally, I was left in peace in hopes that I will return to civilized world after finishing the book :-) Return I did – with the feeling that Dan B didn’t have to stretch the climax so much. I rather doubt if it’s possible for any human being to remain so ultra-cool under so much of stress the way Susan and others do in the end. Oh and talking of Susan, was there really any need to make her so breathtakingly gorgeous? Was there any need to describe her looks in the first place?

But maybe I am being vindictive here because it was quite a blow to my super-sized ego that I couldn’t understand some of the Cryptography terms though I am from software industry :-((

In any case, now I have read all 4 Dan Brown books. Time for celebration :-)

Cute email on new year wishes

SELECT happiness, prosperity
FROM life WHERE year >= 2007;
UPDATE life SET failure_flag = "NO" , success_flag = "YES"; INSERT INTO life VALUES ("friends","dreams");
DELETE sorrows FROM life ;
GRANT smile TO all ;
REVOKE enemity FROM all;
ALTER TABLE life ADD dreams CHAR(INFINITY);

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!