अर्ज है.....

कब तक दिलकी खातिर मनाये, कब तक राह दिखाओगे
कब तक चैनकी मोहलत दोगे, कब तक याद ना आओगे
बीता दीद उम्मीदका मौसम खाक उडती है आखॊंमे
कब भेजोगे दर्दका बादल कब बरखा बरसाओगे

(From the internet)

Happy Rakshabandhan!

A Rakhi for all our soldiers who guard the borders so we can sleep peacefully. May God always keep you safe! Happy Rakshabandhan! :-)

It's scary to even imagine that the make-belief scenarios of people fighting for food and water as depicted in "Apocalypse" style movies could move from reel to real life. But if the riots that happened in the Mawal region of Maharashtra recently are any indication, it might already be happening. :-( A peaceful protest against diverting water meant for the farms to the city turned ugly and 3 people lost their lives.

Will it be too late by the time we understand the important of rainwater harvesting and water conservation?

अर्ज है.....

बागका हर फ़ूल खिलता नही
हर कदम साथ कोई चलता नही
ये दस्तूर है शहर-ए-मोहोबतका
जिसे शिद्दतसे चाहो वो कभी मिलता नही

(From the internet)

There are 2 TV ads that I simply cannot stand these days. One is the Head & Shoulders one featuring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. I have never really understood this celebrity endorsement thing. Why would I want to buy any product just because some actor/actress/sportsperson has been paid handsomely to tell me that it is good? As if a single celebrity isn't enough they now come in pairs as if it's a 'buy one, get one free' package. First it was John Abraham and Bipasha Basu. Now it is Saif and Kareena. Totally maddening!

Then there is this Wego ad. My eyes take on a glassy stare each time it airs. That's why I couldn't fathom out the product it was advertising despite viewing it 5-6 times. When I finally could, I felt like picking up something heavy and hurling it at the TV.

Contrast that with the Cadbury Celebrations ad that is being aired on the radio these days. I listen to it fully every time and just love it. It captures the essence of Raksha Bandhan so beautifully that you almost forget that they are pitching for the chocolates. Simply yum!

Motivating our educators

A thought provoking article - http://www.livemint.com/2011/08/10223150/Motivating-our-educators.html?h=B

अर्ज है.....

मंझील न रही कोई ठिकानाभी नही है
वापस मुझे घर लौटकर जानाभी नही है
मैनेही सिखाई थी जिसे तीरअंदाजी
अब मेरे सिवा उसका कोई निशानाभी नही है

(From the internet)

I wouldn't have overheard the conversation but the office was unusually quite that afternoon. Plus the 2 people in question were talking just outside my cabin.

The girl was determined to narrate all her domestic issues to her colleague. Looked like her uncle is trying to fix up marriage of one of her male cousins. They had been to a girl's house, found her suitable and finalized the marriage. Turns out the groom-to-be is in love with some other girl and determined to marry only her. Groom's father is now in a fix - he cannot go to the first girl's parents and tell them to cancel the wedding. And he is not able to convince his son either. Absolutely the stuff Hindi movies are made of, if you ask me. The girl in my office was asking her colleague what he thought.

I don't know what the colleague told her because they passed our of my earshot soon. But I felt like going out and telling this girl what I thought. The solution is so simple when it comes to the problems in someone else's life, isn't it? The boy's father should go to the first girl's family without wasting even a minute and tell the truth. Sure, her parents will kick up a fuss. But if they are sensible, they will also thank him for sparing their daughter a loveless marriage. In any case, he would have done what is right.

Then the father should come home and kick his son in the butt for making him go through this. A coward useless fellow like him deserves a resounding one! God help the girl he is in love with, should they get married :-(

I think the list of "What should not be included" must be longer than "what must be included" - at least as far as resumes in the IT sector are concerned. There are the usual culprits like "First prize in inter-society Kabaddi matches" and "Loves watching movies" - I have not been able to fathom out what these have got to do with the job in question unless the organization posting the job has a Kabaddi team in place or screens movies during the lunch breaks.

Then, almost everyone wants a challenging position though few are able to describe it when asked during the interview, and I am sure that fewer still will welcome it, should it present itself during the course of their career. Most of us want to do our job and go home on time instead of pulling an all-nighter, right?

I weep with desperation every time I come across a resume containing spelling mistakes. Word does have a spell checker, for God's sake!

But I saw something unique in a resume today. The person had listed % scored in each of the 8 semesters in Engineering. I am still reeling from the shock!

हिमालयातील पुष्पोत्सव

हिमालयातील पुष्पोत्सव

व्हॅली ऑफ फ्लॉवर्स

Eco-friendly Ganesh Idols

‘निसर्गाच्या देणगी’तून गणेशमूर्ती!

अर्ज है.....

अपने सिवा बताओ कभी कुछ मिला भी है तुम्हे
हजार बार ली है तुमने मेरे दिलकी तलाशिया

(Forwarded)

I finally managed to buy myself a new mobile. I wasn't being a miser. It's simply that I love clam-shell phones and they are almost extinct in India. So I didn't want to part with my current one. Plus the fact that there is nothing wrong with the current phone, except for maybe its appearance - it's exterior shell has got chipped in places. Since there are no clam-shell models in India, I decided to settle for a sliding one.

Buying the new phone was the easy part, it's the switching of the data that's giving me nightmares. Transferring Contact List was child's play. But for some reason or other, I cannot see the hundreds of SMSs that I have saved when I connect my phone to the laptop. All along I was under the impression that they have been stored on the memory card. But looks like the memory card doesn't work anymore and that the messages have been stored on the phone memory instead. I don't see that in the synchronizing software. My heart sinks at the thought of losing all these messages.

Then there is the Notes section where I have jotted everything from the names of books that I came across to the URLs of useful websites. There is Calendar where there are reminders for friends' birthdays, beauty parlor appointments, calls to the financial planner and for applying oil to my hair! I am desperately hoping that the software will help me transfer all of this to the new phone with a click or else I am doomed :-(

I am hoping that I will be able to sort this all out during the coming long weekend. Wish me luck!

अर्ज है.....

आपकी याद ना आये तो हम बेवफ़ा
आप बुलाओ और ना आये तो हम बेवफ़ा
हमे मारनेके लिये खंजरकी जरुरत नाही
एक बार नझर फ़ेर लो, ना मर जाये तो हम बेवफ़ा

(Source: http://shayari.co.in/)

At first, the world was simple - there were vegetarians and then there were non-vegetarians. Slowly but steadily, more categories got added like eggetarians, fruitarians, vegans etc. Lately, however, I have realized that there must be sub-categories in the non-vegetarian category because I believe (and obviously hope!) that I am not the only one who considers only chicken and eggs as part of her non-vegetarian diet. And if that is the case, there must be people who eat only sea-food or who eat only white meat and so on and so forth.

I realized this even more sharply as I sat watching Nigella Lawson's new show 'Nigella Kitchen'. There she was, calmly pointing out the marrow in some piece of beef and explaining how it makes the meat more delicious. She quoted a saying too - something like 'The closer the meat is to the bones, the sweeter it is". I know of people who would positively faint if they hear such a statement, but to be honest, I wasn't too excited about this whole marrow-in-the-bone business either.

Well, as the saying goes, it takes all kinds to make this world!

I don't much care for coffee as such unless it is the traditional south Indian one. But I walked in Costa Coffee as the rest of my family wanted to have a sip. As we were about to leave one of the attendants politely handed over a feedback form. The task was delegated to me though I had not had a single sip.

There were the usual questions about the quality of service, staff, beverages and food. But one question did amuse me. It asked me who I had come with. The options were

1. On my own. 2 With friends 3. With colleagues 4. Others

As I checked the 4th option and wrote "Family" in the space provided to enlighten whosoever was in charge of making sense out of these feedback forms, I wondered if it wasn't a norm to come to these cafes with your family.

I had been to Pantaloons over the weekend to check out the sale. At the entrance stood a guard in uniform who was folding his hands and saying "Namaste" as people walked in. I noticed that almost everyone was ignoring him. When it was my turn to walk in, I folded my hands awkwardly but instead of "Namaste" I said "Hello" by mistake. I don't think he noticed because I guess he is used to people not replying.

But as I walked on, I wondered why it was so difficult for me to fold my hands in the gesture that we Indians have used traditionally to greet each other. And why the hell couldn't I say "Namaste"? :-(

Happy Friendship Day!

This one is for all my friends :-)

रबसे आपकी ख़ुशी माँगते है
दुआओमे आपकी हंसी माँगते है
सोचते है क्या मांगे आपसे
चलो उम्रभरकी दोस्ती माँगते है

थेंबे-थेंबे..

Read on about one man's efforts to conserve water - थेंबे-थेंबे..

A nice funny take on the trials and tribulations that characterize air travel - The vexations of flying.