अपनी तकदीर मे कुछ ऐसा ही सिलसिला लिखा है
किसीने वक्त गुजारने के लिये अपना बनाया
तो किसीने अपना बनाकर वक्त गुजार लिया

(Forwarded)

If you are familiar with Modi script (मो डी  लिपी ) or want to know about any other script, here are a few sites you might want to visit:

http://www.sahyadribooks.org/books/modiwachanlekhanset.aspx?bid=324

http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=entry_detail&uid=am856t9q3y

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/modi.htm

http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_families.html

mintne.ws/1jX6Fag

http://www.yourmorals.org/index.php

The Barons Of Banking - Bakhtiar Dadabhoy

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - by Edwin Lefèvre, Roger Lowenstein

The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Martin Gardner's Science Magic: Tricks and Puzzles

Menstrupedia

Wondering how to bring up the subject of periods with your little doll? Let menstrupedia help. :-)

Wishberry

Wanna fund a project that's close to your heart? Check this site out - https://www.wishberry.in/discover/

बंदा खुदकी नजरमे सही होना चाहिये
दुनिया तो साली भगवानसे भी दुखी है

(Forwarded)

Life's tragedy isn't death but what we let die within us while we are still alive

- seen on a board outside a church

CR2 Mall, Nariman Point

One advantage of eating at a Food Court is that everyone in the group gets to choose his or her food. And you get to sample more food. The CR2 mall at Nariman Point doesn't spoil you for choices when it comes to variety of food inside the court. They have Bombay Blue and a few other outlets serving Biryani, kebabs, sizzlers, chinese cuisine, sandwiches and sizzlers.

South Indian Platter.

I don't remember the name of the place serving South Indian food. We chose South Indian Platter. As you can see in the photo, it came with 4 pieces of Mini Idli, 2 pieces of Medu Wada, 2 pieces of Sabudana Wada and 2 pieces of Kothimbir Wadi along with little bit of Sambhar and coconut chutney. Excuse me, but isn't Kothimbir Wadi a Maharashtrian dish? What is it doing in a South Indian Platter? The Mini Idli was good, soft and fluffy. Medu Wada was crisp - as it should be. I don't like Sabudana Wada so I didn't taste it. Kothimbir Wadi was okay too. I am not much of a fan of coconut chutney and so generally prefer to dip idlis or wadas in sambhar. But the sambhar served in the platter was too watery for my taste. I found the coconut chutney much better. At Rs. 135 this one is light on tummy and wallet both.

Sizzling Chicken Soya

'Simply Sizzler' had about 5 choices each in veg and non-veg section. I would rather not have a sizzler than have a veg one. None of the non-veg choices seemed particularly spicy though. When I asked the guy at the counter which one was spicy, he suggested that we go for Sizzling Chicken Soya. The sizzler had everything - veggies like carrots, french beans, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes and chicken. What it lacked was taste - except that of soya sauce. :-(

I ain't going to this food court again.

Power Point The Forces way

A must read for anyone who wants to make powerful presentations: Power Point The Forces way

The Darkest Hour

This one is not much different as far as alien invasion movies go. The Earthlings are clueless as usual, going about their daily lives in some Western country (a point to be noted is that the attacks almost never seem to originate in any African or Asian country!) or another. The aliens make their appearance and then quickly set about exterminating the local populace. The humans run around like headless chickens till someone hits upon a brilliant idea to pay back the aliens in their own currency. That's about it when it comes to the script - the only difference being how many people from the original group are found breathing when the end credits roll by.

So, we have two friends stranded somewhere in Russia. Then there are two girls who are also sailing in the same boat. They are just getting acquainted in the local bar when the electricity goes off. Everyone tumbles out into the street to investigate the matter and see strange luminous orbs descending from the sky all over the city. A local cop gets too close for comfort to one of the orbs and gets blown to smithereens before being swallowed in it. The rest of the crowd takes to their heels and never stops running. :-)

What I liked about this movie is that there are no aliens with strangely shaped heads, oddly placed eyes or funny language. There is no Mother Ship. And there are no efficient-looking generals advising the President to nuke the hell out of the alien b******s. Definitely a movie worth watching while munching on a bag of chips!

One Missed Call

At first, I thought the plot must be either similar to that of the 'Final Destination' series - people cheating death and then getting bumped off one by one - or of movies like 'When A Stranger Calls' - a murderer calling his victims. Turned out it was different - well, at least to some degree. It's all about a missed call that people receive. The mysterious thing is that the call seems to have come from a future date, from themselves. And then they die at the precise time that the call was received on. Creepy huh? You bet!

For the next few days at least I won't be looking at a missed call icon without missing a few heartbeats ;-)

देवासाठी फुलं आणायला नेहमीच्या फुलवालीकडे गेले खरी पण तिच्या टोपलीत काही खास फुलं दिसली नाहीत. तिचं लक्ष जायच्या आधीच तिथून काढता पाय घेतला कारण तिने एकदा पाहिलं की 'दीदी, दीदी' करून मागे लागते. मग तिचं मन मोडवत नाही. तिथून थोड्या अंतरावर एक दुसरी फुलवाली बसते तिच्याकडे गेले. जास्वंद, झेंडू, दुर्वा, बेल, तुळस असं सगळं तिच्याकडे एकत्र मिळतं. आज तिच्याकडे फुलं सुध्दा छान दिसत होती. म्हणून २० रुपयेची दे म्हणून सांगितलं. वर 'दुर्वा, बेल, तुळस' सगळं घाल म्हणून आवर्जून सांगितलं. तशी ती हसली आणि म्हणाली 'हो हो, सगळं घालते. देव रागवायला नको'. मीही हसले आणि म्हणाले 'देव अश्या कारणासाठी रागवत नाही हो'.

पण तिथून निघताना मात्र मनात विचार आलाच. तिने गंमतीत म्हटलं होतं पण ही आपल्या समाजातली वस्तुस्थिती आहे. दर मंगळवारी गणपतीच्या देवळापुढे लागलेली रांग पाहिली की हाच विचार माझ्या मनात येतो - किती लोक भक्तीने येतात, किती काही मागायला आणि किती देवाच्या धाकाने? बरं, देवाला घाबरणारे त्याच्या कोपाच्या भीतीने कर्मकांड करतील पण आपल्या नेहमीच्या आचरणात बदल करणार नाहीत. हे सगळं बदलेल का कधी?

जोधा अकबर

ह्या मालिकेच्या प्रत्येक एपिसोडच्या आधी एक डिसक्लेमर येतं. मला वाटतं त्यात आणखी एक वाक्य टाकायला हवं - ह्या मालिकेचा आणि इतिहासातल्या जोधा-अकबर ह्या व्यक्तींचा काहीही संबंध नाही. एव्हढी ही मालिका भरकटली आहे.

राजकन्या निगार आणि कोण ती महाचुचक (ह्या दोघी खर्याच होत्या का?) दोघींच्या सैन्याने अकबराच्या जनानखान्यावर हल्ला केला तो त्या बायांनी परतवून लावला म्हणे. एक जोधा सोडली तर बाकी कोणी आयुष्यात कधी लढल्या असतील असं वाटत नाही. पण रुकैय्याने धनुष्यबाण चालवलं. सलीमाबेगम तर मुलाला पाठीला बांधून झाशीच्या राणीसारख्या लढत होत्या. हे सगळं खोटं खोटं आहे हे कळत होतं तरी ते पहाताना आतून कुठेतरी बरं वाटत होतं ह्याचं मलाच आश्चर्य वाटलं. थोडा विचार केल्यावर लक्षात आलं की आजकाल समाजात स्त्रियांवरच्या अत्याचारांचं प्रमाण वाढलंय (ते कधी कमी होतं म्हणा!) आणि ते कमी करायला बायकांनी पुढे सरसावायला पाहिजे हे कळत असलं तरी नेमकं काय करायचं ते कळत नाहीये. कदाचित त्यामुळेच कदाचित ही लुटूपुटूची लढाई बघून बरं वाटलं असेल. :-(

The cabbie was behaving as if he were the long-lost brother of Michael Schumacher. Or maybe the BMC has hired him to check out the depths of the potholes in Mumbai's roads. Whatever his reasons, he was driving at breakneck speed and making sure that the cab landed in each and every pothole. I tried to concentrate on the newspaper as the vehicle hurtled through morning traffic but soon found that it was difficult to do so. Finally, I set it aside and told him to slow down. Not sure if he heard me because there was no noticeable change in the speed. It wouldn't have helped to tell him twice. I have never prayed so fervently in my life :-)

Needless to say, when I got down at the destination I heaved a big sigh of relief and sent up another prayer!