Indian Police

Last night as I lay sleeping
I died .. or so it seemed.
Then I went to heaven
But only in my dream

Up there St Peter met me
Standing at the Pearly Gates,
He said, "I must check your record...
Please stand here and wait."

He turned and said "Your record
Is covered with terrible flaws,
On earth I see you rallied
For every losing cause."

I see that you drank alcohol,
smoked and partied too,
Fact is, you've done everything
A good person should never do.

We can't have people like you up here...
Throughout your life all you did was hear,
You carried out orders without pausing to think.
You never asked for instructions in ink.
 
Then he read the last of my record,
Took my hand and said, "Come in."
 
You stood in isolated places and shivered alone
You left your kith, kin, hearth and home
You come from an unresponsive, ungrateful nation
You were denied your rights by every Pay Commission
 
He led me up to the Chief of Heaven ...
"Take him in and treat him well",
He has served in the  Indian Police ...
He's done his time in hell."

वक़्त नहीं

हर ख़ुशी है लोगों के दामन में, पर एक हंसी के लिए वक़्त नहीं. दिन रात दौड़ती दुनिया में, ज़िन्दगी के लिए ही वक़्त नहीं. माँ की लोरी का एहसास तो है, पर माँ को माँ कहने का वक़्त नहीं. सारे रिश्तों को तो हम मार चुके, अब उन्हें दफ़नाने का भी वक़्त नहीं. सारे नाम मोबाइल में हैं, पर दोस्ती के लिए वक़्त नहीं. गैरों की क्या बात करें, जब अपनों के लिए ही वक़्त नहीं. आँखों में है नींद बड़ी, पर सोने का वक़्त नहीं. दिल है ग़मों से भरा हुआ, पर रोने का भी वक़्त नहीं. पैसों की दौड़ में ऐसे दौड़े, की थकने का भी वक़्त नहीं. पराये एहसासों की क्या कद्र करें, जब अपने सपनो के लिए ही वक़्त नहीं. तू ही बता ए ज़िन्दगी, इस ज़िन्दगी का क्या होगा, की हर पल मरने वालों को, जीने के लिए भी वक़्त नहीं....

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class 
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor,   as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions – 
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,'  He continued,
there is no room for  the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Photo

Photo

Chhath festival

Come the fourth day of the “Shukla Paksh” of Kartik month, lakhs of devotees, mainly of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, begin the four-day Chhath festival. Today, lakhs of Biharis settled in other parts of India and even abroad are also keeping up this tradition. In fact, this is the only Hindu festival that is also celebrated by Muslims in some parts of Bihar, in a rare symbol of secularism. 

In the four-day festival, the first day begins with the ritual bathing in the Ganga that follows a period of abstinence and segregation of the worshipper from the main household for four days. Gangajal is brought to the house in huge brass containers for use during the four-day period. All utensils used during rituals are that of brass. 

On the first day, arwa chawal (fine rice), kaddu (bottle gourd), the price of which at times even escalates to Rs. 50-100 a kg and “bajka” of the augustya flower is cooked in the day time. All households where Chhath is performed is emptied of onion and garlic, considered “ashuddh”. At night, roti and plain vegetables are cooked for the whole household. 

On the second day-Kharna or Lohanda- the “Parvaitin” (the fasting person) fasts and does not take even a drop of water. A huge quantity of “prasad”, mainly “kheer” (rice cooked in jaggery and without milk) and “puris”are cooked from the afternoon, on earthen chulhas. The fuel used for these chulhas is dry twigs of the mango trees. In some households, rotis laced with ghee are prepared which are served to visitors with kheer as prasad. After sunset, the parvaitin prays to Chhathi Maiya in seclusion and then eats the prasad. The parvaitin then fasts, without food or water, for the next 36 hours. 

The third day begins with the fasting woman cooking the “thekuas” and decorating the bamboo-knit “soops” with whole coconuts, diyas, soaked gram, apples, kasar (made of powdered rice, black sesame seeds and jaggery), thekuas, dry fruits, besides tall sugarcane sticks and entire stalks laden with ripe bananas for offering as arghya to the “Astachalgami Surya”. 

Then begins the long march to the banks of rivers and ponds. Hundreds of people can be seen standing along the riverside waiting to offer obeisance to the Sun God. The fasting women then stand in waist-deep water to offer “arghya” to the setting sun (Astachalgami Surya). The family members offer Gangajal mixed with milk, as the parvaitin performs “parikrama” for the number of soops. With each newborn child is added an extra soop. 

The fourth morning, at dawn, the parvaitin again offers arghya to the “Udit Surya” (rising sun) with the same set of soops. It is only after this that the parvaitin breaks her fast with the prasad. 

In Patna, the banks of the Ganga form one of the most important venues for the arghya ritual. Sun temples of Bihar-Deo in Aurangabad, Dakshinaarka in Gaya, Baraaka in Nalanda district and Punyark or Pandarak in Patna district also witness a heavy rush of devotees during the four-day festival.

This year's festival of Chhath concluded this morning with devotees worshiping the rising Sun. Rivers and ponds in Bihar came alive with bursting of crackers and holy songs reverberated in the air as devotees offered 'arghyas' (obeisance) to the rising Sun. The 'bratis' (who keep fast) took a holy dip into the water on ghats prepared along the rivers and ponds at dawn and performed the rituals till the Sun God came up. Women in colourful sarees applied vermillion to each other. The traditional 'thekuas' cooked in pure ghee and made with sugar, raisins and flour were offered to 'Chhati Mata' along with coconuts, fruits and sugarcanes.

The previous evening devotees, mostly women, had paid their obeisance to the setting Sun in the similar manner.  Attired in new clothes, they sang folk songs as they prayed to the sun god and set lit earthen lamps afloat on rivers, lakes and other water bodies. Roads and river banks had been cleaned and decorated for the occasion.

The participation by the whole community to keep the surroundings as well as paths taken by devotees to reach the water bodies clean is really very encouraging. I wish if the same spirit could be shown to generally keep our neighbourhood clean and tidy. Also can we not think of mobilising the community to undertake such activities on these occasions which may have some long lasting value? Instead of decorating roads with thousands of temporary lights, it may be better to do the street lighting ( where these are non existent) with some durable fixtures, in consultation with municipal authorities, every year. Again why to indulge in wasteful bursting of fire crackers which also adds so much to pollution of all kinds? 

Cheers to the spirit of Chhath...   

Google Wave

And now the Google have come up with their new product - Google Wave. As I understand this latest product combines communication, collaboration and media-sharing into one insanely useful application. Google spokespeople have described Wave as what e-mail would look like if it had been invented now instead of 40 years ago. When you send out a Wave, you create a virtual object shared by you and the person or people you send it to. You can type in it, and so can everybody else who is on the Wave - it's stored on a central server instead of passed from PC to PC like e-mail. Everybody sees what everybody else is typing as they type it. Everybody can edit what everybody else writes. The full launch is expected in mid-2010.

Just as they did it with Gmail, the Googlers have made their newest product invitation-only. You can't just use Google wave; you have to be chosen. I am still waiting for a Wave invitation....

It's all about attitude

Many moons ago, Sir Thomas Jefferson, the third US President, had famously said: " Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, but nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." Not only were his words universal and ahead of time, they tend to ring true even today, especially when you look at Bihar. 

If anything they bring to the fore one of the most dangerous ills plaguing the State - it's people's attitude. With its terrific potential, what invariably hits you is the chalta hai mindset. The disturbing sense of sloth reflected in the region's lackadaisical ways when it comes to dreaming big, or more importantly delivering even after goals get identified. 

But what's really worrying is that people across the State are either too laid-back or just don't seem to care, never mind their dwindling fortunes. If change indeed is to happen, the mindset of the political class, the bureaucrats, the entrepreneurs and the people in general will have to change dramatically. We need an attitude laced with courage to say  " No, we don't accept the lack of growth, the woes of unemployment, the endless disruption to civic life or what have you". The common man must reach for stars....

When you reach for the stars , you may not quite get them, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either.

Diwali

Today is Diwali. I wish a very happy and joyous Diwali to all. May this festival of light brighten our lives and fill us with energy and vigour to face the challenges ahead. 

This is also an occasion to celebrate victory of good over evil, of right over wrong, of justice over injustice and of values over crass and corruption. 

While we lit our homes  with innumerable candles and indulge ourselves in bursting fire-crackers, let us also ponder a bit and think of thousands of homes that won't be lit this Diwali because of some tragedies in the family or due to economic hardship. 

Let us pray for them and wish that this Diwali brings cheers to everyone.

 

Making your good times count and not forgetting your bad times makes a person successful.

Some thoughts on Diwali day

It is said that a sound head, an honest heart, and a humble spirit are the three best guides through time and to Eternity. In fact much happiness is overlooked because it doesn't cost anything! There is no reason, then, why one should not spend this Diwali spreading Mithas. Diwali is the time for reaching out and coming together. It's the time for celebration, sharing and giving. Let's take a pledge to extend the brightness, warmth and Mithas beyond this festive season.... and give somebody a reason to smile. Let's spread the Mithas and make every moment kuchh khaas!

A smile is contagious; just smile at someone and see his or her reaction.

Project Israyan

I could not post anything for last few days primarily because of my lethargy and also on account of my being away from Patna. I had made a quick trip to Israyan to supervise the ongoing construction works of our house there. I was happy to see the progress and hope that the house gets ready within a month's time. Any kind of creative activity gives me tremendous pleasure and this venture has been no exception. I look forward to happy times ahead with my extended family at this location. I remember my Baba (grandfather) and Babujee (father) for blessing me and guiding me from their heavenly abode in this task. I will write more on this subject later.

Happiness is like a butterfly, which when pursued is just beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly may alight upon you.

Tragedies

Two boat tragedies on the vijoyadashmi day - one in Khagaria and the other in Darbhanga resulting into death of  scores of persons, mainly women and children. These were mainly due to overcrowding of boats and could have been avoided if there were some regulations for plying of passenger boats. My heart goes out to the bereaved families.

On a personal level, got a rather sad news this afternoon of Naresh jee passing away the previous night. His son Vikas rang us up to convey this disturbing information. Naresh jee had been suffering from kidney malfunction for last few months, but I had never imagined that the end would come so soon. May his soul rest in peace and I pray God to give strength to his family-members to bear this terrible loss.

Always forgive your enemies - Nothing annoys them so much.

Pujo festivities and other thoughts

Pujo festivities are over. And one is getting back to work after extended week-end. May Goddess Durga bless us all and give strength to face challenges in the year ahead. We were generally indoors during these holidays except one visit to the pujo-pandal near by to pay our obeisance to Maa Durga. Rishu has been working hard in his study to make for the lost time due to illness last fortnight. He has his Semester exam from Oct 1. Dates for JEE and AIEEE have been announced and these are scheduled for April 11 and April 25, 2010. So, there will not be much time after the board exam!!

Abhishek has his presentation today in the lab. I hope it goes off well.

Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.

 

UIN

The Unique Identification Number (UIN) project is high on the government’s agenda, and has gained momentum with the appointment of Nandan Nilekani. Nilekani has said the aim is to provide a UIN to 600 million persons by 2012. Each UIN will be randomly assigned, and linked to a database with biometric information. Data will be stored in a central server, and authentication of residents will be online. The authority is supposed to network with major registers — the NREGA, PDS and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) — to provide accurate information of beneficiaries and nip fraudulent claims.

It has also been argued that once the UINs are rolled out, internal security will improve. Indeed, the government has been worried about illegal migration and infiltration for a while; it considered compulsory registration of citizens and non-citizens living in India to prepare a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), the handing out to citizens of a Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) (with non-citizens receiving a card of different colour and design). With this in view, the MNIC pilot project was undertaken by the office of the Registrar-General (RGI) and Census Commissioner under the home ministry during 2003-2008 in selected areas of 13 states or Union territories, covering 28 lakh people in 2,175 villages and 19 towns costing, reportedly, Rs 30 crore.

परंपरा

परंपरा 

परंपरा को अंधी लाठी से मत पीटो.

उसमे बहुत कुछ

                           जो जीवित है,

                        जीवन दायक है,

जैसा भी हो,

ध्वंस से बचा रखने लायक है.

पानी का छिछला होकर

                    समतल में दौरना,

                यह क्रांति का नाम है.

लेकिन घाट बाँधकर

पानी को गहरा बनाना,

यह परंपरा का काम है.

परंपरा और क्रांति में

                         संघर्ष चलने दो.

आग लगी है, तो

        सुखी टहनिओं को जलने दो.

मगर जो टहनिया 

           आज भी कच्ची और हरी हैं,

                  उनपर तो तरस खाओ.

    मेरी एक बात तो तुम मान जाओ.

परंपरा जब लुप्त होती है,

लोगों की आस्था के आधार

                                 टूट जाते हैं.

उखरे हुए पेड़ों के समान

वे अपनी जड़ो से छूट जाते हैं.

परंपरा जब लुप्त होती है,

                 लोगों को नींद नहीं आती,

न नशा किये बिना

                         चैन या कल पड़ती है.

परंपरा जब लुप्त होती है,

सभ्यता अकेलेपन के

                                दर्द से मरती है.

कलमे लगाना जानते हो,

                              तो जरुर लगाओ,

मगर ऐसे की फलों में

                 अपनी मिटटी का स्वाद रहे.

और यह बात याद रहे

की परंपरा चीनी नहीं, मधु है.

वह न तो हिन्दू है, न मुस्लिम है,

न द्रविड़ है, न आर्य है,

न परंपरा का हर प्रहरी

                         पूरी का शंकराचार्य है.

                                                                                                                                              -दिनकर 

Crimping your own LAN cable

These days if you go out and buy a network cable it would cost you about Rs. 100 per metre. But when connector breaks, or you realise that the cable you have is shorter, you need extension of sorts. This is all you need to start crimping your own network cables - one metre regular network cable @ Rs. 50, RJ45 connectors @ Rs. 3 per piece and a crimping tool @ Rs. 250.

Cut the outer cable jacket. You will see eight wires twirled around each other in pairs, one solid colour and the other striped. For a Straight cable, arrange the wires in the following sequence: white orange, orange, white green, Blue, White Blue, Green, White Brown and Brown.This is the same sequence to follow on both ends for a Straight cable.

For a crossover cable, follow the same sequence for one end. For the other end, arrange the wires as follows: White green, green, white orange, blue, white blue, orange, white brown and brown.

Once you confirm the wire sequence, cut the wires in equal length. Then slide the wires into the RJ45 connector. Insert the RJ45 connector into the crimping tool. Ensure the eight wires are pushed all the way into the connector. Now just squeeze the tool until you hear a click. That's it, you are done.