Beware of false prophets - Joel Osteen

. . . Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves...
Matthew 7:15

The largest congregation in US, a big church which can accommodate 16000 people at a time, 3 services every Sunday 'serving' 48000 people... meet Joel Osteen the latest spiritual rock star of America.

What do I have against him? Personally... nothing! Then why should I waste my precious time to research on him and write this? I vaguely remember, years back when it was a big news when his father died and televisions around the world aired it, that time itself I was pretty sure his 'smarter' and young children are gonna cash in on the opportunity and gonna build a big 'business empire' on it. And today watching him again on Larry King Live, it came back to my mind and felt I should write on this. If at least one person "think free" and think wise reading this, I am rewarded big time. Lots of new christian ministries are springing up in different parts of the world these days. Many of these churches I know and been to are pretty shallow with a shaky foundation if you look thru the rock music and adrenalin pumping prayer experience. I believe all the religions in this world are pointers to god and unless we search for god ourselves we will never find him. The relation between god and man is a personal one and church is basically a way for people to come together and stay focused. If you expect more than bible and preaching from church, like breath taking music or energizing prayer.. perhaps you are being mislead about the whole idea of church. Anyone who has been to a rock concert knows that it is the power of the music that lifts up your spirits and shakes up the body... it is not the spirit of god! I am a catholic, and not just because I was born so. I have a hard time understanding why there is more than one christian group other than the catholic church, which is the oldest and the most disciplined and organized. Only reason I could think of is difference in opinion of people, politics, hunger for power/money etc. Once I went with a friend of mine to one of the new age non-denominational churches and the whole message part of the service was the visiting "bishop" bitching about some pastor who stood against his ideas and got casted out!! Be wise, think-free... never trust anyone blindly and watch out for treachery. Now continue reading the story...

Lakewood charismatic mega-church was originally started by John Osteen (his father), who was originally a Southern Baptist pastor but after receiving the “baptism” with the Holy Spirit he became enamored with the charismatic renewal movement in its early stage and eventually became associated with the Word of Faith (WOF) cult. At the time of his death Lakewood Church had risen to 8,000 members. After the death of his father in 1999, Joel became the leader of this empire. It is said that Joel Osteen has absolutely no biblical training or experience to be a pastor. Charismatic pulpits are filled with people who feel “called” to the pastorate and that is enough for them and those who follow them. They attempt to build congregations on the “strength” of their calling. Some charismatic leaders may go on to some unaccredited “Bible School” for a year or two, hardly any attended a legitimate seminary. Would you allow a surgeon to operate on you because he felt “called” to be a surgeon as a child, but never went on to medical school? Or would you allow someone to build your house who firmly believed God had called him to be an architect yet had never gone on to college to study architectural design? Yet millions of professing Christians are more than willing to follow a man (or woman) who says “God” has called them and has supernaturally equipped them to be ministers. These especially anointed men and women have no need to study Church history, hermeneutics, systematic theology and struggle through Greek and Hebrew as other ministers do. They hear directly from God!!! Looks like it is the blind leading the blind (read Luke 6:39) with the end result being masses of people falling into the ditch of spiritual ignorance, abuse and/or extremism.

Joel Osteen is a man without any biblical education but an admitted talent for marketing (tv shows, books). To be a success in marketing you have to know where people itch and scratch it. Or, you have to create a desire in them by creating a hunger for something they currently do not have nor formerly knew they needed. All commercials can be condensed down to one of these two truths. So to become a mega-church, a pastor has to make church relevant. He has to give the people what they want, something that soothes that spiritual itch. In order to be a “success” (i.e. large masses of people and money) pastors must preach unchallenging messages that uplift rather than convict. It is really nothing new, it is a simply fulfillment of 2Ti 4:3-4.

What is Joel’s educational background and experience? Since it is not theological, what is it? He did attend Oral Roberts University for two years, but his area of study had to do with television production and marketing. While Joel was learning the business of television… ‘Growing up, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be involved in TV production,’ he says. ‘That was just my passion.’ In 1981 he came home from Oral Roberts University (ORU) to start the Lakewood TV ministry. For seventeen (17) years Joel was behind the scenes handling all the television and marketing of his father’s ministry. The next statement from the Charisma article is very revealing: The younger Osteen’s television-marketing talents and his dad’s preaching skills resulted eventually in the church churches being aired on stations nationwide and in more than 100 countries. He lives the life of prosperity that he preaches. A 2001 Real Estate Guide valued his home at $1,265,500. A fund-raising campaign to raise the $70 million dollars for the improvements of "the Lakewood International Center" asked supporters to sponsor a seat for $2500 each.

As Byron Pitts of CBS reports (see the link below), Osteen was virtually unknown eight years ago, even in his own Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. A college drop-out, he worked behind the scenes producing his father's television ministry. When his father, Pastor John Osteen, died, he stepped out in front of the camera and started to catch on. Osteen's service is an uninhibited celebration that's part rock concert, part spectacular. There are no crosses, no religious symbols whatsoever. It's all taped and broadcast around the world. His service is seen in 100 foreign countries and is the most watched religious broadcast in America.

Now you know the truth... next time you make any decision, religious or otherwise, research, think and then act.

Joel Scott Hayley Osteen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Osteen
Lakewood International Church, Houston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakewood_Church
CNN LARRY KING LIVE - Interview With Joel Osteen (June 20, 2005)
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html
TIME - Does God Want You To Be Rich?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448,00.html
Joel Osteen Answers His Critics - CBS (Byron Pitts)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/11/60minutes/main3358652.shtml

People who spent time finding the 'truth':
http://www.av1611.org/osteen.html
http://www.cultlink.com/ar/osteen.htm
http://www.forgottenword.org/osteen.html
http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/joel-osteen-and.php
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2005/10/joel_osteen_smi.html

Direct selling: caution quotient

There is a flood of direct marketing companies now a days. It is common to bump into strangers who try to start a conversation with a friendly face and catchy question "interested in starting your own business?". Whether it is walmart or you are in a train, people are now tired of this new breed of overly-friendly strangers!

If you have an aptitude for selling, being a distributor for a direct selling company "may" be a great way to make some money. Amway(Quixtar), Avon, Tupperware, Modicare, Herbalife and Oriflame are some well-known names in this business. But you must also be cautious. There are many who have lost big money being part of fraudulent direct selling companies. Typically, these operate as pyramid schemes, where people profit from the payments of others who might join the network later. Such schemes inevitably collapse when no new distributor can be recruited. And when a plan collapses, most people - except those at the very top of the pyramid - lose their money.

How do you recognise pyramiding from legitimate direct selling? According to the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA), there are three fundamentals to a legitimate direct selling business.

These are:

Low entry barrier: When distributors sign up, sales kits are sold at cost. There is no other investment required and distributors are not forced to buy training material or sales aids. This is because companies should not be dependent on selling the business opportunity alone, nor should they resort to merely selling sales aids at exorbitant prices while awarding commissions.

No inventory loading: Direct sellers make money by simply booking orders, not committing to a substantial investment that may cause financial distress to the distributor subsequently. You should be able to buy, say, a single sachet of shampoo, if you think that's all you will be able to sell.

Low exit barrier: Protection is given to distributors who may want to get out of the business.

Check these fundamentals out before you sign up for a distributorship. Or you could lose money. And yes, don't give your friends the feeling you are meeting them only to push your products. Or you could lose your social bonds.

But seems recently many of these companies have come up with some sleazy product line up, just to get thru the legal barriers to become legitimate and prove they are not a pyramid scheme. The main income still remains from joining more people in your network and products are just for name sake! So before you join one of these, do a thorough research, analyze their products and be willing to do a lot of hard work in the initial stages. I was with Amway (2004-06) for almost two years, may be I will write in detail about it later.

Read more here:
Article on direct selling in India:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/700194.cms
Reviews on direct selling company QuestNet:
http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Quest.net-925052721.html
Reviews on Amway, supposedly called the global leader in this type of business:
http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Amway-925071625.html

Proud to be an Indian?

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard (hp) ?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the third richest man in the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Azim Premji, who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6 th position now.

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT&T-Bell Labs (AT&T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

Q. Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are! Indians.


Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA:
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4 th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty stricken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.
7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.
9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India . Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 10 53.
10. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
13. Chess was invented in India .
14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India .
15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley ( Indus Valley Civilization).
16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.


Quotes about India:
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.
Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India .
French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
Hu Shih (former Chinese ambassador to USA )


All of the above is just the tip of the iceberg, the list could be endless. But, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.

I hope you enjoyed it and work towards the welfare of INDIA .

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to improve current situation would be to control the population explosion! Every year the total Population of Australia, is added to the population of India. Only five countries in the world - China, USA, Brazil, Indonesia, and United USSR have more population than Uttar Pradesh (145 million), which is one of the 28 states in India. The density of the population in India has climbed up from 261 per square kilometer in 1981 to 267 per square kilometer in 1991. This is ten times greater than the density in the United States (26 per square kilometer) and 2.5 times greater than the density in China (109 per square kilometer).

The birth rate in India (31 per thousand people) is greater than that of China (20 per thousand people). If this trend continues, India will beat China by 2025 A.D., becoming the most populous nation in the world. In 2025 A.D, India will have 1591 million people and China 1554 million people. India with about 2.4% of the land area in the world contains about 16% of the population of the world. The present population of India is around 1.4 Billion (1400 Million). The population clock in the Union Health Ministry, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi, now ticks at the rate of 31 persons per minute. The clock shows that about 44,640 babies are born in India everyday. Hence the population of India increases by 16.29 million every year, which is equivalent to the total population of Australia.

We cannot control population by force. But may be government can increase awareness and give incentives to people who control population or undergo permanent birth control procedures. Generally it is the poor and the undereducated class of the society that is on a birth spree!

What is the 'Art of Living'?

Taking time to smell the flowers,
Counting joys instead of hours,
Delighting in the simplest things,
Letting all your thoughts have wings.

Feeling peaceful deep inside,
Taking everything in stride,
Balancing both work and play,
Learning all along the way.

Moving towards a dream or goal,
Nurturing your own heart and soul,
showing others that you care,
Finding beauty everywhere.

The 90/10 Principle

It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations).

What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? ………. By your reaction. You cannot control a red light. but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react. Let's use an example.

You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react.

You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home.

When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? …. Because of how you reacted in the morning.

Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is "D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. Here is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "Its ok honey, you just need to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having. Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you REACTED. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle. If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive? Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it. You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take outpour frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse.

Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it. The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle. The result? Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and heartache. We all must understand and apply the 90/10 principle.

It CAN change your life!!!

Author: Stephen Covey

Help UNICEF - make a difference in a child's life...

Help raise money for UNICEF without spending a penny! Click the link below!
http://friends.unicefusa.org/r/91dded9a2496102a85e1

All you have to do is to sign up for their email news letter. You can invite your friends too. For every sign up $5 will be donated in your name to US fund for UNICEF

It's so easy!

1) Sign up for the free UNICEF USA eNewsletter and we'll donate $5
2) Invite your friends to sign up for the free eNewsletter too
3) Get $5 donated in your name for each friend

Tell all of your friends about this great opportunity to raise money for UNICEF USA without spending a penny! The more friends you tell, the bigger the difference you can make.


What your money can buy:
$3 can buy a large wool blanket to protect a child from the cold during an emergency.
$17 can immunize a child against the 6 major childhood diseases.
$54 can buy 150 sachets of PlumpyNut, a ready-to-eat therapeutic spread to nourish children with acute malnutrition.
$100 can buy a kit with enough materials to test 100 children for the Hepatitis-B virus.
$500 can buy a year's supply of antiretroviral medicine for an HIV-positive child under three-years-old.


Support UNICEF's lifesaving work. Your monthly pledge works hard
$15 a month (about 50¢ a day) can feed three children for almost four weeks.
$25 a month (about 80¢ a day) can provide vitamin A for 7,500 children.
$35 a month (about $1.15 a day) can provide two sturdy tents for families struck by disaster.
$50 a month (about $1.70 a day) can provide clean water for four villages.
$70 a month (about $2.30 a day) can provide lifetime immunizations for almost 50 children.


UNICEF - For every child - Health, Education, Equality and Protection.
ADVANCE HUMANITY

Why not join this noble initiative? Every day you forward lots of junk emails around the globe. Send this to all of your friends and make this fund raising program a big success. Feel the happiness, satisfaction and blessing, while making a big difference to lots of needy helpless children!

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one" ~Mother Teresa
"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something." ~Author Unknown

Think! Inspire!

Celebrate the Women in Your Life, Today...

Today (Mar 08) is the International Women’s Day. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women. Women influence our daily life immensely, but most of the times, invisibly from behind the scenes. Today is the day to appreciate and celebrate the love, care and service by these angels to the society. They take many crucial roles in a man’s life starting as mother by bringing to the world, grow together as sister/friend and comfort him to the end of his days by standing beside him as wife, the better-half!



Dedicated to all the women out there... the making of a women!
http://think-free.blogspot.com/2005/12/making-of-woman.html

And the history of IWD (International Womens Day)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women

Happy New Year

It has been a while, perhaps it is time to come back and write more...

So starting with a new year wish to all, wish you all a blessed, eventful and joyful 07!

The Great Khali

There are some success stories which are not mainstream in the Indian sense, but still quite remarkable. Narain Karthikeyan is one such story. Just a tiny fraction of the country's population knows what Formula 1 racing is. And yet an Indian managed to break into the rarefied echelons of this sport. Granted, he didn't exactly strike fear in the heart of Fernando Alonso, but just making it to an F1 team is remarkable.

There is another Indian success story of sorts brewing in the United States. It is not in the field of sports per se, but sports entertainment, i.e WWE (professional wrestling). Dalip Singh has made his WWE debut. He used to be a daily wage labourer in Punjab. That's right, he used to work on highways, breaking stones. He was later recruited into the Punjab Police Department, worked on his physique, won the Mr. India bodybuilding contest, and joined the Pro Wrestling circuit in Japan. He has rapidly moved up the Pro Wrestling Chain and has ended up at the WWE, the top most body of pro-wrestling.

Not only has he entered the WWE, but he's done so with a bang, debuting in a feud with the legendary wrestler 'The Undertaker'. Most wrestlers move up the hard way, by feuding with smaller stars, and as their popularity grows, they move higher and higher in the value chain, so to say. But once in a while, if a special "talent" comes along, with a potential to make a splash, he is pitchforked into the big league.

Whether Dalip Singh, who has been named 'The Great Khali', can actually stay in the big league and become a big star remains to be seen. Wish him the very best...

Quotable Quotas

It is April, elections are around the corner. Bingo! The vote-starved politicians of India has found another cheap, controversial trick to diffuse the focus of the voters from their crimes and inefficiencies. This time it is the reservations or quotas which were supposedly for eliminating the indifference and inequality between the upper caste and backward caste.

Long way back, education was reserved for only the forward caste and the backward caste were denied education and were meant to be only servants/slaves. Things changed, India became free, caste system is gone and it is the 21st century. To give an initial push to the unfortunate poor backward Indian citizens, the government at those days introduced the reservation system. It infixed a new life into them, thus uplifting their social status, self-value and self-confidence. Decades passed, the second and even third generation has come. There is now an upper class in the backward class and the reservations has created a backward class in the upper class. Now there isn’t any cast based discrimination anywhere. Any body can go learn or earn; only limited by their own ambitions and skills. Now if at all, if there is any discrimination, it is by the government and which is induced into the society as an upshot of it. The backward castes are looked upon so in colleges just because they stole some seats by force. The government supports them from school to job. The people who are availing the reservations now mostly are from well-off families, with both the parents having a decent government job, which again was got thru some reservation. Some states currently have upto 70% reservations. Perhaps you can now understand why most of people who can afford go abroad for education and eventually settle there (the brain drain)…huh!

Reservations were good, and still are good for the needy. Since all the citizens are now equally eligible for education, the only criteria for reservation should be their financial status and not caste. Again reservations should be intelligently prorated so that the normal citizens also get their just share to live well. Currently what the reservations mostly do is creating a lazy, rich and arrogant backward class, filled with inferiority complex. Sometimes they miss the respect they deserve as their success and achievements are attributed to their reservation by the society.

I sincerely feel the reservations and financial assistance needs to be there only for basic education. It must not be extended to professional education or higher education like IIM, Medicine, Engineering etc. There is a Chinese proverb that “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. So instead of fooling the people by such gimmicks, the government should rather improve the standard of the schools and other institutions run by the them, thus making sure that the poor (and not based on caste) also gets an education at par with the private ‘public schools’ which has astronomical tuition and other capitation fees. And a request to all those educated citizens who thinks the country will never change – cast your votes and make a difference, than leaving the decision to the 50% poor uneducated voting m'asses' who are left to decide the fate of the next emerging super power country!

I think reservations should be there in politics too ;-)

That thing called Love!

“It's not all hearts and flowers. Romantic love, that feeling of euphoria we expect in the West, is a lower priority among some in places such as India and Taiwan.”

Happen to come across an article in Nat Geo Mag (Feb 06). It talks about the experiences of Photographer Jodi Cobb, who scoured the globe to document how people define love and how it fits into their lives. Her findings were interesting!

Love is divided into three segments - lust, romantic obsession and attachment. Lust: One of the main things that men like about women is their waist to hip ratio, desirable ratio being 6.7. Women are attracted to men with broad shoulders and rugged features. Romantic obsession: It involves many chemicals. It was found that after four years, the couple either separate or stay together in a long term relationship. Attachment: It is a different chemical in brain and causes people to feel very calm and sooth.

In India first comes marriage and then love. Centuries of experience says that romantic obsession dies out with time and hence they prefer arranged marriages. In china, grooms from Taiwan will come and does 10 minute interviews for a bunch of Chinese brides and finally selects one and marries her on the third day. The Taiwanese men prefer Chinese women since they find the Taiwanese women too aggressive and assertive since they have job and all. Japan is in a social crisis. They have the lowest birth rate, highest age of marriage and women increasingly hesitate to marry. Middle aged women dress up as Lolitas and refuse to accept the responsibilities of their age.

In west, people truly believe in love and romance. No body marries a stranger on the third day after seeing for the first time. But still they have more than 50% divorce rate. But again, looking from a different angle, perhaps the divorce rates are more because the women has the freedom to do so and the society still accepts them! Bottom line, it is not a smooth sail after all...

Find more info here:

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0602/feature2/index.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0602/feature2/gallery1.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0602/feature2/multimedia.html

Jessica Lal was killed twice!

Yes, Jessica was killed twice... once in 1999 by the accused Siddharth Vasisht alias Manu Sharma, and now again in 2006 by the Indian Judiciary. The accused is the son of former federal minister, Vinod Sharma. He is alleged to have shot dead model Jessica Lal, who was working as a bartender at a well-known restaurant, Tamarind Court. She had refused to serve him a drink after midnight (0200 hours on Friday, April 30 1999) - something which is prohibited by licensing laws. So the rich, powerful, arrogant and spoilt ‘ministerial son’ paid her farewell good-bye with his gun (unlicensed!). The court ‘had’ charged mainly the following Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav, Manu's uncle Shyam Sundar Sharma, Amardeep Singh Gill and Alok Khanna, both former executives of a multinational soft drinks company, cricketer Yuvraj Singh's father Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill and Raja Chopra.

But, questions are being raised about the motive for the murder. It is being said that Jessica was to accompany Manu Sharma and backed out. Why she was supposed to go out with him or backed out is not known.

But this sensational case was subdued after 7 years and all the alleged were acquitted. Talking to reporters after pronouncing the judgment, Additional Sessions Judge S. L. Bhayana said: "The court has acquitted them because the Delhi police failed to sustain the grounds on which they had built up their case.'' Quite a convincing reason!! "The police failed to recover the weapon which was used to fire at Jessica Lal as well as prove their theory that the two cartridges, emptied shells of which were recovered from the spot, were fired from one weapon,'' the Judge added. Hmm.. so these are loop holes in the law or tampering the evidence??! Well, may be judiciary is not smart enough to cope up with hostile witnesses and contradictory evidences!

Jessica, according to the police, was taken to a hospital in Safdurjung Enclave. She was later declared dead at the Apollo Hospital. The All India Institute of Medical Science conducted her post-mortem. Her friends describe her as bubbly, vivacious and full of life. Let us see whether she is lucky enough to get justice! Whatever she was, I don’t think she deserved such a merciless death!

http://www.rediff.com/news/jessica.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lal

Fight for Jessica Lal:

Join NDTV's campaign of support for Jessica Lal's family. Send SMS JESSICA to 6388. Each SMS will help the petition for a fresh trial. NDTV will take the petition to President APJ Abdul Kalam.

Tourism Plus IT = Kerala

Taking a cue from the success of Bangalore, Gurgaon and Hyderabad as some of the hot IT destinations in India, the green state of Kerala is all set to follow suit. Recently, at the major IT event, IT Kerala 2006, nearly a hundred IT and IteS sector companies converged to display their products and services, and to discuss business and investment plans to bring about this progress. These included TCS, Intel, Infosys, L&T, Tulip IT Services, NeST, IBS, Oracle, Intel, Microsoft, Bharati, Reliance, Sutherland, HP, Dell, 24/7 Customer Care, Rittal India and many more companies.

IT Secretary, P H. Kurien informed that the Kerala government would position Kottayam, Thrissur, Kannur and Kozhikode as satellite IT destinations in the state, since present IT activities were presently concentrated around Thiruvananthapuram - the state capital, and Kochi. Major business plans, expansions and investments were also announced at the four-day event. Infosys announced its intention to invest Rs1.5 billion in three phases and raise the headcount in Kerala by 3750 people. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), will be investing Rs2.5 billion to set up a software development center at the Technopark campus to upgrade its existing training facility there and provide jobs for 5,000 software professionals. The U.S. based BPO firm Sutherland Global Services has plans to invest over Rs120 crore to create service delivery center and training infrastructure on 20 acres of land in Kochi. The company expects to hire 3,000 professionals over the next three years in the first phase for its Kerala operations.

Good to see that Gods own country is finally diverting into other sectors also, than just tourism! Also probably more Gods own people and work in home place, close to thier near and dear ones...

CRY... will you wipe my tears?

Imagine having to pull your son out of school to send him to work in a dim-lit, dusty sweatshop, just because you are unable to find a job that pays enough to support your family. Imagine your daughter having to drop out of school just because it has no toilets. Imagine your new-born baby dying because your village has no doctors to treat her fever. Imagine your children growing up stunted because of lack of adequate nutrition. Imagine entire generations of your family being born into bonded labor, with no hope of breaking free. Well, you are fortunate and thank god that it doesn’t happen to you. But all are not as lucky as we are. So when they cry, CRY tries to wipe their tears, at least of some, if not all...

CRY stands for Child Relief and You, a movement for the rights of every child. It is a leading Indian non-government organisation (NGO) that works towards restoring basic rights to children in India. CRY believes that children – ALL children, everywhere - are individuals… NOT possessions of their parents or the state, NOT objects of charity, however well-intentioned. CRY believes that they are citizens in their own right, the future of their countries and the world, entitled to the full spectrum of human rights. Our focus is on the 4 basic rights of children. These were defined in 1989, by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international human rights treaty to which 191 countries, including India, are signatories.

• the right to survival - to life, health, nutrition, name and nationality
• the right to development - to education, care, leisure, recreation
• the right to protection - from exploitation, abuse, neglect
• the right to participation - to expression, information, thought and religion

CRY was started by seven young people in December 1978. CRY has learned over 26 years that ensuring these in a long-term and sustainable manner is only possible when we empower communities to address the root causes of illiteracy, poverty, discrimination and exploitation. CRY has realised that child rights cannot be ensured unless families have their livelihoods assured.

Join CRY in creating a world in which child rights for ALL children are not negotiable. Perhaps you can wipe the tears of an innocent little girl for an year with the money you spent on burgers and movies for a couple of days. You may sponsor a child, or at least his/her education or perhaps buy some merchandise, and light someone's face with a smile, than tears. Someone said "Everything you give out, comes back to you, some day, some way".

Read me: http://www.cry.org/

Trivia about Life

The average human life in today's world is around 60 years. If you analyse the break-up of activities associated with these 60 years of our life, you can see that it more or less matches with the following:

12 Years in Working

22 Years in Sleeping

04 Years in Routine Travelling

05 Years in Eating

03 Years in Bathing, Dressing etc...

06 Years in Useless Chatting, Gossip

04 Years in Sickness & Illness

Balance ? Only 4 Years

Why should mankind think, involve in activities that result in sufferings, terror, hatred, fighting, killings etc... in the short span of 4 years left to us. It needs to be utilized in a better way by doing all good things, helping others and thanking God for the opportunity given to us in being a human being...

Live and Let Live!

Crime busters unfold!

You thought the police were all some rough and tough guys, who see and deal everyone like criminals? Well, think again! They are as good as us, or perhaps better. They might be a nightmare for the criminals, but for the normal people they are the friendly neighbourhood heroes who let us live in peace. But again, if you thought all they do (or can do) is only hitting and shouting, you are wrong again. I know an IPS officer from Kerala who is very much into music. He has come up with some devotional albums and even did background score for couple of films. Yeah, you guessed it right; it is none other than the famous Tomin J. Thachankery IPS. While wandering in the blogspot, I came across another smart guy, who really deserves a standing ovation. This is another brilliant IPS officer from Karnataka, who even in his busy and tiring crime fighting schedules, managed to put together an excellent blog with information about what the real police is and what they are up to (most of us have conceived notions from those stupid films). It is B. Dayananda IPS, Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada District. Here is the link (much awaited) to his blog - http://www.spdk.blogspot.com/

Hats off to you Mr. Dayananda…!!

If you go to Kerala, this might help:
http://kerala.gov.in/dept_home/list.htm

Banking on Brand

It is a general trend in the so called big brands of IT industry, bargaining on salary for brand name. They offer you less salary, but instead try to lure you into the glamour of their brand. There have been instances where they try to offer even less than current CTC (Cost to The Company), especially if your current company doesn’t belong to one of those most sought-after brands. So finally the hapless software engineer is pushed to make a trade-off, brand vs. salary.

But there is something which most of the big brands forget, the attrition rate of employees. Recent trends have shown that the attrition rates are very high, especially in the big ones. Reason, once again IT engineers are in demand, and they are hopping from company to company in search of better perks and job satisfaction. So how to reduce attrition? Simple, pay according to market/industry standards.

A note to the IT community: So if the big brands are squeezing you out by paying groundnuts, you have your chance to payback. Work till you have enough of the tag and then move (ideal if you can make them feel you are wanted) to a startup or a decent company which pays you well. After all, there should be a balance right ;-)

Making of a Woman

By the time the Lord made woman, he was into his Sixth day of working overtime. An Angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered and said, "Have you seen the specification sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have 200 movable parts, all replaceable, run on black coffee and leftovers, have a lap that can hold two children at one time and that disappears when she stands up, have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart, and have six pairs of hands."

The Angel was astounded at the requirements for this one. "Six pairs of hands! No Way!" said the Angel.

The Lord replied, "Oh, it's not the hands that are the problem. It's the three pairs of eyes that she must have!"

"And that's just on the standard model?" The Angel asked.

The Lord nodded in agreement. "Yep, one pair of eyes is to see through the closed door as she asks her children what they are doing even though she already knows. Another pair in the back of her head is to see what she needs to know even though no one thinks she can. And the third pair is here in the front of her head. They are for looking at an errant child and saying that she understands and loves him or her without even saying a single word."

The Angel tried to stop the Lord. "This is too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish."

"But, I can't!" The Lord protested, "I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick & can feed a family on a pound of hamburger and can get a nine year old to stand in the shower."

The Angel moved closer and touched the woman, "But you have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft," Lord agreed, "but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think? ", asked the Angel.

The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason, and negotiate."

The Angel then noticed something and reached out and touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak with this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one."

"That's not a leak." The Lord objected. "That's a tear!"

"What's the tear for?" the Angel asked.

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her loneliness, her grief, and her pride."

The Angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything. Women are truly amazing."

Women have strengths that amaze men. They carry children, they carry hardships, but above all they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up for injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer, when they believe there is a better solution. They go without new shoes so their children can have them. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. Their hearts break when a friend dies, yet they are strong when you think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart. Women come in all sizes, colors and shapes. They'll do anything to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world spin! Women do more than just give birth. They bring joy and hope.

Hats off to you ladies!! Without a mom, sister, girl friend and a wife, life is unimaginable!

Eighth Wonder - Monument of Akshardham

After 5 years of non-stop, round-the-clock construction, the massive and awesome Akshardham Temple Monument to World Peace was inaugurated recently. The Akshardham Temple in New Delhi, India, constructed by the BAPS foundation -- the builders of the various Swaminaryan Temples across the world, is truly a modern day Wonder of the World.

It is one of the biggest and most intricate religious places of worship ever constructed. Combining several completely different and contrasting architectural styles of Hindu temple architecture of northern India -- Rajasthani, Orrisan, Gujarati, Mughal and Jain -- the Akshardham Monument is entirely constructed of marble and the red-sandstone that Delhi is famous for, and that so many of her monuments are constructed of. It was completed in only 5 years a world record of sorts

The Akshardham monument, built without steel, is entirely composed of sandstone and marble. It consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India’s great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities.

The monument is a fusion of several architectural styles of pink stone and pure white marble. Pink stone symbolizes bhakti (devotion) in eternal bloom and white marble of absolute purity and eternal peace. The monument was built after over 300 million man hours of services rendered by 11,000 volunteers, sadhus and artisans.

It is the one of the wonders of the modern world, and the wonders of modern India.

RAJU NARAYANASWAMY IAS

Update: 10Jan2012:

"Narayana Swamy was born into a middle class Kerala Iyer family from Changanassery, Kerala, India. He has a bachelors degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He reportedly turned down a MIT Scholarship in order to pursue a career with the Indian Administrative Service. He also ranked 1st in the 1991 Civil Services Examination and entered the Indian Administrative Service. Narayana Swamy is a prolific writer with 23 books to his credit. His work Santhimantram Muzhangunna Thazvarayil (Travelogue) won the 2004 Kerala Sahitya Akademi award. Among his recent works include Niram Mangiya Vazhithara, which is a translation of The Road of Lost Innocence, the English version of the French memoirs by Somaly Mam. He also has a passion for Mathematics and Physics which he opted as subjects for the Civil Services Examination" - write up from TED MICA Speaker List.

Biodata on NIC (National Informatics Centre):
http://persmin.nic.in/ersheet/MultipleERS.asp?HiddenStr=01KL019100

Nice Article on Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/06/28/stories/2010062850710100.htm


Update: 03May2010:

"Raju Narayana Swamy is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He is now Secretary to Government (Parliamentary Affairs and General Education Departments), Director General of the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs and Chairman,State Resource Centre, Kerala, India. He finished first in SSLC, first in Pre-Degree (now Plus Two), tenth in the IIT JEE,first in GATE (Graduate Aptitude Examination in Engineering) in terms of percentile, first in IAS entrance examination and first in the IAS training institute" - from Wikipedia

He made it to Wikipedia too.. kudos!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raju_Narayana_Swamy

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was my senior in school and college. He is from a middle class Iyer family and his father was a Math’s professor in S.B. College, Changanacherry. I remember what our class teacher once said about him. It was the mid-term exam of Physics. He usually scores full. This time, even though he did well, the teacher didn't give him full marks for one answer, and hence he missed 100% marks for the subject. Both Raju and the teacher knew that the answer is perfectly correct. So Raju went to the teacher with his answer papers. The teacher was expecting the same too. But to his astonishment, Raju humbly asked him suggestions to answer it better. The teacher was really shocked since he was expecting him to demand his deserved marks.

So read on more about this fascinating personality, who used to be the best in whatever he attempt!

First Rank in State in Secondary School Examination
First Rank in University in Plus Two
Tenth Rank in IIT Joint Entrance Examination
First Rank in All India IIT Computer Science
First Rank in IAS Entrance Examination
First Rank in IAS Training Institute

On passing out from IIT Chennai Mr. Narayanaswamy was offered scholarship by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He who came from a middle class family believed that he had a moral obligation to give something in return for the lakhs of rupees the government spent on him as an IIT student. He had the intelligence and conviction to realize that this money came also from the poorest of the poor - who pay up the excise duty on textiles when they buy cloth, who pay up customs, excise and sales tax on diesel when they travel in a bus, and in numerous other ways indirectly pay the government. So he decided to join IAS hoping he could do something for the people of this country. How many young men have the will power to resist such an offer from USA? Narayanaswamy did never look at IAS as a black money spinner as his later life bears testimony to this fact.

After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, today, Narayanaswamy is being forced out of the IAS profession. Do you know why?

A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned under law. An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub collector then, for an exemption from this rule for this plot of land. Upon visiting the site he found that the complaint from 60 poor families that they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up was correct. Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was his first confrontation with politicians.

Soon after his marriage his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint. When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result, his marriage broke up.

As district Collector he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment to government and carried out revenue recovery. A Minister directly telephoned him and ordered to return the forfeited articles to the house of the liquor baron. Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer.

In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers,but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But he created a lot of enemies for saving 8 crores public money.

The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools". This is what the politician will do to an honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service. But that too was denied on some technical ground. What will you do when you have a brilliant computer career anywhere in the world you choose with the backing of several advanced technical papers too published in international journals to your credit? When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme?

Mr. Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to take up a well paid United Nations assignment (or left?). The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of this country who will lose, not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayaswamy, G.R. Khairnar and Alphons Kannamthanam who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such politicians with these kinds of people dedicated to the country. The question is will you do the little you can do NOW? At least a vote or word in support of such personalities? Spread the word, at least let people be aware that there still exists some true Indians!