Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

Haven't been blogging since a while, trying to get back to it.. Time is the issue, there is a lot to blog about! Probably will get over the starting trouble with another interesting forward! Interesting, though may be a bit too generalised.. enjoy!

Human Brain Analysis - Man vs. Woman

1. MULTI-TASKING

Women - Multiple process
Women's brain is designed to concentrate on multiple tasks at a time. Women can Watch TV and talk over phone and cook. 
Men - Single Process
Men's brain is designed to concentrate only on one work at a time. Men can not watch TV and talk over the phone at the same time. They prefer to stop the TV while talking. They can either watch TV or talk over the phone or cook.

2. LANGUAGE
Women can easily learn many languages. But can not find solutions to problems. Men can not easily learn languages, they can easily solve problems. That's why in average a 3 years old girl has three times higher vocabulary than a 3 yeard old boy.

3. ANALYTICAL SKILLS
Mens brain has a lot of space for handling the analytical process. They can analyze and find the solution for a process and design a map of a building easily. But If a complex map is viewed by women, they can not understand it. Women can not understand the details of a map easily, For them it is just a dump of lines on a paper.

4. DRIVING
While driving a car, mans analytical spaces are used in his brain. He can drive a car fast. If he sees an object at long distance, immediately his brain classifies the object (bus or van or car) direction and speed of the object and he drives accordingly. Where woman take a long time to recognize the object direction/ speed. Mans single process mind stops the audio in the car (if any), then concentrates only on driving.

5. LYING
When men lie to women face to face, they get caught easily. Womans super natural brain observes facial expression 70%, body language 20% and words coming from the mouth 10%. Mens brain does not have this. Women easily lie to men face to face. So guys, do not lie face to face.

6. PROBLEMS SOLVING
If a man have a lot of problems, his brain clearly classifies the problems and puts them in individual rooms in the brain and then finds the solution one by one. You can see many guys looking at the sky for a long time. If a woman has a lot of problems, her brain can not classify the problems. she wants some one to hear that. After telling everything to a person she goes happily to bed. She does not worry about the problems being solved or not.

7. WHAT THEY WANT
Men want status, success, solutions, big process, etc... But Women want relationship, friends, family, etc...

8. UNHAPPINESS
If women are unhappy with their relations, they can not concentrate on their work. If men are unhappy with their work, they can not concentrate on the relations.

9. SPEECH
Women use indirect language in speech. But Men use direct language.

10. HANDLING EMOTION
Women talk a lot without thinking. Men act a lot without thinking

The Man Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down...  too good, couldn't help sharing! Even though a bit sarcastic, it brings out the basic difference between male and female psychology... perhaps you can check out the book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' for more info on this!

Finally, the guys' side of the story. We always hear 'the rules' from the female side! Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules!

Please note.. these are all numbered '1 ' ON PURPOSE! 

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say 'nothing,' We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or motor sports.

1. You have enough clothes

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape.  Round IS a shape!


1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight.
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.....

Pass this to as many women as you can -  
to give them a bigger laugh…actually doesn’t matter if they don’t

'Amen' - Autobiography of an ex-nun (after 33 yrs)

Ex-nun's confessions set to rock Kerala (India) Church..

Already reeling under several controversies, the Kerala Catholic Church is facing fresh embarrassment from a tell-all autobiography written by a nun who recently quit the Order alleging harassment from superiors. Apart from the Abhaya murder in which a nun and priests are accused, the Kerala Church was recently in the news for a priest “adopting” a 26-year-old woman.

'Amen — an autobiography of a nun’, released last week, is written by Dr Sister Jesme, 52, who was the Principal of St Mary’s College, Thrissur, till last August when she quit the Congregation of Mother Carmelite (CMC). Jesme’s autobiography includes a poignant version by her of how the convent authorities tried to twice prove that she had mental problems and get her admitted into a rehab centre after she reportedly spoke out against the malpractices within the Order

“Thirty-three years cannot be penned down in 180 pages but there are points the I want to make about the capitation fee, the quarrels that happen within the church, about the homo-sexuality, the hetero-sexuality,”

The state women's commission now says it will take up Jesme's case very seriously. “We are studying the matter and will take it up seriously. I cannot tell you anything more on this issue,” says State Women Commission Chairperson, Justice Sree Devi. The explosive life story of a Kerala nun, 'Amen - Oru Kanyasthreeyude Atmakatha' (Amen Autobiography of a Nun), by Sister Jesmi, is selling briskly in the state with its publishers having ordered a third reprint of 2,000 copies within weeks of its release.

Not long ago, a study had claimed that 25% nuns were unhappy in convents. ''It's a very courageous work. It's not easy for a person who has lived 30 years in a convent to bring out the undesirable things that happened there, particularly matters like jealousy and backbiting between sisters in responsible position,'' said M V Pylee, first vice chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology.

Before anyone jump into any conclusions, let us just be realistic and look at the background. Catholic church is the world's largest Christian church, representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world's population. The Church's highest earthly authority in matters of faith, morality and Church governance is the pope. The Church defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity.

It operates social programs and institutions throughout the world, including schools, universities, hospitals, missions and shelters, as well as organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Internationalis and Catholic Charities that help the poor, families, the elderly and the sick. Church played a big role in setting up hospitals and educational institutions all over then young, poor and budding India, which had tremendous influence in it's growth and progress.

Through apostolic succession, the Church believes itself to be the continuation of the Christian community founded by Jesus in his consecration of Saint Peter, a view shared by many historians. It has defined its doctrines through various ecumenical councils, following the example set by the first Apostles in the Council of Jerusalem. On the basis of promises made by Jesus to his apostles, described in the Gospels, the Church believes that it is guided by the Holy Spirit and so protected from falling into doctrinal error. Catholic beliefs are based on the Bible and on traditions handed down from the time of the Apostles, which are interpreted by a teaching authority. Those beliefs are summarized in the Nicene Creed and formally detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

With a history spanning almost two thousand years, the Church is one of the world's oldest institutions.

Although the Church maintains that it is the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" founded by Jesus Christ, where one can find the fullness of the means of salvation, it acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of other Christian communities to bring people to salvation. It believes that it is called by the Holy Spirit to work for unity among all Christians, a movement known as ecumenism. Modern challenges facing the Church include the rise of secularism and opposition to its pro-life stance on abortion and euthanasia.

Apart from above, the Church has been victim of many allegations, some proven to be right. Church also has many threats from new age Christians and communists/atheists. So the point is, don't use these odd and rare instances to generalize one of the oldest, biggest and yet surviving organization. It doesn't mean every priest or nun who is walking around in a clerical clothing is a pedophile, homosexual or some other kind of pervert. Catholic priests or nuns take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They also profess to obey certain guidelines for living and leave every earthly attachments and possessions behind, to serve the community and Jesus, spreading the message of love and melts off like a candle providing light and warmth to everyone around them.

But the devil is there everywhere, and we are all error-prone humans... no one is perfect. Even in the middle of the Eden garden with everything possibly around, in a perfect world, Satan was quite successful to convince Eve to sin :-)

So respect those who deserve it.. and respect them for what they are, not where they are!

Further reading:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/exnuns-confessions-set-to-rock-kerala-churc.../425407/
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kerala-nun-alleges-sexual-harassment-in-convents/85844-3.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Thirupuram/Nun-recalls-sexual-abuse-horror/articleshow/4158330.cms
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/society-has-right-to-know-whats-happening-to-nuns/426132/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Catholic-order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecrated_life_(Catholic_Church)

The Power of Positive Thinking?

‘I choose to speak positive things about my life and manifest positive things into my field of all possibilities’

‘Don’t say no, say Yes, Yes, Yes!’

Ah, I am tired of saying and thinking Yes. Above quotes are from some friends of mine who are overly obsessed with the ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’. Unfortunately I find it more appalling than appealing. Best wishes to all who believe in it, all I have to say is your beliefs come true! That is the power of faith. Oh and faith is not positive thinking, it is conviction, believing without doubt that something is true.

But personally, I always differ to the over inflated hypothetical theory on the 'power of positive thinking'. There is a power in thinking, I do agree... but that power by itself is not just enough to get things done. Hope is just an inspiration, a will to succeed, not a way to succeed. Oh ya, where there is will, there is way rite... but not always!

The idea of the 'power of positive thinking' is not a new one, it is something started in the first quarter of 20th century (1920s), and been very notorious and much debated since then. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was a Protestant preacher and author (most notably of the controversial The Power of Positive Thinking) is supposed to the progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking". It all started from a religio-psychiatric outpatient clinic next door to a church in Manhattan. The clinic was started by Peale and Smiley Blanton, a psychoanalyst. Blanton handled difficult psychiatric cases and Peale, who had no mental health credentials, handled religious issues. When Peale came under heavy criticism from the mental health community for his controversial book "The Power of Positive Thinking," (1952) Blanton distanced himself from Peale and even refused to endorse the book.

Peale is also the originator of another media stunt 'The Art of Living'. Some people are really good in talking non sense so convincingly that after a while you start believing it. They just say the things you already know and are very good in making you "feel" good. Peale's works came under criticism from several mental health experts, one of whom directly said Peale was a con man and a fraud. (Meyer, Donald. "Confidence Man." New Republic. July 11, 1955, pp. 8-10.)

As I summarized above, Peale, the father of this philosophy, is in no way qualified to put forward such a theory, and he was just a pastor. I have nothing against pastors, but generally they tend to be in a spiritually elevated state and try to pull lot of hypothetical theories from thin air, which might be very convincing and true for the poor common mass. Unfortunately, most of the religions enforce so called discipline on the followers and rarely do we question or think about what is thrust upon us by the religious leaders.


The main controversies about the theory were:

1) Hard to Substantiate
Most of these concepts are too vague and you just have to trust them. It is mostly assumptions and conclusions which is neither concrete nor can be proved substantially.


2) Concealed Hypnosis
Peale's "techniques" are actually a scientifically well known form of hypnosis, and he attempts to persuade his readers to follow his beliefs through a combination of self-hypnosis and false evidence. Peale asserts that practicing his "techniques" will give the reader absolute self confidence and deliverance from suffering. The critics, in turn, assert that the repetitive "techniques" are actually a well known form of hypnosis (autosuggestion), hidden under a thin guise with the use of terms which may sound more benign from the reader's point of view ("techniques", "formulas," "methods," "prayers," and "prescriptions."). One author called Peale's book "The Bible of American autohypnotism."

Psychiatrist R.C. Murphy writes that the repeated hypnosis defeats an individual's self motivation, self knowledge, unique sense of self, sense of reality, and the ability to think critically. Murphy calls Peale's understanding of the mind inaccurate, "without depth," and Peale's description of the workings of the mind and the unconscious mind as deceptively simplistic and false.


3) Exaggerated Fears
Peale exaggerates the fears of his readers and followers, and that this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression and the destruction of those considered "negative". "The mastery Peale speaks of is not the mastery of skills or tasks, but the mastery of fleeing and avoiding one's own "negative thoughts." Harvard Scholar Donald Meyer writes this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression. Positive thinking is an armchair activity. Believe it or not, being a balanced pessimist makes you proactive and preventive, avoiding many big failures and catastrophes in life! A very classic example, will you call a pilot who de-ices the airplane a pessimist who doesn’t believe in positive thinking? What would happen if the pilot ignores the ice and just believe nothing will happen? Would you take that chance? Similarly why do you want to take chance in your life by blindly believing in only positive things and ignoring the negative outcomes?



From my observations so far, I have seen this theory more misused than used for good. The power of positive thinking or the power of hope is the most widely used concept to misguide people by MLMs (Multi Layer Marketing, e.g.: Amway, Quest) and the New Age Churches (they sprung up these days like nuclear fission, or like a chain reaction.. every pastor who feels unimportant and unsuccessful in his church rebels and starts a new one). I would rather respect psychological theories coming from a scientist who is qualified to do so, than from a spiritually exalted pastor. I think they should stick to what they are good at… praying, spreading the message of love and peace, and explaining the bible!

What you need to succeed in life is harmony, a right blend of everything. Extremism and exaggeration won’t take you anywhere. I have seen many friends who are eccentric about 'thinking and uttering only positive' and hardly do anything positive and ultimately become a big failure. Also be very cautious these days, people are in constant search for such overrated bullshit ideas to make money. They can easily sell these in religious communities or as self-improvement trainings. Just google for positive thinking and find how many trainers, how many books and how many millions have already been made! Thinking positive is good, but don’t forget to act. And always, think independent and think free too!

For more info, read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale
http://www.todayisthatday.com/blog/the-powerful-problem-with-positive-thinking/

The Vote: Indian Nuclear Deal

N-deal has been the buzz word in media for a while now. And it has even brought the government to the edge of fall, alliance is broken and challenged to prove the majority. It prompted me to think freely and share my thoughts and info I found on the most controversial issue of the UPA government.


Indian power crisis
All the states under power cuts, starting from 30 minutes and soon to span over multiple hours. Industries get rationed power and at the verge of shutting down. Power costs to soon skyrocket making it unaffordable to common man as well as small businesses. Power which fuels the economic engine could well become the single biggest limiting factor as India tries to achieve a consistent 8% growth target. India still has more than two lakh villages to be electrified. If we already have a power shortage and can't sustain growth at just 8%, how can we even think about electrifying these?


The US Nuclear Scenario:
Watts Bar 1 in Tennessee, which came on-line in 7 February 1996, was the last U.S. commercial nuclear reactor to go on-line; and many more to follow soon. They already have two other plants which will go online by 2014. US aim to add new 34 more plants in near future. As of 2007 in the United States, there are 104 (69 pressurized water reactors and 35 boiling water reactors) commercial nuclear generating units licensed to operate, producing a total of 97,400 megawatts (electric), which is approximately 20% of the nation's total electric energy consumption. Also we should learn from the Nuclear Power 2010 Program, which coordinates efforts for building new nuclear power plants, and the Energy Policy Act which makes provisions for nuclear and oil industries. Nuclear expansion has been through the uprating (increasing in capacity) of existing power plants. In addition, the Browns Ferry 1 reactor rebuilt, uprated, and returned to service in June 2007, after being shut down for decades. On July 13, 2007, UniStar Nuclear, LLC, filed a combined license application (COL) with the NRC for construction of a new reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Station. It was the first COL application filed. TVA announced plans to complete construction of the Watts Bar 2 reactor. Watts Bar 2 received a construction permit in 1973. If the unit goes on line, it will be the last reactor to receive a construction permit and license separately. As of March 31, 2008, the NRC has received 9 COL applications and is currently reviewing them. Nuclear plants are the lowest-cost producer of electricity in US. Still The United States relies on diverse sources for electricity.


Current Indian Nuclear Scenario:
India currently has around 17 power plants, producing 4120 MWe (http://www.npcil.nic.in/PlantsInOperation.asp). The share of nuclear power from existing reactors in the power produced in our country today stands at approx 3%. We plan to add 20000MW thru the deal. Unfortunately India doesn't have nuclear fuels like plutonium and hence the deal to guarantee a steady supply of fuel. Around 70% of India's total power comes from Thermal Power Plants, which includes basically three types - Coal (60%), Gas and Diesel.The next biggest contributor to power supply is Hydro Power Plants, accounting for nearly 25% of the overall production. Nuclear and wind based power plants in addendum account for a dismal 3% and 1.5% respectively. Coal-based power plants have a share of about 60% and are the biggest contributors to the power supply in India. But almost 50% of the coal-based power plants are experiencing critically short supplies (just as NTPC had already shut down units in Orissa due to coal shortage and NTPC has already imported 3.2 MT to sustain its operation.) But again its not the natural scarcity but continuous neglect of the coal sector over the years that has led to the current situation.


The N-deal
The first round discussions of the deal started in 2005 Jul 15. The main aim of the deal is to provide fuel. It doesn't affect nuclear development/research in India. In 1985 China signed a similar deal for generation of 40000 MW. Being communist, China and America has strong investment relations. Are our communists against this to support China?

India has a stand alone and well defined foreign policy, and will continue to differ with US in other issues. CPI is banking on anti-US Muslim votes in Bengal and Kerala and play other cards like Iran etc. India is a secular country, respects every religion and all Indians are free to follow any religion of their choice. When some of the extremist Muslims left India to make their country Pakistan, Indian borders were open alike for both the Muslims and Hindus there who moved to India. Even though India is the third largest Muslim country (after Indonesia and Pakistan), we still protect and nurture Muslims as a minority community. Congress is a party which doesn't use religion to campaign votes and respects all religions alike. Congress has already made two Muslims as the president of India. CPM should learn to differentiate between financial and foreign relations between US and India.

BJPs Foreign Relations minister Jaswant Singh once called America as India's natural friend. But now BJP has aligned with CPM against the deal, merely as cheap political play hoping to come into power. And if nuclear weapon development is the reason, India can anytime break the deal and proceed in that direction. Even though CPM publicly protests again religious parties like BJP, they will go any length to make instability in the already economically falling apart country. Vajpayee and Advani became ministers for the first time in 1977 with CPM support only. But interesting BJP has now changed the stand saying they are not against the deal, but just want to re-negotiate it (and take the credit for it when they come to power, if they). Even a person with long term vision and sincerity and dedication to the country, our ex president Abdul Kalam also supports the cause very strongly. It is a bucket of options, cleaner and in long term the cheapest and most efficient.

CNN reports "The United States and India announced a landmark deal on nuclear cooperation for civil purposes that they said will benefit both countries and strengthen international non-proliferation efforts. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says the deal is a step toward "full civil nuclear cooperation." But the deal is drawing criticism as being too conciliatory to India and opening the way to the spread of nuclear weapons. For the first time in 30 years, India will have access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology, even though India, which has tested nuclear weapons, refuses to join international non-proliferation agreements. The new civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries will "offer enormous strategic and economic benefits to both countries, including enhanced energy security, a more environmentally friendly energy source, greater economic opportunities, and more robust non-proliferation efforts," the statement said. "I can assure you that the United State is not going to suggest a similar deal with any other country in the world. We have always felt of India as an exception," Burns said. "We've made the argument that India has not proliferated its nuclear technology. That India, in effect, outside the system, has played by the rules and the system would be strengthened by bringing it in. Under the pact, India would open its civilian reactors to international inspections in exchange for nuclear fuel and technology from the United States."

I was following the lok sabha debate today on TV. It is quite a shame to see the drama going on there. Why are the Indian politicians so undisciplined, uncivilized and irresponsible? The whole world is watching the developing India and it is shameful to see the politicians running around and shouting and not letting others to speak. I pity the speaker and he should have lot of patience to control these people. When will our elected leaders learn to behave and wait for their turn to speak?!

In parliament, when we listen to the debates of the politicians, we feel everyone is so right. Those are seasoned elocutionists with facts, figures and words carefully chosen by a group of high intellectuals beforehand. Every word they say has been analyzed and reviewed a million times. Advani commented that the current govt is paralyzed. It is the Indians to be blamed for that. We should abolish and ignore all the numerous parties that spring up everyday and focus on major parties and give them majority to rule alone without minority players pulling the strings. There is already around 11 parties in parliament and many times they play a crucial rule in getting a majority or decision making. Is it fair?

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on July 1, 1968. There are currently 189 countries party to the treaty, five of which have nuclear weapons: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the People's Republic of China (the permanent members of the UN Security Council). Through this N-Deal, India will also become part of it, acknowledged as a nuclear power which has weapons, which otherwise we cannot. India and Pakistan have publicly announced possession of nuclear weapons and have detonated nuclear devices in tests, India having first done so in 1974 and Pakistan following suit in 1998 in response to another Indian test.India is estimated to have enough fissile material for more than 250 warheads. Pakistan reportedly has between 80 and 120 warheads according to the former head of its strategic arms division. India is one of the few countries to have a no first use policy, a pledge not to use nuclear weapons unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons.

Quoting Sonia Gandhi : 'Our government has signed an international agreement that will enable more nuclear power plants to generate power. I am sure many of you are asking yourselves why this is so important. It is extremely important because as our economy grows, the demand for power would rise. We need power for our farms, hospitals, schools, factories and every home in every village.'

An increase in the production of nuclear power decrease our demand for, and consumption of, oil for generating energy. But our dependency of oil for generating power is very low, less than 10%. At present, power from existing nuclear reactors costs, after huge subsidies, between Rs 2.70 and Rs 2.80 per kWh. The coal-fired Sasan mega power project in Madhya Pradesh will be supplying power at Rs 1.196 per unit. The real cost of power from existing nuclear reactors is around Rs 4 per unit; the cost of power produced by new reactors will be around Rs 5.50 per unit. Compare this to the real cost of power produced at thermal plants: Rs 2.50 per unit. Again the uranium market, monopolized by a clutch of suppliers and controlled by an even smaller group of countries, is as, if not more, volatile than the oil market. But in US, Nuclear plants are the lowest-cost producer of base load electricity. The average production cost of 1.76 cents per kilowatt-hour includes the costs of operating and maintaining the plant, purchasing fuel and paying for the management of used fuel. Still The United States relies on diverse sources for electricity. Together, coal and nuclear energy provide almost 70 percent of supply. Natural gas supplies 21.5 percent; hydro power, 5.8 percent; oil, 1.6 percent; and renewable and other sources, 3.2 percent.

So in short, the nuclear power can be cheaper if we have internal resources for fuel. What if our brilliant scientists come up with fuel resources here itself? Then it is a totally different ball game. Power from coal is cheap , no doubt. But the amount of coal used to produce 10,000Kw of power in comparison with nuclear is much higher. Also add the pollution, mining and so on. If we depend only on coal, we will have to import coal. Also, the amount of Energy generated by Nuclear supply will be 10 times that produced by thermal power. And as far as hydro resources, we are very much dependent on rain and there is high resistance from environmentalists to setup a new plant due to massive destruction of woods that may affect forest life. India is working on Solar capability, and has reserved 35000 sqKm in Rajasthan for solar projects but unfortunately, this technology is nowhere near it's prime time. Lot's of research going on and with nanotechnology they hope to increase efficiency by 2-3 times and the costs are coming down too, but at this stage it does not compete with Nuclear. The power generated by other conventional means, is no different to the power generated by nuclear reactors. Most of the thermal power plants are already importing coal. Our coal has high ash content and less BTU value and less efficient. Wind energy and other renewable energies are not adequate to fulfill the requirements of power as needed for a growth rate of 9%. The fossil fuels like oil and natural gas available are not adequate to meet the requirements. Large quantities are required for import, which is prohibitive with the existing prices. So the deal. Again the deal is not US specific, US is just a facilitator.

But it is quite pitiful that our media including Times Now Arnab Goswami is trying to downplay the N-deal and trust vote as a pre-election staged stunt. Definitely it is in the best interest of the Congress as the ruling party to close the deal and get the credit of it, which they started 3 years back. If they can't, it is almost sure that the next ruling party (say BJP) will definitely go ahead with it and add it to their list of achievements. After all this trouble, Congress should sit idle with their hands tied?

In summary, the N-deal is not the full and final answer, it is just another prominent mean to reach the goals. As educated and intelligent Indians, we shouldn't take any one's word for granted. Never trust anyone completely, but listen to everyone, do your research and then understand the facts and support the right ones. Many politicians are biased and many others are forced to stand by their party policy than to have an opinion of there own. Even the press and many articles on the net are quite biased too. Nuclear energy is the only other suitable energy which can make big difference (20000 MW) and government can not work on this due to international restraints. Already 3 years are wasted, now we should do something. India is in a critical stage of its growth path. It is like now or never. With demographic and other advantages, we are on the way to become one of the world powers soon. It is the right time and we should take right action at the earliest to make use of the opportunity. God bless India!


More Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_and_WMD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/reactsum.html

Will nuclear power benefit the masses?
http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/21kanchan.htm

Nuclear Energy Institute - Reliable & Affordable Energy
http://www.nei.org/keyissues/reliableandaffordableenergy/

Energy Crisis in India
http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde/Archive/vol3_ed6/energy_frame.htm

You can help change the world.. world communty grid

World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. It is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. The success depends on individuals - like you - collectively contributing their unused computer time to this not-for-profit endeavor.

Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! They provide the secure software that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. No other action must be taken; it's that simple! To learn more and join, click below:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp

The Grid Sponsor
IBM Corporation, a leader in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, has donated the hardware, software, technical services and expertise to build the infrastructure for World Community Grid and provides free hosting, maintenance and support. Another classic example of IBM's technological leadership, innovation and commitment to the society.

How Grid Technology Works
Making a difference has never been easier! Grid technology is simple and safe to use. To start, you register, then download and install a small program or "agent" onto your computer.

When idle, your computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid's server. It will then perform computations on this data, send the results back to the server, and ask the server for a new piece of work. Each computation that your computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of research!

I already installed it on my work and personal machines, have you? I am helping to fight AIDS and help conquer Cancer!!

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/