Contemplations Of My Notions

Iktara :)

2011-11-23T23:25:00.007+05:30

It was yet another day at work, hectic yet satisfying day. Sauntering down idly while waiting for the very dedicated security guy to arrange for my cab, I decided to set some music into my ears. As soon as the lovely instrumental music of iktara from Wake up sid started off, I found myself nostalgic.

“Orey manva tu to bavra hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte....”

As the lovely song played, I could see myself down memory lane, memories and moments running down my mind. I realized the "change" around me and inside me in the past three years. These have been the most happening days of my life, I could feel the very first day when I stepped into this all new city, yet found it so amicable. New relationships blossomed and it felt wonderful to find great friends among total strangers.

Carried away by the song, I browsed through the pictures clicked with my phone and I could feel the change in the past few years. People, situations, relationships and thoughts have changed. I said to myself "Change is good"! Thoughts on how much change one can bring to one's own life was overwhelming. Life is all about doing the right things, yet things do go wrong at times. The essence is learning from events and adapting oneself.

Live the moment and never regret! Its all about being consent. Cherish moments and relationships, they truly add color to one's monochrome life. I felt all thankful to this wonderful song from Wake up sid for arousing in me the sweet realization of the precious moments in life! Iktara :)

and it goes on....

“Orey manva tu to bavra hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

(Nainon ko moond moond)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon, dekh na sakoon

Anjaane raastein

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Dheeme bole koi iktara iktara, dheeme bole koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Sun rahi hoon sudh budh khoke koi main kahani

Poori kahani hai kya kise hai pata

Main to kisiki hoke yeh bhi na jaani

Ruth hai ye do pal ki ya rehgi sada

(kise hai pata… kise hai pata)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

(Nainon ko moond moond)

Jo barse sapne boond boond

Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon, dekh na sakoon

Anjaane raastein

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara

Dheeme bole koi iktara iktara, dheeme bole koi iktara

Gunjasa hai koi iktara iktara, gunjasa hai koi iktara..”

Black and White!

2011-07-31T13:14:00.008+05:30

They are contrary but are considered a clan and often spotted not much without each other. Interestingly this metaphor applies to human nature too. Human nature is rather very bewildering when analyzed with pessimism. Look at it with optimistic glasses and you'll find them relatively frank and apprehensible. No one is perfect and yes I have learnt it much.

I love analyzing people around me and used to have the habit of categorizing people as either bad or good :P. Yes, I know, whats on your mind now. But I am no longer the same. I am a bit matured now, when it comes to human psychology :). Bliss! Nevertheless perfect too. Analyzing people is pretty much a great experience. You get to know the constructive and destructive qualities. I have known people who love to put up a notorious cloak and talk about their mischief, yet strange but true, they'll be the first to help out a person in trouble, with a clean heart lacking any hidden intentions. Then again we have the so called "goody-goody" clan who never wait to think about ways to project their virtues and yet don't miss an opportunity to bad mouth others to depict their superiority over the rest. These superficial characters are hard to decipher but once you get to taste their medicine you will never fall for their ill plots. You can never feel aura with these people, instead there will alwyas be an air of hostility haunting you when you are around them. Don't be dejected, its not just you or me who have seen people of this sort, instead they exist everywhere. Whats life without a pinch of salt? Learn to handle them tactfully with a humorous attitude. Let them know not to take you for granted.

Hopefully there exist openhearted people too who have still kept humanity alive in our community. Support them and make them feel great for the virtues they hold. Yet again people are not perfect. These cherubs may come with their share of not so appreciable qualities. But still it can be assured that such characteristics will never be a threat to the well-being of others. Though imperfect they will always lend a helping hand when you so much look forward to it. Unlike the so called "goody-goody" one's who get lost somewhere when people look forward for help.

Learn to have an optimistic look. Life is not to make use of others. It is to understand and be supportive to others. There may be a joy of pride in pointing-fingers at others, but it deprives you of the self respect that is very much important for pride. Take people as they are. Don't trust anyone blindly with the way they project themselves, a good mould need not always have a safe shadow. Adding to this, a so called bad egg need not have skeleton in the closet. Good is not really good and bad is not totally bad. Trust the true sense of a person. It is hard to uncover, but once discovered will give you an eternal bliss irrespective of what the discovery was. Trust none blindly and don't judge a person by how they behave with you during the rosy days. This will give you a great outlook on the people around you and save you from falling prey to the plots of evil attitude. Everything is just black and white!

Its all a gimmick

2011-07-24T16:49:00.002+05:30

Years down with memories infinite

Wrapping bonds that no spider can weave

Time fades but moments engrave

You find yourself bonded beyond your sense.

Happiness is now being with your bonds

Its not what you made, but its where you grew,

The folks who saw your naiveness as a child

Your care as a kin and forfeits as a kith.

But they vanish time out of mind

It is just auld langsyne that existed

For none but yourself

Those were bonds that were just non enduring.

Its all a gimmick

All because it was sans trust and sans faith

Was bond that was never expected and wished for

Over the time they dont exist instead they hurt

Hurt with criticism and infidelity

Its then you realize it was all a gimmick!

Joy of achievement

2010-08-28T19:08:00.003+05:30

No matter what you do,

No matter how you do,

If you succeed,

There's no big deal,

But when you do what you love,

You feel true joy

Sometimes in life,

You can't do what you like,

Still you can try to like

what you do,

But still you'll be gleeful,

when you do what you really love.

But not all are lucky

to do what they love,

Still there's joy,

In hoping to achieve

the distant dream

to be fulfilled

in near future

So try to love what you do,

Still hold on to what you really love,

There'll be a day when you can do,

what you really want to do,

Still try to be the best,

at whatever you do,

who knows you'll like,

things when you feel the sense of achievement..

Taj - The Coastal Queen

2009-11-26T18:14:00.004+05:30

They came from the sea,
Like Mermaids whom no one sees,
They were all set to hurt the queen,
The queen of all hotels,
The serene Taj!

They were just some guests,
But were loaded with terror for the rest.
Terror engulfed the heritage,
De-voiding it of its tranquility,
Arousing in it all fears.

It was our coastal castle,
A home away from home.
At the sight of it,
My heart smiled,
But now i was seeing it cry.

Gun shots and grenades echoed,
Fire blazed high in the air above.
The Queen was still alive,
Calm amidst all hue and cry.
She was Taj! Our beloved Taj!

Wasabi and Golden Dragon,
the beautiful eyes of queen,
Were blinded with shots,
The queens elegance was slowly killed,
But still the queens heart still lived.

The Queens crown,
The heritage dome,
was burning like Rome,
While its bejeweled interiors,
were now left with burns and scars.

Pigeons were scared away,
never seen singing for the queen anymore,
the queen stood crying at its fellowmen's death,
and saw warriors shed blood to save her,
Staying mute with all the pain.

It was an attack to divide us,
An attack to kill the queen,
But the queen lived,
So did we,
Having gained the lost unity.

Patriotism bubbled,
Riots vanished,
Unity came up,
And the queen tried to cope up.
Long Live Taj, Our coastal Queen.

The Magic Of Positive Energy

2009-11-17T13:37:00.005+05:30

Ever wondered how you would have been if your thoughts were different from what you possess? Just imagine how your life would have been if you had thoughts contrary to what you have. The answer for me is and I guess for most of us would be that our life not be the same. It would just be totally a turnaround. So we realize that our thoughts play a prime role in deciding our lives. It is our thought that decides what we turn out into and what we are.

Our thoughts can be either positive or negative. In my case formerly it was totally negative. I always looked at the negative side of every event. I had a blind faith that i may depress myself by expecting any positive result, in the event that my expectation goes unfulfilled. But eventually, I started feeling that I am running out of hopes. I am running out of wishes. Then i thought, why should I stop wishing just considering, the fear of my wish staying unfulfilled. It made me feel that there is no life without wishes and expectations. Expectations and wishes are the roads to improvement. Only by expecting and dreaming, we will try to change our lives and ameliorate ourselves. In simple words, I started gaining positive energy since then.

One of my friends’ words on positive energy played a vital role in bringing about positivity inside me. This friend of mine always talked about positive energy and suggested me to read the book "Secret - The Law of Attraction" by Rhonda Byrene. Initially I was reluctant to think about positive energy and positivity. But slowly when I realised that I as lacking positive energy, I started reading the book. To be honest, I was totally moved by it. It gave a whole new meaning to life. I started feeling how drastically positivity can change our lives.

After talking so much about positive energy, I would like to tell what positive energy really is. In simple words, it is just looking at the brighter side of everything. It is about having a good hope and the feeling that everything happens for good. Now just think how many times have you failed in your life? Once? twice? or countless times? And what have you learnt from your failures? The reason for the failure and how it can be avoided in future, or have you gained the fear of failures and wishes. If the answer is latter, then it means you lack positive energy. So one has to break the binds of fear and start living with hopes. On should realize the fact that success always comes after failures.

To accompany my stand on success and failures, I would like to bring to your notice the success story of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was just an ordinary person like all of except that he lived with extraordinary dreams. Right from his childhood he had been struggling hard to survive. As a child, his mother had put him up for adoption, and later he was adopted by a mediocre couple. As he grew up, he eventually joined a reputed college whose fees were too high for his parents to afford. Amidst such financial troubles, Steve tried hard to make a living. He could not even afford for a square meal. So he used to visit the Hare Rama Hare Krishna temple to take the benefit of the free meals provided there. Ultimately one day Steve just dropped out of college, owing to his financial problems and just joined simple free calligraphy classes for fun. Through those classes he learnt the magic of fonts and all their technicalities. Slowly, Steve started working on his skills and one day came out with the Mac. Mac was a great success. He incorporated the calligraphy skills that he had been acquainted with and created a milestone in the history of computers, “Fonts”. Just wonder if, Steve had not dropped out of college, would we have had the wonderful fonts we enjoy these days? Steve struggle dint end just with the success of Mac. He had much more to experience. Apple, the company founded by Steve, fired Steve one day. It was a blot from the blue for Steve. But the challenging spirit of Steve, made him start new ventures and finally he got his control on Apple again. Today, he is the messiah who has given us out of the box gadgets like iPod and iPhone, that will never be called just an mp3 player or a yet another mobile phone. In an interview Steve Jobs had quoted

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.”

So friends, I would like to conclude that every one of us, has to be and need to be positive. Positive energy is the root to success and happiness. After all if we lack positive energy and don’t believe in ourselves, who else will?

Delhi Turns Boggy With Lashing Rain

2009-08-21T21:12:00.003+05:30

Indias capital Delhi drenched hard as it rained buckets this noon in Delhi. Waterlogged pits, Flooding roads, Cars turning into ships and uprooted trees were a common scene in Delhi today as Delhi witnessed a 2 Hour Marathon Rain. Traffic was pulled off, trees were uprooted, roads were flooded all owing to the lashing rains in Delhi. As it rained cats and dogs in the capital, the whole city witnessed a halt and all the buzz in the buzzing capital was hushed by the gushing rains.

Mumbai has been witnessing heavy down pour every year, but it is first time that the National Capital has witnessed a maniac rain. Most of the parts in the city were almost flooded in the marathon rain that started at around 2.30 p.m. Delhi received 74 mm of rainfall in just two hours. This heavy downpour brought the day temperature in Delhi down to 22 degrees Celsius.

The whopping rain left severe implications on various aspects of the city. Traffic was jammed up, flights were cancelled, roads waterlooged and low lying areas submereged. All this accounts for the poor civic maintance and the pathetic conditions of essential infrastructure in the Capital. While a Capital should be a role model to the nation with perfect civic implementations, the Delhi civic structure has proved to be stain.

Adding to the trouble was the Delhi Metro construction. The areas under Metro construction have loosened sand and mud already. The lashing rains have worsened the situation in such areas making them unbearable.

Traffic in the city jammed up for hours as roads were flooded with water. The unattended manholes and potholes in several places added to the pain of drivers. Cars and bikes were starnded in the midst of the heavy traffic for hours. Emeregency call lines were set up to bring the traffic under control. Public was advised to enquire the traffic status of concerend areas with the emergency traffic helplines before stepping out of their houses.

With the troubling rains, the city administartion got into troubled water for poor maintance of roads. The administartives started a blame game to get a clean chit for themselves. Authorities said they were helpless and the blame game began between the civic agencies.

Within an hour of the rain, there was chaos on the Delhi roads with reports of waterlogging on several key, arterial stretches, delayed flights, red lights going on the blink and choked drains. Waterlogging complaints were recorded in around 12 areas, trees uprooted in 14 places and traffic messed up almost on every bus road. Even flights out of the national capital were either suspended, rescheduled or cancelled. A portion of the new domestic terminal building was damaged due to the rain and a bit of roof fell down. This has brought to question, the quality of cnstruction in vital places like Terminals that must are expected to be rigid.

All that matters under such situations is the power of public. Public can engage in helping out the starnded ones and take initiatives to clear up the uproooted trees instead of waiting for the municipal authorities to come up and take clearing up actions. Such scenarios bring out the unity among the people of the city and will bring up the true spirit of the city. The Mumbai spirit is worthmention, when it comes to managing crisis like heav rains. Once when it rained buckest of 98 cms in Mumbai, causing, cars and buses to be stranded for more than 8 hours, the kind heart of the public reflected in the helping hand lend to the suffering people. Local people of the nearby areas brought food and water to the passengers who were grid locked in traffic. These actions restore ones faith in humanity and refreshes the commom bond shared by us, the bond of being an "Indian".

27 Dresses - A Dainty Wedding Fantasy

2009-08-15T20:18:00.009+05:30

Weddings have a charm of their own. Neverthless English weddings have a mesmerizing trait that no one can resist. I have always been fond of movies that are centered around weddings, because I love seeing the white, the pink and all the shades of purple and violet that dominate the color wheel of these wedding oriented movies. The whole ambience of these movies brings joy. The colorful decorated rooms, carefully dressed tables adorned with attractive table clothes and laces, attractive poles delicately draped in finespun lavender and white chiffons, lilies, all attractive flowers and abundance of white- the purest color almost make me feel swept off my feet for the English Weddings.

"27 Dresses" now tops my list of favorite wedding movies. It was recently that I could catch a glimpse of this down to earth story of a bridesmaid who longs for a day when she can be the queen - "The bride" and not yet another bridesmaid. The story revolves around a naive, down to earth girl Jane who has a very unique hobby of being the "Brides Maid" and whose wardrobe floods with heavy, vivid, colorful dresses that were once her bridesmaid dress for one of those weddings in which she was a bridesmaid.

Jane is simple, sweet and caring while her sister Tess is a city-bred, careless girl who just focuses on enjoying life to the core. Jane, a single woman who has served as a bridesmaid a shocking 27 times wrestles with the prospect of supporting her sister at the altar on number 28, despite having fallen helplessly in love with her smitten sibling's handsome husband-to-be. Jane (Katherine Heigl) has the kind of altruistic traits that everyone looks for in a friend, yet lately the perennial bridesmaid has begun to feel as if something is missing in her life.

One night, local newspaper reporter Kevin (James Marsden) spots the devoted bridal attendant racing between receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and quickly surmises that her quirky tale may be just the story to get him off the bridal beat and into the big time. Immediately suspicious of the cynical reporter's motivations, Jane tries to get rid of Kevin just as her younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) shows up in town. While Jane has always put the needs of friends and family before her own wants and desires, she's suddenly prompted to reevaluate her priorities when her boss, with whom she is secretly in love, falls for her younger sister Tess. When Tess and Jane's boss George (Edward Burns) make plans to marry, the smitten younger sibling mistakenly assumes that her lovelorn older sibling will be happy to take part in the wedding. For as far back as Jane can remember, she has sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of those she holds dearest, but now that her heart has been broken, she's finally found the courage to be honest with herself. Now, as Jane finally comes to terms with her true feelings, her life begins to change in ways she never expected.

Slowly Kevin starts getting along more with Jane so as to learn more about her and get all her information that could fetch him more content for his article on this one of a bridesmaid. Kevin is very keen about his article as it will be the key to his achieving a better position in his firm and meeting the promise made to his boss. Gradually as Kevin starts learning more about Jane, he gets allured by her innocence and flawless care for family. At a point when both Jane and Kevin start liking each other, Kevin's boss publishes Kevins article on Jane without Kevins knowledge. Grief-stricken b the humiliation caused by the article, Jane starts looking at Kevin as a traitor who played with her emotions. Alas! Kevin who had decided not to publish the article, but simply propose to Jane finds himself helpless. Later, Jane realises that Tess has created a false personality in the eyes of her boss so as to impress him. Jane is shocked b this truth and makes up her mind that she wont let her dream man to be cheated by her own sister. So when Tess asks Jane to prepare a wedding presentation, Jane adds in all pictures that show off the real Tess, which is totally different from the kind of person with whom George has fallen in love with. Eventually, when the real character of Tess is showcased, George decides to break up with Tess.

But then Tess confesses to Jane that she had truly changed and was not the old regardless lass anymore. At this Jane repents on her mistakes and both of them renew their lovel sisterhood with all love ad care. Finally Jane realises that Kevin was helpless when an article on her being a "Bridesmaid"for 27 times was published and she feels true love for Kevin and decides to confess it to Kevin. So as usual, its a happy ending movie, with Jane's long due dream being fulfilled - es eventually Jane marries Kevin and she is blessed with 27 different bridesmaids for her wedding! :)

Eyes That Care

2009-08-08T23:44:00.005+05:30

A kind look makes the heart melt,

A sweet word makes the care felt,

But its the true love and seamless care,

That wins over hearts everywhere.

Look at people for what they feel,

But not for what they look,

Because what you see is never what you feel,

It is just like diamonds and carbons indeed.

Feel the eyes and feel the care,

As everyone seems to care,

But only few eyes really care to care,

And never lose the ones who care.

Look into the eyes,

That open up into the heart,

Trust only those balls that beam with care,

Not those that just look fair.

Trust in feel,

Trust in care,

For all you need is,

Someone who cares to care!

Scintillating Emotions

2009-07-23T00:02:00.003+05:30

Emotions are the simplest, sweetest yet speechless expressions of our mind. Emotion decides what you are and how you are. If you are too emotional then bliss! I am one of you too. Emotion is like a cloud of thoughts that cast their spell on us and dictate our actions every now and then. Having written so much on social and personal issues I decided why not write about something that resides within us, spreads with us and moves with us - yes of course, its our emotion.

Smile, Tear, Anger, Anixety, Surprise are all parts of our sweet life. These teeny-weeny feelings add a splash of drama to our life. Had there been no emotions, we would stay just as "zombies" - sans feeling, sans trust, sans sorrow and sans joy! Life without emotions is just a plain colorless canvass. Its the splash of emotions that bug out into our life that makes our life colorful.

Sometimes we are sad, sometimes happy, sometimes depressed and most times in a wild state. But have you ever tried walking down memory lane and trying to have a recap of your emotional joourney? All anger, all sorrow, all pain and all depression you had experienced would have in some or other way taught you a new lesson and that realisation would draw a sweet smile on our face when you visit your emotional journey. So never hold on to the minuscule sorrows and failures oof your life, but enjoy the experience of life. Get through all possible emotions destined for a human being and live life to the core.

The different activiteies that we perform are all the reflections of my emotions. I have seen m friends and family ask me what went wrong when I appear to be lull or agitated. Its because our actions are different, your loved ones know that your emotion is not in the normal happy state. You dance, you sing, ou jump, all when you are happy. You brood, stare, bite your nails (he he) all when you are glum. So emotions are like the keys of a key activetated doll. These keys of emotion decide how we dnace and how we brood.

Getting emotional is too good at times. Because it brings out the true person inside you. These days people seem to have moulded themselves inside some shield of perfection and indifference. Everyone tries to put up a professional attitude and pretend to be indifferent to the simple joys and feelings. But they forget the fact that enjoying all the emotions and drenching in all drops of tears and joy is the true achievement. Be happy-go-lucky, laugh, smile, enjoy, cry and even get angry (sometimes, not always!!!!). Experience all possible emotions and respect the emotions of our family and friends. Understand that people are never bad, people are never hurting, its just the emotion that makes them do that. Sometimes you may become a victim of your emotion and end up hurting someone too. So learn to understand the emotions of humans and respect emotions. Shade your life with all emotions so that ou can have some very interesting moments when you walk down your emotional memory lane.

Vincent Van Gogh has quoted out rightly,

"Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it. "

One Life To Love

2009-07-17T20:14:00.007+05:30

I have always wondered what this Life is all about. Why do we live? What is the purpose of this life? and What are we meant to achieve in this Life? Success, Assest, Money and Family make up the priorities of ones life. In this wild-goose chase of achievements and assests, love and fun which form the essence of life are left far behind. The simplicity of life is buried deep amidst all the mercenary and stinginess that are plethoric in the current da world.

Fun, frolic and innocenece seem to have vanished into the dark woods. People no longer have straightforward thoughts and wishes. All people look out for his money and position. But why? Dont friendship, family and love mean anything? Is making mone and achieving success all that matters?

People are ready to go to any extent to achieve success and assests these days. One seems to have forgotten that succes is just a means for joy. Instead one sacrifics all joy and fun, just to achieve suceess. I believe such a life is nothing but plain existance. One needs to understand the true meaning of life, which is gaining experiences. One needs to enjoy and live every moment. Because time once spent cant be gained back, one must try to enjoy every instant of life. Life is to be spent happily no matter what. One has to learn to live with sorrows and failures and accept them as part of life. Everyhing wont be fine always, somewhere something may go wrong, so one has to cope up with such incidents and live life with the same attitude and spirit. People should leave behind worldly-minded attitude and take up a simple, sweet life. It is then that one can have the true fun of life.

I would like to quote one of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's quotes on life and happiness,

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -
the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile,
a kind look,
a heart-felt compliment,
and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling

As conveyed in this quote, the true joy of life lies in tiny activities and events. Learn to pay attention to the tiniest aspects of your life. Everyday spend some time with your loved ones, give someone a compliment, appreciate someone for their work, take time to pamper yourself and take time to smile at some stranger. Enjoy every moment of life and make life memorable.

Magical Threads Of Trust

2009-07-15T22:44:00.001+05:30

Trust, is the one magical word that gives true shape to our life. Trust is the most valuable gift that we can offer to our loved ones. Have you trusted anyone blindly? Do you believe in blind faith? If no, then you have missed the essence of life. The sheer joy of Life is in blindly trusting our dear ones. "Trust" is that simple element that forms the gist of all true relationships.

Everyone loves to trust, likewise everyone likes to be trusted too. Trust gives joy both to the one who trusts as well as to the entrusted. But why do we feel happy when we are trusted? What makes us feel contented when we win over our loved ones trust? Is it a sense of achievement? Is it a feel of accomplishment? No! Its not! We feel happy when we are trusted blindly because we feel that our care and affection has been recognised. We are assured of the fact that our care is accounted for and is equally respected by the one who enjoys the care.

Relationships sans trust are just like sugarfree cakes. Trust is that fragile thread that strogly binds people together. I have experienced relationships in life that had no speck of trust, still they existed vaguely, but eventually ended up in no sweet memory and no feel of attachment. This is what happens to relationships that lack trust. Such relationships can better be referred to as acquaintances. Most of the times when we are in a new surrounding, we will be longing for trust and friendship. Initially we will be allured towards people who superficially seem to share characteristics and wishes much similar to us. We gradually get along well. Then with the passage of time, we start feeling that inspite of spending a long time, there is no emotional attachment and neither is there any strong bond with them. This is because this new relationship was based on similarities and not on trust. So, relationships that lack the principle ingredient of trust are just transient.

Now think about yourself, your life and the kind of relationships that you have built till date. The dearest person in your life will be the one whom you trust, regardless of the similarities you share. So it is not similarities of interests or thoughts that nurture a relationship. Its the feeling of trust and care that pampers and nourishes a relationship.

So, If you want a happy life and a happy relationship, trust in trusting your loved ones blindly. Believe me, there is great joy in trusting. All your obstacles and problems seem half intense when you have an entrusted person trusting you and supporting you at all crossroads of life. Trust in the simple threads of trust and enjoy the difference in your life.

Incommodiousnesses of Expectation

2009-07-15T19:51:00.000+05:30

Expectation is the simplest of human emotions. Expectation is just the simple desire to achieve ones wishes. Expectation reflects in every teen-weeny action and Expectation is the sole thread that holds up our lives.

But still Expectation is one of the most pain arousing actions too. Ever wondered why? Its simple, every sorrow and pain is the simple consequence of an unfulfilled expectation. Every heart knows that Expectations are prone to bring out sorrow, still each heart loves to expect. All this is because there is great joy in expectation. The joy of expectation always outshines the fear of unfulfilled wishes and that induces the sweet little heart to expect further.

In the initial stages of life, expectations will be more predominant. But gradually through our experiences with expectations, we realize the complexity of expectation. Then tardily we learn to supress our expectations. Still expectations never get washed off. Our heart still loves to expect, but the intensity and frequeny of expectation comes down. This is the common phenomena of human expectations and thats how our joy and pain are intermngled.

I wonder, how life would have been if we had no expectations. Sometimes when I stand staring at my unfulfilled expectations, I just feel why do I expect. Ironically, this feel never comes up when my heart bubbles up with groovy expectations :). Can't we live without expecting? Can't our life be void of wishes?.....I think the answer is no. Testifying my thought is the fact that ever single day we live is the outcome of our expectation. The simple and sweet expectation to see tomorrow. The subtle wish that one's wishes may take shape some day, it is this simple expectation that powers

In my opinion, the worst form of expectation is expecting care and concern from other fellow humans. Most of the times such expectations go shattered deep into the ground. At the same time we may also be the cause of hurting someone Else's expectation of love and care. While other material expectations, though unfulfilled don't leave a scar in ones heart, emotional expectations leave an enduring influence on the heart . So my simple notion of happy expectations is to expect feasible materialistic achievements but not emotional achievements. If at all we want to be cared by some fellow humans then why not show our umpteen care for them? Why not give all our expected care to the person from whom we wish to be cared? This way we can feel the joy of having cared and expressed concern. As we all know, there is great joy in giving, similarly, there is wonderful joy in fulfilling our expectation on some one else. It creates a habit of sacrifice and benevolence that arouse true joy.

This life is perked up by expectations, but its the feasible expectation that adds pep to the life. The happiness of life is just like a flower which can be watered by expression of care and love for others. Sacrifice and benevolence are the two staple ingredients for a happy expectation and a happy life. So, Live and let live!

The Bubble Life

2009-07-13T21:03:00.001+05:30

At times I feel,
My Joy is so real,
The very next instant I feel,
The joy was just ephemeral.

At times I feel,
The world is so pally,
But very soon I feel,
It bubbles with hostility.

At times I feel,
Life is so flowery,
But soon I realize,
It has a flowery life.

At times I feel,
All the feeling is so real,
But soon i feel,
Everything is surreal,
Everything is just a bubble!

Zubbles: The Colorful, Zippy Bubbles

2009-07-11T13:42:00.000+05:30

Who doesn't love bubbles? Those simple balls that bring up a subtle smile, no matter what. Bubbles are the simplest form of decoration, that create a sense of joy. It is because of the joy arousing capabity of bubbles that kids love playing with bubbles. Bubbles with their transparent texture give a whole new perspective to the world. The rainbow spectrum, the glossy texture make bubbles, the best friend of a recluse.

Shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, bubbles are a joy to children young and old. For inventor Tim Kehoe, however, creating a bubble with a single color that won't stain when it pops has been a 15-year, $3-million obsession. Two weeks ago, the world's first colored, non-staining bubbles, Zubbles, went on sale.

A lot of people "said that you just can't color a bubble," said Kehoe, "which is discouraging when that is exactly what you are trying to do." The use of bubbles for entertainment purposes was first recorded about 400 years ago. Today, bubbles are arguably the world's most popular toy, with more than 200 million bottles of bubble solution sold annually.
The simple chemistry of bubbles is that it is made up of two layers of soap sandwiching a layer of water about a millionth of an inch thick and Kehoe has foiled virtually every attempt to modify them. Bubbles that last a little longer or can be blown a little bigger have since been created, but adding color, what some toy manufactures have called the "holy grail" of toys, has remained frustratingly elusive.

Standard food coloring or dyes have no effect; they simply run down the sides of the bubble, creating a drop of color on the bottom. Other dyes can stain bubbles, but when they pop they also stain clothes, dogs and eyes, as Kehoe discovered during one accident. Other tests, including one for a bubble dye that washed out, didn't fare much better.

"I thought a washable bubble was a great idea," said Kehoe. "But the kids (of a large focus group) were covered head to toe in red dye. It looked like a scene from Braveheart." Eventually Kehoe and his colleagues found the three different classes of dyes that produce intense, vibrant and uniform colors. Originally, it took three days to produce what would eventually become Zubbles, but now it takes about 30 minutes.

Once a bubble pops, the dye fades in 15 minutes on virtually every material imaginable: concrete, leather, nylon, cotton and paint. Even easily stained material like silk remain unstained 15 minutes after a Zubble touches them.Right now, consumers can only buy blue and pink bubbles, although Kehoe says that he can create bubbles of any color.

Kehoe won't say which dyes he specifically uses for the colored bubbles, but in a 2005 patent application Kehoe listed chemicals such as alkyl metal sulfate and polyether. Kehoe also lists several other uses for the colored bubbles in the patent application, including plastics, soaps, shampoo and many others. That's optimistic, says Cyril Isenberg, author of the The Science of Soap Films and Soap Bubbles and a professor at the University of Kent. Isenberg doesn't think that non-staining colored bubbles will have any market value outside of a child's toy.

Still, the children's toy market is a huge and lucrative one, and even if colored bubbles don't have the success of their iridescent cousins, it was time well spent to Kehoe. "It's a good feeling after 15 years to see colored bubbles become reality," said Kehoe. "After eight years, you think, 'What am I doing this for?' but I am absolutely glad I stuck with it." Kudos! For Zubbles..:) Learn more about Zubbles at this bubbling site!

Secret Of Nazca Sand Drawings

2009-07-10T23:05:00.000+05:30

Mystery has a limit, but this mystery of the secret sand drawings at Nazca desert is spell bounding. The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, these are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BCE and 700 CE. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards.
The lines are shallow designs in the ground where the reddish pebbles that cover the surrounding landscape have been removed, revealing the whitish earth underneath. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes, and more than seventy are natural or human figures. The largest are over 200 metres (660 ft) across. Scholars differ in interpreting what the lines were for but generally ascribe religious significance to them. "The geometric ones could indicate the flow of water or be connected to rituals to summon water. The spiders, birds, and plants could be fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include: irrigation schemes, giant astronomical calendars, or landing for spaceships."The dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau has preserved the lines to this day, for the most part. Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. Now coming to the point, how were these enormous drawings made? In an age when there were no aeroplanes or no means of flying, how could such gigantic drawings, whose view is complete only from space would have been made? There are lots of such questions but still no answer.
Moreover, what was the purpose of these drawings? No big task is done without a purpose. So there must be some purpose for constructing these gigantic drawings. One theory of the purpose of the lines is that the Nazca people's motivations were religious and that the images were constructed so that gods in the sky could see them. Kosok and Reiche advanced one of the earliest reasons given for the Nazca Lines: that they were intended to point to the places on the distant horizon where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set. This hypothesis was evaluated by two different experts in archaeoastronomy, Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, and they both concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support an astronomical explanation.
There is another theory too that states that he Nazca Lines presuppose some form of manned flight in order to see the figures properly and that a hot air balloon was the only possible available technology. Woodmann actually made a hot air balloon using materials and techniques that he believed would have been available to people at the time, in order to test this hypothesis. The balloon flew, after a fashion, but there is no evidence in support of Nazca-era hot air balloons, and Woodman's work has been rebutted.

However these mystic drawings give a sense of creativity. It proves that nothing in this world is impossible. The creation of such massive painting in such a primitive age is a testimony to the result of determination and creativity!

Shooting Stars - Stars Of Wishes

2009-07-09T22:55:00.000+05:30

Astronomy and Astrology are both alluring. While facts related to Astronomy can be seen, the facts related to Astronomy can only be felt. Stars and Sky are the basic elements of Astronomy. And now coming to stars, who doesn't love stars? Stars are the simplest wonders of nature. Those gleaming glittering dots high in the sky that ornate the subtle, dulcet night sky. Talking about stars, I would like to draw all your attention to shooting stars. It is said that one can wish the hearts desire on seeing a shooting star and that the wish will be fulfilled without fail. Alas! I am crazy about shooting stars but have never seen any shooting stars! :(..It seems I need to make a wish to see a shooting star! :)

So what is this shooting star? Is one of those twinkling stars falling out of the sky? No! A shooting star or falling star is the common name for the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the atmosphere. A shooting star is also broken pieces of meteors that have become broken off in space. So shooting star has nothing to with stars. It is just a meteor!
A "falling star" or a "shooting star" has nothing at all to do with a star! These amazing streaks of light you can sometimes see in the night sky are caused by tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into the Earth's atmosphere and burning up. The short-lived trail of light the burning meteoroid produces is called a meteor. Meteors are commonly called falling stars or shooting stars. If any part of the meteoroid survives burning up and actually hits the Earth, that remaining bit is then called a meteorite.

At certain times of year, you are likely to see a great number of meteors in the night sky. These events are called meteor showers and they occur when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet as it orbits the Sun. These showers are given names based on the constellation present in the sky from which they appear to originate. For example, the Leonid Meteor Shower, or Leonids, appear to originate in the constellation Leo. It is important to understand that the meteoroids (and therefore the meteors) do not really originate from the constellations or any of the stars in the constellations, however. They just seem to come from that part of the sky because of the way the Earth encounters the particles moving in the path of the comet's orbit. Associating the shower name with the region of the sky they seem to come from just helps astronomers know where to look!

Still, the next time you see a shooting star, don't forget to make a wish! That way we can test if its just a myth or a fact. Anyhow, wishes surely come true, when we believe in our wishes.

Happy Birthdayyy Tooo Meeeee :)

2009-07-09T22:34:00.001+05:30

I am late....Oh no! I am late again! Why am I late for all important tasks. I am late to publish a blog post on my Birthday too. Anyways, finally I am publishing a blog post on my Birthday he he :). It was my Birthday yesterday and to say I was on cloud nine... :)...

When I was wished by my family and my dearest friends exactly at 12, my happiness had no bounds. I felt on top of the world..he he...What a feel it is...when people who make your world assure you that you make their world too! To be honest I had a fear that my best friend would miss to wish me...it was there until I could see them wishing mee...:).. and finally I feel blessed to feel the heartfelt wishes from my loved ones.

Birthdays are in a way a window to self realization. We can understand how we have been one whole year and analyze how to improve our thoughts and ideals.. Yet this Birthday..PINK was the theme. I love PINK and I made sure that everything that I get for myself this Birthday should be PINK haa :)

At the end of the day I felt blessed to have such a caring family and friends circle. I would like to thank my family and m friends who have made my life bEautiFuLl!!!! My life would have been meaningless without you all! Thanks a ton for being with me alwaysss!!!! :)

Can You See My World?

2009-07-09T08:46:00.000+05:30

I haven't seen the glittering gold,
But I have felt a heart of gold.
I cannot see the colors,
Still I can understand the meaning of colors.
But can you see my world?

My world hasn't seen money,
Yet its filled with thoughts of honey.
My world cant see beautiful faces,
But I can do feel a beautiful Heart.
So can you see my world?

I have never seen things,
But I have felt everything.
I have neither seen smiles nor tears,
Yet I have felt the true feel behind them.
But can you see my world?

My world may look colorless,
But my thoughts add all the splash of colors.
My world is like a poster,
Open for all impressions.
Yet can you see my world?

M world is seamless,
While our world is trammeled.
Imagination has no bounds.....
And so my world is boundless.
Still can you see my world?

Adios Michael Jackson - The Pop Connoisseur

2009-06-28T19:25:00.000+05:30

The pop connoisseur Michael Jackson's life was pulled to a tragic end on June 27, 2009. The world stood still when the king of pop Michael Jackson succumbed to a Cardiac Arrest. The death of Michael Jackson has left an air of mystery. The pop kings death came as a bolt from the blue to the rock-ribbed fans of Michael Jackson who were all set to enjoy Michael Jackson's live concert at London.

I am not a pop freak, yet I have a special liking for Michael Jackson. The reason for this is not just this music, but the fact that Michael Jackson was in one way part of my childhood memories. It was this pop king whom I tried to imitate in the very first fancy dress competition of my life! :) But today as I write this post on Michael Jackson's untimely death, I feel a rush of blood into my brain, a sort of hysteria taking over me. The fact that I am finding hard to digest is that Michael Jackson was a terribly unhappy man. But why? Why do the life of all celebrities end up on a tragic note? Why is a celebrities joy as short lived as a bubble? Why cant celebrities live happily ever after? I can now find the names of several celebrities rolling down my memory. The most striking celebrity fiasco was that of Heath Ledger, who was found dead in his room. Heath Ledger had committed suicide at a point when he was at the peak of his career. But why? All these "Why's" point to one single reason "Stress and depression". The celebrities get overwhelmed by their success that they find hard to cope up with the fame and success that comes to their side. At some point when they feel that they can no longer perform with the same zing start feeling the pinch of stress. They start pushing themselves to maintain their success story. Alas! They don't understand that success truly is short lived. In Hollywood and music, one day you are on top of the world and the other day you are just another old star. This was exactly what had happened to Michael Jackson.The celebrities always have theie own share of controversies that keep their press image healthy. But sometimes controversies also add up to the stress of celebrities. Michael Jackson had a series of controversies coming along his way. Finally Michael Jackson was found penniless,after he had paid all the sue amounts to get rid of the legal contoversies that we was pulled into. So, what happened to cause Michael’s sudden unexpected death? Since the autopsy was inconclusive, I think it’s reasonable to assume his death was drug-related, especially since police impounded his doctor’s car in the belief it may contain evidence, and especially since the Jackson family attorney says that he warned about that very possibility long ago. I personally suspected that his death was drug-related when the news first broke that he had suffered cardiac arrest, since a cardiac arrest and a heart attack are two different things, and since he was only 50 years old. What I find extremely unusual about this situation is that a physician was actually there with him, so a lethal drug overdose should not have even been a possibility. I therefore look forward to more news on that front.

I very much feel for Michael’s three children, who have lived an incredibly sheltered (and more than a little strange) life as a result of their father’s eccentricities and his fame, as well as his infamy. This is going to be terribly difficult for them, as they adjust to an entirely new life without their only parent. At the same time, they will be embraced by the world now, in a way they would never have experienced when their father was alive. I attribute that to what I call “Sins Of The Father Syndrome”, and it is, quite sadly, a phenomenon which is not unusual even among those who are neither wealthy nor famous. It’s just too bad that no one was willing to forgive Michael Jackson of his perceived sins when he was still here to enjoy that himself.

Rest in peace, Michael. I sincerely hope you have finally found the peace you were never able to find in this world.

Phoenix - The Mythical Inspiration

2009-06-17T22:25:00.000+05:30

The word Phoenix is my favourite word in English. This is all because of the one poem on Phoenix that I had read in my Childhood. The poem had such a deep influence that I started relating it to most of the events in my life. The word Phoenix refers to a Mythological bird. It is said that the eternal Lnd of mystery, Egypt is the source of the Phoenix mystery too. Still contrary to the various other mysteries in the world, that have their root only in one part of the world, the Phoenix bird has cittaions in several different Mythologies. In the present day world, The Phoenix symbolizes rebirth, especially of the sun, and has variants in European, Central American, Egyptian and Asian cultures.

The ancient Egyptians linked the myth of the phoenix with the longings for immortality that were so strong in their civilization, and from there its symbolism spread around the Mediterranean world of late antiquity. The Bennu bird was usually depicted as a heron and this is the bird that gave way to Phoenix in the Egyptian Mythology. Archaeologists have found the remains of a much larger heron that lived in the Persian Gulf area 5,000 years ago.

The Bennu was associated with the sun and represented the ba or soul of the sun god, Re. In the Late Period, the hieroglyph of the bird was used to represent this deity directly. As a symbol of the rising and setting sun, the Benu was also the lord of the royal jubilee.

This Egyptian phoenix was also associated with the inundation of the Nile and of the creation. At the close of the first century Clement of Rome became the first Christian to interpret the myth of the phoenix as an allegory of the resurrection and of life after death. The phoenix was also compared to undying Rome, and it appears on the coinage of the late Roman Empire as a symbol of the Eternal City.

In addition to this Egyptian mythology on Phoenix, there are citations of Phoenix in Chinese, Arabic and Japanese Mythologies too. The Arabian phoenix was a fabulous mythical bird, said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. It was said that only one phoenix existed at any one time, and it is very long-lived with a life span of 500 years, 540 years, 1000 years, 1461 years or even 12,994 years (according to various accounts). As the end of its life approached, the phoenix would build a pyre nest of aromatic branches and spices such as myrrh, sets it on fire, and is consumed in the flames. After three days the birth or as some legends say a rebirth, the phoenix arises from the ashes.

In Chinese mythology, the phoenix is the symbol of high virtue and grace, of power and prosperity. It represents the union of yin and yang. It was thought to be a gentle creature, alighting so gently that it crushed nothing, and eating only dewdrops. It is also quoted in the renowned Feng Shui book - "A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration." - The Feng Shui Handbook.

The Ho-Oo is the Japanese phoenix, the Ho being the male bird and the Oo being the female. The Hou-Ou greatly resembles the Chinese Phoenix the Feng-Huang in looks. The Ho-Oo is often depicted as nesting in a paulownia tree and was thought to only appear at the birth of a virtuous ruler and was said to mark a new era by descending from the heavens to do good deeds for people only to return to its celestial abode to await a new era. The Ho-Oo has been adopted as a symbol of the royal family, particularly the empress.

Amidst all these mythological notes on Phoenix, there is also a poem on Phoenix written by H.C. Andersen. This is a very famous poem and has a magical quality. The poet has used a wonderful Metaphor style that relates the secret of life, the origin of life and the mystery of phoenix. All mysteries are intertwined in the poem to create a mystical truth and revelation. Here i would like to quote some excerpts from this awe inspiring poem.

In the Garden of Paradise, beneath the Tree of Knowledge, bloomed a rose bush. Here, in the first rose, a bird was born. His flight was like the flashing of light, his plumage was beauteous, and his song ravishing. But when Eve plucked the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, when she and Adam were driven from Paradise, there fell from the flaming sword of the cherub a spark into the nest of the bird, which blazed up forthwith...

This poem is a must read and deserves a careful study. It has very well portrayed the relationships between Mythology and the origin of life. Finally, it is the rare qaulity about Phoenix that it burns to ashes and again reform from its own ashes to live anew, that has allured me so much. The myth of Phoenix has given me an inspiration that no matter what failure we come across, no matter how exhausted we get in our endeavour, if we are determined, then even the most fatal destruction can be overcome. We can surely succeed from the ashes of our failures!

Willy The Wizrard - Willy or Harry?

2009-06-16T21:21:00.000+05:30

Willy The Wizrard is a children's fantasy book penned down by Adrian Jacobs. This book had been a hot favorite among young readers in 1987, which was when the book was first launched. This book is about a kid who ventures into magic and wizardry and ends up as a master wizard.

The story is a pure fantasy and all rosy with seemless scope for imagination. The story revolves around magic land and wizardry schools. Sounds similar? Having a dejavu? Do you feel you have read a similar story? Dont worry, its how I too felt. This feeling among the readers is costing hard for the Fictional Wizard "J.K.Rowling".

Recently Allegations have popped up that author J.K. Rowling copied "substantial parts" of a book by another children's author when she wrote "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." The Book referenced to as other book is "Willy The Wizrard". These allegations included that the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire copied elements of the plot of Willy the Wizard, including a wizard contest, and that the Potter series borrowed the idea of wizards traveling on trains.
Both Willy and Harry are required to work out the exact nature of the main task of the contest which they both achieve in a bathroom assisted by clues from helpers, in order to discover how to rescue human hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal fantasy creatures. It is alleged that all of these are concepts first created by Adrian Jacobs in Willy the Wizard, some 10 years before J.K. Rowling first published any of the Harry Potter novels and 13 years before Goblet of Fire was published.

However, the reading population has had a very great time reading both these stories. Still the pathetic part is that while J.KRowling's series is fetching millions, Author Adrian Jacobs whose stories had a striking resemblance to the current day Harry Porter series died "penniless" in a London hospice in 1997. Still the allegations are under scrutinization. Lets hope that the allegatations prove to be false so that our love for Harry Porter will stay untouched forever.

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-14T13:59:00.000+05:30

Heyya are you all preparing to surprise your father on Father's Day this year? Then I am one of you too :). Father's Day is a day honoring fathers, celebrated on the third Sunday of June in the United States and on various other days in many places around the world. It complements Mother's Day, the celebration honoring mothers.

Father's Day has its roots in a Celebration organised in the 20th Century so as to complement Mothers's Day. This Celebration was organised so as to celebrate fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities.

Nowadays celebrations have become common place for all festivals. None of the festival is left uncelebrated. Making use of this practice are the gift and card producers. So for fathers day too, shops have come up with a whole lot of concessions and offers on their services so as to impress one's loved dad. Among the various services on offer for this special occasion are "A Dad and Son combo meal at half rate" and many more. :). Sounds alluring! Still the point is the commercialization of down to earth celebrations. Gone are those days when one used to prepare a card or a bouquet all on their own with specially collected flowers for their loved ones. These days one prefers ready made cards and bouquets available at stores, that can be bought in a jiffy. Still the existence of such celebrations lets one rejoice the joy of Father child relationships and express the unconditional love, that forms the basis for all relationships.

Deja vu

2009-06-13T18:43:00.000+05:30

Have you ever felt that the things that are happening around you have happened before? Have you felt that the situation you are in now has been faced by you before? Then it means that you have experienced Deja vu. Recently when I was watching Barack Obama's mesmerizing speech at Cairo, I experienced Deja vu. It was then that I decided to digg more into Deja vu and here I would like to share whatever I have realised about Deja vu.

Deja vu is a French word that means "already seen". It is also called paramnesia, which in turn has been derived from Greek word "para," meaning "near" and "mnēmē" meaning "memory". Deja vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has happened in the near past), although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain.

The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book "L'Avenir des sciences psychiques" ("The Future of Psychic Sciences"), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness," "strangeness," or "weirdness." The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past.

Scientifically theories state that the most likely explanation of déjà vu is not that it is an act of "precognition" or "prophecy," but rather that it is an anomaly of memory giving the impression that an experience is "being recalled." This explanation is substantiated by the fact that the sense of "recollection" at the time is strong in most cases, but that the circumstances of the "previous" experience (when, where, and how the earlier experience occurred) are quite uncertain. Likewise, as time passes, subjects can exhibit a strong recollection of having the "unsettling" experience of déjà vu itself, but little or no recollection of the specifics of the event or circumstance they were "remembering" when they had the déjà vu experience.

In particular, this may result from an overlap between the neurological systems responsible for short-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the present) and those responsible for long-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the past). The events would be stored into memory before the conscious part of the brain even receives the information and processes it.

On the other hand there are people who have a whole new perception about Deja vu being related to vision. As the theory suggests, one eye may record what is seen fractionally faster than the other, creating that "strong recollection" sensation upon the "same" scene being viewed milliseconds later by the opposite eye. However, this one fails to explain the phenomenon when other sensory inputs are involved, such as the auditive part, and especially the digital part. If one, for instance, experiences déjà vu of someone slapping the fingers on his left hand, then the déjà vu feeling is certainly not due to his right hand experiencing the same sensation later than his left hand considering that his right hand would never receive the same sensory input. Also, persons with only one eye still report experiencing déjà vu or déjà vécu (a rare disorder of memory, similar to persistent déjà vu).

Coming up with a whole new idea are people who believe déjà vu is the memory of dreams. Though the majority of dreams are never remembered, a dreaming person can display activity in the areas of the brain that process long-term memory. It has been speculated that dreams read directly into long-term memory, bypassing short-term memory entirely. In this case, déjà vu might be a memory of a forgotten dream with elements in common with the current waking experience. This may be similar to another phenomenon known as déjà rêvé, or "already dreamed." However, later studies on mice indicate that long-term memories must be first established as short-term memories.

And now if you are a person who beleives in rebirth then you may be allured to know that some scientists have also related Deja vu to reincarnation. Those believing in reincarnation theorize that déjà vu is caused by fragments of past-life memories being jarred to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people. Others theorize that the phenomenon is caused by astral projection, or out-of-body experiences (OBEs), where it is possible that individuals have visited places while in their astral bodies during sleep. The sensation may also be interpreted as connected to the fulfillment of a condition as seen or felt in a premonition.

Despite the existance of numerous theories and viewpoints on Deja vu, there has not yet been a clear cut idea on Deja vu. Research on Deja vu is not a cakewalk since, creating the feel of Deja vu under laboratory conditions is next to impossible. Still there are vigorous researches being conducted on this mystfying phenomena of the mystic brain. As of now Deja vu is yet annother addition to the list of mysteries in this perplexing, mysterious Universe.

WInd Chimes - Winds Of Melody

2009-06-13T13:32:00.000+05:30

Have you ever heard those melodious rumblings from Wind Chimes ? If not then I'll let you know how it feels. The Wind Chimes generate the softest and the sweetest music in the simplest manner, just by rumbling in through soft and heavy winds. The sound of Wind Chimes brings up a special joy and pep into me. Wind chimes are universally thought to bring good luck and are highly valued in Feng Shui as well. The pleasant tinkling sounds of a wind chime are always soothing to the ears.

Let me now tell you, what a Wind Chime actually is. Wind chimes are chimes constructed from suspended tubes, rods or other objects and are often made of metal or wood. Wind chimes are usually hung outside of a building or house and are intended to be played by the wind. Sound can be produced when the tubes or rods come in contact with a suspended central clapper, in the form of a ball or horizontal disk, or each other. Wind chimes may be used to observe changes in wind direction, depending on where they are hung.

There are several kinds of Wind Chimes available in the market these days. Ranging from luxurious Wind Chimes made of Crystals, Platinum to the down to earth simpleton Wind Chimes made of thin metals.

The wind chimes have their origins in Indian wind bells. By the second century CE, these wind bells were being hung on the corners of large pagodas with the purpose of scaring away birds and evil spirits. Later, wind bells were introduced to China and were also hung in temples, palaces and homes. Japanese glass wind bells known as "Fūrin" have been produced since the Edo period. Wind chimes are thought to be good luck in parts of Asia and are used in Feng Shui. Now, SInce many countries hae started taking up the Feng Shui pronciples in constructing homes, Wind Chimes are now used widely in several homes.
If you are wondering how these pieces of pipes could produce such mesmerizing melody, then let me tell you that a lot of scientific work has gone into the construction of WInd Chimes. Chimes produce inharmonic (as opposed to harmonic) spectra, although if they are hung at about 1/5th of their length (22.4%), the higher partials are dampened and the fundamental is brought out. This is common practice in high-quality wind chimes, which are also usually hung so the center ball strikes the center of the wind chime's length. Frequency is determined by the length, width, thickness, and material. There are formulas that help predict the proper length to achieve a particular note, though a bit of fine tuning is often needed. Huh! These simpl looking WInd Chimes do have a complex background.

So, next time when you go out shopping for some home decor, dont miss out the pleasing WInd Chimes. Hang in a Wind Chime and feel the joy of the melodious music with every gust of wind. :)

The Pink Sweet Strawberry Festival

2009-06-11T20:33:00.000+05:30

I have heard about many festivals, but it was today that I read about the "Strawberry Festival". The name itself brought up a riot of imaginations in my mind and I was hungry to know more about this sweet named festival that brought up all pink sweet thoughts.

The Strawberry festival is an annual event conducted by the members of the Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis. For 44 years, members of the Christ Church Cathedral have been putting on the festival to raise funds for local and national mission work and outreach from the Indianapolis area all the way to Nigeria.

The Strawberry Festival aims at serving the hungry souls in Nigeria and similar areas with food supply. The people in the adjoining areas are invited to participate in the festival and enjoy the strawberry delicacies like fresh sweet strawberries, shortcake, ice cream and whipped toppings. In return, the people have to get some canned food that can be sent out to make ends meet in Nigeria. This festival has been fetching food supply for the Nigerians since the past 44 years.

On a whole the sweet toothed Strawberry Festival is a breakthrough charity method. People are allured by the sweet strawberries and are voluntarily pulled into donating canned food. :) Collecting canned goods isn't a solution to the hunger problem, but it is a start. "The real solution to hunger is jobs and ending poverty," Altmeyer, the founder of Gleaner's food bank, Indianapolis said. "However, with one in ten people unemployed in central Indiana and over 80,000 children living in poverty, we have to do something in the interim." However, this festival is a small initiative to clean up hunger and poverty. Many such charity events need to be organised on human grounds so as to eradicate hunger all over the world. I hope this festival provides an inspiration to all the people out there and inspires them to indulge in charity for a good cause. Its only through the joint effort that all the anomalies in this world can be corrected. So lets all do our bit for the world and indulge in charity.

Adieu Rajeev Motwani - The Page Rank Man

2009-06-10T20:59:00.000+05:30

Rajeev Motwani, a man of spirits and inventions, is a milestone in the history of computers and Internet. The Silicon Valley is still trying to come to grips with the loss of the "Silicon Valley Giant" Rajeev Motwani. By profession Rajeev Motwani was a professor at the Stanford University. Rajeev Motwani's research focused on theoretical computer science. He is well known as the "Google Mentor". Rajeev Motwani was an early advisor and supporter of gigantic etablishments like Google and PayPal, and a special advisor to Sequoia Capital.

The Google mentor, Rajeev Motwani was born and brought up in the paradise on earth "Jammu". Later he had his B.Tech in Computer Science from the posthumous IIT Kharagpur. Adding to his list of merits was a Ph.D from U.C. Berkeley. It was then that Rajeev Motwani's flair for computers started gaining global attention.

As a child, inspired by luminaries like Gauss, Rajeev Motwani wanted to become a mathematician. Then Rajeev was allured by Algorithms, Computations, Discrete Mathematics and Databases. His vast knowledge in Computing and algorithms helped the world gain one of the foundations of Interenet - "The Page Rank". PageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page, used by the Google Internet search engine that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references.

The name "PageRank" is a trademark of Google, and the PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999). However, the patent is assigned to Stanford University and not to Google. Google has exclusive license rights on the patent from Stanford University. The university received 1.8 million shares of Google in exchange for use of the patent; the shares were sold in 2005 for $336 million. Rajeev Motwani was one of the key brains among the network of brains who came up with Page Rank Algorithm.

But alas, the person whose brains power the Google Search is no more. Rajeev Motwani was found dead in his pool in the backyard in his Atherton home on June 5, 2009, after apparently falling in, but the cause of death is not certain. He could not swim, but was planning on taking lessons, according to his friends. Still Rajeev Motwani's contributions to the world will be remembered forever. With his algorithms and developments Rajeev Motwani has made a mark in the Computing World. So lets all feel grateful to this pious man whose brain powers the Google Search and wish that his soul rests in peace.

Tetris Anniversary

2009-06-06T21:31:00.000+05:30

Lets all wish the evergreen game tetris, a very happy birthday! Today, June 6, 2009 is the 25th anniversary of the simple yet entertaining game Tetris. The word "Tetris" has its roots in the Greek numerical prefix "tetra" which means "four". Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov. It was created on June 6, 1984,while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow.The name Tetris was derived from the Greek numerical prefix "tetra" and that is why all of the game's pieces, known as Tetrominoes, contain four segments. It is also believed that Alexey Pajitnov's fondness for tennis, fetched the neame "Tetris" for the game designed by him.
Tetris is one of the simplest game that the world has ever seen. Eventhough the game is simple, it has the rare ability to keep players glued to it. It was a revolutionary game in its early days. But in the present day hi fi world where gaming has jumped to several high technology levels like motion controlled games, Tetris has still managed to have a mark. It is still a basic accesory game in mobile phones and is widely available as a built in game in most consoles.
Tetris is a simple puzzle video game where you move blocks around (called tetrominoes) to create horizontal lines of blocks to eliminate rows and gain points. The game gets tedious with the various levels. One has to eliminate blocks faster and faster so as to proceed to the next level. Finally if the player fails to eleiminate blocks for a long time and ends up with a pile of blocks filling the gaming window, then the player faces a "Game Over".

While versions of Tetris were sold for a range of 1980s home computer platforms, it was the hugely successful handheld version for the Game Boy launched in 1989 that established the reputation of the game as one of the most popular ever. Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue had Tetris in first place as "Greatest Game of All Time". In 2007, Tetris came in second place in Gaming Giant Site, IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time".It has sold more than 70m copies.

The long history of Tetris resulted in a Guinness World Record awarding the franchise nine world records in the Gamer's Edition. These records include, "Most Ported Video Game", "Game With the Most Official and Unofficial Variants", and "Longest Prison Sentence for Playing a Video Game", which is held by Faiz Chopdat, who was jailed for four months for playing Tetris on his cell phone while on a flight to Manchester, England. He refused to stop playing after being repeatedly warned by the cabin staff. This incident is a testimony to the addictiveness of this tiny game. So today lets all wish a very "hApPy BiRthDaY" to the lovely Tetris. :) Even Google celebrated Tennis anniversary by setting out the google logo in the form of a collection of tetris blocks!

Obama's Hieroglyphic Tale

2009-06-05T23:21:00.000+05:30

Barack Obama, the 44th and the current President of the United States is all set to create new milestones in the history of America. America has always been held up as an enemy of Muslim countries. There has long been an air of hostility between USA and Muslim nations all over the world. But Barack Obama's recent visit to Egypt has tumbled up all the opinions on USA's outlook on Muslim nations.

First of all Barack Obama sent out ripples of fraternity to the Muslim community through his wooing speech at the Cairo University. Barack Obama flattered the masses with his opening words "Asalam-u-Alaikum". There were whoops and roars as Barack Obama continued his speech with this captivating air of confidence.

Obama's speech was watched keenly by all Muslim citizens. It is reported that people in Muslim countries stayed glued to their Television sets while Obama's speech at Cairo University was aired. The aftermath of the speech was astounding. Newspapers and television cheannels flooded with reports on Obama's approach towards Muslim Nations and responses from Muslim citizens on America's all new amiable attitude.In his speech, the U.S. president had numerous messages for several countries and several sides. And he criticized the Iraq war. The U.S. president reiterated the need for the creation of a Palestinian state and negotiations with Iran. Amidst all these, the heart of Obama's speech was his constant references to the citations from Quran. No matter whether Obama was talking about war, society or woman welfare, the citations of moral sayings from Quran added life and zing to his speech, leaving the audience spell bound and content.
Amidst all these, Obama's comments on Hieroglyphics has sent out ripples all over Egypt. When visiting a pyramid after his speech in Cairo, Obama saw a hieroglyphic which caught his eye. He described it as mans face with big ears and declared that it looked like him. This comment has seen lot of liking from the Egyptians who seem to have got a feel that Obama is trying to be just one of them. So is Obama's visit to Egypt a new beginning in US - Muslim nation history. The Muslim community has given mixed reactions to Obama's thoughts. So will the world see an air of peace and fraternity between US - Muslim Nations soon? Nevertheless, that is what I hope and believe that majority of the people believe so too!

Mystic Prophecies Of Nostradamus

2009-06-01T20:37:00.000+05:30

I was in school, when I first heard about Nostradamus. Since then I have had a wild interest in Nostradamus and his mystical predictions. I heard about Nostradamus at an age when a child sees mystery in everything and has a mind that is hungry for resolving mysteries. Having been allured by Nostradamus's predictions, I had developed great liking for all his works. It was then that I realized that the predictions of Nostradamus were in the form of cryptic poems that were hard to decipher. This revelation had yet another impact on my life :), arousing in me a great liking for poems with hidden meanings and made me a novice poet. So, now years later when I recall the ways in which the mystic predictions of Nostradamus has affected my life, I would like to share all my exploratory results on Nostradamus.
Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and a reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties ("The Prophecies"), the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, which has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus has attracted an enthusiastic following that, along with the popular press, credits him with predicting many major world events.

Talking about the Literary works of Nostradamus, his poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains). There were certain portions in his text that were interpreted to indicate that India will be a super power in the 21st Century, that the world would be destroyed by the end of 21st century and many more such shocking claims. It was all these prophecies that gave way for my hunt into Nostradamus's prophecies.

The most shocking prophecy of Nostradamus was his predictions on the 911 Attack. In the heightened days following September 11, 2001 there were a lot of reports that Nostradamus had predicted the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York!

You may have even read about the quatrain below:

In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures,
the great leader will succumb,
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning.

First off, let's say straight out that this was not written by Nostradamus at all. Yes it superficially resembles his style, but there is no such quatrain and he didn't write it. In fact, some sites that reference this verse state it was written in 1654 which would be an impressive feat for someone who died nearly 100 years before! This is deciphered to mean "In the city of gods, two brothers will be torn apart and a whole city will be burning, giving way to third war". When all is considered we are left with is a verse which is so ambiguous on every line that you could with little effort match it to many different possibilities.

So who wrote this quatrain and what was their point? This quatrain was actually created by a student called Neil Marshall in an article called "A Critical Analysis of Nostradamus". His point in writing the above was to highlight that some Nostradamus quatrains are so vague as to be open to any interpretation after the fact.

The truth is that this was a hysteria created to boost up the sales of Nostradamus books following the 9/11 attack.

But still there are several other mystical poems by Nostradamus that have come true. Nostradamus is said to have predicted his own death. When his assistant wished him goodnight on July 1, 1566, Nostradamus reputedly pronounced, "You will not find me alive at sunrise." He was found dead on July 2, 1566. Ans oh What a coincidence, I am posting this entry on June 1, exactly one day before June 2, the day on which Nostradamus passed away. So, after a cursory glance on the prophecies of Nostradamus, if one likes to read his text in detail and try deciphering its meaning, then one can find the whole text at http://www.sacred-texts.com/nos/index.htm.

The Lost Temples Of Angor Wat

2009-05-27T20:58:00.000+05:30

Ancient Architecture has a certain charisma, that attracts us all despite the existence of numerous awesome modern architecture. To pen down, we have the innumerable fondness for Egypt and Taj Mahal. One such ancient architecture that stays in the good books of Architecture and casts a spell on the visitors is the Ancient Angor Wat Temple.

Angor Wat allures people and researchers, who come in flocks to get a glimpse of this awe-inspiring monument, which has a unique charm without any bells and whistles.

Angkor Wat, is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation—first Hindu, dedicated to Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
The huge sculptures and artistic carvings at the Angor Wat temple holds one spellbound. Archaeologists and Researchers have have blown the historic gaff and come out with the fact that the sculptures and carvings at the Angorvat Temple consist of Indian gods too. One such sculpture is the same as the one found at a temple in India's Temple town, Kanchipuram. So, its clear that there is more than what meets the eyes. There must have been some sort of connection between India and Cambodia in the past, that has made Indian sculptures appear on Cambodain Temples.

This stays an enigma and pops up a million question in our head! Was there any Monarchical deal between the two KIngdoms? Was it an Indian Architect who designed this marvelous monument and ended up adding an Indian touch? or was it that Indian labor was utilized in the construction of the Angorvat Temple?....There are a Million questions, but all go unanswered, leaving the mystery unresolved.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early South Indian architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometers (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the center of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas (guardian spirits) adorning its walls.
Despite all the charm, Angor Vat misses the quintessential part of a temple, prayers and chanting. Its all because, in the late 13th century, King Jayavarman VIII, who was Hindu, was deposed by his son in law, Srindravarman. Srindravarman had spent the previous 10 years in Sri Lanka becoming ordained as a Buddhist monk. The new King decided to convert the Khmer Empire's state religion from Hindu to Buddhist. The conversion was relatively easy since civilians were tired of the constant political corruption and failing empire of the time and were eager to follow a faith that offered tranquility without a need for material gain and power. Hence, Angkor Wat was converted from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.

So, till date Angor Vat has never seen a prayer or a chant. It stands up as a mystic marvelous temple.Learn more about Angor Wat here. In a nutshell Angor Wat is one of the most outstanding Architectures of Man kind that reflects the creativity and magic of ancient architecture techniques.

Ignorance is bliss

2009-05-23T17:28:00.000+05:30

Who doesn't want to be happy? To say, everyone wants to be happy, but there are only few who are actually happy in their lives. So what is it that gives few people true happiness while most of them live with just superficial joy? Is it their capability to achieve all that they desire? Or do they possess heavenly luck that gives them joy in all endeavor? The answer is their ignorance and their ability to accept things the way they are!

The one thing that comes up between the desire to be happy and being happy is "worries". Worries are nothing but our hearts dolefullness when something goes against our wishes. But amidst all the race for success and achievement, one forgets the fact that the elementary need behind being successful is just happiness. So why should one make oneself unhappy when success falls behind? Why can't we believe that failures are stepping stones to success and take a positive approach towards failures?So, it is "Ignorance" that gives one the feel of true happiness. Ignorance should not be taken in the wrong sense. Being Ignorant does not mean that one should give up hopes, dreams and desires. Instead one must be open for all sorts of outcomes in ones endeavors. The fact that wishes and worries go hand in hand must be made a part of life. Its then that one can experience true, eternal happiness.

The Mystery Of Bermuda Triangle

2009-05-20T21:48:00.000+05:30

We live in a vivid world, filled with variety. Mystery and History are part of the world. Some times mystery morphs into history and vice versa. Mystery's have a rare specialty of their own. Mysteries tend to attract attention and one such bemusing mystery is the "Mystery Of Bermuda Triangle".

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels are alleged to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances which fall beyond the boundaries of human error, pirates, equipment failure, or natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings.

The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. In the article, Gaddis claimed that in this strange sea a number of ships and planes had disappeared without explanation. Gaddis wasn't the first one to come to this conclusion, either. As early as 1952, George X. Sands, in a report in Fate magazine, noted what seemed like an unusually large number of strange accidents in that region.

Why do ships and planes seem to go missing in the region? Some authors suggested it may be due to a strange magnetic anomaly that affects compass readings (in fact they claim Columbus noted this when he sailed through the area in 1492). Others theorize that methane eruptions from the ocean floor may suddenly be turning the sea into a froth that can't support a ship's weight so it sinks (though there is no evidence of this type of thing happening in the Triangle for the past 15,000 years). Several books have gone as far as conjecturing that the disappearances are due to an intelligent, technologically advanced race living in space or under the sea.
Kusche's Theory

In 1975 Larry Kusche, a librarian at Arizona State University, reached a totally different conclusion. Kusche decided to investigate the claims made by these articles and books. What he found he published in his own book entitled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved. Kusche had carefully dug into records other writers had neglected. He found that many of the strange accidents were not so strange after all. Often a Triangle writer had noted a ship or plane had disappeared in "calms seas" when the record showed a raging storm had been in progress. Others said ships had "mysteriously vanished" when their remains had actually been found and the cause of their sinking explained. In one case a ship listed missing in the Triangle actually had disappeared in the Pacific Ocean some 3,000 miles away! The author had confused the name of the Pacific port the ship had left with a city of the same name on the Atlantic coast.

Even though the Bermuda Triangle isn't a true mystery, this region of the sea certainly has had its share of marine tragedy. Some of the missing cases at the Bermuda Triangle are SS Marine Sulphur Queen Ship, the Disappearance of NC16002, Flight 19 and much more.

In short, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery by a kind of communal reinforcement among uncritical authors and a willing mass media to uncritically pass on the speculation that something mysterious is going on in the Atlantic.

Rainy joy!

2009-05-19T22:02:00.000+05:30

I have always loved rains. The sight of rain gives me a simple and sweet feel, taking me to a whole new world. Rain seems to be a mesmerizing aspect of nature that enthralls everyone.

Moist gushy winds, pattering rain drops, the sweet essence of wet sand and the sight of plants quenching their thirst gives us an eternal bliss, taking us to cloud nine. With dark clouds and a light green tint, a rainy evening is more that just a picturesque moment.

There is great joy in enjoying the nature on a rainy day. A look through your window on the green, wet plants makes you feel most refreshed. The best thing to do on a rainy day is to get lost in thought.. :)...thinking and dreaming of all the pleasant things in your life, and rejoicing the cherished moments of your life.
Thereby on a rainy day, one can feel distressed and relieved from the chaos of the world and escape to a world of peace and relaxation. Thanks to today's rain, which has given me a pleasant feel and releived me of all stress and disgust! :)...As I am composing this post, I could listen to the pattering rain drops and feel the cold refreshing rainy wind. All these plaeasnt feelings given by rain is nothing but the joy of nature, the "Rain Joy"!

Its a whole new day.

2009-05-19T20:22:00.000+05:30

On a sunny morning,
I opened my eyes,
To see the word filled with life.
All shadows of past glided away,
And glow of future mentored the way.

There were days when skies were dark,
There were days when joy seemed afar.
But the secret of life,
Has given a whole new life,
The one life to be loved unfathomed.

Everyday is now a clear sky,
With no stains from past,
With colorful dreams on mast.
Its really a whole new day,
Like a life on a sunny bay.

Its the secret of joy,
That gave me true joy.
Love your life,
Love the world,
It'll then be a whole new world.

Happiness

2009-05-14T21:20:00.000+05:30

Happiness is just like a flower,
Spreading its influence all over.
Happiness is when dreams turn true,
Letting one dream anew.

Happiness is your loved one's smile,
That gives you the sweetest smile.
Happiness is being novice,
Accepting all imperfections and being nice.

Happiness is the charm in your eyes,
That lets you see your dreams coming true.
Happiness is ephemeral
And so is life.
So spread happiness as long as you live!

Teacher Or Killer?

2009-04-22T20:27:00.000+05:30

Atrocities on school kids has been a common issue all over the world. There have been several cases of atrocities forced by cruel teachers on poor kids. The recent incident in a Delhi school is a shocking testimony to the mistreatment of school kids.

School , a place where a child's future is expected to be molded, has now sadly turned into a grave death trap. Parents send in kids to schools with huge expectations but alas, due to a few stone-hearted faculty, some parents end up losing their kids.
Punishing school kids is a common trait in Indian schools. A majority of schools insist on punishing the innocent souls so as to teach them discipline. But they forget the fact that the best way to teach and guide kids is through proper love and care.

The recent incident in Delhi that pushed a 11 year old kid to the end of her life is grievous. Shona, a class II student of MCD primary school in Bawana, was "made to stand" in the sun with bricks on her shoulders allegedly by her teacher. She breathed her last at Maharishi Valmiki Hospital here on Friday afternoon.

This is not the only incident of such sort, our country has been mutely witnessing several such incidents, and innocent kids have been losing their lives. The only solution to this to have proper regulations concerning the treatment towards school kids. Strenuous actions must be taken against teachers who try to handle kids with force. Physical punishments in schools must be banned and defaulters must be prosecuted. It is only through these efforts that one can regain the faith in Schools and teachers.

Prejudicious Conficker Virus Exasperates Into A Stealer

2009-04-13T21:16:00.000+05:30

The Conficker worm that infected millions of computers around the world this month is now morphing and spreading, and is apparently posing an identity theft issue.

What is Conficker worm:

The Conficker worm is a computer worm that can infect your computer and spread itself to other computers across a network automatically, without human interaction.

What does the Conficker worm do?

To date, security researchers have discovered two variants of the worm in the wild

Win32/Conficker.A was reported to Microsoft on November 21, 2008.
Win32/Conficker.B was reported to Microsoft on December 29, 2008.
Win32/Conficker.C was reported to Microsoft on February 20, 2009.
Win32/Conficker.D was reported to Microsoft on March 4, 2009.

Win32/Conficker.B might spread through file sharing and via removable drives, such as USB drives (also known as thumb drives). The worm adds a file to the removable drive so that when the drive is used, the AutoPlay dialog will show one additional option.

Conficker Exasparates and Steals!

Conficker is now aggravating into an anti-virus program called Spyware Protect 2009. The worm takes users to a fake secuirty Web site, asks them to pay $50 for a spyware program that actually is the Conficker worm, then keeps your credit card information, to boot. "It infects your computer," she told Smith. "And it keeps that $50."

Conficker can pop up on your computer in various ways, like a pop-up that advertises a way to prevent the worm, or in your e-mail or Facebook account. So be safe during your online activities and dont click on sites that you are unfamiliar about.

Conficker Worm Bites.

More than 700 computers at the University of Utah have been infected with the Conficker worm. The hit includes computers at the university's three hospitals, the Associated Press reported early Sunday. University spokesman Chris Nelson said the outbreak was detected Thursday, the AP reported. By the next day, the worm had struck at the hospitals, medical school, and the nursing, pharmacy, and health colleges. Patient records have not been touched, Nelson said. IT cut off Net access for up to six hours on Friday in order to isolate the virus, the AP reported.

Am I at risk of having the Conficker worm?

Most antivirus software could detect and block the Conficker worm, so if you have updated antivirus software on your computer, you are at a much lower risk of being infected by the Conficker worm, if for some reason you are worried that your computer isinfected by Conficker wormjust take up the Simple Conficker Chart test.

This test helps you diagnose your system for Conficker Infection. Since, Conficker worm blocks your system from accessing security and anti virus websites, trying to access such sites can help you ensure if your Computer is infected with Conficker or not.

Make A Difference..

2009-04-09T20:35:00.000+05:30

Society plays a great role in our life. A good society and a good social circle are vital for a happy life. Despite the innumerable benefits enjoyed through society, we are reluctant to do our bit for the cause of society. The present day society is flooded with a hefty amount of destitute and poverty-stricken population. There are children who lose their childhood, toiling hard to earn for their livelihood. Many children are pulled to the end of their lives, due to lack of food and shelter, while some are exploited due to child labour. Despite all these, the indifference of the uptown class of population towards such helpless souls is really pathetic.

Each person has to realize that they owe something towards the society. People should naturally tend to do contribute their best towards the society. One of the best ways in which one can help the destitute is by joining or organising an NGO that can work for the improvement of the destitute class's living conditions.
There are several NGO's operating all over our country, which have brought diverse changes to the poverty-stricken communities and helped in their upliftment. I insist that more and more people should enroll into these NGO's and do their part for societal improvement. Compared to the past few years, there has been a steep increase in the number of people who have enrolled into these NGO's. It is to be noted that the youth population is the one that dominates the NGO. More and more youth have started to realise their responsibilities towarsds the society.
The simplest way in which you can make a difference is by teaching the poor children in your locality. Many NGO's organise weekend education prgrammes which teach the poor kids, who cant afford to join schools. But the only set back is that these NGO's lack funds and work force. We can hep come over this obstacle by joining the NGO's and donatig to the NGO's. We have to remember that this is our society and we have to take care of it. Do your part for the society and make a difference in someone's life.

When Everything Goes Wrong....

2009-03-30T21:13:00.000+05:30

In times of pain

When everything ends in vain,
When all dreams seem washed in rain,
Just count what will remain
And believe there is lot to gain.

When loneliness haunts you,
When whole world seems hostile,
Just close your eyes and believe,
There will be someone,
For whom you will be the world.

If bitter words haunt you,
And terrible scorns hurt you,
Just believe in yourself and smile,
For belief is one virtue,
That surely leads to zenith.

Earth Hour - A dark hour for a brighter tomorrow.

2009-03-27T20:56:00.000+05:30

Earth our eternal home is under threat. There have been several grievous issues clouding our Earth. It is believed that soon Earth wont be a suitable place for living creatures. Life on Earth is under grave threat. Following these issues there have been a whole lot of initiatives to curb the pollution and other dreadful factors that exploit and deteriorate the environment. Despite all such kind efforts, there has been no substantial change in our Environments pollution level.

Pollution levels are rapidly shooting up, water is getting precious day by day and the climatic conditions are undergoing emphatic changes. These are the results of our nonchalance towards our Mother Nature. People all our the world seem to have forgotten that Nature is our global haven. The world is avariciously exploiting the natural resources thereby resulting in the extinction of innumerable resources. If the current scenario persists, then no doubt Earth will be a barren, and pernicious place, with no speck of life.

Taking the environmental conditions in account, last year Australia had introduced a revolutionary idea which aimed at having all power sources turned off for one whole hour. The idea was a great sizzler. The message conveyed was that through the joint effort of people towards conserving resources, the pollution and the climatic anomalies can be curbed.

This year theconcept marched several steps ahead and "Earth Hour" was celebrated on a world wide basis on 28th March. To learn more about the campaign please visit this site.The aim was to spread the message of "Environmental Conservation" to every citizen in the world and hence ensure environental conservation. This is a global election to save Earth and each effort to switch off the lights will be a vote to save the Earth. Three cheers for such green efforts. Its only through such collaborative efforts that human beings can ensure a green safe earth. So there is no issue in having little darkness today, when it can lead to a brighter, greener tomorrow.

Mallya brings home the memorabilia-A Disgrace or Pride?

2009-03-14T19:11:00.000+05:30

Gandhiji is the most loved leader of India and is renowned for his ideals of non violence and simple living. However the incidents in the past few days have added a political tint to a few so-called Gandhian pluggers all over the world. The political melodrama was staged by knavish political parties to gain public attention and support by showcasing themselves as fanatic Gandhians. With the election season coming up, the political parties entered a wild goose chase to win over Gandhis memorabilia being auctioned by American collector James Otis at Newyork. The point in bidding for Gandhis memorabilia was to one-up each other in the election campaign and thereby gain overwhelming public support.

In staging the bidding drama, the top three political parties started choosing capable bidders who could bid over the memorabilia on the parties behalf. The politicians initially shorlisted potential bidders and then chose the best proxies for themselves. Eventually the war of the proxies was all set in Newyork. Amidst all these chaos, the government of India tried its hand at staying the auction of Gandhi's memorabilia stating that such an auction would hurt the sentiments of the Indian citizens. Thisopposition was aimed at winning over a good public opinion on the government. Despite the governments efforts to stay the auction, the auction proceeded as planned.

The things being auctioned had a market value of $30,000, but the wild competition among the bidders raised the bid value to several millions. Eventually Vijay Mallya won the auction by bidding for a whooping $1.8 million. Rumours say that Vijay Mallya was Congress' proxy bidder. It is also in the air that BJP and the Samajwadi party saw their proxy bidders being closely dropped out in the auction.

The picture is now all smoke and mirrors. Yet the Gandhian principles have been violated in public. The whole rush to bring home Gandhis memorabilia ended up hurting Gandhian principles. So the entire episode of this auction has been a disgrace to the vying politicians.

Wii : The newfangled gaming gizmo

2009-01-13T15:37:00.000+05:30

Nitendo's Wii is the newest member of the gaming console family. Gaming consoles are one of the most sought gadgets these days and a wide variety of gaming consoles are already flooding the markets. Adding up to the gaming console list is Nitendo's Wii. However Wii has impinging new features that gives it a cut above the rest. Cutting edge technology, prodigiously creative graphics, multitudinous games, customizable gamer profile and above all, a sleek slender look has made Wii, the apple of gamer's eyes all over the world. Being a hardcore gamer, I always look out for games that please one's senses, provide a gratifying experience and yet at the same time have rich audio video effects. For me the Wii experience has been an incredible and out of the world one. Wii essentially has all the ingredients for a perfect gaming experience. So, in this blog I will spotlight the features of Wii and the factors that make it stand apart.

What's in a name?
The console was initially known by the code name of "Revolution". According to the Nintendo Style Guide, the name "is simply Wii, not Nintendo Wii." This means it is the first home console Nintendo has marketed outside of Japan without the company name featured in its trademark. While "Wiis" is a commonly used pluralization of the console, Nintendo has stated that the official plural form is "Wii systems" or "Wii consoles." Nintendo's spelling of "Wii" with two lower-case "i" characters is meant to resemble two people standing side by side, representing players gathering together, as well as to represent the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The company has given many reasons for this choice of name since the announcement; however, the best known is:
" Wii sounds like 'we', which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii."

Firstly let me begin by telling you, what Wii actually is. The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo. It is a seventh-generation console, and is intended to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that Wii targets a broader demographic than that of Xbox or Playstation. With its rich appeal and nouveau technology, Wii has already started selling like hot cakes and is creating a milestone in the history of gaming consoles. Wii has umpteen features, that have made it a huge success. So let me now list down the most striking features of Wii.

Wireless remotes

A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Blue tooth based Wii Remote(Wiimote), which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detect movement in three dimensions. Another distinctive feature of the console is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode.

Availability of a Multitude of games

There are a wide variety of games that have been designed for the Wii console. In addition to these custom made games, most of the existing games have been modified and customized so as to work on Wii. All this means is that if you want to play a game on Wii, then you can do it for sure. There are all sorts of games for all sorts of people. Wii games range from Racing games, Strategy games, Sports games to the Interactive ones and of course the well known Super Mario series of games, and much more. Adding to this is the acailability of an entire colelction of walkthroughs for the various Wii games so as to make the gaming much easier.

Mii:Customizable user profiles

A Mii (pronounced me) is a digital avatar created by Nintendo for the Wii's Mii Channel. After creating them, they can be used as participating characters in certain Mii-oriented games, as first shown in Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Wii Play. Miis are customizable and allow the user to capture a likeness or caricature, or capture the personality of themselves and others. Up to 100 Miis may be created on any Wii console. The Wii Remote itself can hold up to 10 Miis on its internal memory, which can later be transferred to another Wii console. In addition, Miis can also be exchanged via the WiiConnect24 service, whereby allowing a player's Miis to "Mingle" will enable such Miis to appear on other people's Wii consoles (appearing in a "Mii Parade", where up to 10,000 may feature). Users can also transfer Miis to supported Nintendo DS games. Miis can only be edited on the console on which they were created. One can also customize their Miis online.

Fusion of all nouveau technologies

Wii fuses a large number of technologies together. Firstly, the Wii controller hides beneath its glossy exterior a number of cutting-edge technologies. The peripheral uses an accelerometer and a gyrometer to measure motion and tilt, and likewise utilizes both infrared and Bluetooth technology to interact with a sensor bar (placed near a television) and ultimately to send information to the Wii console. In addition, the Wii Remote uses an accelerometer and a gyrometer to measure motion and tilt, and likewise utilizes both infrared and Bluetooth technology to interact with a sensor bar (placed near a television) and ultimately to send information to the Wii console. Plus, it's got rumble functionality. All of these technologies combine to deliver users a level of precision and interactivity not possible before. Although you'd never know it, there are all sorts of technologies converging and interacting whenever you pick up the Wii-mote and swing a backhand in a game of Wii Sports Tennis. The best tech is the kind that works without making its presence known. The Wii console can also be configured to connect to a WiFi so that one can easily play online and compete with a large number of real world players.

Numerous enhancements

Wii comes in with a lot of enhancements and Add ons. One such option is the Classic-style controller (which Nintendo has priced at $20) for non-motion-sensing titles such as fast-paced fighting games. As time goes by, one expect independent vendors to offer a multitude of plastic shells to slide your Wii Remote into--all of them promising to improve your gaming experience. One product already on sale is UbiSoft's $20 Wii Steering Wheel. Web rumors suggest that Electronic Arts may be working on a way to let you strap the Wii Remote to your foot in order to play its FIFA soccer game. Another rumor has it that the Nintendo DS handheld's touch screen will be able to act as a controller for Wii games. There is also an add on called "Wii Fit" that helps one keep track of one's body and workout through the various games so as to shed calories and stay fit.

In short Wii is Nitendo's gift to the gaming lovers all over the world and Wii is just indispensable for all the game lovers.

Slumdog wins the globe.

2009-01-13T00:30:00.000+05:30

Stories about a persons journey from rags to riches is nevertheless a commonplace plot in movies, but when such a story is filmed with a realistic touch, clubbed with mellifluous, heartwarming music and is pictured with heart and soul, the movie obviously turns out to be a million bucks, and that's exactly the secret combination that has made "Slumdog Millionaire" bring home the bacon (and yes, the Golden Globe awards :) ).

The movie narrates how a slummy orphan who toiled hard in the slums of Mumbai gets through the Indian version of the American Reality show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" amidst all the odds he faces in the course of the show. Realistic scenes shot in the slummies provide an insight into the plight of the orphans who arduously strive to make a living under torturous poverty. This movie has all the nitty-gritties of a blockbuster.

Connoisseur of music A.R.Rahman has created history by bagging the "Golden Globe Award" for his musical score in Slumdog Millionaire. A.R.Rahman is the first Indian to receive the prestigious award. The musical score of the movie is refreshing and at the same time extremely peppy. The film also won in Best Motion Picture-Drama category, Best Director award for British director Danny Boyle and Best Writer award for Simon Beaufoy.The movie has thereby swept off four awards at the "Golden Globe". Its worth mentioning that the movie has won in all the categories in which it had been nominated.

With A.R.Rahman creating a milestone in the history of Indian music industry with his dulcet scores for the movie, it is believed that "Slumdog Millionaire" will achieve much more recognition in no time. The movie crew and the Indian audience is eagerly awaiting the Oscars, with hopes of the movie sweeping off the Oscar awards too. So "Slumdog Millionaire" is all set to turn its creators into millionaires .

Truth About Satyam!

2009-01-08T12:15:00.000+05:30

"Satyam", a word that means truth, has proved very wrong for Satyam Computers. Satyam computers, an Indian IT Multinational company has shocked the whole world with its revealations. The Satyam CEO, Mr.Ramalinga Raju, also known as Raju, who is also Satyam’s founder and chairman, revealed the truth about Satyam yesterday. The terrific revelations of Raju were a Sting in the tail to the Satyam share holders and employees. The truth about Satyam left the whole Stock market Shell-shocked.

Mr. Raju, admitted to fraud in black and white, through the letter that he wrote to the Board of Directors of Satyam. Following his admittance to fraud, Mr. Raju announced his Resignation from his post too. The Bombay Stock Exchange has released the entire text of the letter. In his letter Raju has admitted that he had inflated up the profit of Satyam and had manipulated the balance sheets, in order to record unexistant profits. This is India's most terrific corporate fraud till date. Raju had cooked up the balance sheets to record a hefty 7000 crore asset. This is no doubt, an outrageous perfidy. Through his treacherous acts, Raju has delibertely deceived his employees, clients, shareholders and of course the whole world and has proved to be a Snake in the grass. Raju's letter has come up as a bolt form the blue for most of the clients of Satyam.

The Satyam crisis was initially set off in public when Satyam had tried to take over the infrastructure major Mayatas. Interestingly, the word "Mayatas" is an anagram of "Satyam". This take over opereation fetched severe opposition from the Satyam employees who believed that taking over an Infrastructure company was not healthy for an IT firm. To make things worse for Satyam, the world bank had charged Satyam of installing spy ware in one of its Softwares. While the Mayatas episode of Satyam was attracting global attention, Raju's shocking confession of fraud has sent shock waves throughout the world.

The Satyam picture is not yet clear. Raju's confessions state that he had solely inflated up the profits of Satyam, in order to prevent any take over that may arise if the true state of Satyam was out in public. However all these facts are too hard to digest. Raju's confessions are plainly Smoke and mirrors. How come audit team nor the CFO notice the anomalies in the balance sheet? Was it a joint treachery then? Or is the picture totally different? Is it that the Satyam fraud has roots in a much bigger scam?

The other Indian IT industries are watching the episode with sealed lips. The Satyam saga has made things worse for the Indian IT companies amidst the atrocious recession. It is feared that the world may lose its trust in the Indian IT indusrties following the Satyam treachery. At the moment lets just keep the fingers crossed and hope for a better tomorrow for the Indian IT Industry.

Unleash your creativity!

2008-12-13T18:32:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered how creative you are? If yes, then I would like to suggest a new tonic for ones creativity. If not, then let me tell ou that creativity is not just a born talent, instead its ones presence of mind that shapes ones creativity.So never restrain yourself to a limited number of hobbies and creativities. Try your hand out at everything and make a mark for yourself in all fields. That's the simplest way one can enhance once creativity.Trust me, theres lot of fun in being a Jack Of all trades rather than being a Master of an exclusive task.

Photography is an alluring word, instead the thught of photography floods your mind with infinite pictures. There are a whole lot of people who cherish photography as their hobby. I am not a dedicated photographer, yet I have a wispy attraction toward photography. Photography is not just limited to the lens. These days one can unleash ones creative hand at a whole lot of photo morphing and retouching activities. Therby one can paint the photographs with umpteen creativity.

Photoshop is the simplest and most desirable software when it comes to photograph retouching and morphing. Let me tell you that Photoshop is not just limited to retouching and morphing, instead Photoshop comes up with tons of operations, that one can mix up at ones wish and create innumerable creative pictures that can steal ones heart. Think out of the box, unplug the artist insid you and find your photoshop canvas flood with your alluring imagination.

Once you get your hands on photoshop, you can learn it up easily through the millions of photoshop tutorials that are available free of cost on the web. The interested creative souls can check out pslinks.us which is a one stop spot for all photoshop aspirants. So what are you waiting for, learn photoshop and see your mouse work wonders with splashing colors and images on the canvas.

The bubble bobble.

2008-10-19T20:11:00.000+05:30

Real Estate bubble is a drastic blow that can soak up any gigantic economy. Almost all major countries have experienced the real estate bubble in their developing times. However, the bubble engulfs the economy in its vicious circle and eventually ends up with catastrophic implications. The Indian economy experienced the real estate bubble in the recent years. It caused the realty price to shoot up sky-high. But now, with the global meltdown, the bubble is on the verge of bursting. This may end up in the reality prices plunging dramatically with drastic implications on various other critical aspects of the economy.

A real estate bubble can be described as an economic upshot that comes up in real estate markets. This bubble is marked by speedy hike in the prices of realty, to an unendurable level with respect to the incomes and other economic elements of the society. This phenomena is referred to as a bubble in the sense that, it is short lived like the real world bubble. Initially there may be customers who can afford to purchase realty, and therefore the realty market will be moving ahead. Gradually, the realty market grows in leaps and bounds resulting in an all time high price for realty. Initially, even with such high prices, people may compete to get rights over their dream property. This happens because the customers fear that the prices may shoot up more in future. At the same time, there will be people who try to make hay while the sun shines. These greedy souls will purchase huge number of plots and flats and sell them off at twice their price after a short while, when the demand for property grows exceedingly. These activities create chaos in the realty business where on one hand, the real estate agents and constructors make millions at one fell swoop and on the other hand the honest customers pay through the nose and put up all their investment on one single piece of land. This is the time when the realty bubble forms up well.

Amidst such pell mell in the realty market, gradually it becomes very difficult for the middle class society to purchase even a mediocre property. The plans of the common public to own a property turns into a pipe dream. The public start compromising with the fact that realty has turned unaffordable and give up their dreams to own a hot property. When the majority of the customers start having such a notion, the demand for realty starts declining. With the passage of time the realty price plumbs the depths. This marks the bubble burst.

Eventually, when the realty bubble bursts, the realty prices decline rapidly to unbelievable levels and put the kibosh on the realty market's growth. The economies of several countries have tasted the bitter realty bubble. The remarkable realty bubble was the one experienced by Japan in 1990's. It resulted in Bankruptcy, commodity price hike and several severe damages to the public. Several people who had availed home loans faced the confiscation of their properties, but were still forced to pay back the interest of the loan that they had availed.

Indian realty bubble is now on the verge of bursting. So, If you have plans for purchasing a dream property, don't make haste. Put your plans on the back burner, until the realty industry faces a doom. In such circumstances, one can easily take hold of their dream homes at realistic prices.

Be a Cj - Make the difference.

2008-10-18T20:01:00.000+05:30

I was recently going through the various news snippets on a news channel, that I caught sight of a fresh program called the "Citizen Journalist Show" on CNN-IBN. This show was strikingly different from the various conventional shows on News channels. I felt like the show almost voiced the public. The very citizens of the nation were the movers and shakers of the show.

Citizen Journalism lets the common public make themselves heard. It sort of empowers the not so influential class of the society. The best part of citizen journalism is that it provides unbiased insight into the society. Several events occur in one's neighborhood that influence one's life, but many such events go unnoticed. It happens because they appear meager in comparison to the global happenings and the media lets it unreported. However, if the various common happenings in one's own society are brought to light of the nation, then it can truly work wonders and help in ameliorating the society.

The Citizen Journalist show brought out by CNN-IBN has gained wide acclamation in no time. The idea that drives this show is very simple. Any citizen can take up the role of a journalist and put their piece of information into light. All a person needs to do in order to turn into a citizen journalist is to submit informations of their interest to the CNN-IBN. This can be easily done through the special Citizen journalist portal of CNN-IBN. The interested citizens can send in information in any form such as videos, photos and emails. The citizens can also report events within the blink of an eye by using their mobile phones. The citizens have to just catch a snap or a video of the intriguing happening. Once this is done, the video or the picture can be sent as an MMS or mail to CNN-IBN's citizen journalism wing. That's it. The intriguing happening can be made public in a jiffy.

The tagline used by CNN-IBN to canvass Citizen journalism is "Be a Citizen Journalist, Be a change". And yes, citizen journalists have brought in myriad changes to the society. Poorly ill people have obtained loads of donations from the kind-hearted people across the global, all because of Cj. Several societal problem and crimes have been closed in by plunging their accounts into the limelight. The various atrocities followed by certain greedy educational institutions have been brought to an end. In short terms, the society is being gradually cleansed and justered by Citizen Journalism. So what are you waiting for? Turn into a Cj and be the change! Make the difference to the society by contributing your share of humanity.

Say no to crackers.

2008-10-16T20:53:00.000+05:30

With Deepavali, the festival of lights, just a few days away, the whole country is preparing for a huge celebration. People have been engrossed in the festive mood. Shops in the various parts of the country have put up mega discount sale to allure the potential buyers. Cities have been embellished with decorative night lights and mega shopping malls have fancified their interiors with lamps, which are the trademark of this festival.

The festival has its roots in the Indian mythology. It is cited in Ramayana that Lord Rama had returned to his home town Dwaraka after killing evil daemon Naragasura. Rama had been staying away from home in the woods for fourteen years. The whole town was blissful owing to Lord Rama's return. Since Rama was returning on a new moon night, the dwellers of the town had planned to light up the town with lamps called as "Deep" in India, hence the name Deepavali which means a row of lights.

The current day deepavali, is celebrated with sweets and crackers. The crackers have engulfed the festival to such an extent that it becomes too hard for one to walk safely on streets during diwali.

Crackers have almost become a great nuisance. They harm almost all aspects of life. First of all the crackers emit smoke and harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, thereby contaminating the atmosphere and making it toxic. It has been proved that the pollution levels of cities shoots up, soon after Deepavali. It is also observed that thick smog accumulates the early dawn following Deepavali, thereby stealing the bliss and freshness of an early morning walk. Secondly, Crackers are mainly produced by small scale industries that illegally make use of Child labour. Destitute and helpless children, whose childhood is stolen by the poverty of their family are employed in the cracker making industry or to say discriminated by making them to work all day long under poor hegiene and safety conditions. These children are exploited by being underpaid. However, since there is no one to raise voice for these innocent souls, the industries continue to discriminate the children. Thirdly, Crackers are marked by loud noise that is emitted when a cracker bursts out. This contributes in leaps and bounds to noise pollution. Several people report hearing problems after the cacophonic deepavali. The miserable victims of this cacophony are the poor animals who are frenzied by the loud noise. Innumerable cases of animal death and illness comes up following the deepavali celebrations. Many dogs and cats residing in cities and towns are forced to the end of their lives owing to the blaring celebrations. The most pathetic condition is of those poor animals who turn phrenetic and go out of their senses. These animals give up eating and cease to behave normally. Finally, the amount of dust and waste generated by these crackers is overwhelming. One can spot the roads totally wrapped with millions of paper pieces soon after Deepavali. This adds up to the mounting garbage levels in various cities.

As a whole, one can clearly make out that bursting crackers makes no good for anyone. Still people tend to go for crackers, just for the thrill one gains in bursting it. But, is our life just about a short lived thrill. Why don't we look at the harmful implications of crackers? And why are we so inconsiderate to the poor children who engage in cracker production, putting their life at stake? Isn't there any speck of humanity in ones heart?

Its high time to raise arms against this vicious practice. Everyone has to be resolute to abandon crackers. Instead one must stick to green and environment friendly celebrations. Its is our Earth and we have to take care of it. So lets hope that every citizen realizes the evil of crackers and makes way for a green planet.

Got out of work overnight!

2008-10-16T12:29:00.000+05:30

The recent marriage of Kingfisher and Jet, the two Brobdingnagian airlines from India has sent shock waves through out the nation. The fusion of the two airline services was done with the intention of employee sharing and workforce reduction, which in turn was needed for cost reduction. But it has left the employees of Jet Airways at sixes and sevens.

The merger has put the CEO's of the two airlines in all smiles. They were seen very happy while posing and exchanging shake hands for the cameras that had flocked in at late-night hour, to cover the report on the merger of the two huge airline services. On the other hand, the employees of Jet Airlines started feeling as if all hell broke loose. This was because the work force reduction came into being At the drop of a hat. A huge number of Jet Airways employees were sacked in haste. Some of the employees who were assigned night shift, had just reported for their work, when they were bitterly informed that they are no longer a part of Jet Airways. These employees were in hugger-mugger. Soon other employees who were fast asleep started getting calls that there service has been terminated. Several employees who were incognizant of the happenings and had reported to the office the next day, were appalled when they discovered that they were no longer a part of Jet Airways. As a whole around 1500 employees were ousted from Jet Airways.

The merger and its follow ups seemed to be a bolt from the blue for the helpless employees of Jet Airways. They had toiled hard to make a good career and suddenly they were gone to pot. This incident is a wake up call for all citizens. The global market is plunging and job security is the need of the hour. I believe that henceforth, all and sundry will have to engage in an alternate business that can be relied upon for a living in bad times. This will help make ends meet in all difficult times.

Planning A Dream House?

2008-10-15T21:35:00.000+05:30

A serene home that meets all of one's desires is what one feels about one's dream home. Constructing a dream home and making it a reality in this market of big-ticket realty is really a toilsome task. Yet, one has to make a home for oneself one day or the other, and it would be delighting if one is able to construct a dream home successfully. Let me give some tips on how to make your dream realty a reality!

First of all plan your budget, the amount of money that is required for the dream house must be affordable. Never overspend, because if you put in all your money on a single piece of property, you might be risking your financial status. Secondly, never deviate from your budget. Whatever changes come up, be determined to sticking to the budget that you have fixed. This avoids all the troubles. Thirdly, don't plan the architecture of the home in haste. Ponder well over your needs and the kind of expectations you have from your home. Never be too fantasized. Be realistic when it comes to realty. I would like to suggest some very good web sites that offer free home plans. These sites namely DreamGhar and Alternative Home Plans, offer upright and affordable home plans for a range of home types. One can get the basic idea from these plans and modify them as per ones needs. Finally, one has to use good labour and materials for the construction or go for a reputed contractor. Never compromise on quality for financial concerns. Because this is a one time investment and everything about it should be uber. So, choose a feasible plan for your dream home and make it become your true home.

The dream date.

2008-10-14T20:15:00.000+05:30

The global crisis is creating fury all over the world. The economy of almost every nation seems to be vulnerable and stock markets are plunging badly. It is a matter of concern for every citizen. However, the array of people affected by this meltdown are innumerable and the count grows every minute at an alarming rate..... Among the ones affected by the meltdown are the various fresh engineering and technology college graduates too. Alas! I am one of them too!

We had strived day in and day out to make the best out of the four years of graduation... Gradually with the passage of time, when one started performing well in the various tests, a feeling of satisfaction came up... But the best thing for one was getting a job in an IT firm with a catchy pay! It was like a dream come true and a feeling of pride engulfed the budding engineers.

All were eagerly waiting to shed the college graduate cocoon, march forward into the professional life and make a fortune. Every one of us had a million desires about our career and were just excited and anxious to make a good career. Whoops! But with the Global economic crisis, all the dreams seem too distant to achieve. Most of the graduates who got through top-notch firms are waiting eagerly for an intimation to join the firm. Some graduates have not got any sort of intimation from the firm regarding when they have to join, while others have been told bitterly that they cannot join the firm until next year. The most terrible situation is that of those minuscule category of graduates who were abrasively informed that the job offered to them months ago has been nullified due to business reasons and poor performance of the firm. For those students it was like doomsday. The worst part is that all the IT firms have held back new recruitment and finding a new decent IT job seems next to impossible .

The graduates are going through a state of agony. However, one has to believe that, it is not the end of the world, times will surely change. But, its ones duty to make efficient utilization of the mean time. One can work on programming languages, technical skills and also on ones vocabulary. After all "Knowledge has no limits" and one has to gradually improve oneself to survive in the competitive world.... Lets all hope that the "Dream Date" to join the firm is dispatched soon and that all the graduates can have a head start in the professional career!

What you mean to me..

2008-10-14T11:56:00.000+05:30

You are my mentor, in an imbroglio of darkness,
And its you who helps me to sweep over all sullenness.

You hold my hand in all shuddery times,
And its you who incites me on all steep climbs.

You give me the guts in all grave fights,
And its you who backs me in all operose fights.

You are the one who lets my cerebrations to take shape,
And its you who instigates me to land into a venture.

You boost me up in times of lugubriousness,
And its you who gives me the might to feel sureness.

Yes! Its all about you, my confidence,
And its you who fills life with peppiness.

The Phi theory.

2008-10-13T19:51:00.000+05:30

I have always had a fascination for numbers and the theories related to them. But, I had not put in much effort to go through the various theories on numbers. But, very recently, I came across a theory called the "Phi Theory" and was really intrigued by it. The Phi theory has close relation to the renowned Fibonacci series. The golden ratio (also called Phi) forms the solid base for the Phi theory.

What is the golden ratio (Phi) ?
The Golden Ratio (or Golden number) is named after a Greek letter,Phi. The numerical value of 1·6180339887... is referred to as the golden ratio.

A clear-cut definition of Phi.
As we all know, there are just two numbers that remain the same when they are squared namely 0 and 1. Other numbers get bigger and some get smaller when we square them.
But, what makes Phi special is that, we can obtain the square of Phi by simply adding the value 1 to Phi.
In simple terms,

Phi² = Phi + 1

It is bewildering that there are just two numbers that satisfy this property ( Square of the number = Number + 1). One such number is the Phi, while the other is called as "phi" and holds the value of 0.6180339887... This is exactly the decimal portion of Phi. Phi and phi are closely related to each other in the sense that, they are the solution to the above cited equation (Phi² = Phi + 1).

It is also worth a note that Phi = 1/phi = phi + 1. Thereby, Phi and phi have a deep rooted relationship.

Significance of the Golden Ratio.
It is believed that Golden Ratio has a deep connection to the beauty of nature and things. It is being held that, any object whose proportions equal the golden ratio, tend to be pleasing to the eye. There are several citations for this conjecture.

In addition, several splendid pieces of human creation as well as the enticingly beautiful aspects of nature and living forms are found to exhibit the "Golden Ratio" in their proportions.

Phi Theory in Nature and Human Structures.
Nature and Human structures strikingly seem to represent the Golden Ratio. A plant named "sneezewort": Achillea ptarmica, exhibits growth ratio that equals the Golden Ratio. Also the number of petals on many flowers is found to be a Fibonacci number: buttercups have 5 petals; lilies and iris have 3 petals; some delphiniums have 8; corn marigolds have 13 petals; some asters have 21 whereas daisies can be found with 34, 55 or even 89 petals. The most intriguing one is the Seed arrangement in a Sunflower. It is found that the ratio of the Number of seeds arranged in the Anti Clockwise pattern to the number of seeds arranged in an Clockwise pattern equals the Golden Ratio.

Even the alluring Pyramids are belived to typify the Phi. The ratio of the length of a face of the Great Pyramid (from centre of the bottom of a face to the apex of the pyramid) to the distance from the same point to the exact centre of the pyramid's base square is about 1·6. It is a matter of debate whether this was "intended" to be the golden section number or not. The Phi is believd to be exhibited in shapes of galaxies, Human DNA, Human face and several other aspects.

So to conclude, Phi theory is one of the most enigmatic and intriguing theories in Mathematics. It has colligation to several theories in Physics too. For more information, one can Click Here and get to know in depth about the Phi Theory.

The Egyptian Curse?

2008-10-13T12:02:00.000+05:30

Egypt-The Land with a million Enigma. Egypt hails one of the most ancient civilizations in the whole world. The land is adorned with umpteen Pyramids and an awe-inspiring landscape. There have been a million citations of Egyptian mysteries that have puzzled the world for a long time. However, the greatest Egyptian mystery till date is that of the "Curse of Tutankhamun".

Legend has it that the royal tombs of ancient Egypt were sealed with monstrous curses against all those who trespassed into the domain of the afterlife. Tutankhamun was a young pharaoh of Egypt who had a mysterious death in his early king hood. It is believed that the excavators who had dug out the tomb of king Tutankhamun were anathematized and suffered mysterious deaths. Inside the tomb of the young pharaoh, Tutankhamun, hieroglyphic inscriptions are believed to have spelled out a dreadful end for all those who entered.

The person who lead the excavations of Tutankhamun's tomb was Howard Carter. He was trained as an artist, but became a notable excavator in Egypt. Funded by Lord Carnarvon, Carter had tried to find the tomb of King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings beginning in 1917. Year after year, his workers uncovered nothing of importance. Given one last season before his funding was stopped, Carter made the discovery of his life when he found the legendary king's tomb in 1922. The discover of the tomb was a milestone in Egptian Archeology. Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter boasted proudly about their discovery and remarked that this discovery will uncover a million secrets that engulfed the death of the boy pharaoh.

But Alas! Lord Carnarvon could not live long since the excavation of the tomb. When Lord Carnarvon died on 5 April 1923, seven weeks after the official opening of pharaoh Tutankhamun's burial chamber, rumours were rife about a curse. News of Tutankhamun's tomb and its discoverers had sent the world's media into a frenzy and the death of Lord Carnarvon added another twist for eager journalists. This incident gave way to the rumors abou the "Egyptian Curse", leaving the world perplexed and causing the other excavators of Tutankhamun's tomb to stay panic-stricken. Simiarly, a lot of people associated with the tomb's ecavation were pushed to death mysteriously.

Gradually, events occured that all seemed to testify the "Egyptian Curse". Owing to this lot of exploration was set out on the tomb's excavation.

All sorts of links were found. The lights of Cairo were said to have gone out at the moment of his death (not an uncommon occurrence back then), while back at Carnarvon's English estate his dog, Susie, was supposed to have howled and died at the same time.

Carnarvon's death came just a couple of weeks after a public warning by novelist Mari Corelli that there would be dire consequences for anyone who entered the sealed tomb. The media and public lapped it up. Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and a believer in the occult, announced that Carnarvon's death could have been the result of a "Pharaoh's curse".

But despite such tales, many of the prime memebers of the excavation team, lead a long happy life. For instance, the curse should have laid squarely on the shoulders of Howard Carter himself, but he lived another 17 years, dying just prior to his 65th birthday. Yet he had spent about a decade working in the tomb. Others likewise lived long and fruitful lives. It was also believed that not just the excavators, but also some of the robbers who had tried to rob the hiiden treasures in pharaoh's tomb also died pathetically and mysteriously.

Amidst all these chaos, a short scientific thought can solve the hidden mystery. As we all know dead bodies degenerate and are prone to infections. It is also held that the mummies are carefully preserved in some sort of solution that keeps the mumies from wearing out. Yet, there is no assurance that the mummies are disinfected. May be the inscriptions in Hieroglyphics are a casual warning to keep the humans away from catastrophic infections. So, it ma be that the death of some of the excavators was due to the infections they had sufferd in exacvating the mummy. While the one's who survived may have been blessed with good immunity. Similarly, there have been a lot of theories that proved that the curse was baseless.

Today, archaeologists wear protective gear when unwrapping mummies. In 1999, Gotthard Kramer, a German microbiologist from the University of Leipzip, suggested that there might be some truth to the mummies curse. Studying 40 different mummies, he identified several potentially dangerous mold spores. He believes that when tombs were first opened, fresh air could have disturbed these spores, blowing them into the air, and perhaps, creating health problems. So we can end up that the "Egyptian Curse" is just a result of wild imagination. So every mystery will alwas have a scientific clue, search for the clue and the mystery will be solved.

My favourite series-Smallville

2008-10-12T23:27:00.000+05:30

Smallville is one of my most cherished series's. Smallville is the superman story. It is the teenage story of far-famed "Superman". The principal character in this series is "Clark Kent", the super man. However, Clark Kent limns a down to earth and homely image among his family and friends. The series begins with a cataclysmic Meteor shower hitting the serene town of Smallville. Along with the meteor showers, comes in a space ship carrying Clark Kent. Clark Kent was a kid around 3 years old when he landed on Earth and was adopted by a childless couple named Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent, who found the kid amidst a debris of meteors and space ships.

Clark Kent was the apple of eyes for the Kent Couple. They felt as if God had sent in a child for their happiness. With the passage of time Clark Kent grew up into a teenager who worked on his family farm and lived happil with his parents. Clark Kent spends most of the time with his friends Pete Ross, Chloe Suvilan and Lana Lang. They got to the same high school and spend lots of quality time with each other and help each other in their tasks.

Pete Ross is Clark's Best friend and is a peppy guy with a golden heart. He considers Clark to be one of the most respectable humans and cares a lot for him. Clark and Pete had been friends since Childhood and know each other to the core. The best part is that both of them have similar likes and dislikes.

Lana Lang is the supposed lady love of Clark. Lana lives next to Clarks farm with her aunt. The devastating Meteor shower that had hit Smallville had killed Lana's parents and left her an Orphan. Yet, she was lucky to have her aunt adopt her and take care of her just like a princess. Lana carries a girl next door image and is very sensitive and naive. She supports Clark in all his painful moments and both of them share an emotional bond.

Chloe Suvilan is a pepp lass with a gift of gab. She is one of the most intelligent girls in the high school and possesses a treasure of creativity. She is Clarks best friend too. Despite the several tiffs, Clark and Chloe share a very good friendship. Chloe has a soft corner for Clark and cares for him beond a simple friendship. Chloe and Clark work together for their school newspaper namely "The Torch", which focuses mainly on the wierd incidents that occur in Smallville due to the Meteor Freaks existing in Smallville. The newspaper also brings into Limelight the various incidents occuring within the highschool.

Lex Luthor is another prime character in the series. He is the son of one of the Millionares of Smallville, named Lionel Luthor. Lex lives in a Mansion in Smallville and has a great fondness for history and mysterious events. Lex comes in contact with Clark when Clark saves Lex from a crucial road accident by using his super powers. The fact that Clark had saved him makes him develop umpteen care for Clark. At the same time he is puzzled on how Clark could save him from a spartan accident without hurting himself, sets up a faint suspicion about Clark's abilities in his mind.

The Series revolves around these primary chracters with the occasional new characters that are rolled in as and when needed in the story line. It is a heartwarming, fun filled, teenage mystery story. This series is so interesting and alluring that it can keep you hooked up for a long time, unless you make up our mind and turn it off. So hope everyone will have fun watching smallville henceforth. Watch it and have a great time.

Just My Luck

2008-10-12T00:42:00.000+05:30

Luck! A magical word in everyone's life. Luck can work wonders. I have always been superstitious and believed that the events that happened in my life are related to what I have done earlier in my life. And in some way i could testify my theory with some strange citations. Yet believing in my theory gave me great elation and so I continued to believe in my luck. A recent incident in my life hyperbolized my faith on luck..

It was a cool Monday morning and I headed for my college as usual with the "Monday morning hangover" (A strange feel of slothfulness that creeps into one after having a comfy day at home on Sunday). As I had reached the college an hour earlier I headed right into the college library. ( Inspite of being idyllic, I reached college earlier because there were no buses that reached m college exactly on time). I entered the library after identifying myself to the leery librarian who always suspected that every student came into the library with the intention of "book lifting".

The library was deserted except for few geeks who were as common as the dust in the library :). The calm ambiance gave me immense piece of mind and I started going through one of my favorite magazines. When I felt blaséd with the magazine, I replaced the magazine very gingerly onto its rack, as I was aware that the librarian was keeping an eye on everyone in the room. Then I headed towards the book racks that had books pertaining to Computers and caught sight of a book that I was hunting for a long time. I got the book to the librarian and had it hired for a week. Soon I left for my class room and started going through the book. It was then that I noticed a Sim card unretentively placed inside the book. As usual, I was too lazy to step down to the library on ground floor in order to return the sim card to the librarian so that she can take measures to pass it on to its possessor. I was in a dilemma on whether to return it back to the librarian or just throw it away into the trash can. Then, I decided to just leave it grounded in the same book where I had found it and to return the book along with the sim, a week later. But yet I was having a strange feeling of guilt. I felt that I was being dishonest and yucky. So I made up my mind and headed straight to the library. Then as I entered the library to return the sim, I found one of my senior having a talk with the librarian and pleading to her to help him get back his sim. The problem was that he had returned several books the previous day and he couldn't make out, in which book he had obliviously placed the sim. Moreover, He was having a telephonic interview that day and was badly in need of the sim so as to complete his telephonic interview. For some time ,I was mutely watching the guy persuade the librarian to help him. Then without wasting anymore time, I walked towards the guy and handed over the sim to him. The guy was extremely happy to get his sim back in time and felt very grateful for my help. As I started walking out of the library, I was appalled to see my pocketbook lying on the floor. It seems it had fallen out of my bag without my notice, when I was taking out my Identity card from the bag, in order to enter the library. I felt really relieved that I could find it on time. It was sheer luck that I got it back. Had I not stepped down to return the sim card, I would have surely lost my pocketbook. I was feeling greatly happy that my theory of luck worked out again and that too in critical state of affairs. So I have a strong notion now that "What you do, Is what you get!". Hence, "Be good, Do good and Have good"!!!!

Laxmi Proves To Be A Pixie

2008-10-11T13:21:00.000+05:30

Swapnagudi was a serene valley nestled in the mountains of Bhagawanmala. There lived a pious man named Kumaran. Kumaran served as the forest officer of Swapnagudi for about a decade. Kumaran was a family man. He lived with his only daughter Laxmi and his mother in a lovely home that was built on the banks of the river Giridhaara. Swapnagudi was now buzzing with the wintry air. Giridhaara had a heavy flush this winter. The entire valley survived on the water of Giridhaara. It was believed that Giridhaara originated high above the Bhagawanmala, which was flocked by herbs and trees of medicinal value.

Kumaran woke up to the cock's cry at four every morning. Everyday as soon as he woke up he would see Laxmi sleeping besides her grandmother. Seeing this he would feel that he should never give place to the absence of mother's love in Laxmi's mind.

Laxmi was a peppy lass and was so garrulous that her grandmother often lost to her in all funny tiffs. Laxmi loved animals and she had a pet lamb named Shweth. But Laxmi was not allowed to bring Shweth home along with her. This was because her grandmother would fume with fury at the sight of a lamb. Laxmi therefore found a cozy place for Shweth inside a deserted cave that lied doggo in the woods.

Every morning Laxmi would wake up with her grandmother at five. She would then stealthily leave for the cave with her glass of milk to the cave to meet Shweth. Shweth was used to this feast and would patiently wait for Laxmi to arrive. As soon as Shweth heard some footsteps it would jump out of the hay bed and run out of the cave. Laxmi would then play with Shweth in the tea estate, pluck some flowers from the Estate office's garden escaping the sight of the watchman and merrily leave for home. By then her grandmother who was used to these activities of Laxmi would be ready with hot water for Laxmi's bath. Then Laxmi would leave for the village school uphill.

One fine day Laxmi left for her school as usual. But today she found to her surprise that her favorite teacher Mira who taught her English at school was glum. It was Laxmi's habit to meet Mira in the staff room to show her notebook and get it corrected. But when she entered the staff room she found Mira weeping all alone. She stood clueless at the staff room door. Then she found Mira walking out of the room without paying attention to Laxmi's presence. All night the thought of her teacher's sadness haunted Laxmi.

The next morning when Laxmi went to meet Shweth she found Mira watering the plants in the garden of a wooden house nearby the cave. But soon she found Mira being dragged ruthlessly into the house by an old woman. Haunted by these scenes she moved back to her home. At school when she told her principal that she had found Mira being handled rudely by an old woman, her principal seemed to be hesitant to take it seriously considering that she was talking childishly. She came to know from the principal that Mira was ill and would not be visiting the school for almost a month.

All these made Laxmi worry about her teacher. So she left for the wooden house near the cave and there she found the old woman getting trucks loaded with sacks and being paid some money in return. Laxmi being a child could not make up what was happening. Shweth now ran into the plants behind that house. There Laxmi picked up few leaves and returned home. At home when her father introspected those leaves brought home by Laxmi, he was astonished. He discovered that it was the leaf of the plant Cannabis sativa which was used for producing psychoactive drugs. He asked Laxmi where she got those leaves from. Laxmi who was on the verge of crying owing to her teacher's absence told all she had seen at the wooden house. At this Kumaran smelled something fishy and promised to Laxmi that he would get her teacher back.

The next morning Laxmi guided her father to the wooden house. On their way Laxmi found the cruel old lady of the wooden house walking opposite to them on the road. She was relieved that now she can safely enter the wooden house. Laxmi told her father that the old woman would not be at the house now. When they reached the wooden home, Kumaran stepped down along a flight of stairs that lead to an underground storage. It was filled with huge sacks. Kumaran tore open one of the sacks with his pocket knife and found to his surprise that the sacks were filled with the leaves used for preparing the drug Cannibis. Soon he called up the local police and informed them about the illegal activity.

The police rushed to the site and broke open the wooden house for investigation. They found Mira tied up rudely on a chair. Soon Laxmi ran up to Mira and hugged her. The police freed Mira from the knots. Laxmi was now overwhelmed with excitement to have her teacher back. Mira explained to the police that her step mom was engaged in smuggling of drugs and that when her step mother learned that Mira was about to complain to the police about her illegal activities, she locked up Mira inside the house. The police soon arrested Mira's step mom on ground of pedaling drugs. Laxmis's grandmother suggested Kumaran to marry Mira as she believed that Mira herself being brought up by a step mother will be kind and loving mother to Laxmi. Finally Kumaran married Mira and they all lived happily ever after.

Height Of Anxiety

2008-10-11T13:17:00.000+05:30

Students are always eager to get a glimpse of their exam results. After all it is a testimony to one's commitment to academics. Some of my friends and I had done enough digging on the web to find out when our results will be published. Finally on 25 th of January we spotted on a website that our results will be out by the next day. As soon as we saw this announcement, we triggered a series of sms forwarding to notify our counterparts about the result declaration. This was enough to set off a cold fury amongst our college mates. Most of us spent an insomniac night owing to this announcement. Some of my friends also had nightmares over the examination results turning out negative. It was difficult for one to concentrate. Everyone felt restless. Finally the next evening, phone calls started pouring in, all inquiring the websites on which the results could be looked up. The air was chaotic. Everyone rushed to personal computers and net cafes to look out for the results. Alas! All of us were prompted that the server is down owing to the number of parallel views its serving. We sat glued to the monitor. Tapped the refresh key in succession to get a glimpse of the result. Almost an hour passed out, still we couldn't get the web page loaded. At last the site traffic was regulated and the web pages started appearing. An air of relief was sensed. Soon we typed in our registration numbers to check out our results. The browser displayed that the result page was loading. This was the most terrifying moment. We chanted the names of all known gods. Promised many offerings to god,in return of a positive result. Finally when the result page was loaded, I just sighed. I felt on top of the world to have cleared all the papers. All my friends were also in high spirits to see themselves with top scores. We then thanked god for not letting down our hopes and promised to work harder the next time. We found ourselves on the safer side after jumping down the wall of tension.

Dreams......

2008-10-11T13:15:00.000+05:30

Dreams reflect our mind,
Dreams are visible even to the blind.

Stars and moon shine at night,
Then your mind takes off to a wonderful flight.

Dreams show us all our wishes,
So that we can see ourselves in all the riches.

Dreams come free of cost,
Providing a scintillating place to get lost.

Dreams are for all ages,
Which won't even ask for wages.

Always dream so that you can guess,
What your heart wants to possess.

A Ray Of Hope

2008-10-11T13:14:00.001+05:30

Hope is a rope,
To win the globe.

At all steep slopes,
Hope is a rope.

Hope is not a joke,
So never lose hope.

You will be a joke,
If you lose hope.

Have hope in hope,
Then win over the globe.

Oh! The Hectic Rule Of Principal

2008-10-11T13:10:00.000+05:30

To come to school at 8 is a principle,
If not done so will be punished by the principal,
Oh! The hectic rule of the principal.

The principal expects our shoes to be polished,
But I pray,the rule should be abolished,
Oh! The hectic rule of the principal.

Teachers expect us to be bold,
But if we show our real boldness,they give us a scold,
Oh! The hectic rule of the principal.

To score good marks is quite hard,
Otherwise we'll get red marks in our report card,
Oh! The hectic rule of the principal.

I wonder if I was the principal,
I will ever and ever keep the children happy,
So that they needn't say,Oh! the hectic rule of the principal.

An Out And Out Stargaze

2008-10-11T13:08:00.000+05:30

With a dream in their eyes, hope in their mind, they step into the fantasy land of professional life. They are fresh out of college and are zealous to bring home the bacon. Their young blood keeps them in high spirits. They feel that it is a dream come true to be a part of an MNC. They find themselves on cloud nine to have the privilege to take up their dream job. Yes, they are the fresh graduates popping out of colleges and embarking on their professional life. There are a whole lot of youngsters flocking into professional life every year.

All this Techno mania does sound great to an outsider. Everyone starts envying their jobs at first sight. This allurment never loses its zeal and keeps alluring petty youngsters. Alas! The most astonishing construct among all these glossy jobs is the hard reality that it is no child's play to be part of an MNC. One has to toil day in and day out to earn those huge, eye catching package. But people often forget this fact and live their dream. There is no denial to the fact that being a techie professional is one among the most stressful occupation. There have been umpteen reports of professionals falling prey to several ailments, the root of the ailments being overwhelming stress.

So the note that I would like to make is that one should not let oneself to be taken over by stress,fatigue and other job related syndromes. Instead one must be aware of the kind of life they are about to have in their professional field ahead. One must never let the pleasure of recreation be wiped out amidst the pressure of meeting their deadlines. Recreation has proved to rejuvenate exhausted spirits and it serves as a boost too. Stress is also found to be curbed by pursuing a simple hobby on a regular basis. This will help stimulate your senses and keep yourself happy. Above all spend quality time with your friends and family so that you can keep yourself motivated nonstop.

Friends make life beautiful

2008-10-11T13:06:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered how life would have been if you had no friends? Yes! If it had been so , then merely life would seem to be woebegone. Relationships act upon our lives to a great extent. One's social circle determines one's attitude towards life. We are born in this world and brought up by our parents. We tend to live under their cocoon and slowly grow up into individuals. The impression caused by our surroundings can be best seen in the way babies learn to speak up their mother tongue. The words one listens make a mark on ones mind. Thereby babies learn the language in no time. Likewise the people around us are the ones who define our lives.

The word "Friend" brings great bliss to everyone. Friends are like our psychological clones. They can read our minds and even read our faces. Friends figure out whats on our mind by just glancing at us. All worries seem to vanish when we share them with friends. Its hard to articulate what a "friend" means to one, yet one can put it this way that friends are the ones who give a boost to our life. They tend to be a constant source of motivation and support. The greatest thing is that we feel far lighter when we have a candid conversation with our friends. Its a joy that no other material possession in this world can offer.

We come across so many people in our life and from among those people, we make our friends. Its hard to make out how friendship blooms, still it can be said that friendship is the result of profound understanding and care. We feel great pleasure when our friends do something for our good, but doing something for our friends gives a million times more pleasure. The ultimate feeling of wholeness one experiences when one has great friends in life marks the prominence of friends in life.

Its a friend who will lend a helping hand in all your misery, its a friend who will stay besides you despite all odds, its a friend who will go to any extent just to see your simple smile and to sum up, Its a friend who colors our life. So this article is a tribute to all of my friends who made my life beautiful. :)

Envying the new Iphone?

2008-10-11T13:05:00.001+05:30

The Apple Iphone with all its alluring and amiable features has already made its mark in the Technology quad. The Iphone has not yet been legally brought into the Indian markets. Still a whole lot of Indian tech savvy populace have already started using Iphone in full swing. These are the Iphones that they got from outlets abroad. The phones had been intelligently locked by Apple to prevent its usage in domains other than the ones for which it was intended. However the hardcore programmers in the country managed to break open the locked iphone and made it usable in India. All those were in good times with their Iphones until the fresh news of an improved version of the Iphone came up. Yes! The Iphone has a melioration now. This all new Iphone is to be released shortly in th US. Guess what, this Iphone is a massive make over of the existing one. It allows for web surfing over extremely fast 3G cellular networks, enables easy enterprise management, provides maps with GPS and above all, it lets the user download a wide range of applications that serve all purposes that you had been dreaming for our phone. You name the feature and you will find it in the new Iphone. The Apple inc has wisely articulated it as "Twice as fast. Half the price." However amidst all these hype and drooling over the new Iphone, the Indian populace has not shown any excitement but is just seeing dashing hopes. It is because the new Iphone is based on 3G technology, A technology of which the Indians have been dreaming for a long time. The disputes over the spectrum allocation to the existing service providers has digressed the efforts required for introducing 3G in India. Adding to all these is the rumor that the government has interests in letting foreign providers bid for the existing spectrum. So to sum up, the 3G technology is still a dream for Indian telecoms industry. Thereby the Indian populace is left with no other choice, but to simply envy the new Iphone.

Do you dream?

2008-10-11T12:38:00.000+05:30

Sleep is essential for a healthy living. Dream and sleep are of course tightly coupled. Its hard to imagine a sound sleep without dreams. Everyone dreams pleasantly, there are people amongst us for whom dreams are indispensable. Have you ever dreamt? Oh no! What am I asking, after all I know dreams are part of everyone's life. So let me ask you, have you ever got a faint memory of your dream overnight? This would surely ring a bell!! Yes, you are one among those who have a good unplanned memory.

This sort of faint memory of a dream arises because your mind remembers dreams as events too. But these events are interpreted in a manner different from the real life events.So when you come across something or some idea that is similar to the elements in your dream, you start feeling as if you have a hunch. But alas! You can't clearly make out what that hunch tends to. This feel is common in all of us. One can better understand dreams by understanding its cause.

A dream is plainly a reflection of the impressions on your mind. You'll surely have experienced nightmares after watching a Horror movie. This happens because dream brings about the facts that are absorbed by the brain. So one can understand oneself better by questioning their dreams.

Henceforth if you get a hunch of certain events to have already occur in our life(better known as "Dejavu"), then just start thinking what the elements of your hunch have to do with you. How they are related to you? What can you do to make them better? Always remember that your dreams always reflect your true inner desire. So never dare to neglect them. This sort of an interpretation will help you find answers to all of your unanswered questions!!! So what are you waiting for? The next time you have a hunch, interpret it and make your life better!