Travel Warning!!!

SHIT

I do not know whether to call this incredible media. Or should I take the side of the media and sensationalize the news about Darul Uloom Deoband’s edict. In either case this is really oitrageous and we as a society need to GROW UP and put a Full stop to all these rapists who go all around the country with glee. It really infuriates me no end to see this news article
And whats more read this news article

And this comes just less than a month after a case of an alleged rapist who was convicted in the court offering to marry the victim. Whats more and infuriating was that the court actually waited for the victim to make up her mind! As if it was a noble act to actually come forward and offer to marry the victim. Put these rapists behind bars and teach them a lesson. PERIOD. Dont ask them will u marry the victim? How about the victims younger sister?? And so on and so forth.

As a society WE MUST GROW UP. Grow up and put an end to the torture we subject these already victimized women.

Why me?

This is a repeat post...But i thought it was well worth the repetition.

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of CANCER. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:
The world over -- 5 crorechildren start playing tennis,
50 lakh learn to play tennis,
5 lakh learn professional tennis,
50,000 come to the circuit,
5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbeldon,
4 to semi final,
2 to the finals,
When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?".
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"

Motivation

"I need some motivation today....I need somebody to give me a chocolate....I need somebody to write me a letter....I need somebody to tell me everything will be fine...I need somebody" cried the little boy. He was sitting alone in an abandoned bus-stop that cold windy night. The shelter of the bus-stop gave him temporary protection from the brutally cold wind that was blowing. But he had no shelter from his feelings. The fact of the matter was that he was dull, in fact increasingly he had been becoming more and more dull as the days passed by. And he wished it were to end. Sobbing away his worries he didnt even have energy to notice that there was indeed somebody to take care of him and engulf him. He was asleep.

Another Link and Another Quote

How to become a millionaire!'


Read the article. Pay close attention to the last few words of the article evn if you dont understand the point of the rest of the article...

Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, who discovered that the 'world is flat was the keynote speaker at TiECon. Having seen the energy, ambition, confidence, and the genetic code that has produced all this I can do no better than conclude with the story that Friedman repeated.

"When we were young kids growing up in America," said Friedman, "we were told to eat our vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

Ra Ra

The Ra Ra song from Thalaivars movie is just getting to me man. When i actually saw the movie first, the song did not make an impression at all. But the more i listen to it, the better it sounds. i am almost happy that i dont understand the lyrics. Somehow i have a feeling that they wont live up to my expectations. Anyway, i loved the songs in Anniyan also. They are very good. Songs in Parineeta are ok...Like them as well...

I would love to see Thalaivar in a non-matrix level role. A role which actually fits the man he is right now.

Dare to Dream

All names and places mentioned in this story have been modified to maintain anonymity


Kumar was just a clerk. He knew his life was never going to see beyond the borders. He knew that his education had limited what he could do and regretted that his education prevented him from feeling the things.....seeing the things......and being the things.....those things belonged to the movies. They were a flash before his eyes every once in a while, when he decided to treat himself and Parvati to a movie.

A few years ago, when they had first met, within a couple of hours they decided to get married. It was no Love at First sight. Kumar was the mappillai and had gone to her house to "see" the girl. Kumars parents loved this calm, quiet and respectful girl that Parvati was. And so they decided to get married. It was decided that since the stars were as they were, they would have to wait a couple of months for the marriage. This they did quite impeccably. Of course they were forbidden from meeting each other during this period. Their parents were very happy to note that their words were being abided by.

Those couple of times, Kumar and Parvati met, without their parent's knowledge....Kumar still can remember her eyes....Fear written all over them..searching all around for those cruel uncompromising society that kept watch....Her hands were trembling and when he offered support, they withdrew and that was when their eyes met. They remained interlocked for a minute or so. She was losing herself to this man, when suddenly the pangs of reality struck her and she started looking around again, with those same fearful eyes. Kumar was scared too but he never showed it to her. In fact, he has hardly ever let her know that during the many years that they have shared this wonderful relationship, there has been many an occasion when he was scared...Scared to think about the future. Scared to dream...


The first few years of marriage were blissful and best left their own private world. By then, he moved to Madras and had secured a small respectable government job. But then problems started because he started to dream again.


Dreams...well he had always been a dreamer...His mother was very proud of him but was afraid of what would happen to him if his dreams collapsed. He was six years old then. He was aware of the beach for the first time. And he had seen "Tinku" the playful kid from the Rin advertisement build castles in the sand. His castle was not as big or as good as Tinku's. But in his minds eye he saw a castle. He told his mother that one day, he would build such a huge castle. His mother just laughed him away. When he was 13 and they had gone to the village mela he decided to become a lawyer. He still has the photograph. Its stored away in the rusty corner of his small house.


They moved into this house soon after they came to Madras. Parvati had wanted to move into a slightly larger house, a house with windows but he shared his dream with her and immediately she saw reason. They moved into this dimly lit single room apartment complex. Well to be fair you couldnt call it an apartment complex. It was just a long corridor with rooms on both sides of the corridor. The corridor also had 4 common bathrooms that everybody shared. The room itself was everything they needed to live. Early in the morning, its a kitchen with Parvati delicately preparing mouthwatering recipes. In the evenings it was the study and late at night it was a bedroom. They were saving money....saving so that they could live their DREAM. Meanwhile, for the last year and a half, Parvati had started working too. She worked during the day as a shopkeeper and toiled through the rest of her time as a housekeeper. But they kept reminding themselves that it was worth all the effort. They had to live their Dream.

He entered their life three years later. They knew "he" would change their lives forever. And he did change their lives forever. They loved him deeply as though he was a part of them, especially Parvati. She loved the innocent smiles and the probing questions. And their happiness turned to ecstacy when "she" entered their life. She was always running around all over their "apartment complex" with so much life and vigor. The neighbours loved her and her parents were so proud of her.

It was time for him to join school. There was really no doubt in their minds about where he would go to school. Nevertheless, they talked, debated, talked again and debated whether they could afford the luxury. Not long thereafter, they were in the nearest convent enquiring about admission procedures. They had the shock of their life when they heard about the entrance exam for the kid and the interview for the parents. It seemed so wierd and unnatural. But then, they had no choice. So they coached him hard for the entrance exam and they prepared hard for the interview too. They wanted their son to go to a convent and to a convent he went.

Today, Parvati stood proud and happy at the convocation. Their daughter was now an Engineer, a computer Engineer at that. And she had her entire life ahead of her. When her daughters name was called tears ran down her eyes. She wiped it and proudly looked up and turned around to look at her son. He was now a doctor and was now studying the ailments of the heart. She didnt really know how to say "cardiologist", but she tried hard especially when she was talking to her neighbours.

That night they both sat outside their small house...the two of them alone...and they talked about their dream....and how they had lived their dream.....and how it had been worth everything...and how their children had made them ecstatic....


I turn around me and i look at everyone around me. There are doctors around, there are engineers around, there are entrepreneurs around, there are artists around, and there are scientists around....But are there dreamers around..Do any of them dare to dream anymore? I dont really have an answer..If you do please leave a comment

Breakfast

Since my arrival in Australia, as I have already indicated to most of you, I have become/turned quite lazy. Especially in the morning wake-up routine. That usually meant one thing. I usually did not manage to wake up early enough for a decent breakfast. But that was not the case today....Thanks to Abi. She called me up at 7:30 AM and woke me up. So i got ready early today for a change and had a nice satisfying breakfast.

The Breakfast Menu
3 Pancakes with Maple Syrup
Bowl of CornFlakes with Milk
Coffee

I also managed to visit Sydney last weekend. I drove to Sydney on Saturday. Sydney is a "pretty decent" city. I like it. Its got a lot of tall building and huge bridges just like New York but somehow seems to have a lot more style. The sydney harbour bridge is simply the most outstanding marvel of engineering that i have ever seen. I have always been a fan of huge structures especially bridges since the actual supp0rting structures are visible in bridges. My favorite until yesterday, was of crse the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. But the harbour bridge is just so much more (pardon me for saying this....i am just short of words) Masculine. Of course no trip to Sydney is a trip to Sydney without a coutesy visit to SCG, the venue of Steve Waughs last test, the venue where Laxman and Sachin set alight that test with scintillating Knocks....
Will definitely post more about the trip to Sydney later.


After posting this small update about my breakfast i read news on Rediff. And i found this article immensely insightful. So i thought u might want to read this too....

Growth!!!

I have managed to upload more photos of the trip to Budawangs and the walk around Canberra (BTW I walked around the city for about 5 hrs yesterday!!!) CLICK HERE TO SEE THOSE PHOTOS.

Failure

Interesting tit bit. Search "failure" on yahoo or google.

Or u can just click here

RFID Is it the way?

Read this article.
RFID Tags explode in Currency Notes

Its quite unfortunate that every move of ours is tracked and kept note of in some database somewhere.
No, I dont have anything to hide.
But, Yes i do have the right to go places without the entire world getting to know about it.
That is the claim of the author in that article.

Some two years ago i would have just laughed at the article and let it at that. But now maybe its worth thinking about...just that lil bit.


And while you are at it, I think this is worth a look too.

Photoshop For DNA

Why me?

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of CANCER. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:
The world over -- 5 crorechildren start playing tennis,
50 lakh learn to play tennis,
5 lakh learn professional tennis,
50,000 come to the circuit,
5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbeldon,
4 to semi final,
2 to the finals,
When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?".
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"