GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Parents are often called incarnations of God, creators and nourishers of life, embodiments of impartiality and love, etc- and for good reason too (Anybody who can bear babies' tantrums and unpredictable bowels deserves every word of praise the English language offers). Much is said about parents' virtues and their shortcomings. In general, parents are shown as being extremely loyal to their children in that a mother is supposed to dote as much on her rapist son as on her respected and upright son.But in this process of beatifying parents, are we denying them sentiments natural to common judgement?
In other words, are we justified in calling parents totally impartial? If you ask a parent with more than one child whether they hold one of their children in higher regard, you'd need Jonty's reflexes to duck under the flying vases. Their reply, ipso facto a no, is hardly ever objective. True, parents rebuke an erring child, but if all attempts fail, they are supposed to digest their faults with a bucket of salt and continue showering love on them.Undeniably, some people in the world are better than others.
A smart person is better than a fool. An intelligent person is better than a complete dud.But if parents have two children- one bright, smart, and talented, and the other, an unskilled and naive moron, they refuse to acknowledge child 1's superiority. Acknowledging this is not tantamount to buying him an extra ice-cream, so parents needn't fight to bog down a silent realisation.When we grow into mature adults with well-defined interests and whims, isn't it possible that our manner doesn't appeal to our parents.
If my father is allowed to bitch about a random reckless 24-year old, why can't he inveigh freely against his reckless 24-year old son (assuming that the son becomes reckless after his parents' parvarish and sanskaar, so that Ekta's characters don't say hamari parvarish mein hi koi kami rahi hogi)? Though responsibility might bind parents during their child's childhood, what stops them from dislking a 20-year old adult? Is it the pressure of society that inhibits them from making their displeasure public, or is it that parents are endowed with a you-shall-never-hate your-child gene?I'd love to get lie-detector tests done on parents and see how much of what I've is true. (At least some Hindi movies show parents disliking their children. Baghban was one; and haven't we heard meri kokh pe laalat hai some 3 dozen times?)

Varanasi- A Collection of Random Thoughts

My grandfather tells me of the age when three rupees was all it took to buy a month’s food. When I go home during vacations, I tell him people here need just a few more. Varanasi, in many ways, reminds me of my grandmother’s tales of villages and rivers, of subsistence and happiness, and of a life of undiluted peace and calm.
When the Sensex yo-yos, so does the pulse of the entire nation. Men are accustomed to having their heart, instead of food, in their mouth. Varanasi, though, remains calm. Men still squat on the road with their kulhar of tea and two samosas. FIIs can sell out all they want to, the Federal Bank can double its rates, Earth may be stripped from the list of planets, the Al-Qaeda may blow the country away if they like, Varanasi may be declared part of Pakistan- nothing will perturb the devotees of Baba Vishwanath who bathe in Ganga Mayya. (People do a lot more than just bathe in it. But the holy river’s supposed to give you relief from all kinds of pressure.)

Varanasi is a misfit in the popular image of North India- business-minded, profit oriented, selfish. While people come here to soak up some ancient mysticism, they also learn to love the city for the way it is- dirty, congested, pot-holed; all-in-all, an urban nightmare. They say the spiritual enlightenment one obtains here overrides petty concerns like lashing cow-tails, traffic, floods, etc. I haven’t reached that stage yet. I still positively detest Varanasi for its refusal to change- for its people’s reluctance to change- fearing possibly that the new wave will undermine their existence. They’re scared of the day when priests will preach online, when Ustad’s shehnaai will make way for Metallica, when sub-ways will replace samosas, and when Café Coffee Day will overtake chai-stalls.
The tourism department doesn’t mind this. Why should they spend to clean the shit foreigners love to smell? I’ll tell them why. I’ve met a number of people who’ve toured Varanasi once. They said they’ll never go there again. Cluttered dwellings, dusty roads, and crowded marketplaces look ‘natural’ and ‘real’ on TV. But when you’ve to eat a samosa at the pavement of that very market, the reality hits you. The revenues from tourism might be enough for the state to keep bulldozers away. Makeovers cost a neat packet, and UP isn’t the richest or the most thinly populated state in the country. Devotees will visit the temple even if they have to tunnel through mountains of dung and filth. But I am not a devotee. I am a resident of this unholy city, and I don’t want to tunnel through mountains to get to a vegetarian restaurant or to buy a bloody magazine.
There’s something here that strikes you at once as charming and naïve. Vendors don’t mind if you say you’re broke and will pay them later. It might be for a cup of tea; it might be for an entire meal. I am not talking about big restaurants, where professional etiquette goes hand-in-hand with customer mistrust. I am referring to the petty tea stalls for whose owners the money from a single meal goes a long way. Call this blind trust, call it stupidity, call it what you like. But it does shatter the myth that man has become a profit-making machine. If ever a motion is initiated to revamp the city, I’ll be its most vociferous supporter. But some things are better left alone.

Shayaries

1.
Yehi Wafaa ka silaah hai,to koi baat nahi
Yeh dard tum ne diya hai, to koi baat nahi….

Yehi bohot hai ke tum dekhte ho sahil seSafeena doob raha hai, to koi baat nahi….
Rakha tha aashiyana-e-dil main chhupa ke tumkoWoh ghar tumne chor diya hai to koi baat nahi….

Tum hi ne aayena-e-dil mera banaya thaTum hi ne tod diya hai to koi baat nahi….
Kiskii majaal kahe koi mujh ko deewanaAgar yeh tumne kaha hai to koi baat nahi….


2.Har dil ka ek raaz hota hai
Har baat ka ek andaz hota hai
Jab tak na lage bewafai kee thokar
Har kisiko apne pasand par naaz hota hai ........
Khuda salamat rakhe unko jo
hamse nafrat karte hai
pyar na sahi nafrat hee sahi
kuch toh hai jo hamse karte hai !



3.

mastana piye jaa unhi mastana piye jaa
paimana to kia cheez hay maikhana piye jaakar

kar k mo-e-jam gham-e-gridish e ayam
ae dil-e-nakaaaam hakeemana piye jaa

mai noushi k aadab se agah nahin tuu
jis tarha kahe saqi-e-maikhana piye

is matr ki basti may hay masty se hasty
deewana pan aur batil-e-deewana piye jaa

maikhanay k hangamanay hay kuch dair k mehman
hai subhu tareebaftare paimana piye jaa

useful URLs

How much u know ?
General Knowledge Blog -
: Economic Terms, Glossaries and Definitions :
http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/economic-terms-glossaries-and.html:
List of COuntries by Their GDP
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/countries-gdp.html:
Punchlines of Indian & Foreign COmpanies , Brands and Products
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/companies-brands-their-taglines-part-1.html:
Top COmpanies of The World & their CEos
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/companies-chief-executive-officers.html: Indian cabinet Ministers - Who is Minister of which department
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/indian-cabinet-ministers.html:
Top Dot COm Companies of the World
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/top-dot-com-companies-of-world.html:
Various Indian Awards & Descrition about the same
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/indian-awards.html:
Indian News Papers
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/indian-news-papers.html:
Players of Indian origin in national cricket teams of other countries
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/players-of-indian-origin-in-national.html:
Renamed Indian Cities :
( Bombay -Mumbai , Baroda -Vadodara etc.)
http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/renamed-indian-cities.html:
Various Indian Dances
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/gk-india.html:
Languages of India
:http://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/official-languages-of-india-1.htmlhttp://gk-india.blogspot.com/2006/12/indian-state-and-union-territory.html

humorous quotes

1.Don't always look at the brighter side you may go blind
2.there is no “right” answer, there is only the human capacity to look for the right answer
3.Many things can be preserved in alcohol. Dignity is not one of them
4.When you're right, no one remembers. When you're wrong, no one forgets.
5.When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane
6.Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy
7.Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else
8.I have a drinking problem - I can't afford it
9.Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
10.I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian
11.I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it
12.Few women admit their age; few men act it.
13.Consciousness: That annoying time between naps
14. Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?
15.I don't find it hard to meet expenses. They're everywhere
16.I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not too sure.
17.Life is too complicated in the morning
18.Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me alone.
19."Smile... it confuses people"
20.The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason
21.wake me up when the weekend gets here
.22.I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.
23.There should be a better way to start a day than waking up every morning"

Me and My age...

This age, the young age, we can do anything we want to do. We can enjoy it to the fullest. We can work as hard as we want. The only thing that we (at least I) cant do is decide what to do and what not to. One minute your heart cries –go and enjoy the life. Break all the rules. Life is beckoning you. Next moment your head makes things straight. Hey—this is the time to build you life. Once you have worked hard this time life is a path of rose for you...I sure it's not the problem only with me… Thousand of people in my age are feeling the same…Can anyone help me. And don’t give me the sh***y answer that there should be a balance between the two. I don’t want the balance. I just want to be in this side or that. And hope you too want the same.

My first encounter

My first encouters
Now I am a software engineer .So I would first tell you my initial encounters with the so called idiot box the computers.In school days or in PUC nights I did not study any computers but for engineering choose metallurgyI still don’t know what made to choose that .Fist two semester only theory was there in computers .In that also I failed miserably .In my batch itself there were guys who had computers in their 11h 12th standard most of them were guys from computer background. I with my like minded friends always hated computers because we never passed it in the first chance .3rd semester onwards lab started C++ .Getting inside the it was full A/C .I was literally afraid to do touch anything in it .Lab attainder came and opened the editor blue screen came up then he told us to enter the program and execute it. Suddenly one my senior came into the lab and asked me if Office is there ?? without knowing he was asking MS-Office I told office is in the administrative section this Computer Science Block Yaar !! Soon some of my neighbors started laughing then I realized something went wrong .I started entering the program silently and there by my first program hello world like may others who entered the world of computers .But still I was somehow waiting to get out of the lab.We decieded one thing that we wont enter this lab any more ..
Time passed by like that… one of my friend brought a computer for some 60 thousand one Pentium one .We all went to see that .It was the first time I was seeing Windows .Wow it is something different from the black screen I used to see in the lab .Suddenly he started copying some file from here to there ,I can see some icons flying from here to there .I just kept wondering (wondering was in a infinite loop).He was changing system resolution and many other stuffs .I thought I would never be able to learn these I should not have taken computers only.
Then finally lab exam came I almost learned all programs ..Somehow mugged up the logic .
I was given a program in C++ factorial using recursion .I thanked god It was the one I studied .Eagerly I went to the PC assigned to me .For my surprise I was not able to see the Blue screen . I got worried . It was embarrassing for me to ask the supervisor .I looked at my friends PC it was having the blue screen I asked how did you get it?? He told it was already there even he didn’t know how to invoke it .But he told me to run the command “come C” in dos prompt .I did it ..nothing happened “Come Soon C” ,“Please Come C” I tried every thing possible .Suddenly One idea hit I switched off the PC and told the invigilator when ever I try to invoke C++ editor the PC shuts down. He came and did it my idea worked .Oh.. was a big relief fellow Indians that time .That is how I still remember My first encounters with computer .
One more Incident I like to mention It was in Electrical Lab this time nothing related with computers ..Electrical it was much more easy for us because people who did not attend the theory class was not allowed to enter the practical .That is how we were not allowed in the Lab (it was not our fault rule was like that-J) .We had many experiments in the Lab I don’t remember much .Some tube light wiring ,Many motor/torque tests .So finally there came the Lab exam There was one of my friend Shabeer Kareem he had got one SWINBURNE'S TEST it was some motor test .Lab assistant used to provide necessary items based on the particular tests .The lab assistant came to my friend to assist him and asked SWINBURNE'S is it ??? No I am Shabeer Karim !!
After a silence there was an array of laughter Shabeer was still confused
This is last one I was then in Pree degree (PUC).It was in Physics Lab Exams .All my lab exams I would have some or other encounters .
I came running I was 15 min late .I thought of coming early and asking how was the exams how is the procedures in the practical exam
I reached the lab panting .I saw an external Invigilator there eating Vada(a round shaped south Indian dish in a hole in middle) and drinking tea.Question was written on a small slices of paper were kept beneath the big scale..there
I would list down the conversation here what happened then .
Me :Sir may I come in
Sir :Ya come in
Sir :Why are you so late don’t you know it is exam today.
Me :Train was late
Sir : Oh you come in train ??
Me :No sir my house is this side of the railway cross .If the train is late bus would be waiting there in the other side
Sir :Oh OK OK. Take one and Go
Me :No sir
Sir : Take it go there is no time
Me : No sir it is Ok
Sir became angry .Take one I say
I took a vada and ate it in a single bite itself ….My eyes were some what bulging out . I was supposed to take the question slice which was kept beneath the scale I was not knowing that..My friends just again were waiting for a moment to laugh..
There are many many such encounters to share See at some other time ..

News

Watching the news these days is very depressing. I think the news channels are making the news instead of covering the news. Mostly nowadays the news which carry rape, theft, murder, dishonesty, bribery, are shown in all channels. More to add to the news the way they shout and present is very horrifieng. I fail to understand is their no positive thing happening in the country, no defense achievement, no technological achievement, no social achievement, no political achievement???? The only thing one can do is surf the news channels or watch sas bahu and good night. Nothing positive is shown about the country by news channels. Might be nothing positive is happening.?????!!!!!