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Hai!
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HAPPY ONAM!

Okay I know most of you are not malayalee's but nevertheless, it feels good to be wished, right?

HAPPY ONAM!

Home sweet home..

Lately on the blog there has been some talk about our country and how if we make a small difference in ourselves it can get amplified as a bigger change in the country. That, I agree is very true. People (including me- the so called 'educated' and the 'common man') do lack common sense at times. But has it ever occurred to you why people leave the country? Why do 'educated' and 'talented' people leave the country? I'll tell you why - just like our dear president these people have dreams too.

I agree, its very right to call India a developed country (even though every two seconds you crack your spine when you drive over a pot-hole). But yes..We ARE developed. We have the n-bomb, we have the n-reactor, we have cities powered by the n-reactor and we also have n number of politicians getting bribed and n number of scandals. Okay fine, you tell me - "Look on the bright side"..and oh I definitely do.

Back to where I was. Why do people want to leave the country and why do a few of them end up leaving the country? Because our country simply cannot support them - the bare truth. But you tell me, "Have you looked at our IITs and Universities, don't they do good research?". I tell you this - half the money for research simply gets lost, another chunk of it is spent repairing equipment that should have been repaired in the previous budget and so on and so forth. Finally there are so many ideas and so little resources to burn those ideas into inventions.

The country as whole and it's 'educated' people (our own relatives, parents, mentors, friends, neighbours, the neighbour's parrot...etc..etc.) over the past few years have drowned themselves in the world of science. People have automatically programmed themselves into believing that life is n-o-t-h-i-n-g without the sciences. Yes partly our understanding of the world can get broader with the sciences but we don't have to live with it! It is NOT the eleventh commandment! Parents encourage (force rather) their children to study science and math. I've even heard people say - everyone should study science and math atleast till class 12. Why I used to think that way too, but I tell you its absolute B.S!!

I blatantly admint, I am in that bunch who would love to leave this country. Because three months out of school and I know where this country can take and nurture my skills - in timbaktu, not even in its own land. But do you think I am not patriotic? I don't think the subject of patriotism even enters this topic. If you really can do something for the country but the country can't do something back for you.....its depressing!!

Does our country encourage the arts? Oh yeah..we have so many art colleges, film schools, animation schools and music schools (some even 'run' by the good ol' govt.). NONSENSE! Have you looked at what they teach??? Only 10% of these schools actually educate people...the others are..you know, the same old story.

This country can't support its scientists and doctors, how in the whole mighty universe is it going to support it's artists? I'm sure a few of you would have read about the rock fest that happens in Mumbai every year - I Rock. It wasn't allowed to happen this year because "this kind of music is not govt. sponsored and it is not right for the gateway of India". Okay yeah, rock music is not from this country - passable. What about those hundreds of classical musicians, are they given a chance? For every ladder you climb, there is someone else to bite your limbs off. And that someone else wouldn't even be as a good as you. Just because they have 'the connections' and 'the money' they buy their way up. In this country do you know what good luck is? This my dear readers - money and connections, the two words of 'success'.

Do you see the pieces falling in place? People leave the country simply because they get no support and recognition here. Imagine having all the talent (being genuinely good at what you are and not Anu Malik) and you end up at an empty wall and a closed door everytime!

Do I expect too much from my country? Am I too "western" influenced? Try to let go of a dream, then I'm sure you'll see the picture. Change my dream? I'm sorry, I can only laugh at that, no I'm not hard hearted nor am I made of stone. I'm just trying to milk this country when its bags are dry...

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's Speech: A Must Read

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's Speech: A Must Read

I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.
My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?
I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr. Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.
I see four milestones in my career: ONE: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist.
TWO: After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.
THREE: The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.
FOUR: One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300 gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic centre. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!
Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
Allow me to come back with vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country?
YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say.
What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.
YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs. 650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 kph) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country why cannot you be the same here in India. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay Mr.Tinaikar had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing J.F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....
"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
Lets do what India needs from us.

Sent by,
Hema Pillai.

Difference

The people of the government going for "World Tour". Prices of petrol and LPG about to be hiked. Home appliance companies introducing new Onam special offers. Accidents occuring right beneath the boards that are supposed to remind us of them. India topping in U.S. Open...

The list of events that are happening around me are endless. Yet I am sitting here in front of my computer, typing this. It's the same old story everyday for me. So many things happening in the world, but nothing is making a big difference in my life. I am safe inside these four walls, and am glad there is always the Internet. None of the events seem to be of any real concern to me. They are happening and will pass away. Nothing to learn from them, and nothing to experience. Just eat, type, sleep... everyday.

I don't know how many of you are reading this on a half-wet monitor, and how many in the hot sun, but I am sure most, if not all, will be feeling nothing much about what you read in the newspaper or see in the TV.

What about you? Have you ever felt that what you were yesterday is not what you are today? Have you ever felt "Today, it's going to be real different." after you read that headline in the morning newspaper? If so, enumerate your experiences as comments to this post.

THE CALLING

HI all!

Do spare a few minutes to read the poem below and the comment that follows .



In the darkness of the moonlit night,
I see a shadow, loom by the light.
His eyes are pale and his face is dark,
His hands are wrinkled, the sight is stark.

His eyes seem deeper than the greatest ocean,
They have a story to tell,to prompt me to action.
Suddenly, I realize, he is not alone,
There are many like him, he has brought into my home.

Like the great waves of the agitated sea,
The sight of it wont let me be.
My mind starts to travel, far and near,
Thoughts of it , instil in me, a fear.

Although each one has a story to tell,
They stand there quiet, like they were in hell.
They look at me with indifferent eyes,
Not a groan on their lips, no cries or sighs.

And then it strikes me, I understand it all,
These are my people who stand before a fall.
They are being led without a leader,
They need my help and hence they come hither.

My mother is sick and she calls upon her son,
I must go now,for my mother doth beckon.
What a fool am I to let her reach this state,
I am the one to be blamed,not that poor Fate.

If you dont understand what I do say,
Look deep in your heart ,search for that hidden bay.
There will you find her,She'll never cry out loud,
For she is your mother,your motherland so proud.