Crowd Sourcing in Indian political domain

Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the 2nd term CM of Madhya Pradesh runs a website called http://www.ideasforcm.in/.

Kudos on crowd sourcing kaizen (small little improvements and maybe few large ones too).

I discovered it today and am submitting a few ideas of mine. Will keep you posted on how it fares.

Execution is the key - Muthalik and closing bars in Mangalore

There has been lot of media glare and furore on "Shri Ram Sene" vandalising a pub and allegedly molesting women and Mr. Muthalik getting arrested and left / liberal / English media going ballistic and spreading canards about the RSS and every thing Hindu.

So let us examine the issue differently.

The key issue is opposition to alcohol.

There is wide spread consensus, even amongst those who enjoy their drink, that alcohol is "not good". There is even higher consensus that women should not be drinking alcohol. And before feminists raise their bogey, let me assure you that there a number of medical studies that because of different bodies, alcohol harms women more than it harms men.

So, consider how few fathers introduce their daughters to alcohol.

Now consider the goal of Mr. Muthalik is to ensure that pubs are shut down. Or on similar front, to stop the thinly vieled prostitution by means of "Massage Parlours" - which Times of India and Hindustan Times promote.

So why not create a campaign for family values and make that a movement. The governments - be it Congress or BJP - promote alcohol because Excise from liquor is one the of bigger components of budget inflow. And liquor companies evade so much excise, these are also great sources of election / slush funds.

But what stops us citizens from creating a public movement to shame people and hit back on media induced public acceptance of liquor drinking.

The problem with that is this:
Public movements are like flight of albatross. They take time to build and take off. Sometimes that time can be decade. Off course, once built, they can float for a long long time before becoming irrelevant - look at Arya Samaj movement today.

Consider that the RSS started in 1925. Those were times when Muslim extremism was rising. The effete Congress leadership was trying its stupid "Hindu-Muslim unity by bowing to Muslims" experiments. And so on.

In short times similar to ours - with media as an ally not enemy - kind of the times that will support a Hindu movement.

And it took ~ 15 years of very very dedicated and exceptionally bright young men lead by exceptional formative leaders for Sangh to reach a critical mass. And ~ 33 years of 250 days a year travelling by someone like Shree Guruji (whose intelligence and passion were phenomenally out sized) to build it into what it became.

So, the route to root out alchohol or more importantly make it socially unacceptable - is long and painful.

But if done properly, the results will be there for a long time.

When Mahatma Gandhi promoted prohibition it took hold in people's conscience. It is now 60 years of media and movie promotion of alcohol and yet they have not been able to start bringing wide spread social acceptibility to alcohol.

Dr. Binayak Sen - the Naxalite ideologue

It started with a friend of mine posting an article on his Facebook profile on freeing Dr. Binayak Sen.

This article is published in Outlook - the bible of anti Hindu, anti Indian bleeding hearts.

Accompanying the posting was following comment:

its a shame that someone like him is kept in the jail- if dissent becomes a crime, then its a deathnail for democracy and liberty

This was my comment

Dr. Sen is the ideologue for Naxalites - who are committed to breaking up India by Chinese support.

The next step would be freeing Madani and other ideologues of Islamic Jehad.

I then listed some seizures of the police from Dr. Sen, as obtained from PUCL website. Some seizures from Dr. Sen -

A post-card dated 3.6.2006 written to Dr. Binayak Sen by the CPI (Maoist) leader, Sri Narayan Sanyal - the landmine maker

A Yellow coloured booklet "ON THE UNITY BETWEEN CPI (Peoples' War) AND MAOIST COMMUNIST CENTRE" in Hindi

And then I commented

People's War and MCC are responsible for death of thousands of Indian citizens. You and I don't study them and work on creating unity between them.

If Dr. Sen's goal is to create better health for tribals, why is he messing around with terrorists and killers - incidentally also the murderers of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati.

Dr. Sen could have been killed. He was'nt. This should show the intention of having an honest trial.

I then quoted from a news website article

Police arrested Sen in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur city on May 14 for his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal, who is largely credited with making cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) insurgent outfit experts at landmine explosions.

And then I wrote :

Most citizens would call landmine makers as terrorists.

The question to ponder is - why does Dr. Sen get to meet Narayan Sanyal? Why at all? Why don't Naxalite terrorists meet Sangh doctors working in tribal areas - thousands of whom are working in tribal areas without the benefit of powerful left / liberal media publicity engine.

My concern is that online searches are simply not mentioning the terrorism aspect of Dr. Binayak Sen. The total online space is littered with left / liberal non sense about Dr. Sen.

Funny - Most famous guy who ever lived

Disclaimer - This is just meant to be funny. No offence intended.

MOST FAMOUS MAN WHO EVER LIVED

One day many years ago at a school in South London a teacher said to the class of 5-year-olds, "I'll give $20 to the child who can tell me who was the most famous man who ever lived."

An Irish boy put his hand up and said, "It was St. Patrick." The teacher said, "Sorry Alan, that's not correct."

Then a Scottish boy put his hand up and said, "It was St. Andrew." The teacher replied, "I'm sorry, Hamish, that's not right either.

Finally, a Gujarati boy raised his hand and said, "It was Jesus Christ." The teacher said, "That's absolutely right, Jayant, come up here and I'll give you the $20."

As the teacher was giving Jayant his money, she said, "You know Jayant, since you are Gujarati, I was very surprised you said Jesus Christ."

Jayant replied, "Yes, in my heart I knew it was Lord Krishna, but business is business!"

What can we do ? - The gallantry award winners

I have a suggestion.

The total number of winners of gallantry award winners (Param Vir Chakra, Mahaveer Chakra, Veer Chakra, Ashok Chakra) would be ~ 1000 at the most.

What if the govt. deputed a person to ensure that their families are taken care of. If they need to get some formalities completed for a govt. plan - whatever - there is a person to take care of that.

Better still, what if people volunteered to "adopt" a gallantry award winner's family to do the same.

शहीदों कि चितायों पर लगेंगे मेले..................................

That would truely tell the society that we respect our brave men and women.

Dr. Kalam - We miss you

I saw the Republic Day parade with my daughter today - I wanted her to get the thrill and excitement that we as kids had.

Few points, first Tata Sky's online guide for DD got it all wrong. Even at the time of the parade, it dispalyed perhaps the weekly time table - Urdu news at 10.00 and like which not what was online. It would take a moron not to realise 26th January is different.

Secondly, as I watched Mrs. Patil - our current president and murder accused by many - carry out mechanically the chore of awarding gallantary awards to the wifes / mothers of the valiant brave soldiers who laid down their lives for the country - I felt that she was being soul less / mechanical.

एक और काम है, निपटाओ

The standard pat on the shoulder, letting women as old as her - Major Unnikrishnan's mother touch her feet. I mean why ??

Where are you Dr. Kalam. Sonia's government wanted a loyal family retainer - which Dr. Kalam was not. So they got Mrs. Patil.

Pity no, how the top most position of the country is decided.

And why was the English / other media silent. A two term for the presidents' is generally a given thing. Why not for Dr. Kalam ?

Are You In ?? Starbucks provides an incentive to volunteer

I am a big fan of ethical copying.

Legal copies of off patent medicines - the "generics" ensure that poorer patients in not-so-rich countries can live longer.

So, it is my call for us to copy something that is amazing in the USA.

The vast spread of volunteer service.

And the effortless involvement of corporates in the same.

Consider the 5 hour pledge that Starbucks is supporting.

As their write up says :

What if you volunteered five hours?

What if we all did?

That small commitment could add up to something big. Starbucks and Hands On Network are supporting the President's call for national service.......

The idea is that if you pledge 5 hours of community service, Starbucks is offering a free coffee.
At the time of writing, about 800, 000 hours have been pledged.

And it works on honour system.

Consider the advertisement that Starbucks created with MC Yogi (a rapper). Cheesy lyrics - but the visual is appealing.



How could we copy it in India.

Could - say - Bharat Vikas Parishad or Sewa Bharati or Vanwasi Kalyan Ashram tie up with Cafe Coffee Day. Might seem sacrilegious but why not. How many youngsters know about these organisations and the work they are doing ?

And get Prasoon Joshi to write the lyrics, AR Rahman to compose music and Kailash Kher or someone to sing.

Wow.

Let's do it.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness - Now in Management Jargon !!

I have subscribed to a couple of blogs - Guy Kawasaki's is one of them.

Guy is an amazing thinker. Along with Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin, I rank him / his ideas as something that is original.

I got inspired by his Art of the Start and the Dip (by Seth Godin) to drastically re look at the way I want to live my professional life and have started working on creating "meaning" in life.

Decades ago, the “broken window” theory was proposed. It was based on following observation of old industrial buildings: If a broken window wasn’t repaired promptly, that unfixed window seemed to be an invitation for miscreants to break the rest of the windows.

I read this article about the Broken Window Theory in a post at Guy's blog. There was research carried out in The Netherlands on effect of litter on our behavior.

I guess this is same as "Cleanliness is next to Godliness".

धर्मं के जो दस लक्षण बताये जाते हैं - उन में से "शौच" अर्थात शुद्धता (जो कि सफाई में ही निहित है) - एक है।

हमारे यहाँ जो कर्म काण्ड का महत्व है - वह यही है - Good Operating Practises या फिर Standard Operating Protocal स्थापित कर दिया आपने - नहाये बिना रसोई में नहीं घुसना, पूजा किए बिना भोजन नहीं।

तो हमारे पूर्वजों नें हमें वे आदतें देनी चाहीं जिन से हमारा व्यवहार बेहतर बने।

Ministers who deliver

I saw this video of Mr. Nitish Mishra, the Bihar minister for relief operations - who has been recently voted a Pepsi MTV youth icon.

It is very promising start to a day.

विद्यालय से बेहतर है शौपिंग कोम्प्लेक्स

मेरे एक मित्र हैं - श्री आलोक पुराणिक। व्यंगकार हैं - उनका ब्लॉग है - आलोक पुराणिक की अगडम बगड़म

उनका लिखा एक व्यंग पढा - जिसमे उन्होंने Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) यानी दिल्ली नगर निगम की नगर निगम की पाठशालयों को मल्टीप्लेक्स में बदलने की योजना की बखिया उधेडी है।

आप भी पढ़ें, आनंद ले, और कांग्रेस सरकार के मानसिक दिवालियापन पर दुखी हों.

राष्ट्रीय स्वयमसेवक संघ की प्रार्थना

आज मन हुआ कि लोगों का साक्षात्कार हमारी नित्य प्रार्थना से कराऊँ ।
मूल संस्कृत प्रार्थना जिस विकिपीडिया आर्टिकल से ली गई, वह यहाँ है.
प्रार्थना को सुनने के लिए यहाँ जायें http://www.geetganga.org/

प्रार्थना का हिन्दी अनुवाद एवं प्रार्थना विषयक अन्य जानकारी आगे इसी पोस्ट में डालता रहूँगा , देखते रहिएगा

नमस्ते सदा वत्सले मातृभूमे
त्वया हिन्दुभूमे सुखं वर्धितोहम् ।
महामङ्गले पुण्यभूमे त्वदर्थे
पतत्वेष कायो नमस्ते नमस्ते ।।१।।

प्रभो शक्तिमन् हिन्दुराष्ट्राङ्गभूता
इमे सादरं त्वां नमामो वयम्
त्वदीयाय कार्याय बध्दा कटीयं
शुभामाशिषं देहि तत्पूर्तये ।
अजय्यां च विश्वस्य देहीश शक्तिं
सुशीलं जगद्येन नम्रं भवेत्
श्रुतं चैव यत्कण्टकाकीर्ण मार्गं
स्वयं स्वीकृतं नः सुगं कारयेत् ।।२।।

समुत्कर्षनिःश्रेयस्यैकमुग्रं
परं साधनं नाम वीरव्रतम्
तदन्तः स्फुरत्वक्षया ध्येयनिष्ठा
हृदन्तः प्रजागर्तु तीव्रानिशम् ।
विजेत्री च नः संहता कार्यशक्तिर्
विधायास्य धर्मस्य संरक्षणम् ।
परं वैभवं नेतुमेतत् स्वराष्ट्रं
समर्था भवत्वाशिषा ते भृशम् ।।३।।

।। भारत माता की जय ll

प्रार्थना विषयक बौद्धिक सुनाने के लिए, यहाँ दबाएँ. .

What Can We Do

I get feedback from readers - as comments on website, as mails sent directly to me .......

The general feeling / response is "What are the action points".

So I pondered about it.

Action Points emerge from the goal we are trying to achieve.

Our goal is so simply and clearly mentioned in the Sangh Prarthana.

प्रभो शक्तिमन् हिन्दुराष्ट्राङ्गभूता

एवं

परं वैभवं नेतुमेतत् स्वराष्ट्रं

The goal is to create a stong, resourceful, rich, glorious, Hindu Rashtra.

All our actions should necessarily be governed by this goal.

There would be two types of activities.

Constructive Activities:
These are "sewa" activities that help the bottom of our population come up. This includes eduaction, health, hygiene, providing help in emergencies.

Equally important is building the strength and character of the nation - both physical and mental and moral. The strength of a nation resides in the strength of its people.

The daily Shakha is the easiest tool to achieve this - but there are other things as well. Spreading the word, creating a sense of nationhood, monitoring our language so that nothing divisive is ever uttered and monitoring others including media.

भूल कर भी मुख में जाती पाती कि न बात हो,
भाषा प्रांत के लिए कभी न रक्त पात हो।

फूट का भरा घडा है, तोड़ कर चले चलो,
संगठन गढे चलो, सुपंथ पर बढे चलो

Moral fiber would involve fighting the trash now shown on TV and movies.

Defensive activities
These would be activities that are more focussed on stopping others actions that are impediment in our goal.

These would be countering the 3 M - Marxist, Missionaries, Macaulay's children (the English Media / liberals), and 1 J - Jehadis.

I wrote an earlier post where I suggested the idea of creating a croud sourced Indian wiki to create a one point database of all known / available information about various NGO, left, liberals etc.

And we could croud source a system for people to voluteer. Some might volunteer 2-3 hours a week, others more, whatever they are OK with.

It could be various kinds of volunteering - talking to atleast one concerned Indian who is anaware a day, sending at least one mail a day highlighting issues.

And volunteering action on the ground - sponsoring schools, sewa activities, employing people who come out of this......

I keep reiterating that it is crucial we go by the भाव of the Sangh prarthana. The meaning of Hindu Rashtra has not been a land where only Hindus live. It means a land / country governed by the tolerant Hindu ethos of वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम (the world is my family).

Let us not forget the tolerant Hindu ethos that gave place to nurture and grow and prosper to Syrian Christians in 1st century AD when they were facing persecution, to Jews, to Parsis, and who so ever else who came seeking refuge and shelter.

Let us not forget the assimilating nature of Hindusim that assimilated Hun and Shak tribes that had attacked India and had lost and had settled here. Let us remember how our ancestors assimilated them so that they not only became a part and parcel of Hinduism but in fact became the shield of India.

And let us continue to provide a space that allows Raskhan and Ustad Bismillah Khan and Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to become our revered, people whose feet we touch and whose blessings we seek.

I seek comments. Let us channelise this positive anger in all of us to a greater good by collaborating.

The politics of dominating by street voilence

Gates of Vienna is a blog that derives its name from the siege of Christian Vienna by Islamic forces in 1683. It comments on Islamic terrorism in Europe.

Most people do not realise that Europe also has suffered Islamic terrorism - though not as much as India.

In fact, the fact that Spain remained 800 years under Islamic rule and returned back to being a Christian country used to be quoted as an example by early Hindutva leaders like Shri Munje to spread the idea that just because India had been under Islamic rulers for ~ 1000 years does not mean we could not revert back to being an Hindu country.

A recent post at Gates of Vienna mentions about Islamic protests against Israeli action in Gaza in Antwerp, Belgium - going out of hand and "misguided youth" targeting the rich Jewish settlements and rioting.

If you might recall Antwerp is the heart of worlds' Diamond trading industry. The diamond trade is concentrated in hands of Jewish and Gujarati Jain merchants.

How similar it is to stuff in India / Pakistan / Bangladesh and elsewhere.

Babri gets broken in India - so Muslims in Indonesia / UAE / Malaysia / Bangladesh / Pakistan abduct and rape Hindu women, loot Hindu property, kill Hindu men. Of course breaking Hindu temples in Kashmir and Bamyian (in Afganistan) is acceptable since that belongs to Kaafirs.

And if you have forgotten the Moplah riots in 1921, let me refresh the memory of those.

The "Khilafat" movement - supported by Non Cooperation Movement was one of those Hindu-Muslim unity experiments carried out by Mahatma Gandhi. The Khilafat movement - if you will recall - was launched world over amongst Muslims to protest against the end of Caliphate in Turkey.

And the Moplahs - the Muslims in Kerela - used these protests to kill / rape Hindus. Thousands of Hindus suffered. The areas of Mallapuram today were the hotbeds of Islamic terrorism then - they still are today.

Such was the wanton destruction, pillage, destruction and rape of Hindus (almost 100, 000 by many estimates) that Mrs. Annie Besant stated:

"They Moplahs murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatise.

Somewhere about a lakh (100,000) of people were driven from their homes with nothing but their clothes they had on, stripped of everything...

Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India."^[2]

Why were the Hindus killed ? After all the protest was against British action in Turkey.

The crime of these Hindus ? That they were Hindus.

So, there is a very textbook kind of approach where in non Muslims are intimidated by street violence - Europe / India, 1921 or 2009 - it is just the same. If you are not a Muslim, then be willing to die.

Forget this at your own peril.

SBI Card - upgrade - funny

I got this as a forward.

This is "purpotedly live" recording of a converesation between an call center executive from SBI Credit card trying to upgrade a customer and resulting confusion.

I found it very funny without being crude.

Enjoy

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Dr. Zakir Naik justifies a dog's life for Non Muslims in Muslim ruled areas

Dear Readers,

Scarcely had I posted the last post about respect for Hindu gods by ordinary Muslims living in India, I got this mail.

Dr. Zakir Naik is a tele evangelist who appears regularly on TV. He is a widely accepted and respected (in Islamic circles) authority on Islam. He knows Islam - he is an authority.

So when he says something, be sure that there is no error of interpretation.

He is an Indian citizen and has taken the benefits of growing in this country - like its education, environment and so on. The Indian environment - democracy and "secularism" existing because of our Hindu ethos - allows him to continue to make comments like this - which are outright declaration of war on any non Muslim.

In this video, he is clearly telling that in a Muslim dominated land, there is no place for a non Muslim place of worship.

Why ?

Because Islam is THE only religion that is right. Everything else is wrong, it is akin to 2 + 2 = 3.

Still repeating your Nehruvian promoted bullshit of "हिंदू मुस्लिम सिख इसाई - आपस में है भाई भाई" ?

Or really believing - "मजहब नहीं सिखाता आपस में बैर करना" ?

गंगा - जमुनी - इस देश की माटी

श्री युनुस खान - आकाश वाणी में कार्यरत हैं।

रेडियोवाणी के नाम से ब्लॉग लिखते हैं वे।

एक कविता अपने चिठ्ठे पर डाली है - जिसमे जन्माष्टमी का वर्णन है। आप पढ़ सकते हैं।

मैं शायद स्वयं को - और अन्यों को भी याद दिलाता हूँ - भारत के छोटे शहरों में जा के देखिये - आज भी यह गंगा-जमुनी जीवन शैली जीवित है।

यदि हम यह भूलने लगेंगे की इस देश की माटी में युनुस भाई जन्मते हैं, अब्दुल कलाम जन्मते हैं, उस्ताद बिस्मिल्लाह खान जन्मते हैं - फिर हम में और अन्य देशों में क्या अन्तर रह जाएगा.

कुछ सपनों के मर जाने से, जीवन नहीं मरा करता है

यह कविता बचपन में पिताजी सुनाते थे - जब भी हम हतोत्साहित होते तो। सोचता हूँ, मैं तो अपनी बेटी को कुछ भी नहीं दे रहा संस्कार के रूप में।

आज भी कभी मन खट्टा होता है तो पंक्तियाँ दोहरा लेता हूँ।

कविताकोश नामक वेबसाइट से लिया गया है। सर्वाधिकार गोपाल दास जी "नीरज" के पास हैं।

छिप-छिप अश्रु बहाने वालों,
मोती व्यर्थ बहाने वालों

कुछ सपनों के मर जाने से,
जीवन नहीं मरा करता है

सपना क्या है, नयन सेज पर
सोया हुआ आँख का पानी

और टूटना है उसका ज्यों
जागे कच्ची नींद जवानी

गीली उमर बनाने वालों,
डूबे बिना नहाने वालों

कुछ पानी के बह जाने से,
सावन नहीं मरा करता है

माला बिखर गयी तो क्या है,
खुद ही हल हो गयी समस्या

आँसू गर नीलाम हुए तो
समझो पूरी हुई तपस्या

रूठे दिवस मनाने वालों,
फटी कमीज़ सिलाने वालों

कुछ दीपों के बुझ जाने से,
आँगन नहीं मरा करता है

खोता कुछ भी नहीं यहाँ पर
केवल जिल्द बदलती पोथी

जैसे रात उतार चांदनी
पहने सुबह धूप की धोती

वस्त्र बदलकर आने वालों!
चाल बदलकर जाने वालों!

चन्द खिलौनों के खोने से
बचपन नहीं मरा करता है।

लाखों बार गगरियाँ फूटीं,
शिकन न आई पनघट पर,

लाखों बार किश्तियाँ डूबीं,
चहल-पहल वो ही है तट पर,

तम की उमर बढ़ाने वालों!
लौ की आयु घटाने वालों!

लाख करे पतझर कोशिश पर
उपवन नहीं मरा करता है।

लूट लिया माली ने उपवन,
लुटी न लेकिन गन्ध फूल की,

तूफानों तक ने छेड़ा पर,
खिड़की बन्द न हुई धूल की,

नफरत गले लगाने वालों!
सब पर धूल उड़ाने वालों!

कुछ मुखड़ों की नाराज़ी से
दर्पन नहीं मरा करता है

नीरज जी की गाई हुई कविता

आज कल हिन्दी ब्लोग्स (हिन्दी चिठ्ठा) का रसपान कर रहा हूँ। जन्मपत्रिका में शुक्र भगवान् प्रबल हैं, अत; स्वभाववश ही रसिक हूँ।

बचपन में पिताजी एक कविता सुनाते थे, नीरज जी की लिखी हुई,
"चुप चुप अश्रु बहाने वालों - मोती व्यर्थ बहाने वालो.............................."


तब से नीरज जी से परिचय हुआ। फिर IIT के यूथ फेस्टिवल में नीरज जी को सुना.

आज न जाने कैसे इस ब्लॉग पर पहुँचा जहाँ नीरज जी की ही आवाज में गई कविता है - चाँदनी में घोला जाय फूलोंका शबाब।

इस कविता पर बाद में फिल्मी गीत बना था "शोखियों में घोला जाए..........

एक अन्य कविता मिली - नीरज जी ही आवाज में - कारवां गुजर गया, गुबार देखते रहे.....

नीरज जी की आवाज गहरी है, मादक है। आनंद लें।

स्वप्न झरे फूल से, मीत चुभे शूल से
लुट गए सिंगार सभी बाग़ के बबूल से
और हम खड़े-खड़े बहार देखते रहे
कारवां गुज़र गया गुबार देखते रहे

नींद भी खुली न थी कि हाय धूप ढल गयी
पाँव जब तलक उठें कि ज़िन्दगी फिसल गयी
पात-पात झर गए कि शाख-शाख जल गयी
चाह तो सकी निकल न पर उमर निकल गयी
गीत अश्क़ बन गए, छंद हो दफ़न गए
साथ के सभी दिए, धुआँ-धुआँ पहन गए
और हम झुके-झुके मोड़ पर रुके-रुके
उम्र के चढ़ाव का उतार देखते रहे
कारवाँ गूजर गया गुबार देखते रहे

क्या शबाब था कि फूल-फूल प्यार कर उठा
क्या सरूप था कि देख आइना सिहर उठा
इस तरफ़ ज़मीन और आसमां उधर उठा
थाम कर जिगर उठा कि जो मिला नज़र उठा
एक दिन मगर यहाँ, ऐसी कुछ हवा चली
लुट गयी कली-कली कि घुट गयी गली-गली
और हम लुटे-लुटे, वक़्त से पिटे-पिटे
साँस की शराब का खुमार देखते रहे
कारवाँ गुज़र गया गुबार देखते रहे

हाथ थे मिले कि जुल्फ चाँद की संवार दूं
होंठ थे खुले कि हर बहार को पुकार दूं
दर्द था दिया गया कि हर दुखी को प्यार दूं
और साँस यूँ कि स्वर्ग भूमि पर उतार दूं
हो सका न कुछ मगर, शाम बन गयी सहर
वह उठी लहर कि ढह गए किले बिखर-बिखर
और हम डरे-डरे, नीर नयन में भरे
ओढ़कर कफ़न पड़े मज़ार देखते रहे
कारवां गुज़र गया गुबार देखते रहे

माँग भर चली कि एक जब नयी-नयी किरण
ढोलकें ढुमुक उठीं ठुमुक उठे चरण-चरण
शोर मच गया कि लो चली दुल्हन, चली दुल्हन
गाँव सब उमड़ पडा बहक उठे नयन-नयन
पर तभी ज़हर भारी, गाज एक वह गिरी
पुंछ गया सिन्दूर तार-तार हुई चूनरी
और हम अजान से, दूर के मकान से
पालकी लिए हुए कहार देखते रहे
कारवां गुजर गया गुबार देखते रहे

एक छंद और है जो कि फ़िल्मी गीत में शायद नहीं है.

दाल भात में मूसलचंद

This must be an old photograph (early 08 maybe).

Jet changing and Kingfisher claiming credit, I can understand.

But Go ??

भैय्या यह दाल भात में मूसलचंद कौन है ?

Discovery Article on Meat Eating killing Gulf of Mexico

The Discovery Channel website has an article explaining how America's consumption of meat could eventually turn the Gulf of Mexico into a "dead" sea. Here's a clip from the post:

Gidon Eshel of Bard College at Simon's Rock in Massachusetts and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago calculate that if Americans kicked their meat habit, it would prevent seven million tons of nitrogen from spilling into the gulf -- a reduction of nearly 90 percent.

"When we did the calculations, it was astonishing," Eshel said. "The main reason is we're feeding so much corn to livestock. It takes 4.5 times more cropland to do that than if you feed people a plant diet, and corn is so nitrogen-intensive."

There are many great reasons to go Veg (or to reducing meat in one's diet)--one being the positive effects on the environment.

You can read the complete article here.

People following THE Religion of Peace torch 1147 cars in Paris

It is well recognised that when the Islamic population reaches a tipping point, the dynamics of how they interact with the non Muslims changes substantially.

France now has ~ 12% Muslim population. Many of them came from Algeria (since Algeria was a French colony).

So consider the lawless ness and hooliganism resorted to, to celebrate New Year.

The "terrorism" word is derived from terror.

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines terror thus:

Main Entry: ter·ror

Pronunciation: \ˈter-ər, ˈte-rər\

Function: noun

1: a state of intense fear

2a: one that inspires fear : scourge
b: a frightening aspect terrors of invasion>
c: a cause of anxiety : worry
d: an appalling person or thing ; especially : brat

3: reign of terror

4: violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands terror>>

The French government too, like the Indian one, has been taking kid gloved approach to the issue.

They (like successive Indian governments) believe that if you bend enough, Jehadis will be happy. Same factors are working there. Liberals with no clue about political Islam and socialists look at such incidents as those of "misguided youth" with "grievances". So it is OK if you are "misguided youth" to burn public property and indulge in arson.

We know how this works. Imagined wrongs from past will be dug up, One Babri Demolition will be sung millions of times, thousands of Hindu temples broken will be airbrushed from history and public memory.

Amen.

Hindi on the Net

I was talking with a friend about disproportionately low number of Hindi entries on Wikipedia.

Here today, on 2nd Jan 2009, I am sticking my neck out and making a prophecy.

I see may be a 100 times jump in Hindi blogs / Hindi Wikipedia entries etc. - essentially usage of Hindi on Net - over next 12 / 18 months.

Google with the transliteration tool on Blogger has kind of changed the game by making it almost intuitive to write in Hindi.

The other game changer is BSNL net in small semi urban places.

The reason Google is pushing local Indian languages on Net is simple - the advertising is what makes Google. If your readers / ads / content is only in English, there is an upper limit (in Indian contex), so as to speak, on the number of people who will advertise on Google.

So, they want more Indian language readers using Internet. Indian language readers (I find the word vernacular very derogatory) will not come to the computer screen unless there is relevant content.

Relevant content - specially UGC (User Generated Content) requires local language input. Traditional ways of inputting Hindi (for that matter Tamil, Kannada, Bangla) were tough to say the least. Either you needed specific keyboards or another program that required you to click by mouse on the Hindi letters. Hugely inconvenient - hence didn't take off.

It is a matter of time - in fact I wonder why they haven't done it yet - that Google Mail will allow transliteration (and hence Hindi usage).

That should give a fillip to Hindi usage.

Also I see Hindi blogs / stuff catch mainstream (I refer to Hindi newspapers / media) media attention. That should make the vast masses feel more Ok using Net. They can relate to it as something relevant to them.

There is one missing link yet - but I sense even that will fall in place quickly - since Google has much of technology already. That missing link is searching Hindi. This is not as simple as it sounds.

Inputting Hindi is one thing. To search Hindi content, Google's algorithm has to make sense of syntax of Hindi and the grammar of Hindi. Try doing that for 16 Indian languages and you know what I mean.

The more spoken languages should be taken up first. I assume Hindi, Bangla (consider Bangladesh market as well) and Telugu and Tamil should be in first lot.

Interesting on Kashmir

I got this as a forward.


Enjoy !!

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.

A representative from India began: 'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.

When he struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath.'

He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.

When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.

The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren't there then.'

The Indian representative smiled and said, 'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'

And they say Kashmir belongs to them………………………………………..