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Unexpected Fog in Dubai and Sharjah November 8, 2009

Posted by Sandeep in My Favorite, Random Post.
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In the morning, here in Sharjah and Dubai for the first time I have seen such a thick fog. It was damn unrealistic. As I walked down the stairs of my Building entrance, holding my Tiffin-carrying-bag in one hand & iPod in another, fumbling all of them to check time on Nokia 5800 xpressmusic, I see a lot of fog greeting me to this wonderful morning. Am I missing something? Where I am?

It might be the smoke of fire nearby or may be a road mishap, I run to the nearest Road to check if there’s an accident. No, as I look over the road, its fog all over, blurring the far away objects & dimming the lights.  It was a great sight, reminding me of my days I spent in India.  I love fog and I love the winter days cherishing the fog in front of my home, my school playground & college park. I am very fond of fog and my heart has a special connection with it (much like the rain.) Fog reminds me of a Winter season in Punjab, which is like a festive season in itself. Special foods, winter arrangements, thick bed covers & blankets, electric heaters & indigenous developed ones (we call it Agithi in Punjabi) are the mementoes of winters.

I thought fog will be one of the many things that I’ll be missing about India. But apparently its not.  According to the people it rarely fogs here in Dubai, and according to my bus driver it is too early for the fog to be here in Dubai. Well, one of the effects of Climate Change is clearly visible now. It was such a thick fog, that otherwise fast moving traffic of Dubai came to a screeching halt.

Looking forward for more such fogs…

 

Global Warming, anyone? May 16, 2009

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My mom is really weird.  She asks me often to go to our small plot,that dad purchased a many and many years ago, to pluck some fresh tomatoes for cooking the night food. She along with some other villagers had a pact to grow vegetables for own consumption. I used to think it as ridiculous and always stood for the idea to go to the vegetable market.

Becoming more health conscious I discovered that vegetables in the market are not only full of insecticides & pesticides but also a major source of pollution in many forms. If organic food is the answer, I think we need to repeat the question. And what could be the best alternative to the  pesticides ridden food than the home grown organic food. The list of benefits is huge. And you reduce your cook print to a great extent. I tasted both the tomatoes. The one we grew was much more tastier and crispier. The decision is simple.

What a better world it could be if each of us decided to grow for ourselves what ultimately will going to be a part of our body someday when we will consume & digest it. And yes, it is rightly said, you become what you eat. I repeat decision is simple, and moreover, its yours.

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Support “Justice For Aarushi” May 12, 2009

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Hi friends,

My friend Dharminder is involved in a social cause of demanding the justice for the  teenager Aarushi Talwar who was killed in a famous double murder incident that took place on that fateful night of 15th May, 2008 in Delhi (see Aarushi murder case here on Wikipedia or see the list of all the events related to this case on Rediff.com’s Aarushi murder case timeline)

My friend has setup a petition addressed to the President of India. Please take some time to support the cause and sign up the petition (it takes only 1-2 minutes and require your name and mail address only).

Your signature is valuable and makes a real difference. Please encourage others to sign the petition as well. To do that, just forward the link below to everyone who might be interested

Here is the petition located at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justice4aarushi?e

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Love Question: Would you return to your lover? (Win a free Book) January 4, 2009

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Hypothetical Question [?]

h1_128 You are sitting with your lover on stairs in mid-night, suddenly you receive a call on your phone. You excuse yourself  from the lover to attend the call and promise to return back. The call happens to be from the mother of your lover who informs you that your lover has just died in the evening. What would you do now? Will you return? What would you say?

Post your reply as comment, the best reply will get  a licensed free copy* of WHY MEN DON’T LISTEN & WOMEN CAN’T READ MAPS (eBook edition) by Barbara & Allan Pease

You can post as many as replies you want but I will choose only one best reply, or I may choose none in case of no replies to this post or unsatisfactory replies which does not seem to be interesting or good replies. There is no right & wrong answet to this question. The contest closes on 20th January, 2009.

The eBook will be delivered via e-mail. Only one copy.

*Terms & Conditions Apply.

My New eBook – Inspirations December 8, 2008

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Cover page of "Inspirations" eBook I have just finished compiling all the poems & bringing down all the details of my new e-book to final. As per my plans & schedule, I have slated its release on 29th March, next year. I have been working on this book for quite sometime &  it was all-consuming project.

I finalized the layout & colour scheme as per the word 2007 template available from Microsoft website. The rest of the images I have taken are assumed to be in the public domain.

I have already released the draft version to the editors (my friends & expert English editors). The book will initially be released under Creative Commons license & subsequently released commercially.

The book will contain all the poems which I have published online, shared on many forums like Inspiration Peak etc., as well as new and fresh poems written by me over the past 1 year. Plus I am writing a few motivational & inspirational articles also.

Yes, I am thinking about releasing the book in PDF format on this blog, as well as on document sharing & online publishing web sites like docstoc.com & scribd.com.

If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions please feel free to share with me at sandeep.chopra [at] live.com or drop in a comment to let me know that you are interested in the book.

Story about Kalidasa & "Not you okay" October 20, 2008

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Kalidasa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist. According to Wikipedia, his place in Sanskrit literature is the same as that of Shakespeare in English. Before he himself recognized his superb talent he was known to be a stupid. Such was his level of stupidity that he was found to be chopping off  the same branch of the tree on which he was sitting on.

By silly arrangements he was married to the daughter of a king who was fooled into believing that Kalidasa is a great poet & thinker. Anyhow, his wife discovered later on what a stupid she was married to.She always cursed him & his stupidity.  Kalidasa was really hurt, one day he decided to leave the home. Before leaving he had a quarrel with his wife. His wife uttered 3 derogative words to him (obviously insulting him for the stupidity he had). Already hurt he went on a religious tour where he discovered his abilities & worked hard to improve them. There he composed one of the greatest of his works which started with the 3 derogative words. These words were the same as his wife said to him while he was leaving the home.

What a great person he was to draw inspiration from the person who insulted him for his stupidity. But later on in his life he returned to his home to thank his wife for awakening the unknown poet in him. He refused to live with her wife, while his wife insisted to forgive & spend rest of his life with her.

The story behind this blog is somewhat similar. No I was not a stupid & I have not become a genius overnight. Just read on to figure out the similarity.

There was one girl in my school whom I admired a lot. She was a topper of the class and right from the start she had some serious misunderstandings with me. Despite so many hurdles & communication barriers I was able to befriend her. One day I asked her for the autograph, the kind of, you have on slam books. In the friends column she wrote names of some of the boys & in big bold letters he wrote “Not you okay!”. And the seed for this blog was sown.

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  Life’s incomplete, story untold, friends torn apart, hopeless love so far. Life what a pity it is to be, she did not make friends with me”  – Sandeep K. Chopra

Small is new big March 20, 2008

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Sorry guys for burrowing that title off from a book, but really, small is new big for me. Look whose talking? A guy who believe he is onto something big. Time for self-review. Why don’t the words flow now… giving the cursor the chance to blink & grin…

Look, going by the manifesto of this blog, there are words that must be said, there are words that must be heard. Meet your host, a guy who once believed in changing the world is now fighting off to change himself. A guy who has failed in setting realistic goals. A guy who once believed conviction is stronger than reality. A guy who is failing to fullfill self made promises. A guy who is losing everything around him. Losses are inevitable, as Sharukh Khan once said, “Losses are inescapable. And at the end, what ultimately you do is lose your life”.

Yours truly believe in failures, because they are the stepping stones to success. I vividly remember the SMS: “Failures are the badges of success! Keep up the good work”, I once sent to my class mate who lost a hockey match. Those who says winning & losing doesn’t matter are the ones who usually lost. Time to re-think again. Why always choose goals that one cannot achieve? Small goals are much easier to achieve & the satisfaction is far more than one can percieve.

When an individual cannot attain a specific goal or type of goal that he or she anticipates will satisfy certain needs, behaviour maybe directed towards a substitute goal. Although, the substitute goal may not be as satisfactory as the primary goal. It maybe sifficient to dispel uncomfortable tension.^^1^^

Now, I firmly believe, standing in the sun light sipping a cup of tea staring at the strangers is far more satisfying than sitting in the library & browsing the technology magazines that has nothing to do with your career. (Those who don’t know: for a good career, you don’t need to sit in the library)

Now, I firmly believe, your picture in gilded frame with your loved ones is far more soul-gratifying than getting your photo on the front cover of the Business Week magazine. (Your sex life & relationships play much important role in job satisfaction)

Now, I firmly believe, staying back home & washing dishes & playing with the water while doing so is so much fun than to go out & change the world. As my favorite saying goes, let the lover be disgraceful, crazy & absent minded. Someone sober will worry about the things going badly. Let the lover be. Do I have to remind you? You are such a sweetheart, a lover.

What do you think, is small new big?
1. Class notes, Dynamics of Motivation, Consumer Behavior

Side note: Please don’t mind the sad tone of the post, I was a little bit upset when I wrote this one.

Entry for January 21, 2008 January 21, 2008

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5 Hi-tech Inventions of the 21 st century:

  • Waterproof towel
  • Solar powered torch
  • Book on how to read
  • Pedal powered wheelchair
  • Umbrella with holes to see if it’s raining or not
  • And last but not least, my blog without any latest posts.

Jokes apart, I am really serious about reviving this blog. But you already know my excuses that I was having holidays and when I am in college I complaint that I am too busy. Now, there is something special about being busy all of the time doing nothing, but sleeping and eating. But that is a different story altogether.

In my previous posts (which are months older) you people have seen my claim of having photographic memory coming down to ashes as I revealed that I have, um… forgotten my password. I said I am an idiot. I am happy that I forgot my password. Why I am happy? To support this fact read these two statements

  • we should always create not-so-simple passwords
  • I can remember only simple passwords

Now, if you don’t have an underdeveloped brain like me, you can judge that the password I created was really strong that is why I forgot it. Another implication is that, since the password is so strong nobody can easily break it.

Why did I put all my blog posts into one zip file and password protected it?

So simple, I did so that I can have access to all my posts from one location and I don’t have to hunt around to see where my each post is. I password protected it so that nobody can edit the content of my posts. Since when I come online what I do is blindly copy paste my post from MS Word to the online blog editor.

You have forgotten your password it means we will not get to read what you wrote in the holidays?

Wrong, you people will definitely get to read that posts since I have saved copy of each posts in my documents folder, this time without protecting them with passwords. Happy :)

Now, you might think I am very poor at remembering my passwords so I usually create simple passwords. You are wrong. I create strong passwords. Since, I frequently open my blog account that password has got imprinted into my memory forever. But still you can pray to god that I don’t forget password of this blog, and you tend to get irregular dose of my blog posts.

Anyway, now I will go to restaurant and have one pizza. Oh I am falling short of money, first I will make a trip to my ATM then to restaurant. Wait a minute, what’s the password of my ATM card… oh I don’t remember… I will be back soon…

Why should you not go on adding features to a product? December 27, 2007

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Different Species of Students (esp in my class) May 19, 2007

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In last birth you used to pull and break the legs of flies, and in the trial court of Almighty you were sentenced to extreme torture. But because of your nice nature it was adjudged that the torture will be given in installments. So, here is the next installment of your torture. Read my blog post.

Studying for almost 3+12+1 = 16 years*, hopefully I can call myself a good student (so what if I still count using my fingers). Being a student I can tell you, it is a great experience to be in the class which is full of variety of students. Now, because of my super natural analytical powers (so super and so natural that I can only use them in boring lectures), I keep analyzing other students of my class. (Oh I goofed up! You thought I was listening to my lecturer)

Now, like a sincere researcher and scholar I would like to share the valuable insight of my research which enumerates different kinds/varieties of students of my class.

Oh-my-pants-are-on-fire students

To be frank, I love this variety. They are always in a hurry and never have the time to say ‘hi’. They are very studious and are permanently attached to a very suspicious-yet-so-stupid device called eyeglasses. As I said they are very busy students, always scribbling something on the paper and run a round-the-clock service called ‘free notes’ i.e. if you miss a lecture you can ask them for notes. They are very knowledgeable but there knowledge is limited to them only in the manner that if you ask them a question they will smile and say ‘don’t know’ so you remain a fool and can’t outsmart them in the upcoming mid semester exams. I can judge, my lecturer pays them a very hefty sum of money to attend to the lectures, since they don’t even miss a single lecture.

Yo basket-ball players variety

They are usually tall and dress like a basketball players and occasionally come to classes to see if the chair they used to sit is still there or not. They don’t bother about study, because they are able to smuggle small pieces of critical information into the examination hall. No lecturer of sound mind is capable of executing the search warrant against them because of their massive size, psychic and the international level coach they have hired at the gym. They often stop by you, look down to you and smirk “yo! Wassup kid”

Dinosaur Variety

You are told they are extinct, but once (maybe twice) in a year you are able to spot them in the class. They seldom come to the class and are ungrateful to the lecturer as much as actor ungrateful to the director for giving the guest appearance in the movie.

Albert Einstein variety

They are genius – they believe like that. They know everything about Albert Einstein, that how with poor grades in history, geography, and languages, he left school with no diploma and went to Milan and try to co-relate their low performance with that and say it’s not a co-incident. To prove this they can tell you about Pythagoras theorem, integration, recite the value of pi and tell you details of jute industry of Zimbabwe. But when you ask what subjects they are being taught, well, they are in problem. They remind you of Albert Einstein when you smirk at them for their very very low grades.

I-am-thinking variety

This is the funniest variety I have ever known. If a lecturer asks them a question, they will put a finger on their chin and start thinking. They will make certain facial expressions which would let you believe that they are really thinking. But as the climax come closer, they start thinking fast, start murmuring the answer, blinking and murmuring. It looks as they are going to share the remedy to the iminoglycinuria of the intestine. But as the wait ends, they shake their head and say ‘sorry’ they don’t know the answer.

Deperessed-by-life-can-kill-anyone variety

They are the most dangerous and they pretend that they have all the problems of the world. When the teacher is discussing about the motivation techniques for the employees, they step in and start sighing about the corruption practices of the current government. When lecturer is describing the training needs of employees, they start complaining to the lecturer about how much the food is bad at the mess. When the lecturer is explaining different types of computer networks they start discussing population problem of India. And I am amazed at their aggressive stance, they talk, as if the lecturer is the government employee, their mess contractor, or the root of problem of population of India.

Well, that was all for today. I am happy that I do not fall into even one of the categories given above. If I was to create the category for me I would name it creature-of-computer-lab-live-die-for-blogging

On that note, I sign off for now… bye and take care… don’t kill and don’t get killed…

*3 year of kindergarten, 12 of senior secondary, 1 year of BBA

Now playing in WMP: Runaway Love