After putting much thought and procrastinating a lot, I have decide to release my first Book on poetry on 1st of January, 2010. Although I have finished editing the major parts, I just want to tweak a little bit more.

The release dat of the book is: 1st January 2010

Latest News in just 2 Minutes - Breaking News by Times of India in 2 minutes

I have been watching this “special” “exclusive” newscast for almost half an hour, in which  they are discussing the reactions, pitfalls, advantages & disadvantages, good points, bad points, consequences, effects and everything in between of this some most important report, but my friend it seems they are reluctant to share what this report is all about.

I am unable to make out about which report they are talking about. So, I switch off the TV and switch on the Laptop. I just log onto Times of India 2 Minute News and there you are the 1st item on the page.

I think this is the thing with the traditional media, lack of freedom & conciseness and ability to deliver what core & does matter in an instant.

I have been ignoring this “TED” thing for a long time, but I became interested once I discovered we are going to have one in India also (sadly we had one in Dubai also, but  I missed it already.)

So far, I watched two TED Talks one  The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology by Parnav Mistry and the second East vs. West — the myths that mystify by Devdutt Patnaik. Ideas in the first talk regarding the sixth sense are quite revolutionery but anyone well versed and up-to-date in technology would argue they are not that easy to implement. So, despite his great ideas he failed to convince me. From the demos I would make out they were not even the original demos but a prototypes especially built for this presentation.

The second talk by Devdutt Patnaik I would say is awesome, one of the best presentations I have ever watched on such boring and intellectual topic. I might say he is the genius, his delivery and presentation style was flawless. It was backed up by strong content based on good research and well thought presentation plan. I liked the concept of belief officer to. How great it would be to have one in an organization to create, maintain, manage, evolve good beliefs & finally destroy the bad beliefs. At the end I would like to say:

Beliefs orginate from the stories we tell and listen. Behind every story there is a belief and behind every belief there is a story. It is upto us to identify that story and connect to it in a deeper level.

A woman has legal recourse if she is abused by her husband or her inlaws.
But a woman doesnt have the right to protest against rape by her husband
And doesnt have the right to insist on condomns in this age of HIV+
This is not an Indian Women’s Issue, but an Indian Issue.

-Writes Gayathrie Eshawar on Wise Donkey Blog

Along with this eye-opening poem:

The right to life, for the wife

Dont I have the right to life?
I ask you, says the wife

Unprotected sex is high risk,
Unprotected oral sex is medium risk,
Is my life, asks the wife,
To you all, worth this risk?

Even animals have people protesting against their slaughter
Why does no one think of me as their daughter.
Lets talk about right to safe sex

This issue is not just for chromosome xx
I have to go through this Everyday
Do something for me atleat Today
December 1st, World AIDS Day.

Here is the link to the entire post: The Right to Life, For Wife

Though I am not married yet (and interestingly there is a long way to go for that to happen) but this poem resonated with something in my heart, about millions of girls and ladies being abused every second and I can do nothing about it except being a mute spectator – a shameless bystander.

Why men are so sex maniacs? Something else is wrong with the Indian Society.

As one of my casual remarks to my college friend, I said:

Despite India being the second most populated country is still a sex starved nation, youngsters have a problem with the sex – it has something to do with the way they are introduced to it, abstained from it and how liberated by it when they get married.

I am upset. I am upset the way google launches its products. I am really upset with the “Invite” marketing gimmick. Why offer a half baked product to a selected privileged consumers, instead of offering the full fledged version to all. I think google has a big marketing department that thinks this is the only way to create hype.

It is publicity my dear. Good or bad, it is publicity.

First all, my predictions, Google wave will fail. It is too confusing for the common person who just wants to send a simple message and nothing else.

Now, I am a user of Orkut. No, really, I am. Only because all of my friends are at orkut. Facebook I think is much more sophisticated. Orkut is slow, dysfunctional and old. They are coming out with a new Orkut. I was waiting for it. And yeah, you need to be invited to use the new orkut. I am really upset.

And yeah Maruti is coming out with a new Car, you need to be invited to test drive it. And yes, our Pakore (snacks) wale uncle (snack maker) has new offering of new pakoras (snacks), hey again you need to be invited to taste them.Our City Muncipaplity has a new public tansport system launch in a few days time, guess what you need to be invited to try it out. I guess and I pray not all the organizations start doing this. (We have already seen commercialization of this, reportedly you can buy “Wave” & “Gmail” invites at eBay or other auction sites)

My message to google: Hey buddy I know you are pretty big organizationa and one consumer experience won’t ruin your repo. But for the sake of it, please, please stop making me feel inferior & “left out” by adopting “Invite only” policy. and yes this is the only reason I don’t use your Gmail system.

Read this wonderful article written by Ms Piyul on Proact Blog. She discusses how we Indians have a tendency to hoard back everything including all things antique & useless. This habit is inherited from generations to generations. Perhaps, I have not. Recently, I threw away a TV box presumably it was full of bed bugs. Keeping useless old things are just plain idiocy I see.

Anyhow, on serious side may be this habit of Indians have a lot more brighter side to it. India recently featured on some magazines green countries list. Interestingly, we Indians have a  lesser carbon footprint than our counterparts all over the world. Because we consume less, save more, use indigenous tansport (have some one listened about Ghudakka – an engine mounted on a wooden cart) and yeah we prefer walking, cycling and more. Similarly, we don’t throw things easily or “Remove from the home” as Ms Piyul Said . (Evidenty, you can’t use “throw awa” old people might get offended, use a more polite version instead) .I see there is some logic to it. If you keep a thing with yourself, may be if you need it in the future you won’t have to buy (or burrow or find or stole in some extreme cases) again. One of the striking features of any Indian Home would be a “Store Room” where they keep all these someday-we-will-need-them things. My family too used to have one. I miss it so much.

So anyhow, I was discussing how I don’t have this habit. Like the famous dialogue in one of the Jurassic Parks in which the guy said “Life will find its own way”, I too say “Habits will find their own way”. So, what do I hoard back. Emails, Softwares, Wallpapers, Music (no How come delete it, I’ll listen to it someday?), RSS articles & Newpapers (I have really old ones dating back as early as 2000)

So, guys no matter how modern and culturally deprived (I made it up) we become, we gonna never forget our roots, we will continue to be Indians no matter how advanced we become. And on a funny note, we will continue to download Widescreen Wallpapers from interfacelift.org, customize.org, todayswall.com, Bing’s background, desktonexus.com (this is the best one) and we will keep our music library disorganized and keep 7 version of one song (may be we will need it someday) – Plain, Rock, Live, Lounge, Club, Desi & Remix Version. Just in case

Just came back to tell I forgot to mention my eBooks folder – it has around 2500 PDFs, oh sure i’ll read/need them someday. I also invite you to Fireworks show hosted at my home which will begin once my papa returns to find that his old beloved TV Box (around 12 years old) has been “Removed from the house”

I was just thinking to move some of my “accessed over a year ago” files to windows live sky drive when I received this Yahoo Mail is Down funny assuring message.

Sometimes, I am too confused. Why upload “my” data to some other place, unknown to me, far far away “in someone else’s hands”?

And added disadvantages include ANYTIME DOWNTIME, like famous gmail crash.

I need to think seriously about it and we need to go a long way before we can say yes Cloud Computing is safer, faster & reliable.

Until then, stay stuck on “Sorry, you can’t access your mail and data!”

Now that’s the bummer

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…

There are many things, which you “fire” once will never come back or stop from making the damage. Words, actions, orders, flight takeoff just about anything that has “no point of return”.

Missile once launched cannot be put back onto the launch pad. Words once spoken cannot be put back into mouth. Similarly, many actions including deciding & passing the “point of return” can never be undone. Once you nearing the end of the runway, you must press “Take Off” else there is no point of return and you can’t risk stopping the plane in the end of the runway.

My Advice:

Effective self discipline and management involves identifying the “points of return”. Carefully trespassing them, so you don’t cry when you cross them. Be careful when you press “Fire” next time.

Mil Na Jao Tum Kahin Ajbnabi Ki Tarah Iss Bat Se Hum Dra Karte Hai,

Aa Jana Us Mod Pe Jahan Chod Gaye The Hum Tujhke,

Ab Aksar Hum Wahin Tera Intezaar Kia Karte Hain.

English Translation

Never Meet Me Like A Stranger, Oh my beloved,

I Often wait for you now, where forsaking you I left.