National Flag

I did not know that our National Flag went through these versions before what it is now.
Source: Blog named Windy Skies

What made you give me the stone

A wise man who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day he met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise man opened his bag to share his food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the man to give it to him. He did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise man!

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is. but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

Itna kyu sote hai hum

इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम,
इतना लम्बा, इतना गहरा, बेसुध क्यों सोते हैं हम ।

दबे पाँव काली रातें आती जाती हैं,
दबे पाँव क्या, कभी बेधड़क हो जाती हैं।
और बस करवट लेकर, सब खोते हैं हम।
इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम।

नींद है या फिर नशा है कोई,
धीरे धीरे जिसकी आदत पड़ जाती है
झूठ की बारिश में सच की खामोश बांसुरी
एक झोंके की राह देखती सड़ जाती है,
बाद में क्यूं रोते हैं हम।
इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम ।

खेत हमारा बीज हमारे,
हैरत क्या अब फसल खड़ी है,
काटनी होगी छांटनी होगी, आज चुनौती बहुत बड़ी है, कांटे क्यूं बोते हैं।
इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम,

सबने खेला और सब हारे, बड़ा अनोखा अजब खेल है
इंजन काला,डिब्बे काले, बड़ी पुरानी ढींठ रेल है
इस रेल में क्यों होते हैं हम।
इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम,

लोरी नहीं तमाचा देदो,
एक छोटी सी आशा देदो,
वरना फिर से सो जाएंगे

सपनों में फिर खो जाएंगे ।

चलो पाप धोते हैं हम,

इतना क्यूं सोते हैं हम ।

प्रसून जोशी

Integrity

Chandragupta's Chief Minister Chanakya was a very wise and well-read man. Once an envoy came from China to discuss the philosophies of politics with him. The Chinese envoy had a royal lifestyle and was also arrogant. He requested Chanakya for an appointment and was told to go to his house at night.

At the correct time the Chinese man reached the hut of Chanakya. He saw Chanakya sitting and writing something under the light of a very small lamp (diya). He was surprised and wondered why the Chief Minister should use such a small lamp and thought himself as much better off in China.

Chanakya got up, respectfully welcomed him and offered a seat. Before talks could begin, Chanakya put the diya off and lighted another one. After the discussions were over, Chanakya put off the new diya and lighted the old one back again!

As the envoy was going out he could not contain himself from asking Chanakya why he did all this. Chanakya said "When you reached my house I was doing my personal work for which I use my diya. When I started talking to you, I put it off and used the government diya which I have put off as soon as our discussions are over. I am sometimes the 'Chief Minister' and sometimes an 'ordinary citizen' and I know the difference between the two."

Smart answers!

Q- In which battle did Tipu Sultan die? A- His last battle !

Q- How do u stop acid indigestion? A- Stop drinking acid !

Q- Where was the declaration of independence signed? A- At the bottom of the page

Q- What's the main reason for Divorce? A- Marriage!

Q- Ganga flows in which state? A- Liquid state !

Q- When was Mahatma Gandhi born? A- On his birthday !

Q- How will u distribute 8 mangoes amongst 6 people? A- By preparing mango shake

The need for change

The Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement is a desperate call for a need to change the way things work around in our country. While we can keep supporting this and other movements, the underlying fact is that we live in a democracy and a long-term sustainable change can only be effected if we vote more consciously when the elections come by.

I had read the following article some time back. Want to re-post it here. Do read.

The good vote banks

India on FB!

Click on the image for a larger view.

Source: Yahoo

Tozan's three pounds

A monk asked Tozan when he was weighing some flax, "What is Buddha"?

Tozan said, "This flax weighs three pounds."

My two cents on Indian test side

I was disappointed with the way we lost the two tests against England. I happened to talk about it in a lecture and was invited to comment on a student's comment on FB. So posted this.

Firstly, these couple of defeats per se would have been okay, but the way we lost, I felt, was spineless. There was no fight whatsoever. They did not just win, they out-played us completely. Sure every team can lose a couple of games in a row, but the 'how' is equally important.

Secondly, what is our future looking like? Sure we are statistically at No. 1, but how strong is our side! Be it pace bowling, spin or batting, the bench strength looks very raw. Who is going to replace the likes of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman? If we do not find the answers soon, we will go the Aussie way. Difference being, they cleanly dominated other teams for more than a decade and we would struggle to do it for a couple of years. Even today, India does not look dominating or powerful enough to claim the tag of world-beaters. What has been equally important is that other teams have not been very impressive except England and SAF.

Thirdly, I am tempted to look at the statistics of test matches during the last three years. India has played 33, won 15, lost 6. Out of 15 wins, 6 have been overseas. 2 in Bangladesh, 1 each in NZ, SAF, SL and WI. Out of these NZ, Bang, WI clearly not the benchmarks for us. So it is 2 'real' away test wins. 2 away wins out of 15 wins.

The SAF test win at Durban was a horrible pitch. In a way, spinner friendly Indian track. Dhoni mentioned about it in the post-match conference that the pitch was not of international standards. It was an uneven bounce/spin track and Harbhajan made a killing. The win against SL in Colombo was a Sehwag feast. His better than run-a-ball century won it for us.

Sehwag has been a key for us in the last couple of years. Sans him, we saw what can happen to our batting line up. His blazing start was vital for middle order batsmen to come in and capitalize. I am not sure how a world-beater side is so heavily dependant on 1 batsman. Perhaps pretty much like Hayden for Aussies, but look at the way other batsmen played for them when they were No. 1. There were matches that Gilchrist, Langer or Ponting won for them.

Coming to qualitative factors, Indians on the field looked spineless and lethargic even in Windies. We did not go for the win in the last test against WI!! That is not the sign of a champion. Windies are surely not the most formidable. We gave it up there.

Sure, statistically we are No. 1, and we could even retain it by winning/drawing the next two tests. But I am not going by the ranking. Even a WC victory was not convincing for me (personally) that we are the best. I want to see fear in the opponents when they face our bowlers and their bowlers should be left with shivers when we bat. Only Sehwag has managed that. I want to see our team kill others and win some games so one-sided that opponents must be in awe. Windies did it in 70s and 80s, Auusies in 90s and the last decade. We are not yet there. Sure we may some day, but not yet.

My finance blog is still alive!

Just posted something there. The link's here!

http://finthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/08/20-years-of-economic-liberalization.html

Why Adi thinks bathroom is the coolest place!

why aditya thinks bathroom is the coolest place in our house ? our bathroom has a sliding door. hence adi finds it fascinating tht a door shud slide n beyond it lies a disney land tht he craves for. n the only obstacle betn his wonderland n him is his eccentric mum who thinks its 'dangerous' for him to venture alone in bathroom. evry thing in bathroom fascinates him ie his bath tub, bucket, water tumblers, n last but not the least the toilet seat..... he tries to mount the seat the way u wud mount a horse but alas he cant n their again he blames me for tht...... he' s not sure y he's nt allowed to sit on tht seat since he's 11 months..... tht blue bucket shivers in fear every time adi walks into the bathroom coz it knws nw adi wl simply start hitting it with tumblers till it turns black..... bucket is wondering wht crime has it committed to deserve this beating every single day. then there's adi's bath tub. adi is supoosed to sit inside the tub n bathe but he does exactly the opposite. he sits outside n then pours water on the tub...... yes this is exactly hw he likes to bath n no i cnt question the logic coz then he gives me a look which says i dnt knw hw u cleared ur high school, mum? so i keep mum..... poor me :( adi likes to compare his stuff with his dad n nt me since i own one body shampoo n dad has body shampoo, body cream, body deo, body spray, hand lotion, hair gel, perfume n etc n adi has only body shampoo, body oil, body cream, baby powder, bum cream, hair oil, baby comb, baby clips. he cnt believe he's living like this whereas v r njoing the riches..... he's mkg notes hw to complain to shekhar appa bot me n nt his dad since dad is a sweet heart n m an alleged cleaner who claims to be his mum all the time. coming back to bathroom, evry time he's not allowed to play in bathroom adi pees on bathroom door mat n runs away...... i need to go adi is pushing the bathroom door....... god help the bucket..

Adi alias Jerry

aditya alias jerry. when adi was four months young kartik (my youngest brother in law) would call him jerry the mouse. wht i didnt knw is tht adi was listening n has tkn message to heart. so nw he crawls faster resembling a mouse run if he sees tht v r running to catch him. his crawling is fastest if he has messed up bathroom rug or pulled dwn bed sheets, turned dwn his plastic table or distributed dirty nappies to all corners of kitchen. tomatoes, prunes, apples hv his beautiful mouse teeth carvings. n god help u if u disturb him when he 'having' his fruit 'by himself'. yesterday he graduated from langots to small colorful pants bot by his paa. he used these new pants to swipe floor when we were not looking. at nite adi takes a thin sheet to cover him n i tk three blankets to avoid death by cold. n i knw i m inviting trouble if i turn off or slow down a/c, coz he wakes up immediately n gives me a look tht wud wither a startched collar. he loves bum dancing hence on every foot tapping number he raises his left hand n moves his bums front n back.......