"If I were starting today" as a scientist in high school or college, “I’d be in computational biology” - Francis Collins
This has been my favorite quotation for sometimes now. I sometimes hear people talking about Bioinformatics as pseudoscience and now I begin to wonder is that really so? I am working from home, and thus raising very many eyebrows about the "quality of science" I many be doing. For records, I was de-selected for a job that once I thought I was selected just because I work from home. Well, this types of prejudices do exist and is certain to be there, but we may need to learn to live through it and fight it when possible.
I was examining what a wet lab scientist does vis a vis a computational scientist. Remember computational scientist does not have to step outside of the comfort of her home to do her job.
A wet lab scientist reads paper, plans experiment and goes to the lab. Prepares solutions, buffers, and sets up an experiment. It may be running a PCR, or making a strain grow or checking the gels etc.. The computational scientist also reads a paper (often hard hitting papers with complex mathematical formulae and algorithms), plans to work on the data and run them. Running experiments for a computational scientist would mean running some applications(mostly freewares that comes without any warranty or without any documentation). This process may take anytime between hours to days. In the end, the computational scientist sits with the output and checks if anything worthwhile has come out of it. Often this is a very laborious process. It may so happen that your desirable output is not there after you run it for days!! Then you may need to switch to another algorithm or change parameters(like repeating experiment with changed growth condition or a changed buffer). If things work the way you wanted, you may call the experiment was successful. After some "Successfully" run experiments, the scientist sits back and stitches all the outputs together to form a story. If publishable - hurray you got a paper. And the same happens with the wet lab researcher albeit the process may be slightly more manual intensive and slow. So, both the processes are quite comparable and parallel to each other. So, why call computational science as pseudoscience??
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Growing Fenugreek and getting rid of black aphids!!
Fenugreek can be grown during fall to early winter season. They grow best during october-December months. One of the problems with this could be the growth of black small creepy aphids. These insects not only arrest the healthy growth of the plant but also transmit a virus that causes leaves to yellow and stunt growth. Now there are several ways to get rid of these insects, and one effective way is to spray hose of water. This generally dislodges the insect and once they are dislodged, there is a very less likelihood that they will be back! The other way is to spray them with mild soap water. Soap water washes off Aphids waxy coating and causes it to dehydrate and die.
You may like to cook your otherwise healthy looking fenugreek leaves even though you are disgusted by the site of these nasty little bugs. Just pluck the healthy looking leaves and stems and soak them in mild dishwashing solution(2-3 drops of detergent in 4-5 cups of water) detergent for 15-20 minutes. If you soak it longer, then the leaves may retain water by osmosis. Then wash the leaves and stems for atleast 5 times, to get rid of the residual soap solution. Then you may notice all these black bugs dead sedimenting at the bottom of the container. You can now safely cook methi leaves(fenugreek leaves)
You may like to cook your otherwise healthy looking fenugreek leaves even though you are disgusted by the site of these nasty little bugs. Just pluck the healthy looking leaves and stems and soak them in mild dishwashing solution(2-3 drops of detergent in 4-5 cups of water) detergent for 15-20 minutes. If you soak it longer, then the leaves may retain water by osmosis. Then wash the leaves and stems for atleast 5 times, to get rid of the residual soap solution. Then you may notice all these black bugs dead sedimenting at the bottom of the container. You can now safely cook methi leaves(fenugreek leaves)
Monday, December 27, 2010
Greatest Musicians of our times
Today - 26th Dec 2010, I am sitting and idling with some old hindi songs and suddenly an awareness passed through me revealing I am one of biggest fans of Ravindra Jain's music sung by one of the greatest singers Yesudas. Both Ravindra Jain and Yesudas were very active during later part of 70s, but nevertheless the song they have created together is timeless, divine and captivating. Nothing can be comparable to their music...
One of the very interesting facts is Ravindra Jain is born blind yet; he composes, writes and directs music that no one ever can!!! Yesudas, on the other hand is a great singer and he does justice to Ravindra Jains music that anyone can. Ravindra Jain was so fascinated by Yesudas's singing that, he always wished if he could see, he would like to see Yesudas's face.
Here are some of my favorite yesudas/Hemlata songs composed by Ravindra Jain and other composers:
One of the very interesting facts is Ravindra Jain is born blind yet; he composes, writes and directs music that no one ever can!!! Yesudas, on the other hand is a great singer and he does justice to Ravindra Jains music that anyone can. Ravindra Jain was so fascinated by Yesudas's singing that, he always wished if he could see, he would like to see Yesudas's face.
Here are some of my favorite yesudas/Hemlata songs composed by Ravindra Jain and other composers:
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Meaning of name Sucheta
Origin: Sanskrit
Meaning: A beautiful mind
Positive:
Endowed with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility.
Sucheta can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive
freedom, and in her drive to attain this freedom, Sucheta will likely be the
master of adaptability and change. Sucheta is good at presenting ideas and knowing
how to approach people to get what Sucheta wants. Naturally, this gives Sucheta an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Her popularity may lead Sucheta toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever Sucheta does, Sucheta is clever, analytical,
and a very quick thinker
Negative:
Her restless and impatient attitude may keep Sucheta from staying with any project
for too long. Sometimes Sucheta can be rather erratic and scatter herself and her energies. Sucheta has a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. Sucheta tends to react strongly if Sucheta senses that her freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as they are, Sucheta may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of her response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. Sucheta is in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.
Desire Generosity - Soul Urge Number 9.
Sucheta wants to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner.
Sucheta is highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And Sucheta is generous in giving of her knowledge and experience. Sucheta has very sharing urges, and Sucheta is likely to have a great deal to share. Her concern for others makes Sucheta a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.
Positive:
Sucheta is able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. Sucheta often expresses high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If Sucheta is able to fully realize the potential of her motivation, Sucheta will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.
Negative:
Sucheta may become too sensitive and tends to express emotions strongly at times.
There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. Sucheta may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is
too much 9 energy in her nature Sucheta may reject the idea. Sucheta may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.
Live life abundantly
[I copied this item from the internet - Hope you guys out there enjoy reading it]
Hat tip to George Boyden
Written by Regina Brett, now 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. when in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. Its OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. it’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
Hat tip to George Boyden
Written by Regina Brett, now 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. when in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. Its OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. it’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Politically incorrect!!
While bad people are political - good people are not. Men are political and women are not! While we live in the pretext that politics is "bad" and "good" people should stay away from it, but the facts are something quite different. Politics is often perceived as a dirty game, so most of the educated mass capable of thinking stay away from politics. Sounds pretty good isn't it? In a democratic setup, this is not only very harmful for the country, but also a extremely dangerous trend.
A peek at most of the stable, educated, "good" people's public profiles, you will see they are "not interested" in politics. What does it mean? They really don't care who is in power, or what policies are made or the welfare of the country in the pretext of dirty political games. In Indian context, there are 90% of the educated people stay away from such things, the remaining 10% may be voting with some responsibility. The rest of the uneducated people vote either as a community, or to a party that once Gandhi belonged or for no reason at all. That is the state of democracy India reeling under now.
As responsible citizens, we have the responsibility to know who is ruling us, what policies they are making, the corruptions in public life etc. The apolitical people are either whiners or escapists or Hypocrites. At the drop of every hat, they would blame the government, the country, the people; not realizing that their aversion to politics is one of the important causes behind all the ills. We very often forget what Gandhi had said " Be the change you want to see in others". So, in other words, by not being a part of the politics, we choose the wrong government and hooligans rule us..
The other day I was talking with an aunty and she said, I vote for congress. Then I asked why? She said just because they have been voting for congress for the last 50 years. Now, see the logic, they have no interest to know who leads congress, what type of governess they are bringing, but just vote for it because they were always voting for congress!
I want every person to be political to the extent that they know who is ruling their country, whether it is good or bad for the country. Who is making decisions to buy the arms/ammunition, who decides what technical institutes should be opened, who decides on the preservation of environment, who decides the overall growth of the nation. I don't want to cry foul saying that so much heat this year or global warming because of deforestation or so much power cut this year, or there is a cyclone. I don't want to complain about the road conditions, quality of education, corruption, cleanliness, non-functional government organization, bad hospital administrations so on and so forth. Because I could have brought about the changes I wanted but simply because I am apolitical or in other words peace loving, I lost the opportunity for bringing about a desirable change that I am complaining about.
How many of us believe in the system? How many of us really take the pain to go through proper channel? All of us, who complain about the system, are the first ones to break the rule. We just want to pay bribe and get our jobs done, because we think we don't have enough time to go through the queue. And yet, we are the same people complaining about the bribery! Most of us complain about the bad road conditions and dirt on the roads, yet how many of us take care not to throw our trash on the roads? After all roads are our private properties, and it is a democracy, so let me exercise it. Many of us spit on the road, throw papers and other unused items like water bottles and other unwanted stuff on the road, without a blink.
India can and has a great potential to grow and I am not loosing hope yet, and that will happen only if we bring about the changes by becoming "Politically incorrect".
A peek at most of the stable, educated, "good" people's public profiles, you will see they are "not interested" in politics. What does it mean? They really don't care who is in power, or what policies are made or the welfare of the country in the pretext of dirty political games. In Indian context, there are 90% of the educated people stay away from such things, the remaining 10% may be voting with some responsibility. The rest of the uneducated people vote either as a community, or to a party that once Gandhi belonged or for no reason at all. That is the state of democracy India reeling under now.
As responsible citizens, we have the responsibility to know who is ruling us, what policies they are making, the corruptions in public life etc. The apolitical people are either whiners or escapists or Hypocrites. At the drop of every hat, they would blame the government, the country, the people; not realizing that their aversion to politics is one of the important causes behind all the ills. We very often forget what Gandhi had said " Be the change you want to see in others". So, in other words, by not being a part of the politics, we choose the wrong government and hooligans rule us..
The other day I was talking with an aunty and she said, I vote for congress. Then I asked why? She said just because they have been voting for congress for the last 50 years. Now, see the logic, they have no interest to know who leads congress, what type of governess they are bringing, but just vote for it because they were always voting for congress!
I want every person to be political to the extent that they know who is ruling their country, whether it is good or bad for the country. Who is making decisions to buy the arms/ammunition, who decides what technical institutes should be opened, who decides on the preservation of environment, who decides the overall growth of the nation. I don't want to cry foul saying that so much heat this year or global warming because of deforestation or so much power cut this year, or there is a cyclone. I don't want to complain about the road conditions, quality of education, corruption, cleanliness, non-functional government organization, bad hospital administrations so on and so forth. Because I could have brought about the changes I wanted but simply because I am apolitical or in other words peace loving, I lost the opportunity for bringing about a desirable change that I am complaining about.
How many of us believe in the system? How many of us really take the pain to go through proper channel? All of us, who complain about the system, are the first ones to break the rule. We just want to pay bribe and get our jobs done, because we think we don't have enough time to go through the queue. And yet, we are the same people complaining about the bribery! Most of us complain about the bad road conditions and dirt on the roads, yet how many of us take care not to throw our trash on the roads? After all roads are our private properties, and it is a democracy, so let me exercise it. Many of us spit on the road, throw papers and other unused items like water bottles and other unwanted stuff on the road, without a blink.
India can and has a great potential to grow and I am not loosing hope yet, and that will happen only if we bring about the changes by becoming "Politically incorrect".
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
My Tuesday Ramblings
While the day started with reading Indian newspapers, it filled me with awe after reading what Arundhati Roy said on Kashmir. You may ask, Arundhoti Roy - who? Even I would also be tempted to ask such question, had it not been for these controversies. Thanks to all the controversies and the english media run by her very own cousin(Pronoy Roy), she is still alive and regarded as a celebrity.
At every possible opportunity she is ready to criticize India and USA but the same person has no qualms about visiting US for her own personal benefit or for using Indian tolerance for her ramblings. She should have known well the ideology she is professing if come into force, she will loose all her freedom of speech! While, I would care less of what she said, but she somehow demands an intellectual tag for herself for having won booker award many moons ago. After that all that she does is stirring up an issue or talking about a controversy. I read a nice artcicle today by someone who analyzed why Arundhati Roy is the way she is. Article can be found here. The article nicely correlates the mindset of people brought up in communist regimen with hypocrisy. While that explains it all , she released a statement and it was published in none other paper than NDTV(her cousins news paper) to make her sound good. Here is the excerpt.
"I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning's papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice. I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state".
Lets analyze this in pieces: she says she is saying what millions say in Kashmir. I say: Why don't you say something that billions of Indians say instead of saying what just the millions of Kashmiris say. She again says something that makes no sense at all, she says Kashmir lives under terror, and at the same time she says the poor soldiers are getting killed. Now who is oppressor here? Soldiers belong to Indian force and if they are innocent and Kashmiris are innocent then how can she say kashmiris are living under brutal millitary rule. She again says something very stupid on Kasmiri pundits. Does she know why Kasmiri pundits are out of the valley? They are thrown out of their own state because of the same millitants she is supporting. So, she can't just support the millitants and also the Kashmiri pundits at the same time. So, my analysis now shows that she is a highly deranged person lacking logical thinking. She can use jargons to dissuade masses and write mumbo jumbos in NDTV, but she can't fool the educated masses. With this I hope she is stripped of Indian citizenship and thrown to the place she truly belongs- Pakistan. Here is a nice article I read by a articulate write, I could not stop admiring the article, so reposting it here:
Why Arundhati Roy is dangerously wrong on kashmir: (By Venkatesan Vembu)
There’s a mesmeric, seductive quality to Arundhati Roy’s prose. For all its verbiage, it teases, tempts and torments the mind and lures it into the parlour of a contrarian world; it then persuades it, with the sheer power of its eloquence that the natural order of things in the ‘real’ world as we know it is wholly unnatural and completely flawed.
“So you think India is a superpower in the making?” it says, and marshals compelling arguments for why India is more in the “bhookey-nangey” category. “So you think big dams are great for development?” it asks. “Perhaps you’ll feel differently if it were your home and your livelihood that needed to be sacrificed for the greater good”.
A fair-minded person might concede that Roy has at least half a point, even if, once the seductive power of her prose has worn off, her polemical pounding of that half-point is grating in the extreme. Heck, she’s not even the only one who holds an unflattering mirror to Indian society and forces us to reflect on our failings.
The social historian Ramachandra Guha does it no less trenchantly, no less controversially and no less eloquently; but he does it with a far greater sensitivity to the burden of history, and he at least has the intellectual honesty — and the good grace — to acknowledge the merits, such as they are, of India’s democracy, flawed though it is.
But whereas the soundbite-savvy Roy’s polemics were once merely infuriatingly dishonest (even when they had half a point), her most recent public articulations on Kashmir, coming on top of her unvarnished defence of Maoist resort to violence, cross the threshold of what any self-respecting, law-bound nation-state can tolerate. Roy may have declared herself an ‘independent mobile republic’, as she did after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests in order to dissociate herself from the BJP’s nuclear jingoism; but she’s still bound by the sedition laws of the decidedly immobile republic she inhabits.
Apart from being historically inaccurate, Roy’s words also betray an inadequate sensitivity to the enormous gravity of any loose talk of azaadi or self-determination at a time when the separatist campaign in Kashmir finally stands exposed before the world as having been propelled all along by Pakistan-backed jihadis who are playing for much larger stakes: the disintegration of secular India.
Perhaps in parlour room polemics, among calm and politically sanitised minds, there may be little risk from intellectual explorations of the merits of Kashmiri self-determination. But the Kashmir mind today is in a fevered state as a result of years of hot-headed jihadi indoctrination; only when that fever subsides can other cures be contemplated. Right now, given that inflamed state, Roy’s words have the potency to bestir indoctrinated minds into extreme action.
History doesn’t flow in straight lines, but in contours, and in Kashmir’s tortured history there are many contours to negotiate. The Indian state may not always have got it right in Kashmir, but Roy’s black-and-white delineation represents a colossal and intellectually dishonest oversimplification of the problem without sufficient appreciation of the fanatical geopolitical forces at work. It also takes her farther down the slippery slope of shrill and decidedly dangerous sloganeering which has enormous lethal consequences in the real world. Perhaps she should break the spell that her own hypnotic prose appears to have on herself and her increasingly fanatical flock of followers.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/arundhati-roys-statement-on-possible-sedition-case-62566?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ndtv%2FLsgd+%28NDTV+News+-+India%29&cp
At every possible opportunity she is ready to criticize India and USA but the same person has no qualms about visiting US for her own personal benefit or for using Indian tolerance for her ramblings. She should have known well the ideology she is professing if come into force, she will loose all her freedom of speech! While, I would care less of what she said, but she somehow demands an intellectual tag for herself for having won booker award many moons ago. After that all that she does is stirring up an issue or talking about a controversy. I read a nice artcicle today by someone who analyzed why Arundhati Roy is the way she is. Article can be found here. The article nicely correlates the mindset of people brought up in communist regimen with hypocrisy. While that explains it all , she released a statement and it was published in none other paper than NDTV(her cousins news paper) to make her sound good. Here is the excerpt.
"I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning's papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice. I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state".
Lets analyze this in pieces: she says she is saying what millions say in Kashmir. I say: Why don't you say something that billions of Indians say instead of saying what just the millions of Kashmiris say. She again says something that makes no sense at all, she says Kashmir lives under terror, and at the same time she says the poor soldiers are getting killed. Now who is oppressor here? Soldiers belong to Indian force and if they are innocent and Kashmiris are innocent then how can she say kashmiris are living under brutal millitary rule. She again says something very stupid on Kasmiri pundits. Does she know why Kasmiri pundits are out of the valley? They are thrown out of their own state because of the same millitants she is supporting. So, she can't just support the millitants and also the Kashmiri pundits at the same time. So, my analysis now shows that she is a highly deranged person lacking logical thinking. She can use jargons to dissuade masses and write mumbo jumbos in NDTV, but she can't fool the educated masses. With this I hope she is stripped of Indian citizenship and thrown to the place she truly belongs- Pakistan. Here is a nice article I read by a articulate write, I could not stop admiring the article, so reposting it here:
Why Arundhati Roy is dangerously wrong on kashmir: (By Venkatesan Vembu)
There’s a mesmeric, seductive quality to Arundhati Roy’s prose. For all its verbiage, it teases, tempts and torments the mind and lures it into the parlour of a contrarian world; it then persuades it, with the sheer power of its eloquence that the natural order of things in the ‘real’ world as we know it is wholly unnatural and completely flawed.
“So you think India is a superpower in the making?” it says, and marshals compelling arguments for why India is more in the “bhookey-nangey” category. “So you think big dams are great for development?” it asks. “Perhaps you’ll feel differently if it were your home and your livelihood that needed to be sacrificed for the greater good”.
A fair-minded person might concede that Roy has at least half a point, even if, once the seductive power of her prose has worn off, her polemical pounding of that half-point is grating in the extreme. Heck, she’s not even the only one who holds an unflattering mirror to Indian society and forces us to reflect on our failings.
The social historian Ramachandra Guha does it no less trenchantly, no less controversially and no less eloquently; but he does it with a far greater sensitivity to the burden of history, and he at least has the intellectual honesty — and the good grace — to acknowledge the merits, such as they are, of India’s democracy, flawed though it is.
But whereas the soundbite-savvy Roy’s polemics were once merely infuriatingly dishonest (even when they had half a point), her most recent public articulations on Kashmir, coming on top of her unvarnished defence of Maoist resort to violence, cross the threshold of what any self-respecting, law-bound nation-state can tolerate. Roy may have declared herself an ‘independent mobile republic’, as she did after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests in order to dissociate herself from the BJP’s nuclear jingoism; but she’s still bound by the sedition laws of the decidedly immobile republic she inhabits.
Apart from being historically inaccurate, Roy’s words also betray an inadequate sensitivity to the enormous gravity of any loose talk of azaadi or self-determination at a time when the separatist campaign in Kashmir finally stands exposed before the world as having been propelled all along by Pakistan-backed jihadis who are playing for much larger stakes: the disintegration of secular India.
Perhaps in parlour room polemics, among calm and politically sanitised minds, there may be little risk from intellectual explorations of the merits of Kashmiri self-determination. But the Kashmir mind today is in a fevered state as a result of years of hot-headed jihadi indoctrination; only when that fever subsides can other cures be contemplated. Right now, given that inflamed state, Roy’s words have the potency to bestir indoctrinated minds into extreme action.
History doesn’t flow in straight lines, but in contours, and in Kashmir’s tortured history there are many contours to negotiate. The Indian state may not always have got it right in Kashmir, but Roy’s black-and-white delineation represents a colossal and intellectually dishonest oversimplification of the problem without sufficient appreciation of the fanatical geopolitical forces at work. It also takes her farther down the slippery slope of shrill and decidedly dangerous sloganeering which has enormous lethal consequences in the real world. Perhaps she should break the spell that her own hypnotic prose appears to have on herself and her increasingly fanatical flock of followers.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/arundhati-roys-statement-on-possible-sedition-case-62566?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ndtv%2FLsgd+%28NDTV+News+-+India%29&cp
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Travel vouchers - What they are worth!
Recently on our trip to Seattle we were almost bumped off the flight without being told. The flight was overbooked for the football match, and the flight staff kept telling us our seat allotment has not been done and they will let us know. Let us know when? I would go to the front desk and ask, but their answer had always been "you will be given a voucher". The flight staff assumed that it should be a great option for us since we are being compensated with a voucher for our time. Although personally I am not very fond of vouchers, my husband opted for it. What we missed because of the voucher? We missed the entire day of sight seeing at Seattle plus had no lunch and got delayed for everything.
Today finally I thought of using my voucher for another trip. When I went to expedia, I did not see any option for redeeming a voucher. Then I went to AA web site, there also while purchasing I saw no option. Finally, I was reading the FAQ's and got a number (18004331790), that said can be used for e-voucher and gift coupons. Being totally intuitive, I decided to give it a try although my gift voucher was neither a evoucher nor a gift card. The number connected immediately. However, on their web site for gift vouchers, there was another number that said from Monday through friday from 9 am to 5 pm. All this could be very misleading.
So, now my advise is: If you get a travel voucher at the airline counter in an airport you have to book the ticket through them using the phone number given above(For American Airlines). The guy at the other end will ask you the flight number for forward journey and for backward journey(You must have it before hand). Then you can provide other information like your name, date of birth etc. They will ask you your postal address and email address. You have to post your hard paper travel voucher to the address they ask you to. In my case, it was to:[LCZACS}
American Airlines, Box - 109, 6570, caroline street, Suite-103, Milton, FL-32570-4778. On the top of the envelope, I am asked to write my address, followed by my last name, followed by the flight number for the forward journey, followed by the date of forward journey. Fun ha... Enjoy using the voucher!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today finally I thought of using my voucher for another trip. When I went to expedia, I did not see any option for redeeming a voucher. Then I went to AA web site, there also while purchasing I saw no option. Finally, I was reading the FAQ's and got a number (18004331790), that said can be used for e-voucher and gift coupons. Being totally intuitive, I decided to give it a try although my gift voucher was neither a evoucher nor a gift card. The number connected immediately. However, on their web site for gift vouchers, there was another number that said from Monday through friday from 9 am to 5 pm. All this could be very misleading.
So, now my advise is: If you get a travel voucher at the airline counter in an airport you have to book the ticket through them using the phone number given above(For American Airlines). The guy at the other end will ask you the flight number for forward journey and for backward journey(You must have it before hand). Then you can provide other information like your name, date of birth etc. They will ask you your postal address and email address. You have to post your hard paper travel voucher to the address they ask you to. In my case, it was to:[LCZACS}
American Airlines, Box - 109, 6570, caroline street, Suite-103, Milton, FL-32570-4778. On the top of the envelope, I am asked to write my address, followed by my last name, followed by the flight number for the forward journey, followed by the date of forward journey. Fun ha... Enjoy using the voucher!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Our Trip to Canada/Seattle/Detroit/Chicago - Part-1
We made a trip to Canada/Seattle/Detroit/Chicago starting september 17th september 2010 ending on 26th September 2010. It was great and memorable. While I can always do a pattern match with the cities of the developed countries, but there are very subtle differences among them. For example Vancouver adorned all Indian taxi drivers and as we hear, the taxis there could be extremely expansive (somewhere in the range of .4-.6 million USD), unbelievable, yes that is right!
City of Vancouver is not any different from any other American cities, just the same road, same mode of driving, same population thickness etc. We lived in a "days in" hotel in Kingsway street owned by an Indian. We were trying to exchange our currency to canadian dollars at the Seattle airport, but the last minute decision dissuaded us from doing so. Reason - the lady was offering 450 Canadian dollars in exchange of 500 USD. If anyone plans to make a trip to Canada just don't get into this, everywhere in canada they accept USD in lieu of Canadian dollars at the rate of 1:1. So, no problem. But if you are travelling in a bus always make sure you have changes. In some shops and some bus stop/Amtrak joints you can buy a days pass for 7 Canadian dollars, that will be good for travelling in any public transportation system, be it water taxi, buses, sky trains etc for the whole day. One good thing I have noticed in Canada was; at every public transportation system, walls, there are good sayings written. For example one of the writings said:
"Don't wash your hands in anti-bacterial soaps, instead use regular soap. Regular soap removes greases and bacteria; while anti-bacterial soap causes antibiotic resistance in bacteria and also kills the good bacteria in your hands". So true, I completely agree with this. In US, most of the hand dis-infect-ants are based on antibiotics, which could be harmful.
The next saying was on baby's crying. It said: "Crying is normal for babys, don't shake them when they cry". Wow, so much truth is there. Usually people shake the baby when they cry - the result, when the baby wants shaking - will start crying.
The third and most important saying was: "Handful of people can't change the world - But, in the history of mankind, only a few thinkers have brought about great changes". I can't agree more on this! It is especially true when we think what can I do alone? How can I change anything, but the truth of the matter is; you can indeed make a great difference if you really wanted to. Throughout human history, it is always has been that way!
City of Vancouver is not any different from any other American cities, just the same road, same mode of driving, same population thickness etc. We lived in a "days in" hotel in Kingsway street owned by an Indian. We were trying to exchange our currency to canadian dollars at the Seattle airport, but the last minute decision dissuaded us from doing so. Reason - the lady was offering 450 Canadian dollars in exchange of 500 USD. If anyone plans to make a trip to Canada just don't get into this, everywhere in canada they accept USD in lieu of Canadian dollars at the rate of 1:1. So, no problem. But if you are travelling in a bus always make sure you have changes. In some shops and some bus stop/Amtrak joints you can buy a days pass for 7 Canadian dollars, that will be good for travelling in any public transportation system, be it water taxi, buses, sky trains etc for the whole day. One good thing I have noticed in Canada was; at every public transportation system, walls, there are good sayings written. For example one of the writings said:
"Don't wash your hands in anti-bacterial soaps, instead use regular soap. Regular soap removes greases and bacteria; while anti-bacterial soap causes antibiotic resistance in bacteria and also kills the good bacteria in your hands". So true, I completely agree with this. In US, most of the hand dis-infect-ants are based on antibiotics, which could be harmful.
The next saying was on baby's crying. It said: "Crying is normal for babys, don't shake them when they cry". Wow, so much truth is there. Usually people shake the baby when they cry - the result, when the baby wants shaking - will start crying.
The third and most important saying was: "Handful of people can't change the world - But, in the history of mankind, only a few thinkers have brought about great changes". I can't agree more on this! It is especially true when we think what can I do alone? How can I change anything, but the truth of the matter is; you can indeed make a great difference if you really wanted to. Throughout human history, it is always has been that way!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Food that stays for ever!!
Recently, I had a Big Mac chicken sandwich in Chicago with Chitti! I think this is my first sandwich after 4-5 years- seriously. I have stopped taking all these after my stint with sickness, but that day there was no other choice, it was past lunch time, cold and besides we were very hungry. Only shop that was close by was McDonald. Now watch out this video that describes little bit about McDonald sandwiches. The moral is: If the food is indigestible by microbes, imagine how our system will deal with it. Same is true with all cokes(softdrinks), juices, can food, tin food and ready made packed food. So, be aware!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Making Jahni posto
"Jahni", "Turai", "Ridge gourd","Beera Kaya", "Pirkanga", "Dodaki", "Sin qua"(in Chinese) or Luffa acutangula is a very popular vegetable. It is also sold in chinese stores as Chinese Okra(??). Jahni belongs to Cucurbita family and profusely fruits during Late August/September, when the temperature cools down slightly. In India, it is a very popular vegetable sold during the summers like most other cucurbits.
Nutritional Facts:
Luffa acutangula is a high source of fat and nutritionally valuable minerals (P, K, Mg, Ca, Fe). Although the kernel had high proportion of essential amino acids (42.04%) but it was only in (Phe + Tyr) that a balanced content of essential amino acid was found with respect to the FAO/WHO provisional pattern45 while supplementation may be required in ILe, Leu, Lys, Met + Cys, Thr and Val.[ref]. The bitter versions of Luffa is used for curing jaundice. The old ripe fruits are used as scrubbers and is very rich in fibre.
In east Indian cuisine, this vegetable is added to almost every vegetarian dish. Many mixed vegetable dishes(sometimes we add shrimp to it), some leafy vegetable dishes are incomplete without Luffa. One particular dish that Oriyas and bengalis relish with Luffa is the "Posto". It is a very delicious dish and often prepared with great care during special occasions. Preparation of Posto is relatively easy if you have all the ingredients handy. In our language any dish prepared with poppy seeds are called as "posto". [IMP: Poppy seeds are NOT drugs and is a very common ingredient in Indian cooking. It is used as a thickener/spice].
Ingredients for Luffa Posto:
2 table spoons of dry poppy seeds
1 table spoon mustard seed
1 table spoon cumin seeds
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 of big onion
pinch of turmeric
2/3 green chillies
2 table spoon oil
2 table spoon oil
3 lbs of Luffa
Preparation:
First grind the poppy seeds into powder in a coffee grinder. Then wash the vegetable and peel the ridges and cut them into small pices(1 inch X 1/2 inch dimension). Cut the onion into small pieces, and crush the garlic into near paste. Heat oil in a pan, put the mustard seeds and cumin seeds into it, and allow them to burst. Then immediately add crushed garlic, and fry it in medium flame till it is golden in color. Then add onion, turmeric, chillis, salt and stir fry till it becomes golden brown. Then add the cut Luffa along with poppy powder to the pan. Add little bit of water and cover it. Allow it to cook in slow flame. Stir occasionally. The whole process takes around 20 mins. Serve with hot rice/roti.
Posto tastes very good if mushroom is added along with Luffa - this is my personal favorite. If you have pumpkin flowers, then add them to it, it gives a very exquisite taste to it.
Nutritional Facts:
Luffa acutangula is a high source of fat and nutritionally valuable minerals (P, K, Mg, Ca, Fe). Although the kernel had high proportion of essential amino acids (42.04%) but it was only in (Phe + Tyr) that a balanced content of essential amino acid was found with respect to the FAO/WHO provisional pattern45 while supplementation may be required in ILe, Leu, Lys, Met + Cys, Thr and Val.[ref]. The bitter versions of Luffa is used for curing jaundice. The old ripe fruits are used as scrubbers and is very rich in fibre.
In east Indian cuisine, this vegetable is added to almost every vegetarian dish. Many mixed vegetable dishes(sometimes we add shrimp to it), some leafy vegetable dishes are incomplete without Luffa. One particular dish that Oriyas and bengalis relish with Luffa is the "Posto". It is a very delicious dish and often prepared with great care during special occasions. Preparation of Posto is relatively easy if you have all the ingredients handy. In our language any dish prepared with poppy seeds are called as "posto". [IMP: Poppy seeds are NOT drugs and is a very common ingredient in Indian cooking. It is used as a thickener/spice].
Ingredients for Luffa Posto:
2 table spoons of dry poppy seeds
1 table spoon mustard seed
1 table spoon cumin seeds
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 of big onion
pinch of turmeric
2/3 green chillies
2 table spoon oil
2 table spoon oil
3 lbs of Luffa
Preparation:
First grind the poppy seeds into powder in a coffee grinder. Then wash the vegetable and peel the ridges and cut them into small pices(1 inch X 1/2 inch dimension). Cut the onion into small pieces, and crush the garlic into near paste. Heat oil in a pan, put the mustard seeds and cumin seeds into it, and allow them to burst. Then immediately add crushed garlic, and fry it in medium flame till it is golden in color. Then add onion, turmeric, chillis, salt and stir fry till it becomes golden brown. Then add the cut Luffa along with poppy powder to the pan. Add little bit of water and cover it. Allow it to cook in slow flame. Stir occasionally. The whole process takes around 20 mins. Serve with hot rice/roti.
Posto tastes very good if mushroom is added along with Luffa - this is my personal favorite. If you have pumpkin flowers, then add them to it, it gives a very exquisite taste to it.
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| Luffa growing in my garden |
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| Jahni posto after it is cooked yum yum! |
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
This is the stuff legends are made of..Worth a read..
[This is an inspiring article by a great person of our times and one of my role models. Stumbled upon this article today and thought shall post it here. Enjoy reading]
THE GIRL WRITING AS HERSELF....
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.' I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. 'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.
'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him. I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'
'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.
'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.
I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'
'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'
'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .
THE GIRL WRITING AS HERSELF....
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.' I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. 'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.
'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him. I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'
'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.
'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.
I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'
'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'
'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Macromanager and Micromanager
I have stolen this topic from my husband today. We were discussing the qualities of macromanagers and comparing that with the micromanagers.
We have few relatives(I think most of them), in most part of their adult lives are micromanagers. In other words, they pay attention to every small details of the life and styles of all the family members/guests. We know someone who has been living alone for a long time, can't have anyone in the house for more than a week. Not even her own parents, brothers, sisters etc. leave alone outsiders. The reason - micromanagement!
What she does is; simply dictates when each member should take bath, have lunch, what they should do post lunch etc. All these she plans for everyone because she thinks it is best for them. If they fail to follow her plan probably they will fall into trouble, but they(the enforce-es) don't realize that when they are enforced with all those rules. So, they just get upset for being dictated terms and leave her house as soon as they can. And there are people on the extreme other end too. They don't bother if someone is in their home, whether they took bath or not, whether they would like to go shopping or not whether they would like to lie down or not. They make their own plans without asking the guests and expect the guest to follow them. If not also, they are fine with it. I would label them as insensitive.
I think the best type of people to stay along will be the macromanagers. The macromanagers are the people who make the guest aware of the water, electricity situation and tell them the best timings for them to take a shower or have food or do other chores. They don't get upset or angry if these rules are not strictly followed. They will leave the consequences upto the people to realize the situation and act accordingly.
Well, as you may have guessed, it is the macromanager that is the most successful boss at work, most pleasant host and a pleasant guest.
We have few relatives(I think most of them), in most part of their adult lives are micromanagers. In other words, they pay attention to every small details of the life and styles of all the family members/guests. We know someone who has been living alone for a long time, can't have anyone in the house for more than a week. Not even her own parents, brothers, sisters etc. leave alone outsiders. The reason - micromanagement!
What she does is; simply dictates when each member should take bath, have lunch, what they should do post lunch etc. All these she plans for everyone because she thinks it is best for them. If they fail to follow her plan probably they will fall into trouble, but they(the enforce-es) don't realize that when they are enforced with all those rules. So, they just get upset for being dictated terms and leave her house as soon as they can. And there are people on the extreme other end too. They don't bother if someone is in their home, whether they took bath or not, whether they would like to go shopping or not whether they would like to lie down or not. They make their own plans without asking the guests and expect the guest to follow them. If not also, they are fine with it. I would label them as insensitive.
I think the best type of people to stay along will be the macromanagers. The macromanagers are the people who make the guest aware of the water, electricity situation and tell them the best timings for them to take a shower or have food or do other chores. They don't get upset or angry if these rules are not strictly followed. They will leave the consequences upto the people to realize the situation and act accordingly.
Well, as you may have guessed, it is the macromanager that is the most successful boss at work, most pleasant host and a pleasant guest.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Joke of the Day!!
Here is a joke which takes a potshot at pakistan's habit of accusing india for all their miseries.Here it goes.How will the people of different nationalities respond to a situation when a fly falls in their beer mug?The ENGLISH will throw away the beer as they find consuming contaminated beer against their TRADITION.FRENCH will get the mug with the fly in it photographed as they will find it quite FASHIONABLE to consume beer while the fly is in it.CHINESE will take the fly out and eat it in anger and throw away the beer.They can't stand anybody challenging their new found MIGHT.AMERICANS will take the fly out and continue sipping the bear.Not for nothing they are known for their ECONOMIC power.JAPANESE will squeeze the fly to take back the one drop of beer that it may have consumed and then continue drinking the beer.They are one step ahead of americans and are SUPER ECONOMIC power.INDIANS are the INTELLIGENT lot.They will ofcourse not consume a contaminated drink.Instead they will export the fly to the chinese as they ate the fly and will export the contaminated drink to the americans as they have no problem consuming it.Revenue generated by this export will be used in buying a fresh mug of beer.PAKISTANIS are the ultimate CRYBABIES of this world.Moment a fly falls in their beer mug they start shouting indian conspiracy.They even link it to the possible attacks india is planning against them and a bomb may be dropped by the indians in the way a fly dropped in the mug.They send the snap of the contaminated mug to both UNO and USA.They ask for grants to compensate for the loss incurred.They buy weapons with the grants while they keep the terrorists in good spirit with that contaminated spirit!!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Facebook trending..
I started using facebook seriously exactly a year back. Before that I had an account with them, but never felt the need to check it regularly and my friend list was sporadic. I had an orkut account as well, that I used most prolifically to post pictures and share opinions with friends.
Now after about a year, I am very comfortable with facebook, and my regular day begins with checking facebook pages along side checking emails, to know what is happening in my network. Well, it is good to be informed about happenings in your friends/acquaintances life , but the one thing that is a put off with facebook is lack of privacy. Suppose say you have 50 friends and you can easily classify them as family, school friends, work friends1, work friends2 ... local friends and others. Now, when you want to share something on facebook, at the first sight may be somebody is tempted to respond to your post who belongs to the first group. Now, it is very unlikely that a member from the second group is ever going to comment on that post unless it is something very universal. In other words, people generally feel very comfortable to comment when the earlier commentator is known to them or they all belong to the same group.
So, I think it will be way more useful, if facebook has options on grouping people and allowing users to post comments that will be only visible to a particular group. I guess in that case, all will be comfortable and there will be no breach of privacy issues. Just my 2 cents. Hope facebook developers are listening..
Now after about a year, I am very comfortable with facebook, and my regular day begins with checking facebook pages along side checking emails, to know what is happening in my network. Well, it is good to be informed about happenings in your friends/acquaintances life , but the one thing that is a put off with facebook is lack of privacy. Suppose say you have 50 friends and you can easily classify them as family, school friends, work friends1, work friends2 ... local friends and others. Now, when you want to share something on facebook, at the first sight may be somebody is tempted to respond to your post who belongs to the first group. Now, it is very unlikely that a member from the second group is ever going to comment on that post unless it is something very universal. In other words, people generally feel very comfortable to comment when the earlier commentator is known to them or they all belong to the same group.
So, I think it will be way more useful, if facebook has options on grouping people and allowing users to post comments that will be only visible to a particular group. I guess in that case, all will be comfortable and there will be no breach of privacy issues. Just my 2 cents. Hope facebook developers are listening..
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Book Review - Stranger to History by Ateesh Tasheer
Recently, I completed reading this best seller written by a young writer named Ateesh Taseer. He is the same person who was engaged to Lady Gabriella Windsor (She is currently 33rd in the line of succession to the British Throne). This news had hit the newspaper headlines a while ago and most importantly, Ateesh Taseer is the son of famous Indian Journalist Tavleen Singh. I have seen many news items prepared/presented by Tavleen Singh before. The most interesting fact about this young writer is his paternity. He is the love child of Tavleen Singh and one Salman Taseer ( from Pakistan). Although the Pakistani gentleman had no roles to play in his upbringing(good riddance!!), but it is heartening to see how Mr. Taseer repeatedly attempted to reconcile with his father. I was just curious what would be there in this book, especially since it is compiled on the real experience, that the author had; post 9/11 in these Islamic countries.
Being an Indian, we never see Pakistan in any good light. The reason could be the continuous terror attacks, the problem it creates in Kashmir and its invasion on India 4 times. At the same time, my resentment is not that strong that I am not curious to know what people of that country think about India!! So, that was also part of the reason why I purchased this book from Amazon and started reading it.
This book brings a lot about the social, cultural, political scenarios in the Islamic countries such as Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. In Syria, during his stay a violent streak broke out on the Danish cartoon fiasco. He saw a gradual Islamization in Turkey, that used to be a liberal, vibrant secular democracy. At the same time, he saw a reverse trend in countries like Iran, where there was this unexpressed suppressed anger against the government where the people have lost their freedom completely to the Islamic movement in 1979. In Iran large number of people are leaving Islam because they have realized what it is to loose freedom!! Every one is born free and would like to remain that way through out their life. But, the fanatics are trying to control lives of people. The scariest of all is everybody is under the antenna of the government. They know who is going where. If someone parties, if someone mingles with people and if someone has a pet. They even tap the conversations and calls made to people. This is a serious issue!!!
In Pakistan, the muslims those migrated to Pakistan post independence from India are called as "Mujaheddins". They have some kind of hidden tension with the aboriginal Sindhis. Situation is volatile all the time. In Sindh, most of the middle class community comprised of hindu business community commonly known as "sindhis" in India. These are the people that migrated to India post independence. So, there are no middle class population in Sindh. It is always "us" and "them" between the rich and the poor in that country. The major binding force he found among the muslims was the rejection of India. Whether, there was a real difference in climate, looks of the people or the life style, they were always in search of one. It appeared as though they are united in "looking for this difference" with India!!
Another very interesting feature he described among Pakistanis was about the "prayer mark". You would ask what it is. Typically muslims pray 5 times a day on a regular days and many more times during a spacial day. As a result of head banging, they have some sort of peculiar mark on their forehead called as the prayer mark!!
Another striking feature I would like to cite about Pakistan is total absence of women from the streets!! Having said that, Ateesh did not mean they are not there, but what he meant was unveiled single women were completely missing on the regular streets leave alone finding them going alone or eating alone or standing alone on a bus stop which is so very common in India. I found this quite amusing.
Another thing he described about attending a wedding ceremony. The government has ruled that weddings to be kept as unceremonious as possible. There should be no extra spendings and only one dish need to be served. This is particularly interesting when you think about one dish. Why on a lawless land do they bother about this rule? Ateesh looked closely and found that this has got something to do with Islamization of wedding. Wedding ceremonies and the festivities are borrowed from hindu culture and the government want people to shed that sooner...
Another interesting feature Ateesh noted in his book about the mention of caste in pakistan!! Although Islam is suppose to be caste less, most of the people call the other person as a "chooda"(low caste), "Rajput" etc. The Rajput muslims don't like to get married with Chooda caste and so on.
On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend the book as a nice entertainer. It is certainly a very good engaging book.
-------------My ramblings-------------------
In the end, I don't understand why a journalist of the stature of Tavleen Singh ever got involved with a Pakistani married man in the first place? Although her decision to keep the baby was certainly a good one because Ateesh Taseer turned out to be a nice gentleman and a good writer. But I wonder why she kept the baby's last name as per the man who hurt her so much? Why did she circumcise her son even though the father had no role whatsoever to play in his upbringing? Why did she ever keep the photograph of that man besides the young boy? And most importantly why the boy while growing up, despite being subjected to his fathers extreme cold behavior, still continued his efforts on reconciling with him? I see people here in USA are least bothered about their paternity, I wish to see people grow in the same lines in India as well..
In the end I would like to quote Tom Robbins in Skinny legs and All
'Religion is nothing but institutionalised mysticism. The catch is, mysticism does not lend itself to institutionalisation. The moment we attempt to organise mysticism, we destroy its essence. Religion, then, is mysticism in which the mystical has been killed. Or, at least diminished... not only is religion divisive and oppressive, it is also a denial of all that is divine in people; it is a suffocation of the soul.'
Being an Indian, we never see Pakistan in any good light. The reason could be the continuous terror attacks, the problem it creates in Kashmir and its invasion on India 4 times. At the same time, my resentment is not that strong that I am not curious to know what people of that country think about India!! So, that was also part of the reason why I purchased this book from Amazon and started reading it.
This book brings a lot about the social, cultural, political scenarios in the Islamic countries such as Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. In Syria, during his stay a violent streak broke out on the Danish cartoon fiasco. He saw a gradual Islamization in Turkey, that used to be a liberal, vibrant secular democracy. At the same time, he saw a reverse trend in countries like Iran, where there was this unexpressed suppressed anger against the government where the people have lost their freedom completely to the Islamic movement in 1979. In Iran large number of people are leaving Islam because they have realized what it is to loose freedom!! Every one is born free and would like to remain that way through out their life. But, the fanatics are trying to control lives of people. The scariest of all is everybody is under the antenna of the government. They know who is going where. If someone parties, if someone mingles with people and if someone has a pet. They even tap the conversations and calls made to people. This is a serious issue!!!
In Pakistan, the muslims those migrated to Pakistan post independence from India are called as "Mujaheddins". They have some kind of hidden tension with the aboriginal Sindhis. Situation is volatile all the time. In Sindh, most of the middle class community comprised of hindu business community commonly known as "sindhis" in India. These are the people that migrated to India post independence. So, there are no middle class population in Sindh. It is always "us" and "them" between the rich and the poor in that country. The major binding force he found among the muslims was the rejection of India. Whether, there was a real difference in climate, looks of the people or the life style, they were always in search of one. It appeared as though they are united in "looking for this difference" with India!!
Another very interesting feature he described among Pakistanis was about the "prayer mark". You would ask what it is. Typically muslims pray 5 times a day on a regular days and many more times during a spacial day. As a result of head banging, they have some sort of peculiar mark on their forehead called as the prayer mark!!
Another striking feature I would like to cite about Pakistan is total absence of women from the streets!! Having said that, Ateesh did not mean they are not there, but what he meant was unveiled single women were completely missing on the regular streets leave alone finding them going alone or eating alone or standing alone on a bus stop which is so very common in India. I found this quite amusing.
Another thing he described about attending a wedding ceremony. The government has ruled that weddings to be kept as unceremonious as possible. There should be no extra spendings and only one dish need to be served. This is particularly interesting when you think about one dish. Why on a lawless land do they bother about this rule? Ateesh looked closely and found that this has got something to do with Islamization of wedding. Wedding ceremonies and the festivities are borrowed from hindu culture and the government want people to shed that sooner...
Another interesting feature Ateesh noted in his book about the mention of caste in pakistan!! Although Islam is suppose to be caste less, most of the people call the other person as a "chooda"(low caste), "Rajput" etc. The Rajput muslims don't like to get married with Chooda caste and so on.
On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend the book as a nice entertainer. It is certainly a very good engaging book.
-------------My ramblings-------------------
In the end, I don't understand why a journalist of the stature of Tavleen Singh ever got involved with a Pakistani married man in the first place? Although her decision to keep the baby was certainly a good one because Ateesh Taseer turned out to be a nice gentleman and a good writer. But I wonder why she kept the baby's last name as per the man who hurt her so much? Why did she circumcise her son even though the father had no role whatsoever to play in his upbringing? Why did she ever keep the photograph of that man besides the young boy? And most importantly why the boy while growing up, despite being subjected to his fathers extreme cold behavior, still continued his efforts on reconciling with him? I see people here in USA are least bothered about their paternity, I wish to see people grow in the same lines in India as well..
In the end I would like to quote Tom Robbins in Skinny legs and All
'Religion is nothing but institutionalised mysticism. The catch is, mysticism does not lend itself to institutionalisation. The moment we attempt to organise mysticism, we destroy its essence. Religion, then, is mysticism in which the mystical has been killed. Or, at least diminished... not only is religion divisive and oppressive, it is also a denial of all that is divine in people; it is a suffocation of the soul.'
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Good thoughts!!
were collected by Bob Hansen, formerly executive director of the Korean War Veterans Advisory Board and now executive director of the U.S. Botanical Garden National Fund. This previously appeared in Airborne Quarterly. There is something here for every one of us.
To the world, you may be just one person;
but to one person, you may be the world!
Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the
things you have for which you would not take money.
If you bring macaroni and cheese to a covered dish supper,
don't expect to dine on lobster and filet mignon.
A coffee grinder on sale at a 90% discount is
not a great buy if you don't drink coffee.
The most destructive habit | Worry |
| The greatest joy | Giving |
| The most endangered species | Dedicated leaders |
| Our greatest natural resource | Our youth |
| The greatest “shot in the arm” | Encouragement |
| The greatest problem to overcome | Fear |
| The most effective sleeping pill | Peace of mind |
| The most crippling disease | Excuses |
| The most powerful force in life | Love |
| The most destructive pariah | Gossip |
| The most incredible computer | The human brain |
| The worst thing to be without | Hope |
| The deadliest weapon | The tongue |
| The two most powerful words | Can do |
| The greatest asset | Faith |
| The most worthless emotion | Self-pity |
| The worst thing you can lose | Self-respect |
| The most satisfying work | Helping others |
| The ugliest personality trait | Selfishness |
| The most beautiful attire | A smile! |
| The most prized possession | Integrity |
| The most contageous spirit | Enthusiasm |
| The most powerful communication | Prayer |
but to one person, you may be the world!
Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the
things you have for which you would not take money.
If you bring macaroni and cheese to a covered dish supper,
don't expect to dine on lobster and filet mignon.
A coffee grinder on sale at a 90% discount is
not a great buy if you don't drink coffee.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Story of snow white and my laptop
Most of us grew up with stories such as snow white. This particular story strikes me most: since the laptops are getting sleeker and planner and resembles to that of a mirror - not literally but at least in dimension. So you ask why should I compare my mighty laptop to a mirror? Well, the mirror in snow white's story was a visionary one; it used to tell who was the most fairest of all, and probably had some global sensing schemes in it. Where as my laptop is something that tells me what is happening in everyone's life I knew or I did not know, what is happening in science, what is happening in conferences, what jobs are available just to tell a few. On the top of it, it has a camera, that I can not only see myself on the computer screen but also take pictures or record videos. So, it has the mirror like property with a zillions of enhancement!!
While growing up in the 80's and early 90's, I used to see the anxiety of my parents when the post man came at a particular time of the day. Even my father could not hold his anxiety any longer and he used to visit the post office daily. What if the post man misses a important letter was his argument. If a letter comes, then it will be read aloud to tell us what is going on with our relatives. That was the only way we stayed connected. And the letters used to get stored in a box. On an average a letter from each of the family members will arrive in a month or so time and that to if we send a reply. Otherwise it may take longer. Letter used to just highlight on important updates - not daily livings. Sometimes telegrams were sent/received to convey message that somebody died or there was a new born in the family. Things changed gradually by mid nineties where we had phones, but they did cost a lot to make an STD call. But post millennium, there is a sudden surge in communication mediums available. We have phones that are free to many International destinations. Then we have this high speed internet, that has completely revolutionized our lives. I consider google and internet as the biggest discoveries of the century. Ask why. Anyone having internet and basic computer operating knowledge knows how convenient life has become with these tools. We have social, professional networking, blogging, microblogging sites where we get updates on lots of aspects of ones life. Then we have this free online newspapers, we have pod casts, web conferences training programs, free online books, open access journals, online dictionaries so on and so forth. We have this friendly search engine google that helps us find the web page, that we may not otherwise find. Similarly, we don't need to remember the direction to a place, we don't need to buy card(there is always this e-card, print it out). Believe it or not, I don't even remember the url of my blog site, google tells me where it is located. Similarly, you can store your favorite books, links, research papers using large number of free tools that is mind boggling and empowering...
Another property of e-communication is: we communicate much better this way than we ever do on face! I am sure some of you will not agree with me on this, but I will give you an example here that may sound convincing. Dr. X is a great person and a greater scientist. But when you go to his office, he looks at you puzzled with a look that tells "Why are you here"? Initially everyone just get surprised with the look, but now I think I would rather like to behave like Dr.X than any different. The reason is, if I have a question in mind, and I just barge into Dr. X's office, who obviously being busier may be thinking about something more important. How good is it for me to just barge in and forcibly interrupt it? I should rather send an email asking what questions I have. So, depending upon the set up he may hear a bell ding on arrival of this new email and choose to open it or not. Sometimes, he may see the subject line and decide to do it the next day when his mind is relatively free. That way he does not have to get interrupted when there is a better option - on the hind sight, if your requirement is most urgent, then you may leave an urgent tag to your email. I think that should work most of the time. In my day to day interactions with people, I find people communicate best through e medium. They remember that you are out of town when they see the message on your facebook or elsewhere, where as if you had personally told them so, they have forgotten it!! Most of the people these days have a very short attention span and they generally don't tend to listen to the person talking to them. Similarly, if you want to argue with someone, or prove a point, it is better to send it through email. You not only have enough time to think and put the right words into it, you also have the privilege to hide your tone, which may reveal your true feelings. This is just my 2 cents and it has worked for me in the past.
So, well, then it all comes back to laptop and e communication and that is why I call my laptop as the mirror that tells me all!! For me information is knowledge and knowledge is power! I am glad that I am a tiny entity on this information superhighway. So I would say go people go just take advantage of this information explosion.
While growing up in the 80's and early 90's, I used to see the anxiety of my parents when the post man came at a particular time of the day. Even my father could not hold his anxiety any longer and he used to visit the post office daily. What if the post man misses a important letter was his argument. If a letter comes, then it will be read aloud to tell us what is going on with our relatives. That was the only way we stayed connected. And the letters used to get stored in a box. On an average a letter from each of the family members will arrive in a month or so time and that to if we send a reply. Otherwise it may take longer. Letter used to just highlight on important updates - not daily livings. Sometimes telegrams were sent/received to convey message that somebody died or there was a new born in the family. Things changed gradually by mid nineties where we had phones, but they did cost a lot to make an STD call. But post millennium, there is a sudden surge in communication mediums available. We have phones that are free to many International destinations. Then we have this high speed internet, that has completely revolutionized our lives. I consider google and internet as the biggest discoveries of the century. Ask why. Anyone having internet and basic computer operating knowledge knows how convenient life has become with these tools. We have social, professional networking, blogging, microblogging sites where we get updates on lots of aspects of ones life. Then we have this free online newspapers, we have pod casts, web conferences training programs, free online books, open access journals, online dictionaries so on and so forth. We have this friendly search engine google that helps us find the web page, that we may not otherwise find. Similarly, we don't need to remember the direction to a place, we don't need to buy card(there is always this e-card, print it out). Believe it or not, I don't even remember the url of my blog site, google tells me where it is located. Similarly, you can store your favorite books, links, research papers using large number of free tools that is mind boggling and empowering...
Another property of e-communication is: we communicate much better this way than we ever do on face! I am sure some of you will not agree with me on this, but I will give you an example here that may sound convincing. Dr. X is a great person and a greater scientist. But when you go to his office, he looks at you puzzled with a look that tells "Why are you here"? Initially everyone just get surprised with the look, but now I think I would rather like to behave like Dr.X than any different. The reason is, if I have a question in mind, and I just barge into Dr. X's office, who obviously being busier may be thinking about something more important. How good is it for me to just barge in and forcibly interrupt it? I should rather send an email asking what questions I have. So, depending upon the set up he may hear a bell ding on arrival of this new email and choose to open it or not. Sometimes, he may see the subject line and decide to do it the next day when his mind is relatively free. That way he does not have to get interrupted when there is a better option - on the hind sight, if your requirement is most urgent, then you may leave an urgent tag to your email. I think that should work most of the time. In my day to day interactions with people, I find people communicate best through e medium. They remember that you are out of town when they see the message on your facebook or elsewhere, where as if you had personally told them so, they have forgotten it!! Most of the people these days have a very short attention span and they generally don't tend to listen to the person talking to them. Similarly, if you want to argue with someone, or prove a point, it is better to send it through email. You not only have enough time to think and put the right words into it, you also have the privilege to hide your tone, which may reveal your true feelings. This is just my 2 cents and it has worked for me in the past.
So, well, then it all comes back to laptop and e communication and that is why I call my laptop as the mirror that tells me all!! For me information is knowledge and knowledge is power! I am glad that I am a tiny entity on this information superhighway. So I would say go people go just take advantage of this information explosion.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Calorie Burn in a Yoga/ Pranayama Session
Out of curiosity, I bought a heart rate/calorie burn monitor for my daily exercise routine. I have this fancy T3 Sunoto monitor that has way more features than I would ever need. Nevertheless, it also has the basic heart rate/calorie burn monitor as well. Today while doing Yoga, I decided to use it to monitor how much of energy is burnt in each yoga pose. Here is it:
Total 174 KCal/66 minutes
Now I have to deal with this instrument!!
A zumba session for one hour burns about 410 kcals for me at best. Zumba not only feels good, but helps sweat/detox a lot. I am all for thrice weekly zumba!
| Pose | Calorie Burn | Heart Beat | Time |
| Warming up | 19 kCal | 95 | 6 minutes |
| Kapotanasana | 4 kCal | 97 | 2 minutes |
| Surya namaskara | 40 kCal | 136 | 9 minutes(approx. 6) |
| VeerBhadrasana+Ardhachandrasana | 38 kCal | 132 | 9 minutes |
| Trikonasana | 10 kCal | 125 | 3 minutes |
| Prasarita Padottanasana | 17 kCal | 108 | 4 minutes |
| Janu Sirshasana | 18 kCal | 91 | 4 minutes |
| Baddhakonasana | 2 kCal | 85 | 1 minutes |
| Sleeping pose 1 | 3 kCal | 71 | 2 minutes |
| Bridge Pose | 2 kCal | 77 | 1 and half minutes |
| Sarvangasana+Halasana | 2 kCal | 88 | 2 minutes |
| Chakrasana | 1 kCal | 89 | 1 minutes |
| Supta Matsyendrasana | 5 kCal | 90 | 2 minutes |
| Savasana | 5 kCal | 75 | 6 minutes |
| Pranayama | |||
| Bhastrika | 1 kCal | 75 | 2 minutes |
| Kapalbhati | 4 kCal | 75 | 7 minutes |
| Anuloma-Viloma | 3 kCal | 75 | 6 minutes |
Now I have to deal with this instrument!!
A zumba session for one hour burns about 410 kcals for me at best. Zumba not only feels good, but helps sweat/detox a lot. I am all for thrice weekly zumba!
Friday, July 30, 2010
A busy friday
I have always wanted to be busy - but lately I am "unproductively busy"! This is a term I associate with "busy for no reason" or your time does not count for your own growth and benefit. But at least it is good that someone else gets benefited.
Day started at 7.30 AM, had 2 cups of tea followed by toilet trips. At 8.30, took the weed remover and deweeded a sizable part of the vegetable bed that needed some work for a long time. I have been asking Pramod to do that for a long time, but it falls in deaf ears. At 9.00 AM got a call from my excolleagues from Canada, who wants help with TST FDR code written in R. She sends me 2 papers to read on. I thought what the heck, let me play one chess match with the computer. At about 10.30 AM I am done with my share of chess for the day. While reading on the 2 papers on FDR analysis and intermittently checking errors with the naming of the genes of a newly sequenced genome(the paper has been submitted to science with me as a lead author - needs to be corrected before the review process begins!). Then Another call at 1 PM. This person is my former Post Doc. (lately we are in touch. This person suddenly disappeared in 2004 because she could not handle work given by me!). She is setting up a company; needs help with the free content management software for the web page! I have set up a company a year ago, but due to my unproductiveness I could not even set up my web page yet! Irony, I will set up her web page instead of working on my own..
At 1.35 PM I have realized that there is a guest invited to our house at 8 PM, so got to cook, so I started cooking till 3.30 PM. Zumba class at 5.00 PM. Then I got to go to 2 houses to deliver the stuff I have cooked today(One supplied me with Indian spinach which I used for cooking today and the other needs help because she delivered a baby not so long ago.). May be yoga at 7.00 PM followed by working on deweeding that I had initiated. Then watering the plants. At 10 PM probably I will sit with the gene nomenclature that I had started. Sigh, another friday gone without doing much of my own work...Probably, I will have to stress on FDR/content management software tomorrow. Another weekend gone without me doing my company work!!
This is what I cooked today.
Day started at 7.30 AM, had 2 cups of tea followed by toilet trips. At 8.30, took the weed remover and deweeded a sizable part of the vegetable bed that needed some work for a long time. I have been asking Pramod to do that for a long time, but it falls in deaf ears. At 9.00 AM got a call from my excolleagues from Canada, who wants help with TST FDR code written in R. She sends me 2 papers to read on. I thought what the heck, let me play one chess match with the computer. At about 10.30 AM I am done with my share of chess for the day. While reading on the 2 papers on FDR analysis and intermittently checking errors with the naming of the genes of a newly sequenced genome(the paper has been submitted to science with me as a lead author - needs to be corrected before the review process begins!). Then Another call at 1 PM. This person is my former Post Doc. (lately we are in touch. This person suddenly disappeared in 2004 because she could not handle work given by me!). She is setting up a company; needs help with the free content management software for the web page! I have set up a company a year ago, but due to my unproductiveness I could not even set up my web page yet! Irony, I will set up her web page instead of working on my own..
At 1.35 PM I have realized that there is a guest invited to our house at 8 PM, so got to cook, so I started cooking till 3.30 PM. Zumba class at 5.00 PM. Then I got to go to 2 houses to deliver the stuff I have cooked today(One supplied me with Indian spinach which I used for cooking today and the other needs help because she delivered a baby not so long ago.). May be yoga at 7.00 PM followed by working on deweeding that I had initiated. Then watering the plants. At 10 PM probably I will sit with the gene nomenclature that I had started. Sigh, another friday gone without doing much of my own work...Probably, I will have to stress on FDR/content management software tomorrow. Another weekend gone without me doing my company work!!
This is what I cooked today.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
All about Rekha nanis and Vidya Dharas
In our part of the world, we call older sister as "nani". In my community , we also call our "bua"(Father's sister), "Mausi"(mothers sister) as nani as well. Today, I remember our childhood neighbor Rakha nani(rather Rekha Bua) and Vidya Dhara(He is just called as Vidya Dhara - I don't know why) very fondly.
The story with Rekha nani goes like this.. She was known to our family long long ago. May be she is from my father's village. While I was still a little girl, I just have very prosaic memory of hers - coming to our house, helping my mum with lots of chores and sometimes having lunch/dinner/chai at our place. She occasionally brought some of her kids( All her kids were way older than us, so I don't remember having any interaction with them) to our house. Rekha nani was from a well to do family, but they had failed businesses and were really hard on money at that time. My mother always used to look forward to her coming to our house and helping us. The way it was presented to me; I kind of believed that she enjoyed working for us... Now after growing up, I can't even think somebody doing some manual work for us just because she finds pleasure in it!! Probably, that is the way my mother wanted to present it, so that she did not feel guilty about making Rekha Nani work in our house. As such my mother was very hard working and she ended up doing a lot of work by herself, but she always needed help - that was not available from any other sources, and Rekha Nani being soft, was the right choice for her to lean on. Slowly time changed, we moved to another town, but my family still stayed in touch with Rekha nani. Rekha nani's children grew up, started having good jobs. But my mother always used to remember her whenever there was a celebration at our house. It was not that my mother was soliciting her presence, but she wanted extra hands to help her. Rekha Nani would still turn up and do lots of work in our house, stay for few days and leave. In my grown up days, now I suddenly discovered that there are always some relationships where people want a Rekha nani handy. The easiest targets are the needy gullibles or may be imaginary gullibles. This is the person they imagine gets pleasure working for them without complaining - to get over their own guilty consciousness. I can't imagine treating some one as a Rekha nani in my life!! I am sitting and wondering what Rekha nani would have thought about us all then. We the people, are so insensitive that, we don't even know where she is now, whether alive or dead. Where ever you are Rekha Nani, my sincere apologies to you on behalf of my family.
Another person I remember fondly is Vidya Dhara - yes, we used to call him so, although I wonder why we never called him uncle. Vidya Dhar used to come to our house and work in our garden. No - he was not our gardener, he was just another employee in the same company my father worked, but he liked working in our garden. He will keep it weed free, make water canals for the plants, plant new tress, make it beautiful in 1-2 days work on it and leave. Nobody ever asked him to come and work in our garden. He just used to come and my parents paid him just the bus fare. We used to take care of his food and chai needs though.. May be his love for plants/gardens brought him to our place even though we moved far away. Now, I have a garden, and it is hell of a job to keep it clean! Every time, I attempt to remove weeds, I remember how efficiently Vidya Dhar used to work. Usually after he does the garden job, for 6 months, there were no weeds. Such was the quality of his work. Vidya Dhara is no more now, but his work and memories live on.
The story with Rekha nani goes like this.. She was known to our family long long ago. May be she is from my father's village. While I was still a little girl, I just have very prosaic memory of hers - coming to our house, helping my mum with lots of chores and sometimes having lunch/dinner/chai at our place. She occasionally brought some of her kids( All her kids were way older than us, so I don't remember having any interaction with them) to our house. Rekha nani was from a well to do family, but they had failed businesses and were really hard on money at that time. My mother always used to look forward to her coming to our house and helping us. The way it was presented to me; I kind of believed that she enjoyed working for us... Now after growing up, I can't even think somebody doing some manual work for us just because she finds pleasure in it!! Probably, that is the way my mother wanted to present it, so that she did not feel guilty about making Rekha Nani work in our house. As such my mother was very hard working and she ended up doing a lot of work by herself, but she always needed help - that was not available from any other sources, and Rekha Nani being soft, was the right choice for her to lean on. Slowly time changed, we moved to another town, but my family still stayed in touch with Rekha nani. Rekha nani's children grew up, started having good jobs. But my mother always used to remember her whenever there was a celebration at our house. It was not that my mother was soliciting her presence, but she wanted extra hands to help her. Rekha Nani would still turn up and do lots of work in our house, stay for few days and leave. In my grown up days, now I suddenly discovered that there are always some relationships where people want a Rekha nani handy. The easiest targets are the needy gullibles or may be imaginary gullibles. This is the person they imagine gets pleasure working for them without complaining - to get over their own guilty consciousness. I can't imagine treating some one as a Rekha nani in my life!! I am sitting and wondering what Rekha nani would have thought about us all then. We the people, are so insensitive that, we don't even know where she is now, whether alive or dead. Where ever you are Rekha Nani, my sincere apologies to you on behalf of my family.
Another person I remember fondly is Vidya Dhara - yes, we used to call him so, although I wonder why we never called him uncle. Vidya Dhar used to come to our house and work in our garden. No - he was not our gardener, he was just another employee in the same company my father worked, but he liked working in our garden. He will keep it weed free, make water canals for the plants, plant new tress, make it beautiful in 1-2 days work on it and leave. Nobody ever asked him to come and work in our garden. He just used to come and my parents paid him just the bus fare. We used to take care of his food and chai needs though.. May be his love for plants/gardens brought him to our place even though we moved far away. Now, I have a garden, and it is hell of a job to keep it clean! Every time, I attempt to remove weeds, I remember how efficiently Vidya Dhar used to work. Usually after he does the garden job, for 6 months, there were no weeds. Such was the quality of his work. Vidya Dhara is no more now, but his work and memories live on.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The qualities I have learned from Pramod
Today, I thought I will document the good thoughts I got about Pramod instead of telling him...
Back in 1997, when Pramod came to see me in Hyderabad, I was a young Ph.D student. All that I had was a CSIR(NET) fellowship as my achievement. Although, I was in a "good" lab, but my mentors were not good. On the contrary, Pramod(just 3 and half years older to me), had achieved quite a lot for his age then. He had qualified a all India competition to get into Banking jobs and after working there for 4 years, he joined a foreign bank, when we met. He was almost self made, financed his studies by himself from 7th standard(when he was merely 11 years old). He comes from a remote village from Orissa where he had seen struggle for survival. His grand father who adopted him went throrgh tough financial hardship, so he had to start financing his own studies at the tender age of 11.
Then, while talking to him, I was feeling that he has done quite a lot and I am not sure where I will be in 4 years time!! Then during our conversation he suddenly said, I appeared for CSIR/UGC(NET) and did not qualify it. After hearing that, I felt great and much more comfortable - not to mention, I felt like an achiever. Then he also appreciated about my younger brother qualifying for officers exams in Indian air force which he himself could not. That made me still happier and a slight feeling of superiority passed through me!! I thought to myslef; well we are too good for you. He also said qualifying bank PO is not a big deal, anyone can do it.It is just like game of tic tac toe. Put the circles at the right place and there you go. At that moment I also thought that wow, I can do what you have done, but you could not do what we did!!
Then after few months we got married, and I eventually completed my Ph.D. In Mumbai, I did not find a suitable job immediately, so I thought what the heck let me go for bank PO exams. After all it is like a game. But I never qualified it! Well, then I realized, how humble he was when he said that anyone can qualify bank PO exams.
The other things I have learnt from him is; he is a thorough professional. He never neglects his office work at any cost, very hard working. So, this is my lesson number 2 in life.Lesson 3 that surpasses all others is; when he was working for Infosys, and posted in US; there used to a be a technical project manager Mr. X. Mr. X did not want Pramod onsite, and was always recommending clients to terminate his contract. But somehow, the clients allowed him to stay albeit the contract used to get renewed every week. That was extremely stressful to both of us. Now, normally a person in Pramod's situation would really get angry and bad mouth Mr.X. But, I am surprised, when he showers his praise for X. He says X is a thorough and professional manager, very good at his job. Whatever he was doing was part of his job to get maximum productivity in the team. I am just speechless, I can't sit but appreciate this person from a small village having so much wisdom. I am just trying to learn and learning slowly..
May be you would have guessed by now - who Pramod is? Yes, he is my husband!!
Back in 1997, when Pramod came to see me in Hyderabad, I was a young Ph.D student. All that I had was a CSIR(NET) fellowship as my achievement. Although, I was in a "good" lab, but my mentors were not good. On the contrary, Pramod(just 3 and half years older to me), had achieved quite a lot for his age then. He had qualified a all India competition to get into Banking jobs and after working there for 4 years, he joined a foreign bank, when we met. He was almost self made, financed his studies by himself from 7th standard(when he was merely 11 years old). He comes from a remote village from Orissa where he had seen struggle for survival. His grand father who adopted him went throrgh tough financial hardship, so he had to start financing his own studies at the tender age of 11.
Then, while talking to him, I was feeling that he has done quite a lot and I am not sure where I will be in 4 years time!! Then during our conversation he suddenly said, I appeared for CSIR/UGC(NET) and did not qualify it. After hearing that, I felt great and much more comfortable - not to mention, I felt like an achiever. Then he also appreciated about my younger brother qualifying for officers exams in Indian air force which he himself could not. That made me still happier and a slight feeling of superiority passed through me!! I thought to myslef; well we are too good for you. He also said qualifying bank PO is not a big deal, anyone can do it.It is just like game of tic tac toe. Put the circles at the right place and there you go. At that moment I also thought that wow, I can do what you have done, but you could not do what we did!!
Then after few months we got married, and I eventually completed my Ph.D. In Mumbai, I did not find a suitable job immediately, so I thought what the heck let me go for bank PO exams. After all it is like a game. But I never qualified it! Well, then I realized, how humble he was when he said that anyone can qualify bank PO exams.
The other things I have learnt from him is; he is a thorough professional. He never neglects his office work at any cost, very hard working. So, this is my lesson number 2 in life.Lesson 3 that surpasses all others is; when he was working for Infosys, and posted in US; there used to a be a technical project manager Mr. X. Mr. X did not want Pramod onsite, and was always recommending clients to terminate his contract. But somehow, the clients allowed him to stay albeit the contract used to get renewed every week. That was extremely stressful to both of us. Now, normally a person in Pramod's situation would really get angry and bad mouth Mr.X. But, I am surprised, when he showers his praise for X. He says X is a thorough and professional manager, very good at his job. Whatever he was doing was part of his job to get maximum productivity in the team. I am just speechless, I can't sit but appreciate this person from a small village having so much wisdom. I am just trying to learn and learning slowly..
May be you would have guessed by now - who Pramod is? Yes, he is my husband!!
My religious belief
I always considered myself a hindu - since I was born in a hindu family; observed all hindu festivals, believed in god etc.. Suddenly, I found a sudden urge within myself to turn my status into "hindu atheism". To most, atheism means lack of belief in deities or lack of belief in god. Atheism according to wikipedia means; "followers of philosophies such as humanism, rationalism, and naturalism, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere". I relate myself mostly to naturalism, since I believe nature to be the most powerful force in determining many aspects of our life. In other words, I can say nature is god to me..
Large part of our society is god believer and some fear god none the less. God for us is the supreme power who comes to rescue us when we are in trouble. Having declared myself an atheist, I would miss god the most when I am in trouble, not the other way round... Well, this sounds little bit crude, but how many of us really sit and thank god for everything we have or have not?? That number can be counted in fingers. We always have certain type of expectations from life/circumstances/universe. To achieve it, we pray to god, and if does not happen then we get mad. In one of the management training seminars I attended, the best thing I captured was "Everything that happens to us is an event - there is nothing good or bad about it. It is upto you how you take it". At the very outset, I did not appreciate it. Thought how can everything be just an event? We always associate everything with good or bad, it is almost impossible to take things as events. But, now slowly, I am realizing that yes, everything is indeed an event and it is upto us how we take it. Now, if you know everything is just an event, and it is upto you to take it the way you like, so it is most certainly in our hand to take it positively rather than negatively. We get confused, when things don't happen as per our expectations then we call it as a bad thing. Now when, we are ready to accept everything as a good thing, why do we need a god? Because in any case, we remember god when we need something or expect something to happen in a certain way. Now when that inhibition is not there and you are ready accept every event as a positive event, is there a need for god? That is exactly a transition I am going through. As it is written in our vedic scriptures, "everything happens for a reason and for your own good". Once we accept it whole heartedly, we don't need to take shelter in god, we become fearless. So, in other words atheism is deeply embedded in hinduism than the other way round..
According to wikipedia, " Hinduism holds atheism to be valid but difficult to follow spiritually". So, for me the difficult part would be to accept things as they come. Once you overcome it, you are a proud hindu atheist. I have not reached that higher consciousness on rejecting god completely, but with acceptance to things the way they come will eventually lead to that path. I am a big believer of "Karma" theory. Somebody has to prove it, but in my own experience, I have seen "whatever you sow, so you reap". I will give here an eye witnesses example; There used to be a person X, married to person Y. Person Y has 2 sisters A and B. A , the elder one is not nice towards X or X's family(does not do so publicly, but shows body language evident enough to show repugnance). Y's other sister B marries. B's husband's sister behaves much more aggressively towards A than A was doing to X's family. Now at the outset, it looks unfair that why X is being treated like that - for no fault of hers. But looking closely, I found X is not nice towards her own brother's wife(Not at the face value, but holds lot of grudges). Now viola! everything came a full circle. This only strengthens my Karma theory.
For me, everything does not run probabilistically, things do happen for a reason and who controls it - is beyond our comprehension. We all as physical entities do impart positive, negative forces on each other. The good Karma or positive energy does come back to us in a good/positive way!!
Large part of our society is god believer and some fear god none the less. God for us is the supreme power who comes to rescue us when we are in trouble. Having declared myself an atheist, I would miss god the most when I am in trouble, not the other way round... Well, this sounds little bit crude, but how many of us really sit and thank god for everything we have or have not?? That number can be counted in fingers. We always have certain type of expectations from life/circumstances/universe. To achieve it, we pray to god, and if does not happen then we get mad. In one of the management training seminars I attended, the best thing I captured was "Everything that happens to us is an event - there is nothing good or bad about it. It is upto you how you take it". At the very outset, I did not appreciate it. Thought how can everything be just an event? We always associate everything with good or bad, it is almost impossible to take things as events. But, now slowly, I am realizing that yes, everything is indeed an event and it is upto us how we take it. Now, if you know everything is just an event, and it is upto you to take it the way you like, so it is most certainly in our hand to take it positively rather than negatively. We get confused, when things don't happen as per our expectations then we call it as a bad thing. Now when, we are ready to accept everything as a good thing, why do we need a god? Because in any case, we remember god when we need something or expect something to happen in a certain way. Now when that inhibition is not there and you are ready accept every event as a positive event, is there a need for god? That is exactly a transition I am going through. As it is written in our vedic scriptures, "everything happens for a reason and for your own good". Once we accept it whole heartedly, we don't need to take shelter in god, we become fearless. So, in other words atheism is deeply embedded in hinduism than the other way round..
According to wikipedia, " Hinduism holds atheism to be valid but difficult to follow spiritually". So, for me the difficult part would be to accept things as they come. Once you overcome it, you are a proud hindu atheist. I have not reached that higher consciousness on rejecting god completely, but with acceptance to things the way they come will eventually lead to that path. I am a big believer of "Karma" theory. Somebody has to prove it, but in my own experience, I have seen "whatever you sow, so you reap". I will give here an eye witnesses example; There used to be a person X, married to person Y. Person Y has 2 sisters A and B. A , the elder one is not nice towards X or X's family(does not do so publicly, but shows body language evident enough to show repugnance). Y's other sister B marries. B's husband's sister behaves much more aggressively towards A than A was doing to X's family. Now at the outset, it looks unfair that why X is being treated like that - for no fault of hers. But looking closely, I found X is not nice towards her own brother's wife(Not at the face value, but holds lot of grudges). Now viola! everything came a full circle. This only strengthens my Karma theory.
For me, everything does not run probabilistically, things do happen for a reason and who controls it - is beyond our comprehension. We all as physical entities do impart positive, negative forces on each other. The good Karma or positive energy does come back to us in a good/positive way!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sensitive or thick skinned?
Have you heard somebody scolding saying "you are shameless and thick skinned"? Yes, I think we do. In our Indian society, sensitivity is considered as a good quality and treated as a complement and thick skinned - a negative trait. Do you buy that hypothesis? As far as I am concerned, I have started believing the other way round. For me sensitivity is a bad quality and being thick skinned is the winner..
Now that I have passed on my opinion, let me try to prove it. Sensitive people often get offended by a number of things.. When around sensitive people you need to watch out on what you are saying. In other words you become extremely cautious. This build up stress. They take it to their heart all the time and keep thinking about it. And often the person who told such "insensitive" things, feels bad. This bad feeling can often lead to stress and loss of productive working hours. It may lead to loosing friends at times and the overall effect could be enormous. So, in this regard, is it easier to be thick skinned or be sensitive? We hear the word "cool" a lot these days. Coolness is equal to someone who takes it easy. Now thick skinned people also take it easy so, to my understanding now, the cool people are thick skinned. I would rather like to be surrounded by cool - thick skinned people than by "warm sensitive" people.
In my own personal day to day living, I have realized that thinking about what other person thinks about me is a big dagger. For example, I get upset when loved ones get upset with me. So, I try my best not to upset them. In that process, I go to great length and put myself in trouble - but nevertheless want to please the person around me. According to me this is not a positive quality. I have realized, it is very hard to please others.No matter how much you do to please people, at the drop of a hat, they get displeased and all your efforts goes down in vein..So, why did you try so hard(to please) in the first place? Being assertive and true to yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself!! This reduces the baggage of feigning and un-necessary attempts in pleasing others. So, to conclude I think we should live life without baggage and without thinking what the other person will think about me. Do whatever feels right to you and stay thick skinned always - in other words be cool.......
Now that I have passed on my opinion, let me try to prove it. Sensitive people often get offended by a number of things.. When around sensitive people you need to watch out on what you are saying. In other words you become extremely cautious. This build up stress. They take it to their heart all the time and keep thinking about it. And often the person who told such "insensitive" things, feels bad. This bad feeling can often lead to stress and loss of productive working hours. It may lead to loosing friends at times and the overall effect could be enormous. So, in this regard, is it easier to be thick skinned or be sensitive? We hear the word "cool" a lot these days. Coolness is equal to someone who takes it easy. Now thick skinned people also take it easy so, to my understanding now, the cool people are thick skinned. I would rather like to be surrounded by cool - thick skinned people than by "warm sensitive" people.
In my own personal day to day living, I have realized that thinking about what other person thinks about me is a big dagger. For example, I get upset when loved ones get upset with me. So, I try my best not to upset them. In that process, I go to great length and put myself in trouble - but nevertheless want to please the person around me. According to me this is not a positive quality. I have realized, it is very hard to please others.No matter how much you do to please people, at the drop of a hat, they get displeased and all your efforts goes down in vein..So, why did you try so hard(to please) in the first place? Being assertive and true to yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself!! This reduces the baggage of feigning and un-necessary attempts in pleasing others. So, to conclude I think we should live life without baggage and without thinking what the other person will think about me. Do whatever feels right to you and stay thick skinned always - in other words be cool.......
Friday, July 9, 2010
Israt Jehan - A tale of appeasement by congress.
I was never a avid newspaper reader until few years back! Last year, there was a news item, that said Israt Jehan(the suspected terrorist who was shot dead by Gujrat Police); died of "fake encounter". The committee was set up under Justice Tamang and it flashed all over the online news papers. All major newspapers had this as the headline. My husband said, "oh my god see what these cops are doing". He was very upset that a 19 year old "innocent girl" was killed by the cops for no fault of hers. I knew deep down that this is nothing but a media propaganda. I told my husband not to believe these newspaper stories because they work for congress and whatever suits congress will be published. In other words, this was to malign the Gujrat BJP govt. Mr. Modi. Having said that, I started on doing my own search. I found that this girl was missing from home one day and absconded for 3-4 days till the day she was killed. The day she was killed, she was traveling with 4 unidentified armed men, two of which are pakistanis. Those who believe in her innocence fail to explain why a girl should secretly leave her home and roam around with unidentified males with arms. Sounds fishy isn't it? Oh, ya, but this does not prove she is guilty. That is also true that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. So, this is also applicable to Modi because nothing has yet been proved against him on the Gujrat killings. But, all the printed english news media never shy away from projecting Mr. Modi a monster. I would say Gujrat police should also be labelled as innocent because its not yet proved if Israt was innocent or not.
Just few days back, it was reported that Headly(The mastermind behind 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai) confessed that Israt was indeed a terrorist deployed for Modi killing operation. Now, this gives me relief that there was no "fake encounter". I was going through some of Times of India's comments by people, and surprisingly, some people even argue that we should not trust a terrorist like Headly and base our judgment on that. Appalled - I ask, if you are not going to believe a terrorist at any cost, why interrogate him in the first place? Does it make any sense? Somehow people just come up with absurd thoughts and logic that makes no sense at all and it gets propagated in the news channels. Now coming back to the news reporting, who will undo the damage the earlier Tamang report has already done?So, why do we get to see partial news reporting day in and day out? People like my husband that keeps keen interest on national items too get carried away by this false reporting. Why is the congress govt. doing this? Why does it pay the media to publish untrue stories? The reason is for appeasement that links to vote bank politics...
Sigh, it sounds so bad that in a country like India with so many intelligent people, only very few go out to practice their franchise. Even in my own family people hardly go out to vote. As a result of which our elected leaders are those that are chosen by ignorant few. In other words we are ruled by ignorant few. I ask my family why don't you go out for voting and pat comes the answer. No one is good, whom should we vote? Now, that is a valid question. But it is high time we have to choose between 2 devils. There may be one who is less of a devil than the other, so choose the lesser devil...
Today, I read a very interesting article in one of my favorite web sites that strikes a very important chord. The article can be found here. Now, I strongly feel somebody should fund a research on the economic loss worldwide caused by the security checking menace at the airports. This is not just finding the productive working human hours loss at the airports but also the associated menace like missing flights because of long queue at the security points, and other inconveniences that leads to economic loss . For example, for being not able to carry items like food, water and other basic things can lead to monetary loss as well. Every time I go somewhere, at the airport they confiscate my shampoo, moisturizers, tooth paste and other basic items. I end up buying them again. I end up buying over priced water bottles inside the security zones. At sometimes because of long security checking queues, I miss my meal, miss my flight, stay in a hotel. Miss important work assignments etc. People who have certain health condition may loose their lives because of this! This list could grow endlessly... So, I ask why should I be paying for something that I am not responsible for? It is high time we all ask ourselves what to do with the appeasements..
Just few days back, it was reported that Headly(The mastermind behind 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai) confessed that Israt was indeed a terrorist deployed for Modi killing operation. Now, this gives me relief that there was no "fake encounter". I was going through some of Times of India's comments by people, and surprisingly, some people even argue that we should not trust a terrorist like Headly and base our judgment on that. Appalled - I ask, if you are not going to believe a terrorist at any cost, why interrogate him in the first place? Does it make any sense? Somehow people just come up with absurd thoughts and logic that makes no sense at all and it gets propagated in the news channels. Now coming back to the news reporting, who will undo the damage the earlier Tamang report has already done?So, why do we get to see partial news reporting day in and day out? People like my husband that keeps keen interest on national items too get carried away by this false reporting. Why is the congress govt. doing this? Why does it pay the media to publish untrue stories? The reason is for appeasement that links to vote bank politics...
Sigh, it sounds so bad that in a country like India with so many intelligent people, only very few go out to practice their franchise. Even in my own family people hardly go out to vote. As a result of which our elected leaders are those that are chosen by ignorant few. In other words we are ruled by ignorant few. I ask my family why don't you go out for voting and pat comes the answer. No one is good, whom should we vote? Now, that is a valid question. But it is high time we have to choose between 2 devils. There may be one who is less of a devil than the other, so choose the lesser devil...
Today, I read a very interesting article in one of my favorite web sites that strikes a very important chord. The article can be found here. Now, I strongly feel somebody should fund a research on the economic loss worldwide caused by the security checking menace at the airports. This is not just finding the productive working human hours loss at the airports but also the associated menace like missing flights because of long queue at the security points, and other inconveniences that leads to economic loss . For example, for being not able to carry items like food, water and other basic things can lead to monetary loss as well. Every time I go somewhere, at the airport they confiscate my shampoo, moisturizers, tooth paste and other basic items. I end up buying them again. I end up buying over priced water bottles inside the security zones. At sometimes because of long security checking queues, I miss my meal, miss my flight, stay in a hotel. Miss important work assignments etc. People who have certain health condition may loose their lives because of this! This list could grow endlessly... So, I ask why should I be paying for something that I am not responsible for? It is high time we all ask ourselves what to do with the appeasements..
Thursday, July 8, 2010
How I cured my Retroperitoneal fibrosis
In year 2005, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I did not have any endometriosis like symptoms though, but had to believe the doctor. In early 2004, I used to have some kind of strange sensation on my left side towards the back(Just near the kidneys). That feeling is hard to describe. When I used to stand for sometime, I used to feel very uncomfortable. Then I would sit and the feeling will go away. Soon, that feeling started occurring more frequently even while I was sitting. I was feeling awful and my quality of life was dwindling rapidly. Having some kind of cancer history in my family, I got even more scared. Slowly, I got scared to walk for some distance because this feeling was grappling me. I could not run and my life was kind jeopardized.
So, when I was diagnosed with endometriosis with an elevated CA125(tumor marker for ovarian cancer), I thought it may be cancer. But, the doctor said it could be retro-peritoneal fibrosis - benign condition but progressively it gets worse. Doctor suggested surgery for my endometriosis as well as for retroperitoneal fibrosis. I had one surgery(laproscopic procedure) to remove my endometriosis implants using ablation. But, the first doctor said, it was too extensive and he could not remove anything. He referred me to an oncologist and suggested I undergo an open surgery to remove the endo as well as the adhesion. It was a pretty scared thought.. I did not know what to do. Out of desperation, I started doctor shopping and finally went to the CEC where doctors promised me they will do a laproscopic excision surgery of my endometriosis and will also dissect the fibrosis. I was quite comforted at that thought that my fibrosis and discomfort is going to go away. So, I agreed to pay out of my pocket for the surgery(The doctors at the CEC were not participating in any insurance policy). Soar after the surgery I did not feel anything regarding my fibrosis. this may be because I was under medication. But lo and behold, in just 3-4 days I started having the same awful sensation that concerned with my fibrosis. I was very sad. Then I moved to CA, worked from home, had whole lot of time for my health and started reading a number of literatures. Soon, I got interested in yoga. Initially, it was hard, but I read somewhere yoga helps cure internal adhesion.. I started with the most difficult pose, that is the headstand. Initially, it was tough. I needed help. I would ask my husband to lift my legs while I get supported by the wall. Slowly, he would draw me at the wall and leave. I would balance. Soon, I could do it myself(with little bit of practice). After doing headstand for about 2 weeks, I slowly forgot that I used to have some kind of awful sensation due to fibrosis. May be after a month or so of doing headstand, one day I sat and thought wow, I don't have that awful sensation any more. Initially, I thought it may be short living. But, as time passed by, I never saw it coming back. Now after 4 complete years of regular yoga, I have completely forgotten how that feeling was. I am so relieved now and so thankful for yoga..
So, when I was diagnosed with endometriosis with an elevated CA125(tumor marker for ovarian cancer), I thought it may be cancer. But, the doctor said it could be retro-peritoneal fibrosis - benign condition but progressively it gets worse. Doctor suggested surgery for my endometriosis as well as for retroperitoneal fibrosis. I had one surgery(laproscopic procedure) to remove my endometriosis implants using ablation. But, the first doctor said, it was too extensive and he could not remove anything. He referred me to an oncologist and suggested I undergo an open surgery to remove the endo as well as the adhesion. It was a pretty scared thought.. I did not know what to do. Out of desperation, I started doctor shopping and finally went to the CEC where doctors promised me they will do a laproscopic excision surgery of my endometriosis and will also dissect the fibrosis. I was quite comforted at that thought that my fibrosis and discomfort is going to go away. So, I agreed to pay out of my pocket for the surgery(The doctors at the CEC were not participating in any insurance policy). Soar after the surgery I did not feel anything regarding my fibrosis. this may be because I was under medication. But lo and behold, in just 3-4 days I started having the same awful sensation that concerned with my fibrosis. I was very sad. Then I moved to CA, worked from home, had whole lot of time for my health and started reading a number of literatures. Soon, I got interested in yoga. Initially, it was hard, but I read somewhere yoga helps cure internal adhesion.. I started with the most difficult pose, that is the headstand. Initially, it was tough. I needed help. I would ask my husband to lift my legs while I get supported by the wall. Slowly, he would draw me at the wall and leave. I would balance. Soon, I could do it myself(with little bit of practice). After doing headstand for about 2 weeks, I slowly forgot that I used to have some kind of awful sensation due to fibrosis. May be after a month or so of doing headstand, one day I sat and thought wow, I don't have that awful sensation any more. Initially, I thought it may be short living. But, as time passed by, I never saw it coming back. Now after 4 complete years of regular yoga, I have completely forgotten how that feeling was. I am so relieved now and so thankful for yoga..
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