My Viewpoint

Today I was anxiously logged into http://irctc.co.in/ an Indian Railways online reservation web site to book rail tickets from Secunderabad to Pune on 2nd of March 2008 under Tatkal scheme before the quota gets over. I was lucky enough to have a few bearth's in 2 tier AC available in Konark express (the other most convenient train Mumbai express is always full even under Tatkal quota). For this I have to book a ticket from Bhubaneswar from the train originating station until its destination boarding at Secunderabad. (If I forget to mention this after one station from Bhubaneswar my ticket gets cancelled). So far so good. I paid the money using my creadit card and yes now I can see the bearths are alloted. I my eyes ran through the ticket to see if evrything is ok. I missed out something...yes, though the train starts from Bhubaneswar on 1st March it reaches Secunderabad on the next day i.e. 2nd March my boarding point. Errr....I made a mistake now my date of journey sorry boarding...

I got this joke through mail. This is not only hilarious but also reflects the current state of affairs. The person who wrote this must be creative and I thought I should blog this! Read on and enjoy! The Lord surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, how diligently and strenuously you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even before they could stick the posters on its pillars." Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the sea and they held. No steel from TISCO or cement from Ambuja or ACC was ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now." Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people...

The battle lines are drawn for the next round of elections. The central government is slowly inching towards mid-term elections. In its latest affidavit filed with the Supreme Court in the Sethusamudram Project , central government says there is no historical proof of RAM or Ramayana. What the government of Inida lacking here is poilitical dimplomacy or 'Raja neethi'. They should have been very careful while dealing with the religious sentiments of the people. It appeared as they are pleasing their boss 'The Super PM' and apeasing other religions. It is a practice in Congress party that they take decisions and if it boomerangs then the blame would be on the government. If it is appreciated then credit goes to Sonia Gandhi. Everyone knows that what ever decision is taken party/government is with full knowledge of Sonia Gandhi. What the government could have done is they should have focussed only on the Ramsethu than 'Rama'. They should have done carbondating of t...

"Why are you on Orkut!" exclaimed my 19 year old cousin Leena when I told her that I am on orkut too. "How come on orkut" inquired her younger sister Spandana . They were surprised to find me there. I laughed it loud. "I just wanted to taste waters" I told them. Yes I really wanted to experience this so called social networking. Initially I was a bit annoyed when I found many of my junior colleagues glued to orkut. I felt they are much of the project time and resources. I noticed this even amongst newly recruited who are fresh out of college. “What is there in orkut?” I enquired and “what is it?” “It is a social networking site where you can connect with a number of link minded people, find your lost friends” was the answer. I looked at the person thoughtfully and decided to taste this phenomenon. I created my profile on orkut and started browsing the site when ever I find time or feel like browsing the site. I could hardly make any friends except adding a...

I was watching APEC coverage on tv on yet another lazy Saturday morning in Melbourne. As it was boring I switched the channel to another news channel, "Bin Laden’s new message to America -- embrace Islam" was flashed by the channel. Sooner all the news channels around the globe and all the newspapers covered the same news. Since the attack on WTO in New York on 9/11, Al Qaeda and Bin Laden got more coverage around the globe. They said it is “Jihad” in the name of Allah for Islam. And sooner almost every non-Muslim country started treating Muslims as terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. And everyone started thinking Islam is bad or barbaric religion. Is Islam that bad? No religion is wrong. All religions preach the same. It is people who interpret it differently made them look different. It is those wrong views of some people made some religions look bad. Every religion says “Let there be no compulsion in religion” meaning a religion cannot be imposed on anyone. The revelati...

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first." *************************************************** "Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous." *************************************************** "The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. ! It will destroy you." *************************************************** "There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth." *************************************************** "Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead." *************************************************** "As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it." *...

ARYABHATT(476 CE) MASTER ASTRONOMER AND MATHEMATICIAN Born in 476 CE in Kusumpur (Bihar), Aryabhatt's intellectual brilliance remapped the boundaries of mathematics and astronomy. In 499 CE, at the age of 23, he wrote a text on astronomy and an unparallel treatise on mathematics called "Aryabhatiyam." He formulated the process of calculating the motion of planets and the time of eclipses. Aryabhatt was the first to proclaim that the earth is round, it rotates on its axis, orbits the sun and is suspended in space - 1000 years before Copernicus published his heliocentric theory. He is also acknowledged for calculating p (Pi) to four decimal places: 3.1416 and the sine table in trigonometry. Centuries later, in 825 CE, the Arab mathematician, Mohammed Ibna Musa credited the value of Pi to the Indians, "This value has been given by the Hindus." And above all, his most spectacular contribution was the concept of zero without which modern computer technology would hav...

"India never lost her independence till she lost the command of the sea in the first decade of the 16th Century". ---Kavalam Pannikar the architect of India's naval doctrine Maritime power represents military, political, and economic power, exerted through an ability to use the sea or deny its use to others. It has traditionally been employed to control "use-of-the-sea" activities undertaken by nations for their general economic welfare and, often, even for their very survival. Maritime power and naval power are not synonymous, the latter being a sub-set of the former. Traditional land powers are more and more focusing on developing their maritime capabilities to safeguard their economic interests and extend their sphere of influence. India's fractious polity continues to limit its economic and military potential. Nor have been able to lend a strategic purpose to India’s foreign and economic policies. Now a days there is a lot of fuss around Sethusamudram p...

Bankin Chandra composed the song Vande Mataram in an inspired moment, Rabindranath sang it by setting a glorious tune to it and it was left to the genius of Shri Aurobindo to interpret the deeper meaning of the song out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism. Only the first staanza is taken as our National Song considering the sentiments of all the religions. Following is the meaning our national song. Click here for Full Song of Vande Mataram and its Meaning Vande Mataram Vande maataraM sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM SasyashyaamalaaM maataram Mother, I bow to thee! Rich with thy hurrying streams, bright with orchard gleams, Cool with thy winds of delight, Dark fields waving Mother of might, Mother free. Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM Glory of moonlight dreams, Over thy branches and lordly streams, Clad in thy blossoming trees, Mother, giver of ease Laughing l...

There is a growing trend in the terrorists attacks in the past one and half a year. It is indicating that the terrorist strikes are just not to weaken the Indian economy and incite communal violence in India. It has a much larger conspiracy that might lead to disintegration of India. By exploding bombs in Malegaon and on Samjhauta express they tried to spread rumours that it might be the work of a Hindu outfit. They hoped by doing so they can trigger a communal violence and get the support of Indian Muslim for their larger goal. Some pseudo secular parties’ initially uttered same words that it could be a handicraft of a Hindu outfit later it was revealed that LeT and other similar organisations were involved. About a fortnight before two blasts rocked Hyderabad on August 25, 2007, Lashkar-e-Tayeba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed told a gathering at Lahore that he has started a movement to occupy Muslim populated regions in India. He said Pakistan must reclaim Muslim areas like J&K, Hyderab...