Columbus and his insight

After Columbus returned home with discovery of a new land, America, in his kitty he was asked to join in a grand ceremony by Isabella, the monarch who gave Columbus the permission to voyage across Atlantic.

At the feast the men in the court were not much pleased at the prospect of Columbus being conferred the Great General of Ocean by Isabella and so they started to poke fun of Columbus. Their weapon was simple.

"There is nothing great that Columbus did. If any other sailor was patronised and chosen by Isabella to undertake the journey, he would have also succeeded as America was there for the taking."

But Columbus ignored their reasoning and taunts for a long time after which he could no longer take it any more. So he decided to do something.

He had some boiled eggs kept on the feast table in front of him. He took one boiled egg and removed the shell. Then he asked the men in the court one question. "Is there anyone who can keep the egg on the table on its vertical side?". The men said, "Why not? It is simple.". And so they tried, and tried and everyone tried till they got exhausted. Finally one of the men asked Columbus whether he can balance the egg on its vertical side. Columbus said, "Why not. It is pretty simple."

Columbus took a knife. Sliced a small part from the vertical end of the egg and placed the egg on the table which balanced itself and stood erect. Seeing this the guys said, "Hey this is cheating. Anyone could have done that. What is so new about it?"

Columbus replied, "Exactly. Everyone and anyone could have done that but no one actually did except me. Similarly anyone could have trevelled to America, but no one did, except me."

None of them ever bothered Columbus again.

## NOTE: This story is part fiction, part fact. But the real intention is to make you understand the logic. When we do something good, something new, people will say that anyone could have done it. But you must remember that though anyone could have done this, no one actually did except you. So, always keep your head high in these situations.

The connection between Durga Puja and Dusshera

I have been wondering for some time, specially after a colleague of mine asked me, whether there is any relation between Durga Puja and Dusshera because they always fall at the same time. Well initially I thought that they are entirely unrelated except that they happen to fall on the same date, but now I know the reason and here it is.
During Ram's war against Ravana, Ravana was superior to Ram in terms of soldiers and power. Also, except for Ravana's dastardly act of abducting Sita, Ravana was a highly learned person and a true Brahmana (here Brahmana is not about Brahmins but about a person who is close to Godly knowledge). Ram had tried to kill Ravana on many occassions but failed. It was then that Vibhishana told Ram that it was impossible to kill Ravana because of two reasons. 1. His weapon which can kill him is kept inside a pillar which is kept at Mandodri's room. 2. He worships Ma Durga every year and it is Durga's blessings which will not allow Ram to kill him. So to kill Ravana Ram was advised to perform the Durga puja.
The original time of Durga puja happens during the months of March-April when the first Navratri happens. That is the real Durga puja which was done by Ravana. So Ram had to perform the puja at a wrong time and hence it is also known as AKAAL BODHAN. In this puja Ram was required to use 108 Lotus found at Maan Sarovar out of which one was Blue in color. So Hanuman was sent to bring those flowers. On Navami (of Navratri) when Ram was supposed to perform the puja Ma Durga hid the Blue Lotus so that her ardent devotee Ravana could be saved. Ram then started to scoop out his one eye as it was considered blue in color. Seeing this Ma Durga appeared and gave him the blessings of killing Ravana.

So this is the  story of Durga Puja and Dusshera and how they are interconnected.

True Love!!!!!!

This is another true story that happened around me. The names and characters have changed. So have the events dates but the underlying story remains intact.

I had known Om since my childhood days. He was a very introvert, and yet amiable person to hang out with. It was pretty difficult to understand what he was thinking or what his emotions were. The events that I am about to describe took place between 2003-2009. Om had never really fallen in love with any girl, at least he never really told he loved anyone. But from his behavior and after knowing him over the years I knew that he wass hiding something from me. So one fine day I caught hold of him and after giving him some emotional punches, he opened up. He was in love with Puja. He met Puja in his tuition classes and they had instantly became friends. Puja was an exact opposite of Om. Outgoing, fun loving, extrovert are some words she can be described by.

Om: Man she is really beautiful. But what I love about her is her bubbly character. She is so innocent. 
Me: Innocent is the last word I will attach to her. With 3 boyfriends already dumped by her how can she be innocent? And you didn't get anyone in this world except her to fall in love?
Om: I don't believe she can really do all that. I think these are the hoaxes created by those who could not get her. They are jealous. Simple.
Me: Come on Om how can so many people be wrong at the same time and about the same person?
Om: They can be. Forgot the monkey-man incidents? Place one hoax among people and people end up crating a hundred by themselves.

That is how much Om was in love with Puja that he was hell bent on defending her.
Puja on the other hand seemed to have a different game to play. She would come out of her home on the pretext of meeting Om (Om was already introduced by Puja to her family as a very nice friend and her family too approved of him because of his nature) and would go to meet her new boyfriend.
She even went ahead and asked Om to come along to take her to meet her boyfriends. And Om would happily agree.

Me: How can you do this man? Don't you feel hurt?
Om: Hurt? Not at all. On the contrary I am glad because I get to spend atleast some time with her during our journeys. (With a broad grin)
Me: Oh come on man this can't be true. You don't feel strange at all?
Om: No. See I fell in love with her but didn't ask her to fall in love with me. Simple. So i can't really complaint.
Me: Does she even know that you love her?
Om: yes she knows very well.
ME; That means she is just using you.
Om; Oh comeon, only because she knows doesn;t mean that she has to love me. She is an independent person and has the right to choose her partner. Now you go and don't irritate me.

That was Om. Too much in love with Puja to see that she was taking advantage of Om. I tried many a times to make him see reason, but he won't listen. For him Puja could do no wrong to him.

Then one fine day (around 2006 august) Om came to me. With tears in his eyes and literally trembling.

Me: Hey man what happened? Where are you coming from?
Om: Just handed over a pregnancy testing kit to Puja.
Me: What?? You did ...... wait a minute, she doesn't even love you and ..... how did it happen?
Om: Arey not me yaar. She had sex with her present boy friend. 

Me: then why did you give her the kit?
Om: Simple yaar, she is scared. I needed to do this.

I was flabbergasted. Speechless. Can anyone be so much in love with a girl  that he would go to such extent? But his eyes told a different story. he was not crying, but he was sad. I didn't want to increase his pain. So didn't probe further. But I could see a visible difference in him. He spoke less of Puja.

It was Durga Puja of the year 2006, maha Dashami. I was in the procession which was headed to Murad nagar canal where we usually immersed the idols. Om came up to me and said that he too wanted to join in. I was surprised as he never went before. So he tagged along. I did see a plastic bag in his hand which looked pretty heavy. So I asked him, "what is in this bag?".
"Nothing much. Just my past.". That is all he answered.

Along with the idols he threw the contents of the plastic bag in the river. The contents were his personal diaries, some letters he wrote for Puja but never gave her, a couple of roses he brought for Puja but never gave her, and a Pic of Puja.

It was March 2007 when Om one day came to my house and told me that a girl named Isha had been in touch with him for a couple of years and she had suddenly proposed him.

Om was just laughing his heart out and frankly after a long time I could see the smile and charm back into him. I was also very happy.

Isha had been our classmate from school times. Even I knew her though just knew her name and nothing more than that. Isha had been secretly loving Om is something of a shocker for both me and Om but then it was ok.

Om was working with a software company in Noida and was earning well. He told his parents about Isha and though initially they hesitated, but later they too acknowledged his choice. Everything was going fine. Om and Isha were the talks of my friend circle. Isha's parents too were happy and then something happened.

One fine day, in September 2009 to be precise, Isha told Om that she was not feeling comfortable in this relation and she wanted to walk out of it. Om just couldn't react. he didn't know what to say. Isha just went out of his life. Om almost went crazy. He asked the reason, but never really got one. (It was later me who figured out that she went back to her previous boyfriend. Now don;t ask me how I cracked her email password and read all her chats for that I am not gonna tell you!!!!)

Om was back to his silent ways again.
To distract himself he went for the JEST exam and got selected. Right now he is at IISc Bangalore doing his PhD in Theoretical Computer science. (It was me who inspired him to go for this exam)


PS: A few days back Om called up to tell me that both Puja and Isha had emailed him on the same day to "touch base with him". On asking what he is doing. He just replied, "trying to touch base with them, though this time I know that Computers are my girl friends who will never betray me".

The day my experiment nearly backfired

I have always had this bad habit of experimenting with myself. I have always believed that I can not be subdued by the effects of bhaang. I had always heard of the stories of stupidity regarding people who consumed it. So when I had heard too much about the effect of bhaang, I decided to test.

Oh man it was some real hard hit that I took the day. So on  Durga Dashami, I decided to see what happens. I consumed a few glasses of bhaang. And waited for an hour but nothing happened. Then the procession begun and with it my analysis of my own self. Till nearly 4:30 pm, a good two hours after I consumed it, nothing happened.
Then we climbed onto the trucks loaded with the idols. The first indication of something going wrong came up when I got scared due to that silly height and my pulse started to run. But I wanted to see more of it.
By the time the trucks reached muradnagar I was going bonkers. My head was spinning. The entire world was looking like a series of photographs moving rapidly in front of my eyes.
I could feel that my eyes were not stable. They were flickering left to right and back.
I climbed down and walked a few steps. Standing was difficult. I decided to sit down, but was scared of falling asleep or rather unconscious.
In the mean time I was continuously analyzing my thoughts and reactions.
By 6:15 my condition had deteriorated. My pulse rate crossed 220 mark as I suddenly got a fear in my heart; what would happen if I fall down now? My parents will feel bad? everyone would laugh at me? etc etc etc.
This in turn increased the problems I was already facing. Then i called out for my brother. As he came he started to scold me. I requested him not t scold me then as I didn't want another round of stupid thinking to start.
Around 6:40 I boarded the bus and the bus started to roll. I was still in control of my actions and thoughts, but physiologically I was in doldrums.

Somehow I reached home, changed my clothes and hit the bed straight. At night I had dinner at 09:30. then slept off again.

The next morning I woke up with a spinning head. Hardly anything I could understand. My eyes were still flickering, though pretty slowly.
I will never forget those moments when for once I thought that I am going to die and told myself that may what happen I will hold myself straight and not let myself be a piece of mockery.

I somehow succeeded and vowed never to taste this bhaang or any other such stuff.
My experiment nearly backfired.



 

Life and Death

Before I start let me tell you a few things.
I am not a writer and these are not stories out of imagination. These are true, real life happenings. Things, events and people whom I have seen around me. I have changed the names and at times the places to keep the real people out of poking eyes. But the events are real. At times I have added tits and bits of my imagination but only to make the story-line smooth. Most of the time you will find me in the event as I am a narrator and was in some or the other way attached to the event.

This is about a friend of mine who taught me the real meaning of life.

I met him when I was still drinking milk from the milk bottle my mom bought for me from friday market here at Sanjay Nagar. And since then we never really got disconnected as friends. Jeetu was always close to my heart, he still is. And we used to fight like anything over the pettiest of issues and yet we were friends. This series of events started when we were in Class 11th. He hated Physics and Mathematics like anything, probably more than I hated Chemistry. And yet he was stuck with both. His parents, as are parents in general, were very aggressive about him making to IIT because his mother's brother's son had made it to IIT. Gosh!!! How Jeet hated his parent's approach more than Physics and Mathematics.

Jeet loved Animals. Man he was crazy about them. One day as I reached his home I found a pug coming to me with tail (or rather the absent part of it) wagging. "what is this?? I mean where did you get this from", I asked. "Oh come on it just found me and a home to live in. " spoke Jeet as he shoved me into his study room. "come on lemme tell you what I did yesterday.".
Being an excited lad I just got a li'l bit more curious. "what did you do? Some problems in mathematics". 

"duh !!! don't take that bloody name. well I tried to commit suicide". 

"Whaaaat!!! What didi you do???", I asked with my mouth still kinda open. 
"Didn't do it man, just tried to commit suicide." 

"I consumed two strips of sleeping pills and guess what I woke up today with a heavy head and dizzy feeling and nothing else. These sleeping pills are no good.", he continued.

"You see its better to die than to continue with this pathetic life".

Jeet's life was really pathetic. His mom and dad were hell bent on  making him an IITian which he detested the most. On that his grades have been following Newton's law of gravity and were in a free fall. Even I had forgotten when was the last time he had passed in any subject. In the half yearly exams our physics and math teachers had to take a number of tests just to pass him. On that his massive inferiority complex and zero self esteem was driving him into a whirlpool of depression. I knew all that but didn't know how to pull him out. At times I used to wish I could replace his parents. But well I wasn't god.

A week later as I was walking to Goyal's shop I came across Jeet again. he was his self again. Happy, at least on the outside.

"Hiiii man. Study you must but not at the expense of your friends man. and that too Physics???".
"Oh, Jeet please stop this. By the way what happened to you hand, and legs and your face?? All bruises. What happened?" I asked noticing bandages on his hands and legs and bruises on his face.

"Well was just driving down the road on my cycle when I decided to collide my cycle with this truck that was coming towards the T point I was headed to. At the last moment my instincts took over me and I applied brakes and didn't collide. So I decided to loosen up the brakes of my cycle. Then a couple of days back I decided to try again. Went towards the T point and saw a car coming. Thought it would be great if it hit me I would die and no one would point a finger at my parents. So I started my sojourn. But then I had forgotten that there was this speed breaker near the T point. the god damned car slowed down. My cycle didn;t have brakes so I ended up in the bushes as I failed to stop it. "

"But why are you hell bent on killing yourself? You don't think about your parents? You don;t care for them?" I asked, appalled at his stupidity.

"Parents??? They just want an IITian or else I am dead anyways. No point wasting and waiting two year to die when I know I will die anyways. They will kill me or drive me crazy with their taunts. I can't take it any more man."


I knew Jeet was speaking the truth but I also knew he was being too stupid.

"But don;t you think suicide is the option of cowards??" I snapped back, hoping that hitting him on his ego might salvage him.

"Oh please. Ask any god damned brave heart to consume poison, or jump in front of a train, or hang himself up or kill himself in any way. he will pee in his pants but won't do anything. So much for your brave hearts. Suicide is my way of telling God, You don't fire me, I Quit." How did I forget that defeating Jeet with his logic is impossible. I walked back home.

It was early december; it had rained that year and the cold was killing. I could often hear a rattling sound of my  bones inside me. Jeet came home. very excited he was.

"I created cyanide. Yes man. I created cyanide at my school lab. Had all the chemicals to make it. Man I will succeed this time." He said, as he entered my room.

I saw a strange glow on his face. A man who is happy because he has found the ultimate formula to kill himself. Or was he just pretending to be happy?

"What the fu** man? What are you saying? You cannot be serious". Said I.

"Oh yeah I am serious. You know my rapport with Apsara. She let me in the chemical strong room of our school. And I just picked up the ingredients. you won;t believe it works."

"How do you know it works?", I asked as I got baffled at his claim.

"Can you see the pug around? No na? He died due to that poison".

"Are you nuts?? You killed a poor animal just to check whether you would die or not? This is disgusting man. Why don;t you just pour it into your mouth and be over with this stupidity? " I roared back at this extreme act of foolishness and it really angered me to see how an animal lover like him can become so cruel at heart? I was actually not angry at him. I was angry at his parents and God. This guy was becoming a threat to himself. yet I thought that good sense will prevail over him and he might not go to such extremes. So I decided to wait a tad bit more before I could tell his parents.

And then it happened.

He met Abhilasha. A tomboy. He fell in love with her instantly. Met her at his tuition center which he had just joined to fulfill his parent's ambition to see him an IITian. She was equally poor with Physics and Math and had same background as his parents. She was harassed at every moment to be an IITian. And they ended up in each others arms, in literal sense. Well almost. She had a steady boy friend and he had no girl friend. yet Jeet was so attached to Abhilasha that he decided to postpone his suicide. He decided to study Physics and Math seriously so that he can help her.

Even today whenever I go to his house we have a hearty laugh about his stupidity and what all he did to commit suicide and how he ended up killing a poor dog just to test his "invention". He and his wife both are teachers, he an assistant professor of Mathematics and she of Physics. And trust me I have never seen a happier couple. A few days back only I went to his home when I came to Delhi. The three of us (me, he and his wife) had a great time chatting at his home. Specially as Abhilasha is really a great cook.


Did I forget to tell you that Jeet and Abhilasha got married to each other???

Now don;t ask me how did that happen. That is another story and I will tell you some other time.

A Statistical Study into the existence of Predictive techniques

For a long time now astrologers and astronomers (read science guys) have been locked over a battle that doesn't seem to be headed anywhere. While astrologers say that they can predict a man's life through the study of his stars astronomers say it is impossible as there is no link between a man's life and the stars which are millions of light years away. Logic seems to be with science because it defies logic as to how a star millions of light years from here can effect us!!! But there are numerous examples of people who predict and predict correctly about a man's life with uncanny precision just by the study of stars. So this is a fight between two strong forces; Logic and Reality.

I  have been always interested in numerology (a branch of predictive science like astrology) and studied it in great details. But while on many occassions I predicted correctly on many ocassions I was wrong too. Moreover since i am a student of Physics I am always doubtful about everything. So I decided a good 11 years back in the summer of 2001 that I will figure out how the life of a human being is connected to so called stars. And for that I took shelter of statistics. I need data from people of all walks of life and i will statistically correlate the data with what numerology has to say and see if there is really any correlation or not.

It is my appeal to all those who might be reading this blog that please come forward and participate in this survey of mine. This may end up being the largest statistical study to understand a non-science object with the help of science. Be a part of it.

The link is given below.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dE9DTnRnMF85TUJvXy1oNmFJMlpvdVE6MQ

The Hermit and the story of the Lucky Pigeons !!!

There lived in a Kingdom a King who ruled with much Love and care for his citizens. He was fond of astrology and predictive sciences and believed a lot about omens. Omens are the signs of nature which bring good luck or bad luck to people. The King was particularly in awe of an omen which stated, "If anyone sees three pairs of male and female white pigeons at one place, he/she will become wise, healthy and abundantly rich within a short span of life." 

So one day he sent out his trusted employees in search for such coupled pigeons. They were instructed that the moment they find one they should inform the King and the King will go himself and see the Omen.

So all the employees started searching around the huge palatial garden for such a Omen. One of the employees Ramu was looking for such a Omen when he came across a palatial wall on which three pairs of male and female white pigeons were sitting. He immediately went back and informed the King about the Location of the Omen.

The King set out immediately. When the king and Ramu reached the wall Ramu excitedly cried out loud and pointed towards the pigeons. As he did so the pigeons flew away.  The King got infuriated and marched back. He caught of hold of Ramu and told him that  he wasted the King's time and energy and because of him the king couldn't see the Omen hence he will be punished. Ramu pleaded innocence but the king won't listen. The King finally announced that Ramu will be hanged to death publicly for speaking a lie to the King.

Hearing this announcement and the entire story of Ramu a wise Hermit decided to meet the king. The hermit told the king, "O King. Why do you punish the poor man?"  The King replied, "Because he wasted my time and disturbed the Omen due to which the pigeons flew away."
The Hermit said, "O King you are a learned person and yet you can't see your folly? It was Ramu who saw the Omen and look he is facing death for it. Don;t you see that the Omen is actually bad as it is on the verge of killing the poor man?? Had you seen the Omen yourself don't you think you would have also ended up like this??? So hasn't Ramu actually saved you??? Think over it whether the Omen was actually good or bad??"

The king understood his folly and not only released Ramu but also rewarded him.


In general life too we tend to listen a lot to hearsay and believe in so called Omens and urban legends without verifying the truth of the claims.

A string of events

As I sat looking at the cloud laden sky, I went down the memory lane. So many things have happened since childhood days. And as I was pondering over them a thought stuck me. Looking at things carefully everything makes sense. It is like a huge labyrinth of paths all connected to form a series of events which shape our lives. Let me start from my school days. I wanted to be a physicist and never took engineering seriously. Had I not gone for coaching class for the study of physics I would have got more marks and would have been at a better college in DU but scored poorly in Chemistry and Math and ended up at Deshbandhu. Then again i scored poorly at graduation level and somehow got into MSc at Jamia. There I made the worst mistake of my life (atleast that is what i think) by not joining Theoretical Physics. My teachers and class mates pleaded me to join but I didn't. So never really understood what I wanted to in Physics and hence got left out of the contention. Then I joined DPSGV instead of DPS Meerut Road as a Physics Teacher. Another decision which changed my course of life. Then I cracked PhD entrance to JNU but had to leave after 6 months. Another life changing decision. Then I joined S.Chand Publications and lo it changed my life completely. Met a girl there who after I left S.Chand introduced me to another girl who happens to be my wife now (Swagata). Now that is called a life changer. Then I joined and left two engineering colleges only to move back to publication from where I made some really cool friends and then I joined DPS Rajnagar. Had Piyush Chawla, the owner of Vikas Publications, not taken that ludicrous decision, neither would I have joined DPS Rajnagar nor would I have come across a very innovative person with whom I am working now at Amity, nor would I have gained my such good friends.

Strange, but true, life is nothing but a series of choices that we make and their consequences. Newton's third law at work. Or is it so???  

The day I understood the value of water

That night, of the month of June, started of as usual- no electricity and the inverter machine crying for its life. I went to sleep in the first floor room while mom and dad slept in the ground floor one. That night I had eaten a lot of chicken and hence, my stomach was not only full, it had started to crackle. Anyways, it was around 1:30 in the night when I woke up with my tongue stuck to my throat as they both had dried up. I reached for the bottle of water which is usually kept near my head only to find it almost empty. I emptied the rest.
But within minutes the throat dried up again, specially thanks to the stomach trouble that had started by then. I looked up the wall clock to find another 5 hours before morning.
I decided to sleep thirsty, only to wake up in ten minutes. The thirst was damning. I frantically searched for another bottle of water in the room only to find one tucked away somewhere below the sofa. I pulled it out. The dust on the outer surface suggested that it was there for a long time. Without giving a second thought I opened it  and found the water pretty much clear. As I poured it into my throat the taste, horrible one, forced me to throw up.
The bottle must have been there for over a month at least.

I abandoned it.

By 2:15 I had grown restless again. Water was the only thing I was looking out for. For once I prayed to God to send some shower to me ..... well the monsoon was a few weeks away and it was unreasonable to ask God for it at that point of time..... I gave up.

Then came the most brilliant idea of that night. Why not switch on the water pump and fill the bottle?? I excitedly run towards it and switched it on.....  then I realised that there was no electricity for me to switch on the pump.

I was flabbergasted.

As I turned back to come out of the bathroom, I noticed two buckets full of water lying there.
The same buckets from which I used to bath and wash god knows what..... but at that point of time it was nothing more than divine sent amrit for me.....

I didn't think again.... took the mug ..... dipped in the bucket and pulled one full mug of water ..... poured it into my throat and .... WOW !!!!! Water never tasted so good ......

I still look back at that incident which taught me one important lesson of life ......

To my dearest bro, Shuborno

I was dying to see him, was so excited that I shook off my dad's grip on my hand and ran straight into the maternity centre of Dr. Nilu Khaneja. As I ran into the ward I asked mom about him. She removed a small white cloth from around his face and for the first time I saw him-----My younger brother Shuborno. From that day he became my motive of life. Last 22 years he had been my constant companion, my best friend, my secret keeper, my buddy, my spiritual guide -----MY EVERYTHING.

I have grown with him. I have seen him take the first steps; when he used to point at his tongue to show us that he wanted an ice-cream;  when he used to pee in his pants the moment he would get angry at any of us; he would make faces like a mouse......... so many things.


Today he went to Kolkata to pursue his Master of Science in Theoretical Physics from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University. And to be frank I am as much happy as I am sad.
My happiness brews from the fact that my brother is embarking on a journey which will take him to the edge of the universe --- and may be beyond. he is going to do what I failed in my life. I am very happy.

But I am equally sad. My constant companion is going away. He is probably the only one to whom I could talk anything under the sun. I have never treated him as my brother, but as my son. I have tried my best to save him from those problems that I faced in my childhood days.

There is a sudden vacuum in my life created by his absence, which is impossible to be filled. In fact he is the only person to whom I am attached.


All said and done, I know I have to adjust myself and I will. I hope he fulfills the mission he is on. And my wishes will always be there for him.

LOVE YOU BUDDY.....

Lord Buddha and the Snake

One day Lord Buddha was passing through a village when the villagers requested him to help them. They said, "O Lord, there lives a snake outside the village which is so poisonous that it keeps killing villagers and our cattle. Please help us by taming it."

So Lord Buddha went over to that snake and told it," O mighty snake, why waste your poison on the poor villagers and their cattle. Why give them suffereing and invite God's wrath for yourself. Be a humble servant of God and don't bite the people and their cattle or any other animal again."

The snake after being given the wisdom, bowed at the feet of Buddha and went back into its hole.

Weeks later when Lord Buddha was passing by the same village again, he suddenly had the curiosity to know about that snake. So he went to that hole again and called out for the snake.

After a long time a weak, brutally beaten and bruised and badly injured snake crawled out of the hole. Looking at it Lord Buddha couldn't understand why it was in such a bad condition. On being asked the snake replied, "O lord after you sermoned me I didn't bit or showed my anger to anyone. But the villagers and the kids started to trample over me. They beat me with sticks but I never bit them back, as you told me. So this condition of mine is the outcome of waht you taught me to do."

Hearing this Lord Buddha said, "I asked you not to bite someone, but you could have easily drove them away by showing your fangs. I never said, don't defend yourself. Biting is prohibited, not hissing."


Same is the case with me. I don't hit people, i don't get angray easily and I accept others views too. But people take this as my weakness and try to trample over me. I think I just had enough of it.

The Hermit and The King

There was a king who ruled a kingdom. He was a very learned man but had never understood the meaning of one thing; SACRIFICE. He once asked his ministers to fins out the true meaning of the word, sacrifice and announced that whosoever will answer him satisfactorily will be suitably rewarded. So went out all the ministers to find the answer to this question.

Not too long after this incident that they all came back and told the king their answers. The King listened to all their answers but was not amused. He was not satisfied. And he openly showed his dissatisfaction. Finally one minister garnered enough courage and told him that there lives a hermit outside his kingdom's forest cover who is learned and will be able to answer him.

Hearing this the King sent one of his minister to bring the hermit to his palace. When the minister reached the hermit the hermit refused to come to the palace. Instead he asked the minister to send the king to his cottage. So the king went to the hermit's cottage.

King: O learned man, do tell me the real meaning of sacrifice. Is it to kill animals and gift it to gods? Or is it to give up all that a man has and be a hermit like you?

Hermit: O king, I will answer your question but for that I need to go to your palace. Take me there and let me live there for some time and then I will answer your question.

So the king agreed and took the hermit to his palace. There the Hermit started to enjoy all the pleasures of the palace. Good food, good place to bath, beautiful orchards full of fruits and what not. Days went by and the hermit didn't say a word to the king. Days became weeks and weeks became months but the hermit didn't say a word to the king. On the other hand the king was becoming impatient. He started to wonder whether the hermit was really any learned person or was he making a fool of the king?

One day the king finally llost his patience and called upon the hermit. He said, "O learned hermit i have been watching you ever since you came here. You have been enjoying the food and comfort of the palace just like anyone else would do. It doesn't seem that you are a hermit,  a recluse a sannyasi. You neither told me the answer to my question nor you told me that you have had enough and also it seems that you don't want to leave this place. I am doubtful of all this."

On hearing all this the hermit smiled and spoke," O King, I have been waiting for this day when you will ask me this. Thanks for asking. It is time for me to go."

The King said," But what about the answer to my question?"
Hermit, " For that you will have to come with me to my cottage."

The King agreed and went with the Hermit to his cottage.

When they reached the cottage the hermit said. "O Dear King, for so many months I lived at your palace and enjoyed all the comforts. Now it is my turn to return the favor. So please give me the pleasure of serving you. Please stay at my cottage for the next three days."

On hearing this the king startled and said, "No it is not possible. I can't live here in this small cottage where you eat things that you get from charity of other people. I can't possibly sleep on the floor and surely can't bath in the nearby pond. I have lived in the palace and it is not possible for me to come and live here. Moreover I have an entire kingdom to look for so I can't come".

The hermit smiled and replied. " See king. I stayed all my life in this cottage and then I spent all these months in your palace. And now I am back to my cottage and I am feeling as good as I always was. I didn't get addicted to this cottage or your palace. Both are equal for me. But you couldn't possibly stay in this cottage for even one full day because you cannot give up the comforts of your palace. You are addicted to it. What I can do you can't!!!! This is sacrifice. I am not addicted to anything. My senses are well within my control. I have given up on the pair of good and bad. For me everything is same. This is the meaning of sacrifice."

The Hermit and the Boy

Lemme tell you a story.

Once a young man wanted to learn the method of concentration and control of his senses and of mind. So he went to a old hermit who lived outside the village.

He asked the hermit whether he could be his guru and teach him what he is seeking. The hermit said, "Ok i will teach you. The entire period of teaching will be divided into three parts of 6 months each and throughout you will have to live with me".
The boy agreed.
The hermit said,"Your training starts tomorrow morning. For the first six months when you are awake I will hit you, kick you and smash you with whatever I get in my hands. If you can sense in time and raise your hands I will spare you.".
The boy was left gasping. Initially the boy got a lot of beating for the hermit. The hermit kicked punched and hit him with bamboo sticks and whatevr he could get hold of. But slowly the boy started to make himself alert. He was so scared of the beatings that he started to train himself of being alert.
By the end of 6 months not a single time could the hermit hit the boy as he became very alert.
The hermit said,"Good you have passed the first test. Now the second 6 months begin tomorrow. I will hit you with a sword and you have to save yourself".
The boy's jaws dropped. From day one itself he started to be careful. yet he got hit by the sword. Got quite a few cuts and bruises but by the end of first month he had nearly perfected his awareness.
At the end of another fruitful six months the hermit said,"You have passed the second test too. Now the final one. I WILL  HIT YOU WITH A SWORD WHEN YOU WILL BE SLEEPING.". The boy couldn't believe his ears. He got so scared that he stopped sleeping. But how long could he hold. he started to frantically train his mind and senses to get alert even at a movement of wind. He finally slept but with such alertness that the moment the hermit entered the room, he raised his hands.

Finally the hermit said," You have done me proud. You have now mastered your senses and mind. So i have given you what you wanted. Now go in peace."

Saying this the hermit kept the sword near the boy and went and sat down near the banyan tree to meditate.

The boy started to think, "This old man has tortured me for the last 18 months on the pretest of teaching me. Does he even know anything or was he just bluffing?? He must be bluffing because I don't find him extraordinary at all. So let me teach him a lesson. I will cut him into two with this very sword."

But hardly had the boy stopped thinking this that the hermit raised his hand and said, "Dear, don't even think of it."

Beauty and Danger

As I stated in my last post that beauty and danger go hand in hand, here is why I think so.
Think about the most beautiful things in the universe (and I am not talking about girls at all !!!! - they are by default dangerous).
Let me help you a bit.

The above are some of the most beautiful things in the universe, and there can hardly be anything more dangerous than the above.
Similarly the following

 So very beautiful, isn't it? But what about the dangers lurking around them?
You miss a turn and end up right at the bottom of a ravine; probably dead.
Similarly one star explodes into a nebula, and everything around it is destroyed.
Similarly seemingly beautiful things always have danger lurking around them.

Isn;t it? May be i couldn;t convince you thins time. Next time I will come up with a more convincing reason. Till then, bye.

Our Manali Trip

Well, as I am sitting in front of this lappy I am still exhilarated about our recently concluded trip to Manali. It was a really great trip, specially owing to some adventures that happened and were a real torture then, but now I can smile over them.
So let me begin.
The bus we booked was a AC Volvo which started from Ramakrishna Ashram marg at New delhi and we soon reached the foothills of Lower Himalayas (as they are known technically). I must admit that I am really scared of heights and as the bus started to climb, I went numb. The treacherous roads on which it was difficult to drive even one bus properly, two were driving past (in opposite directions) and that too at nearly 60-70 kmph at the dead of night !!!! The entire night I just held on to my dear life as everyone else was sleeping. I just wanted to be sure that when the bus falls into the gorge I should be awake to make an attempt to save myself. What a thought!!!!
We halted at Sunder nagar at 5 in the morning and had our breakfast.

You can easily see Swagata and her face tells about the journey. In the backdrop is the beautiful valley. Well at that time I didn't know what lay ahead.
As the bus rolled on the most dangerous part came. The road width barely 20 feet. On one side mountain is jotting out and on the other side thousands of feet of direct drop into the ravines. Nearly 1 hour of that journey nearly drove me crazy. Finally we reached Kullu and an hour later, Manali.
We stayed at Hotel Hidimba Way, which is a hundred feet or less that the famous Hidimba temple. The hotel was decent and the room was good enough.

   We started to unpack and relaxed for a couple of hours. Then we went out for local sight seeing.

Hidimba Temple

The above is the pic of Hidimba temple. We then went on to see some cool places like the Van Vihar. Following are some pics that we took there.

Ghatotkacha Puja Place

Same as above

Beas River

In Van Vihar

Local Dress

Down the road to Beas river

Went on a ride

Then we reached the Beas river and for the first time in life I was able to gather enoough courage to do something that I wouldn't normally do at all.

Hanging by the wire and literally for my life as I was swinging up and down to touch the river beneath me.

Well then we went back to our hotel, but not before having eaten and bought quite a few things for us.

The next day we started for Rohtang pass and we reached by around 1:30 though we started before 6 in the morning. The jam we got caught into was big.

Dressed in a heavy outfit we reached Rohtang and had the best time of our life, atleast mine. Saw, touched and played with snow for the first time. It was a great feeling. Below are some pics of Rohtang Pass.

As we were returning from Rohtang we were caught in a really massive jam which spanned several kilometers.

So guess what happened???
The driver of our car along with the one in front of us devised an idea and see what happened next.

So finally we went down the slope and avoided remaining trapped in further jam.
The day we were coming back we had a even more precarious situation.
At 9:00 pm our Volvo bus stopped at Sundernagar for Dinner. After that we started on our way. At 10:25 pm, the bust came to a screeching halt with all of us running out of it for our life as the engine of the bus caught fire. We were stranded at a place called BAIRI, 20 km from Sundernagar and 15 km from Bilaspur. All the 45 passengers were stranded with no one coming to our rescue.

We remained stranded there till 3 in the morning when two tempo travellers and a xyllo came to our rescue. Finally we reached Delhi at 3:00 PM almost 24 hours after we started.
But none the less it was a great experience.
Thanks to Swagata for this trip.
I wish to go back there again.
And yes guys if you have not gone there yet, Manali is the place to visit. Really guys it is a great place.
And one thing that I learnt from this trip is that Beauty and Danger go hand in hand. How???? Tune in to know about this in another blog.

Who merits RESERVATION???

Reservation in India is a much debatable topic and in right sense too. You give reservation to one community and the others feel left out or betrayed.
The problem is that we, the youth of India, also think from our heart rather than our head, precisely what our politicians want---Divide and Rule policy.

The question then arises is, do we need reservation or not. Well the answer is YES and NO.

YES--- because India is a vast country with serious socio-economic divide. 5% Indians control the money in India. This divide was spotted pretty much at the time of writing our constitution by those learned men and hence they provided for reservation to BACKWARD CLASSES. And that is precisely where reservation should be given. To people who are economically so weak that they can't afford two square meals a day. Unfortunately our highly-arrogant and ignorant and rather vote seeking politicians converted CLASS to CASTE and begun the war that has literally torn apart our youth.

NO--- because reservation on the basis of CASTE has no merit. If even after 60 years of independence and many decades of reservation has failed to uplift the backward castes, then it will fail to uplift them in future too. In the northern india millions of OBCs and SC/STs are actually millionaires who have enough money in their coffers and also enjoy reservation. Similarly a general candidate has to be rich or economically sound has no scientific backing. Poor are poor irrespective of caste.

The only divide between human beings that should merit reservation is ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS and not religion, or caste. Unless we the youth of india put our fingers in the eyes of the politicians and show them what should actually happen, we are going towards a real sad phase--- BECOMING A BIG (UN)HAPPY FAMILY OF BACKWARD PEOPLE.

I joined the Gym...... Well Almost !!!!

Having taken birth in a bengali family may have its disadvantages one of which is you tend to grow a pot belly which shows that you love to eat food without any regard to your health. And same with me. I had a pot belly which had been growing steadily along with my weight which stood at 82 kg. With a height of just over 5 ft 7 inches I was a good 15 kg overweight and that I started to feel on my lower back.
Well after one such phase in which I had to be bed ridden for quite some time, my brother and parents decided to send me to a Gym !!! ( I was not married then)
"A Gym!!!!", my jaws dropped. "What will i do in a gym?". I asked protestingly. I am made of lazy bones and going to a Gym was nothing short of a nightmare for me. More so because with it would get affected my food habit too. "No, I am not going". I said sternly.

The next evening I was standing outside BABA GYM, a local one out here along with my brother. My protests usually never bear any significance and that was the reason I was standing there.

The Gym trainer was introduced to me by my brothr and the guy instantly knew why I was there. He told me to get warmed up. His prescription of warm up was: 10 minutes on a treadmill (I almost lost my jaws to it after I fell on the rotating path of the machine), 10 minutes on cycle (I was happily cycling when the trainer came and raised the difficulty level to the maximum; could hardly rotate the paddle after that), 10 minutes jumping with both knees near the chest (couldn't do even one as m=none of my jumps were high enough), 15 pushups (was flat after 2 and half), 15 crunches ( didin't do it at all as nobody noticed) and a jog around the gym. Well you can very well understand after my body warmed up what would have happened to me.

I some how escaped citing that it was the first day only and I don't wanna fall sick. !!!!

The next day the trainer was even more harsh. This time he asked my to cycle and do treadmill and then asked me to run up and down a staircase 10 times. The staircase was the same one through which everyone would climb into the gym (the gym was in the basement).

The first two times I ran up and down at my top speed (what big mistake!!!) on the third lap my breath went out of control but I survived. Fourth and fifth lap I don't remember. By the time I was into my sixth lap my knees started to shake and my body started to shout for water and rest.  but i persisted. Seventh and Eighth were shear pain. On the ninth lap my knees and legs started shaking violently, my throat got dry, my hearth was thumping against my rib cage and would have come out had the rib cage not been there. Finally as I started upwards on the tenth lap I reached the top of the stair, near the door, and went through it to reach the road. Kept running, or rather jogging, to the end of the road. Took a rickshaw to my home. Reached my block, got down near a juice corner, has two large mango shakes and staggered back home.

That was the end of my GYM......


It was three years back.
Now I am better off. My weight is now around 94 kg !!! a whooping 25 kg overweight. And my potbelly won't allow some of my favourite trousers to fit on me.

And the daily howl of protest has begun again. GO TO GYM. And guess what this time my wife is after my life.

And I know last time I lost 300 rupees as I ran away after one day only. I don't want to lose 3000 this time. But I can't resist going to GYM as well.... God saves me.

Weakness

How many times have you punished someone for speaking a lie? How many times have you punished someone for not doing what you wanted him or her to do? How many times have you punished someone for calling you by names or hurling abusive words at you or being selfish ........and the list goes on????
Many times. Isn't it?
Then welcome to the largest group of hypocrites who ever roamed on this earth; we human beings.
Why I said hypocrites? Because we are ready to lie at the drop of hat but can't withstand one lie told to us. Because we can do n number of unlawful things against other but can't stand one against us. Because we are ready to have a relation outside marriage but cannot accept our better halves doing the same. We human beings by nature are bloody hypocrites.

And unfortunately, I am also one of them.

We generally judge people so easily; we are ready to punish people for their mistakes without realizing that we also posses the same weaknesses. So how can we punish someone for mistakes we always commit; for weaknesses we all posses? This is something beyond my understanding.

Popular Misconception !!!

That day I just happened to ask a very simple question to a group of people. And I was really startled to get the answer.
The question is as follows.
A child in a snowy region created a SNOWMAN out of snow(obviously). Now this kid wanted the snowman to last as long as possible so that the snowman should not melt easily. He sought help from two people (lets say) A, and B
A:- Drape the snowman in a jacket from head to toe and it will not melt.
B:- A has gone crazy. If you drape the snowman in a jacket the snowman will melt and so just keep it in open and it will last long.
My question was: Whose option should the child take? A or B?

Amazingly enough, if I asked this question to 100 people, 96 of them answered that the option should be B. Most people were and are of the opinion that draping the snowman in a jacket will warm the inside of the jacket thereby resulting in rapid melting of the snowman. Rather is it good to keep the snowman in open.

The real answer is as follows.

"A" is correct. The snowman should be draped in a jacket. The thicker or multi-layered the better.The reason is that jacket or woolens create an insulation around the body. This insulation prevents the outside heat from entering the body but at the same time it doesn't allow the inner energy to escape too thereby creating a thermos flask type condition. This prevents the melting of the snowman as it remains virtually unaffected by the outside fluctuation of temperature.

This is the same case when you must have seen that ICE Chunks by the ice vendors are always covered by saw dust or thick rough clothing.
Some people may say that we feel warm inside the jacket but that warmth is the body warmth and not that the jacket is creating its own.


But a simple question like this threw up a viscious challenge of looking at the popular misconceptions that plague science and day to day life too.

Aliens Ahoy !!!!!

Recently I was asked this simple questions, " Do aliens exist?".
Unfortunately there is no simple answer to such a simple question. Only suggestive answers which strangely work both in favour and against the very notion that WE MIGHT NOT BE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Let us look how.
The Universe (I mean the observable universe) is around 14 billion light years in radius. Now let us look at the exact numbers that you and me can comprehend. 1 light year is approximately 9.5 trillion kilometers or 95 followed by 11 zeros or 9500000000000 kms. And the radius of universe is 14 billion times this number which is like 1400000000000000000000000 kms. This distance is roughly onr thousand billion times the distance between earth and sun. Phew!!!!!
And this is just the radius. Now if we ASSUME the universe to be perfectly spherical then the volume of the universe will be approximately 42000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 cubic kilometers. Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!!!!

Well that I suppose is enough rough mathematics. Now lets come back to some logic.
In such a huge observable universe our solar system is just a dust particle in the entire deserts of the Earth. This Universe contains approximately a thousand billion galaxies each containing a hundred billion stars which adds up to around 1000000000000000000000000 stars of which Sun is just one star. Many stars have planets around them and they might have different chemistry working there.
In such a big universe where stars abound and planets too, how can we assume that Earth is the only planet on which Life can exist?????

In my personal opinion Aliens can exist and may be. they do exist.
But i am not sure. We have never been contacted by aliens before. Or DO WE THINK SO??? More about alien contacts in some other blog.

As of now I can only say that just because we can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Aliens might as well exist because the sheer size of the universe defies the logic that they don't exist.

I Pay, You Teach !!!!!

There was a time, not in too distant a past, when teachers had exalted position in the mind of students. Today, that respect seems to have been lost. Reasons galore. From not PASSIONATE teachers to surge in monetary power of students and their parents and many more.
Today a student can SLAP a teacher in front of the class and gets away with a REPRIMAND. A teacher is left humiliated, thinking why is s/he teaching at all and whom?
A friend and fellow teacher was left shocked when a class 6th students told her (about her br***t), "INKO SAMHALKEY RAKHO; FATKEY BAHAR AA RAHEY HAIN" (Keep them in order, they are bursting out). She could never go inside the class and teach those students again. Less than a year later, she left. And that guy went scot free with a REPRIMAND and COUNSELING and completed his schooling from that very school.  Had it been in the school where I studied (ST. Pauls Academy) and in my time, he would have been rusticated immediately.

There are other schools in the vicinity where I live and teachers are treated worse than peons.

Money and Power, Media, Court, Child Rights and Populist Governance are responsible for this state of our education system.

Once I had failed more than 70% students on my class in a Unit Test and I was pulled up by our Principal (where I was teaching) and told that, " Our CUSTOMERS cannot be treated like this....". Read CUSTOMERS not STUDENTS. The students look at teachers with an  "I PAY YOU TEACH" attitude. AS if teachers are their bonded slaves.

As a teacher who is passionate towards his subject, I keep an eye on things and analyze everything. it pains me to see that discipline is fast vanishing from our schools. We are heavily borrowing education policies from the western countries where too much liberalization has resulted in GUN TOTTERING KIDS in schools and incidents every now and then of a student going on a killing spree. Are we headed the same way??? The recent killing of a Chennai teacher inside the school premises and that too inside the class kinda confirms the fear.

I think only future will tell what is going to happen to our already decaying and highly brittle education system. Let us pray that common sense prevails.

Nobody is a VEGETARIAN.

I have nothing against PURE-VEGETARIANS except for the logic they give for considering themselves to be PURE VEGETARIANS. 

How about trillions of Potatoes, Cauliflowers, Raddishes, Tomatoes, Corn, Rice plants, and the unending number of plants that we cook and sometimes eat raw??? They also have life the way fishes and other NON-VEG stuff have?? Only because plants can't express them does it mean that they don't feel it or are we human beings pretty happy telling ourselves that they are of lesser consciousness and hence can be chomped up as and when we like them??? In a way we all are non-vegetarians how so ever some of us shout we are not. The day a child is born it starts its life with Mother's milk which carries MOTHER'S ANTI BODIES, MICROBES, and ANIMAL PROTEIN AND SATURATED FATS which are definitely not made by plants. And then some people go gaga that they are PURE VEGETARIANS. What hypocrisy !!!!!!!! How about HONEY ??? Made from Flower nectar (the only plant stuff), and enzymes from the insect BEE. And ya not to forget SUGAR. We are literally eating animal and human bones aren't we???

And if MILK is vegetarian then the EGGS released in the market for consumption is also VEGETARIAN because it doesn't involve killing as those eggs are unfertilized.

I mean I don't understand the stupid logic of so called PURE VEGs that anything that doesn't involve killing is vegetarian. Plants are killed at a higher number than animals and we all know that plants have life too and yet plant eaters are VEGETARIANS.

Sorry my PURE VEG friends, but I am not convinced that you are worthy of being called PURE VEG because even PURE VEGs are NON VEG as it involves more brutal killing.

As simple as that.

Run man run

My friend Prakash has always been a funny guy. He lives in Faridabad, a NCR town and was my college mate. But trust me he was one funny character I have ever known. But what he did on that particular day, I will never forget.
We were going to Chattarpur temple in Delhi. We both had this love for temples and artistic places and since we both didn't have any girlfriends, at that time, so we were like more or less free to roam around on our own. You see having girl friends (for girls it is boy friends) is like having a baggage on your shoulders. Wherever you go, it goes with you.
Well, we boarded the bus from Anand Vihar ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminal) and took the middle seats near the window. The day was pretty nice. Partly clear sky, a slight breeze, and a clear mind and heart. I was enjoying the trip when the bus suddenly stopped mid way. Two elderly, fat guys climbed up the bus and asked to show our tickets. We were travelling in a DTC bus which being a government owned bus was subjected to ticket checking and anyone caught without tickets would get a 6 months behind the bar.

The guys came up and announced, "Those not carrying tickets should come out of the bus immediately.". Prakash asked me to come along with him out of the bus. We both didn't buy tickets for that trip. In fact we never used to buy tickets. That day was no exception.

We climbed out of the bus and stood in a line of 7 other guys who were travelling without tickets. I was the 8th and Prakash the 9th one to be proscuted. One of thhose ticket checkers was standing at one end and the other was giving us some "challan" papers. Suddenly a bus went from in front of us. Prakash shouted, "Run man run". Before I coould realise anything I and Prakash were running towards the bus with the two ticket checkers at our pursuit. But then we were younger and fitter than them and caught the bus and climbed on to it. But then as luck would have it, the bus stopped at a red light almost the moment we got in. Before we could run out the two ticket checkers were already there.

They got hold of us and literally dragged us out. We were standing on the road like two criminals. Onlookers surrounded us and the two ticket checkers were panting for breath. Then one of them got out a booklet and asked us to pay 5000 rupees as fine or get ready to go to jail for atleast a year.
Prakash asked, "Why should we pay? we did nothing wrong. "
TTE, "You did nothing wrong? First you were caught without any tickets. Then you ran away from us. And you say you did nothing wrong? Travelling without ticket is a punishable offense and you will pay for it."
Prakash, "Ok I agree we don't have tickets but we do have the student bus passes which allows us to travel in any government bus in Delhi."
The ticket checkers were caught unaware as we both pulled out our student passes from our pockets.
Theri jaws dropped as they looked at each other, bewildered.
One of them asked, "Then why the hell you came out of the bus at the first place??"

Prakash replied, "Becasue you only said that those WITHOUT TICKETS should come off. We did."

The man, "Then why did you run??"
Prakash, "Because we were getting late and saw a bus going that way."

The man, "Why did you make us run??"

Prakash. " we never invited you to chase us. that was your wish."

Onlookers who have been watching all this split into laughter.

The ticket checkers went away grumbling. In the mean time the other 7 guys who were caught along with us, gave the officials a slip in the entire commotion..



Till date I laugh at the thought of that day when Prakash made those men look like ultimate fools by his sheer wit and humor.

The Transformer

It has been quite some time now but I still remember the days vividly as if they happened just yesterday only. It was June, 2001. We had just bought the new flat situated just below our 1st floor flat. I and brother had shifted to the older flat and mom and dad shifted downstairs. We had so many plans; wanted to convert the flat into a library and our innovation lab. But as it happens generally in UP, summer months mean the months of 14 hour power cuts, so the torture begun.
That day I was returning from Delhi, went to get my admission done at Deshbandhu College for Physics honors course. I returned at around 4 pm, only to find that electric supply was not there since morning and the inverter has run out of power. By night, that day, it had became evident that electric supply will not be restored. Anyways the night passed, somehow. It was hell on earth. The heat was not that a botheration than the mosquitoes and the sweat, which would drench your clothes, if you are wearing any, or would drip down your body.
Anyways the next day came, without any sign of the electric supply. We prepared ourselves for the harsh day ahead. In the mean time a guy named Prakash, from our locality and quite older than us, went to the electric supply office to enquire about the reason. He was told that the transformer of the locality was down and that they didn't have an engineer to get the transformer mended. So we will have to "cooperate" for another four days!
Four days!!! We all nearly fainted at the news. " How are we going to survive ?", Mr. Sharma recoiled in horror. "But we need to do something. We can't sit like this", Mr. Suri echoed.
I just watched them, and my dad, talk to each other animatedly.
Nearly an hour later they decided to call for a meeting of the locality people. In the meeting it was decided that we will hire someone to get the transformer mended ourselves.
After a lot of deliberation Mr. Pandey's name cropped up.
Mr. Pandey was a retired engineer from state electricity board, at least that is what he claimed to be though I had serious doubts over his credentials from the day he replaced our thin fuse wire with a thick copper wire and that arrangement blew up our main switch !!!
Anyways, for the want of anyone better we had to stick to Mr. Pandey.
That very evening he went into the compound, that housed the transformer, with the entire locality trailing him in expectation. After a long inspection he came out with a sombre expression, " the fuse seems to have been blown off. The path is incomplete. Needs to be changed."  
I thought, "Not the fuse again !!!".
The cost of that fuse was around 2500 bucks. We all pooled in our money and bought such a fuse from the electrical market at delhi.
On the D-day Mr. Pandey with his instruments went inside the transformer compound. The entire locality was standing outside. Three days and nights of sweltering heat had literally made us crazy.
Three hours later Mr. Pandey emerged out of the compound with a victorious smile on his face. He told us to get the electric supply from the main station to be restored.
We all waited with bated breath. The electric supply from the main station was switched on.











It was not diwali yet, but the evening sky was filled with light of the burning transformer. We looked at Mr. Pandey as he sheepishly smiled, " The fuse must have been faulty....". He slipped away.
We turned our gaze back to the transformer and started preparing ourselves for some more miserable nights, and days ahead.


Till date the transformer stands at the very same place, reminding us of its power and the evening diwali show which we will never forget.

Understanding Ohm's law

All of us have studied OHM's law at some point of time in our life and yyet we don't exactly understand it. This I understood when I was teaching Ohm's law to my students. Different books and authors take different approaches and interestingly they all incorporate a fundamental flaw. This flaw is both physical and mathematical.
So I am writing a small paper to bring forward the two methods and the mistakes that most authors and teachers of physics make while teaching students the physics of electricity and especially Ohm's law and resistance.

Sex and Food : The two engines of human growth

Two insignificant incidents happened today.
1. I went out with my brother to eat something at a nearby eatery and ate chilly potatoes, followed by chicken momos and then mango shake.
2. As we were eating we saw numerous girls, ladies, women around us. Eating, cheerful, happy etc.

Now you must be thinking why am I saying all these. Well simply because they evoked two thoughts in me. Are these two things, HUNGER and SEX not the two reasons of our existence; the engines of human growth (or rather destruction)?

Why do we work? Not passion; not love; not money; but to sustain ourselves - to sustain our lives- to mellow the fire of hunger.

Why do we have sex? Again not passion; not love; not money; but because of a trick nature has played with us due to which we get attracted towards the opposite sex and want to have sex so that we can mellow down the strongest urge of human mind and body- the sexual urge.

So am I not correct to think that these are the two main things that are propelling us to move ahead??

I may be wrong.

(PS: Here I said GIRLS, LADIES, WOMEN - from my angle. From a girl's angle it can be BOYS, GENTLEMEN, MEN).

Myths of teaching

As I have stated time and again the profession of teaching is going through a strained phase which is not very startling given the fact that quick money is not there in this field. Anyways there are a few irritating myths that people seem to have or seem to reinforce again and again. This blog is about those myths and my answer to those.

1. Is it not true that teachers get paid for only working "half-day" when compared to industry?

Ans. Half-day!!!!! Well I am one person who has worked in industry as well as school so let me answer this for you. Generally MNCs and other good companies have a working schedule of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (or 6:00 pm). This is like 8-9 hours max. Schools run from 7:00 am till 2:00 pm. How much is that? 7 hours. How much is 7 less than 8 (or 9) ??? Is it a half day?????? On that a teacher generally carries his/her work (read copies and answers sheets for correction) home. In a way most teachers end up working around 10-12 hours everyday.

2. Well ok the time may seem nearly the same but then is it not that teachers take only 3-4 classes a day? So that kinda reduces the time of teaching from 7 hours to 3-4 hours???

Ans. Those who don't teach will not understand that to take a class of 1 hour you need to prepare for 2 hours. Worksheets, lesson plans, copy and worksheet corrections, project submissions, etc., etc., take up a huge chunk of time.  And on that private schools will always like to milk the cow (read teachers) dry or even at least till the milk turns red of blood. I have seen people around me getting only about 1 hour free (read no classes). I used to have 20 classes a week (a week has 40 classes) and the rest of the time I was engaged in maintaining the examination department ( i was the exam in-charge) and doing projects etc. So my dear for a teacher no amount of time is enough.

I will come back with more questions like the above which irritates me no end.

Success

How do you define success?
Well there are many a ways of defining success depending on how you look at life. But one good definition, a general one at that, is as follows," If you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night and in between do what you LOVE to do; you are successful."
 
Now that is pretty meaningful. Unfortunately now a days success is defined as a comparison factor. A comparison between what you are EARNING and what "another guy" of your age is earning. The comparison factor becomes even more skewed if the "another guy" happens to be your friend or a relative. Trust me man, you are so dead except that you don't know yet that you are dead.

Your parents (the main culprits), your relatives, your friend circle and finally you yourself will kill you by comparison.

The real way to compare should be between your past and present. If you have done something better than your own past in any possible way; you have succeeded. Unfortunately our education system also promotes unfair comparison in assessing success.

So my friends to be successful, see whether you are doing what you love to do and whether you are comparing yourself with your own self. If the above is yes; you are successful. Else think again !!!!

Predicament of a Male Teacher

In one of my earlier posts I had put forward the Problems faced by school teachers in General. Now I will put forward the problems faced by a MALE school teacher in Today's times.
We keep hearing that the world is galloping ahead into a new era; new things are happening; people's mindset is changing rapidly....... etc., etc., all true things which are however far from reality.
Take for instance our typical Indian Middle Class family with its middle class mindset... Females (read WIFE) should stay at home and Males(read HUSBAND) should work. Well now imagine what happens if the FEMALE (WIFE) goes out for a 8:30 am to 6:00 pm job and the MALE (HUSBAND) goes to a 7:30 am to 1:30 pm job??? Which means the MALE (HUSBAND) reaches home much ahead of the FEMALE(WIFE). And imagine the predicament of the Husband if he happens to be a SCHOOL TEACHER !!! which is considered as the WOMEN's JOB?????!!!!@!#!@#!$@!$##@%#%

Well trust me friends its real tough life for the Husband specially if he has a MOTHER and a WIFE to handle at the same time.

And you can't even imagine that fateful day when the HUSBAND has a long winter vacations and the WIFE goes out to work in that time. God all hell breaks loose at home.

Outside people say, " Raja wali naukri hai bhai teri. Subah jao and dopahar ko wapas". Ask a teacher who is at the helm of affairs.

And trust me you would not like to be in this situation when you have got some close relatives living nearby.

Well frankly friends I don't think there is another job which can be more fulfilling than Teaching (of course if you love it) and nothing more a troubling profession for you if you happen to be a married man whose wife has a good job requiring long hours and if your relatives live nearby.

Do you know what happens in that case?????

Well some other day I will tell you.

Reservation in Indian conditions

Well I feel there seems to be a big problem in our understanding of who should get reservations and who should not. Very honestly speaking, reservation is a must in Indian scenario but the question is Reservation for whom and at what level? In india the problem of reservation and its implementation is more political than socio-economical.
The real problem and its base and its solution are totally lost in the war for power (read Political power).
Would it not be more beneficial and the real solution if RESERVATION is provided at school level in the better public / private schools?
Would it not be better that economically sound people should be left out of the RESERVATION system?
Would it not be better that reservation should be provided to ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD people instead of BACKWARD CASTE people?

India seems to be the only country in the world where since its independence people have GONE BACKWARDS THAN FORWARD??!!!!!!

Today every tom, dick and harry wants to become backward so as the get the share of the plum cake called reservation.

Take this.
If the recent census shows that the so called socially backward class people account for more than 50 % of Indias population, then a new problem will emerge. The so called General people will have the right to count themselves in MINORITIES. So they may ask for RESERVATION too. And else RESERVATION is already there.

So I think the  best bet is to declare the entire nation as backward. We will be a big happy backward family and then maybe people will realise that its better to give reservations based on economic conditions than out age old caste system which has hollowed Indian system for thousands of years.

So friends welcome to the bandwagon of BACKWARD PEOPLE. Ahoy!!!