Random Rants/Adventures in Life

I still remember my graduation ceremony. It was hot, muggy and extremely uncomfortable waiting for the diplomas while the commencement speaker droned on and on. He was some English Professor and while the speech itself was interesting, I was extremely frustrated at having to "sweat" it out at the very last moment Why I am bringing this up ? One of my friends today sent me an email directing me to a LINK . The article speaks about Indra Nooyi's speech at the Columbia Business School commencement. The speech is not only witty, it is extremely interesting to read and draw analogies, not only in a "big country-smaller countries" concept (like SAARC) but also in our respective lives. I have reproduced the article HERE in case the original link does not work (All links open in the same window. Please right click and use 'Link Open in New Window' for IE and 'Open in New Tab' for Firefox). Thanks to Saumya , I also know what happened next. Wow, this is...

While sorting through my old music files, I came across Altaf Raja's songs. Before I pressed Shift-Delete, it brought a smile to my face on recalling that a journey in any Indian train would necessarily include a kid beggar coming into the compartment and blaring 'Tum To There Pardesi' (You are a stranger). The song jars and more so when sung off-pitch and as a shriek as the kid-beggars used to do. Today morning, sitting at my desk, I was just surfing through the web at lunch time and came across the same issue handled at depth by Amit Verma - INDIA UNCUT . Some more web resources have tackled the plight of this forgotten children. CSMonitor tackles the issue of homeless children in India and how they survive. Children starting at age 3 are residents at the Mumbia Central Train Station in Bombay. The train station is a type of protection from the streets, hunger and problems at home. This article gives real numbers of children effected by poverty looking for relief or a wa...

Sometimes, you feel humbled by the enormity of words. While surfing the net yesterday night, I came across a print-ad. Moving words, inspiring thoughts. 'Sometimes an ordinary Indian can make a Rs 120,000 crore company feel humble. For every step we take, there's an inspired Indian leading the way' The tag-line on a Hindustan Petroleum ad describing Captain Vikram Batra (Param Vir Chakra winner), need to say anything else ? Captain Vikram Batra, Posthmous winner of India's highest gallantry award, Param Vir Chakra

With the mindless fare served by Indian cinema, I had decided sometime ago to take a 'Sanyas' (temporary break) and subject myself to the torture of watching hindi movies only once in a blue moon. Because of my current flu, I have been forced to stay home and take 'rest'. With nothing better to do and feeling too tired to read a book, I decided to take a chance on watching Bose - The Forgotten Hero . Subas Chandra Bose is one of most misunderstood personalities in Indian History. While much of the credit of India's independence struggle goes (incorrectly, I might add) to Gandhi and Nehru, Bose is often dismissed as an idealist who set out to challenge the 'might' of the British empire with a rag-tag bunch of Indian POWs' and diaspora settled in SouthEast Asia. While Bose did not (and still does not) trump the kind of passion associated with a leader of the masses, Netaji as he was called, is a legend in his own standards. The movie itself is a valiant e...

India is a meaningless mass of amorphous humanity Oswald Spangler, The Decline of the West A Nation of Shameless People Some time back, I met someone from Kashmir. While chatting with him, I realized how small and insignificant our lives are compared to what others have go through. Coming from a sheltered background, I feel we take a lot for granted. After Urdu newspapers published press releases by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen asking all Hindus to pack up and leave, there was complete chaos in the Kashmir valley in early 1990. The State Government led by Abdullah abdicated all responsibility and allowed the terrorists to roam free to kill as many Hindus as they pleased. Slogans such as 'Be one with us, run, or die !" and 'If you want to say in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar' were followed by the murder of prominent Hindu priests, teachers and judges. Hindu women were kidnapped, brutally raped, tortured and killed. The Kashmiri Hindus decide to move out en-masse, ...

Weekend in the Mountains ! 'The Blue Ridge is second to the west in rugged grandeur, but first in beauty of woods, in thrilling fairyland glens, and in warmth of Mother Nature's welcome" - Commissioner William Gregg, 1924 Shenandoah National Park lies astride a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which form the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains between Pennsylvania and Georgia. The Shenandoah River flows through the valley to the west, with Massanutten Mountain, 40 miles long, standing between the river's north and south forks. The rolling Piedmont country lies to the east of the park. Skyline Drive, a 105-mile road that winds along the crest of the mountains through the length of the park, provides vistas of the spectacular landscape to east and west. The park holds more than 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Trails may follow a ridge crest, or they may lead to high places with panoramic views or to waterfalls...