Indi Blog Review begins

Check out the first Bloggerview on Nerve Endings Firing Away (A blog by Patrix)

Others are in the pipeline. I plan to put up one every week.

@mit is back...

I have just returned from a week long vacation in NY, Niagara and Toronto. A vacation from everything (even blogging - on rerequest from my wife). All pending projects in blogging will begin from tomorrow.... ciao

Update on Indi Blog Review.

I am being dragged to NY and Toronto over the next week and thus the launch of Indi Blog Review has been delayed.

I appreciate all the support that I have received from you all. Thanks for that. I hope this will be a good initiative.

The Following blog reviews AS WELL AS blogger interviews are coming up (not in any specific order):

1. Nerve Endings Firing Away- by Patrix
2. Balancing Life - by Sunil Laxman
3. IndianWriting - by Uma
4. The Examined Life - Ravikiran Rao
5. India Uncut - Amit Varma
6. Happenings of the Heart - Josephine Fernandes
7. News in Limerick - by Aparna
8. Death Ends Fun - Dilip D'souza
9. Beautiful Life - Vasanthi Emmanuel
10. A walk in the clouds - Megha M
11. A time to reflect - Charu

--- and few others are in the pipeline and currently being contacted.

Tune in later to find out more and keep the suggestions flowing because this is still WIP.

- cross posted on Indi Blog Review

Indi blog review

What is Indi Blog Review?

The several posts by Michael, Vikram, Deepak and Dina on the Most Popular Blogs (or the worst as per Sibyl), set me thinking on what I like / dislike about a particular blog.

I visit a lot of blogs which I like and generally bloghop from there based on the blog roll / favorite blog links of those bloggers. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised and sometimes disappointed. Some good or even great blogs do not get the right exposure or audience whereas there are other not so good ones which get a lot of hits.

I thought why not use my blog to voice my views and promote some of the blogs that I visit. Hence this attempt is to write about and promote all the blogs that I read.

Then there are other blogs which are anyways well settled and popular that they do not require my secondment. I have always wondered what these bloggers think about blogging and any advice that they may have to others. Some of these popular / well established bloggers have written about these things as well. I want to provide an insight into the minds and thoughts of the well established bloggers about blogging. This will be done via an interview with the blogger.

My attempt is to centralize all of the above and go a step forward by providing my views on the blog (not the blogger)

Last but not the least, I am no expert on blogging and our views may not match, but I am trying to go a step ahead of the blog roll and provide some more info on the Blogs that I read.

About the HOW and WHAT part of this . Read all about it at the new Indi Blog review Blog and do leave your comments there.

Blog Reviews or Interviews?

Starting this week I wish to review / introduce / interview / present a blog each week.... more about how and why later....

Plannign to call it "Bloggerview"? Does it sound okay?

Basic Idea is to provide thoughts about the blogs that I read and what I feel about them
In case of famous blogs, will try to get an interview with them if possible and provide an insight into what they feel about blogging

Some Truths or Some Myths?

Democracy is the best form of cultured socitey.

If so, why do I sometimes feel

that my country requires a dictator?

Majority should rule.

If so, why do I feel something is wrong when

a majority ethnic group decides to clean off a minority

Education makes you smarter

If so, why do I feel that the illeterate people sometimes

show more wisdom

What did you say honey?

The Issue on Hand

Setting: Living room
@mit watching the TV on the couch munching on pop corn( Sports Channel. Minnesota Vikings v/s GB Packers. 4th Quarter. Vikings need a touchdown and all hopes on Dante)

My wife in the kitchen, cleaning up.

My wife(lovingly) Can you clear the trash honey?

@mit munching on pop corn...munch munch

My wife (a bit irritated): are you listening?

@mit biting the nails now cause it the the 3rd down and 10

My wife (shouting at the top of her voice): shut the damn TV. Clear the trash

@mit still biting on his nails and praying to all GODS that Dante does it.

My Wife standing next to me and still shouting: CLEAR THE TRASH

My Wife (shaking me, taking the remote and shutiing the TV) : Are you even here?

@mit: What are you doing? Can't you see....

My Wife: Can't you listen, I am shouting for last few minutes. You never listen to what I say.
You need to check your ears.

@mit catches the feeble shouts of his neighbors shouting because of the touchdown and starts dancing.

My Wife (sobbing now): you cannot even hear me but you can listen to the neighbors TV and the score... My god ... what happened to you...

I always knew nothing was wrong with me

Cause: Men process female voice differently (I do it even better)

Moon and Monk...

Drink this or go here

Jagdish Tytler (Hitler) resigns...Yeh dil maange more

Flashing News - After hours of squirming and standing alone, Jagdish Hitler (ooops Tytler) resigns as a minister.

Now we all can breathe easily ... at least you all can... not me.

Mr. Minister (former) your resignation is the least that the Govt can do, but we want more. Yeh Dil Maange lot more.

Resignation as a Minister, Resignation as a MP, Arrest, Trial, Verdict, Hangman....Justice!

That is what we want.

So until that happens I will not breathe easily and will not let you too...

BTW - Mr. PM - You admit it is a national shame - so let us kick the ones who brought this on us. And if you have time please convey my message to your colleagues in and out of the parliament

I am sorry

I am sorry.

I should have been a bit more considerate.

I could surely empathize more with you. You could not tell me what the problem was, but it was my duty to find it out. You depend on me to take care of you and I was irresponsible yesterday.

It is not your fault that you were not keeping well... it is not your fault that you could not tell me so....it was not your fault that you were cranky, incoherent, messy and so worked up.... it is not your fault that you are teething ........ it is not your fault that you are just 17 months old

I am sorry Sai. I love you and I am sure you do too....

TOI Where art thou?

Cross posted on TOI - where art thou?

I remember my school days when our English teacher egged us to read the English newspaper aloud everyday in order to improve our diction and clear our speech. I urged my dad to subscribe to the best Englsih daily (We had subscribed to a vernacular daily because my mother preferred it). He promptly asked our "Paperwallah" to give the Times of India to us. My dad, I remember, told me that it was the best English daily in circuit. --- Read more at TOI - where art thou?

Partitions

A couple of years back, I had played the lead role in a play named Partitions by Pangea World Theater. We had 16 shows in the Twin Cities and had nearly taken the play to New York and Chicago.

The play was wonderfully written by Meena Natarajan and directed by the talented Dipankar Mukherjee.

The play was about the trauma of a Sikh family and its journey from the bloody Partition, the 1984 Riots and its aftermath. The protagonist Bishen (played by me) tries to find the meaning to this journey.

It was during the preparation and study for this play that I actually found out how horrific the times of Partitions and the 1984 riots were for the families. We talked to dozens of Sikh families and Pakistani families as well to get a perspective of what the Parition meant for them.

I still shudder at the stories that I heard and their deep impact on me. The stories of honor killings, people burnt alive, uprooted from their native lands and then betrayed by the land which they called their own. Meena had done extensive research for the play.

It was then, that I realized that the betrayal by India of the Sikh community. I was never and still am not in favor of any more divisions of our country based on religion, language or caste. But for India to remain a united secular country, we all need to be a bit tolerant.

Tryst with Destiny

Honorable Members of Parliament, members of our esteemed temple of democracy I come here in humility to remind you of the Pledge that this very institution took on the eve of Independence. The 'poetically worded but eschewed in practice' pledge - "Tryst with Destiny"

I would like to remind the Honorable Members:

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially [...]

Honorable Members, our honeymoon with Fate has long been over and we have marched into the next Century, but the pledge which we solemnly agreed to uphold remains forgotten. The Pledge, H'ble Members, is not even marginally redeemed. I seek YOUR assistance as the beacons of democracy, the leaders of my motherland to uphold the basis of our Freedom.

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India.

H'ble Members, the FatherS of our freedom, the Martyrs of our struggle, have paid the price so that we can breathe the freedom, enjoy it and if I may so say, take it for granted. We have the freedom and by the power bestowed in us, by our Constitution, we have delegated "that" power to you and request you to take up this huge responsibility.

The service of India means, the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

H'ble Members, the Mahatma has passed away. He along with the thousands of his colleagues who sacrificed their lives (and much more) look upon from the Heaven and expect that I, You, We will treasure the gift of their life.

H'ble Members I would also like to take up this opportunity to remind you of the Preamble of our Constitution which we adopted on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1949. The Preamble which boasts of Equality within the secular fabric of India.

You ask why I bring all this up today? Lying before you today, is the Nanavati report on the 1984 Anti Sikh riots. In a few days you will see a similar report on the Bombay riots and Gujarat riots.

Unfortunately we call them "riots". They are not. None of the above mentioned incidents are riots. They are at best "ethnic cleansing" if not "genocide". Out country, our governments, our police forces, our armies, our people.... and most importantly YOU could not / did not stop the above from happening. The future generations will look back upon us (you and me) as the impotent systems or parts of it which could not / did not protect its own subjects. The people who died in the above genocides were ALL Indian Citizens whom me, you, we promise to protect and serve. We failed in our duties to those hundreds of victims who died due to our impotence and inaction. This cannot be undone.

However, we owe it to these victims as much as to us and our future generations to be just. It is our duty to ensure that the criminals (most of whom are Indian citizens) are made to kneel in front of the all too powerful LAW.

H'ble Members, Let me warn you, that in this and other similar reports, which are conjured out of our bureaucracy, will invariably name your political colleagues, your political friends, your political idols, your political enemies, because no genocide of this magnitude can be executed without the political blessings of the governments.

Can I rely on your just behavior that the perpetrators whoever they are will be punished?

Can you promise me that you will not blink once even if the crime is committed by your kin, if not your friends or foes?

Can you assure me that you will not seek political mileage or one-upsmanship out of these reports as that will be the biggest insult to the victims and their bereaved families?

Mind you, that this will not be easy.

Last but not the least, can we FINALLY make up our mind that such heathenish murders will not be tolerated in the SECULAR polity of my motherland. Next time a "big tree" falls the Earth is NOT bound to shake. The earth of my country is strong enough to bear the grunt of many fallen trees. Next time, a building falls; we will not embark upon the jungle rule and unleash the political carnage. Next time, a train catches fire; the people of the country will not take the law in their hands.

Will you stand up to be counted and show the world, that the largest democracy in the world is also the most deep rooted?

Will you ensure that the people of this country will realize that next time they feel their freedom, their faith, their beliefs are being raped, they can turn to you and the judiciary of India to protect them and give them justice?

This hate politics which results in these genocides is more or less imbibed in all of you, all of us. We need to cleanse ourselves of this hatred.

But before ALL that we need to give Justice to the victims. Justice delayed is Justice denied. It was not long back that some terrorists attacked you personally and within a few years we have caught and convicted them, decided to hang them to death.

The report in front of you carries the names of similar terrorists who need to be hanged to death.... Do you have the guts to do that?

I await your decision

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy.

And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.

JAI HIND.

Day of the Underdogs

What do you know? Looks like a day of the Underdogs today....

West Indies win against the "so far" unbeatable Sri Lanka and make the game against India into a Semi Final. Will the bonus point India earned against them save them finally?

The England are on the brink of a IMHO "historic" victory, which is good news for all. The Champs needed some competition and now they where to look.

Inda Wake Up........

Why don't you say something I ask thee?

So what is it with you? or with me?
Why don't you say something I ask thee

Did you come here by chance or did you take the bite
Did you follow the rabbit hole that I left on your site

Do you think that click of yours was "well spent"
on @mit the dreadful name, by the comment

But now that you are here reading about me
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

I spent some time reading what you think
If I liked your site, I added a link

I put a small comment, whenever you allowed
and hoped you take the bait and followed me around

You read it, you came here, looking for me
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

You don't like comments, you allow them not
That liberty I don't have , so "COMMENTS" are sought

Say something friends, before you move on
Click the "comments" link, cheer me up, come on

I would love to know what you think about me
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

I ain't no famous, I love no Cows
I ain't no Pundit, where blogs you can browse

I am not Gaurav, Uma or an economist per se
I Have no whirlwings you might say

My site meter, tells me you were looking for me
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

I do not dance with the dogs or die b4 fun
My life ain't no beauty, that I can shun

My life has no shades to celebrate
I am no Techy, nor gold coins I make

My thoughts I put down with blissful glee
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

One day my thoughts you will want to read
you will like to comment, but I will not need

You will want to flame me for my pranks
I will just turn around and say, "No Thanks"

But till such time, the comments are free
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

"Comment" my friend, that is all I ask
Just a few words, it's not a huge task

If you don't have time, just copy this line
"Go to Hell @mit", paste it & I am fine

I hope you will heed to what I plea
Why don't you say something I ask thee?

Nasa gets creative.

NASA before it got creative actually got curious.

Curiosity is one such quality which always amazes me. Had it not been for the curiosity of the human mind..... the world would have been different. Anyways back to the reason for this post and we will keep the post on curiosity for a different time.

Look at this great promotional video from Nasa. I love just for the sheer simplicity of the concept.

Taken from Instapundit via Gary Faber.

Rain Rain Go Away....

(Disclaimer:No No.
This is not a blog on the Mumbai Rains. I think enough has been written on it and I think that most of the writing has started becoming counter productive to the issue. The Mumbaikars
have taken this in their stride and I will let them alone for now. “aamchi Mumbai” will survive the disaster…..

This Blog actually does not apply to Mumbai and other rain affected parts of the country.
The Blog actually is on the cultural differences of the West and the East.)

I am sure all those who have done some part of their schooling in English have heard and crammed the nursery rhyme – Rain Rain Go Away….

This is taught religiously in our schools and we have recited it to umpteen times to get more “marks” or to get the accolades from others who doled out goodies onto us when we recited it (…obviously I am talking about the childhood).

Now think about this, should our country collectively recite this Poem. Should our spokespeople with God (the innocent children) be singing “Rain Rain Go Away” when most parts of Cpuintry never get enough rain. Doesn’t our agrarian economy and some of our water starved parts of the country “hope” for more rain than less…

On the contrary the poem that kids recite in Marathi says “Yere Yere paavasaa” welcoming the rain.

The stark difference in the theme of these poems is the cultural (or should I say geographical) background of their origin.

The former comes from England, where rains are a given constant and a hindrance for Little Johny’s play. (Interesting tidbit about the poem)

The latter come from the agrarian background of India where the Rain God (Indra) is the king of all Gods.

I think Rudyard Kipling was right …

East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. BTW - This snippet is generally used in the wrong sense