15th AUGUST: THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY

15th August is almost here, but that feeling of rejoice and proud is already peaking....Yes, the Indian Independence day is on 15th August, but the celebrations have already started and it will continue whole this week......AAAahhhhh what a feeling !!

I feel like flying or may be sing a song ...or just hang around....ohh...I ain't retard...it's just the euphoria of Independence Day......PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN :)

Here is an amazing video created by a friend of mine and it's worth sharing, so here it is:

A GLIMPSE OF HYDERABAD: VIDEO

Hey People...just bumped into this small clip about the city where I live, "Hyderabad". Have a look ;)

CANDLE LIGHT PEACE WALK IN SUPPORT OF JAN LOKPAL BILL

IndiaAgainst Corruption (IAC) is a citizen's movement to stop corruption by creating a strong Jan Lokpal institution. The first step in creating a Jan Lokpal is to create a draft Lokpal bill. This has to be then voted and approved by Parliament so that the institution can be setup. Lokpal bills have been introduced several times since 1968, yet the Indian Parliament and the various political parties have not shown the political will to create the Lokpal. Therefore, the Lokpal has never been setup till now.

Due to the negligence of several governments in setting up the Lokpal, the corruption and harassment faced by the ordinary people have increased, and enormously large scams leading to the loot of valuable public resources and the siphoning away of hard-earned tax payer money from more than a billion Indians by the so called powerful and corrupt have become very common.

Veteran social reformer, development advocate and activist Anna Hazare demanded a strong Jan Lokpal to be implemented by going on a hunger strike at JantarMantar in New Delhi. He was supported by several leaders and by Indian citizens all over the world. Bowing to the public pressure the Government of India constituted a 10-member Joint Committee consisting of 5 ministers and 5 prominent citizens known as members of the civil society to draft an effective Jan Lokpal Bill. 

Once the meetings began, the civil society members found that the ministers were not only disagreeing to several basic and important requirements of an independent and effective Lokpal, but also on simple procedural matters important for the Indian public such as broadcasting the proceedings of the meetings on Television for better transparency. After several meetings the ministers rejected the joint draft they had been working together on and decided to draft their own version called as the 'government's draft'.

Detailed analysis of the government's draft seems to indicate that it may actually increase corruption instead of controlling corruption. Further those citizens who are the victims of corruption and who protest or complain against specific cases of corruption are likely to get very little support from the system, be harassed or even jailed (Refer: http://www.kiranbedi.com/jlp.pdf). The draft bill was called a 'hoax' by Anna Hazare and many people refer to it as a 'jokepal'. 

The government is expected to present its draft of the Lokpal bill to Parliament in the next few days. Therefore, Anna Hazare met and told SoniaGandhi that in case the government does not place a strong and effective Jan Lokpal before Parliament and make it into law, he will have no option but to resume his hunger strike. He also reaffirmed his commitment to give up his life in the service of the nation for a strong Jan Lokpal and a brighter future for India.

Now, we are at an important stage of the movement. Thanks to the support that people have provided and there has been enormous progress. But much more needs to be done. The movement is still in the middle indecisive phase, and India Against Corruption needs your continued and active participation in this movement to make it a success. 

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people to do something for their motherland, for the society, for the generations to come. This will be a change in the way a country progresses, this will be an eye opener for the world, and this cannot be left behind now. Each person's support and contribution matters. Each of us has to keep our differences aside and work tirelessly towards the common goal of a corruption free India.

Today I was part of the "CANDLE LIGHT PEACE WALK" held at Malaysian Township, Hyderabad, India. I'm also posting a video with few of the glimpses from today's march in Support of Jan Lokpal Bill. I hope people from all over the India Join the movement for the "Corruption Free India". 

Remember, Unity Is Strength And Together We All Can Make A Difference !! 

ARRANGED MARRIAGES IN INDIA

Great video ... a friend of mine sent me a link to this video.





From the western countries point of view, this video offers an interesting perspective on marriage. Perhaps, the western countries can discover a whole new theory from our India. A little tradition can go a long way towards creating stability in a culture ... perhaps :-)

Though, the figures in the video are a bit of an exaggeration. These days not 90% of the marriages in India are arranged marriages, the correct figure would be around 65-70%, and the divorce percentage is also around 10-12%.

Eventually this gives the clear idea about 'arranged marriage' to the outer world  :)


PS. I had my love marriage arranged :), my parents met my girlfriend and they liked her too, and we got married.

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY INDIA- 26 JAN 2011

Hey wishing all my fellow citizens of India a very Happy Republic Day. May we get better as a democracy, as a nation, and most important as a human being.

Here is a video that gives a short but an important message, do see it-


Once again, WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY - 26th JAN.

GOD BLESS INDIA!!

PS. Just got to know from an OZ friend that today is Australia Day as well. So, wishing all my friends from Australia a very Happy Australia Day...What a coincidence :) 

HAPPY DIWALI :)

This is how we decorated for performing the Diwali Puja(prayers)

Today i.e. 5th Nov 2010 is the festival of Diwali in India. Deepavali or Divali or Diwali, popularly known as the festival of lights, is an important festival in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and few other religions. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes.

The lamps that we decorated for Diwali prayers

The decorations at the local mall

WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY DIWALI 2010.

XOXO....

KARVA CHAUTH-THE FESTIVAL

 YES, one more festival, one more celebration J. Well most of my non-indian readers would be interested to know- what is Karva Chauth? Ok, no worries I’ll give a brief insight on it.

“Karva” is another word for “diya” (a small earthen oil-lamp) and “chauth” means 'fourth' in Hindi (a reference to the fact that the festival falls on the 4th day of the dark-fortnight of the month of Kartik as per Hindu calender).

Karva Chauth is one-day festival celebrated by Hindu and some Sikh women in North India in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands. Yes, today I’m certifying that I’m married because many people still think that I’m a bachelor.

The fast is kept in such a high spirits by the married ladies that they don’t even drink a single droplet of water from the sunrise to the moon-rise. I’m sure you might be thinking that how hard are these rituals to follow, aren’t you? Ironically, when you ask the same question to the married ladies, who are keeping these fasts, they happily take pride in it and they embark this day a very special for the love of their husband.

A special day means a special dress code. On this very special day all the ladies dress up in their traditional outfits along with their traditional accessories. As part of the dress code, the ladies also apply Mehendi(Henna) on their hands. 

My Wife's Last Year's Henna 

In the night when the moon rises, the wife first of all worships the moon and then her husband. As part of the ritual, then Husband offers his wife the water, which wife drinks and breaks the fast, and it is then followed by a special romantic dinner date.

This year's henna

 Well, this is all going to happen tomorrow for us as we(Wife n me :-) are going to celebrate our second Karva Chauth. My wife has applied a really cool design on her hands using the henna and guess what she has also engraved my name(Vivek) on her hand. Anyway, I leave that task to you to find out where it is in the picture.  

COLORS, LIGHTS & HAPPINESS

O its that time of the year again!! India has a big season of festivals, starting with Ramazan(Ramadan) and Ganesh Chaturthi (in Aug-Sept) followed by Durga Puja and Dussehra (in Oct), then Diwali (on Nov 5th), and lastly, Christmas (in Dec). This is a special privilege of being in the multicultural country like India where every festival is celebrated with full tempo. Especially, if you are living in a cosmopolitan cities of India like Hyderabad, you are blessed to witness half a year of thunderous celebrations, no kidding :) :) :)

I really like these festive times, one thing that really excites me is the decorations and the lighting. Sometimes, when you are totally into your life, and the monotonicity has taken it's complete toll on you then one fine day, when you are walking along the streets or buying your grocery in the malls suddenly, you see the glitters and the colors of the festive season and instantly, you start feeling so good, you feel so relaxed and refreshed. Yes, that is exactly what happened to me today.

I'm sure you feel good on seeing colors too. There is a big connection of human mind with the colors and the lighting, and yes this is scientifically approved as well. So many times when we see something colorful it really makes us feel better and happy. Today I captured the beautiful lamps hanging in the mall, and I thought I will share here with you all. Hoping that it makes you happy as well, and wish you lots of love and peace.

THE HANGOVER OF TRICOLOR

This Sunday India celebrates its 64^th Independence Day i.e. on 15^th August 2010. The whole nation is under the magic of the tricolors and there are only three visible colors all around- Saffron, White and Green!!

It is so very exciting, one more occasion to celebrate the success story of India Inc. On this auspicious moment I pray that soon all the unsocial activities come to an end, soon all the violence ends, and soon we all together focus in one direction, the direction for the wellness of everyone, the direction for the betterment of everyone, the direction for the success of everyone, the direction filled with love and peace.

I’m totally in the hangover of tricolor this weekend, and that is the reason I decided to turn my black blog-space into a colorful one by painting it with the amazing tri-colored pictures. I hope you will like them.

Wish you a very HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY…….!!!

                         ALL OF YOU HAVE A LOVELY WEEKEND

I SPY I SPY…TILL YOU DIE

I SPY… I SPY….As soon as you hear these words the good old days of childhood flashes back again in the mind, and you remember the innocent childhood and it’s naive ness. Your heart gets filled with the strong feeling of joy and you feel like playing that  game again, but guess what, the whole world is witnessing this ‘I Spy’ game for long. You might be thinking what the hack I’m talking about, but I’m sure you will agree to me when the revelation happens. Ok, no problem let me give you few hints. These two countries were actually a part of single country before 1947. Any idea? Now? Ok, no problems, there are more hints here. In both the countries there are thousands of innocent people, who die because of violence or some unknown terror attack every year. Yeah, I know you are getting now, isn’t it? Ok, one last shot. Both these countries are in a desperate love with the word called “Kashmir”. Yes, I’m sure you got it this time. I’m talking about India and Pakistan, the two old great ***FRIENDS***!!

 Truly speaking since the time I have started understanding this world, I’m only witnessing the weird “I SPY…I SPY..TILL YOU DIE” game between India and Pakistan, and I’m sure there would be many more generations before my birth who would have witnessed the same. Yes, I’m talking about the “SPY” game that India and Pakistan are playing on the name of “PEACE TALKS” for so long, the game of NOT solving the problem to even a single bit, but merely a favorite past time of the politicians of the era when they have got their tenures of staying at the government quarters on the public expanses. I’m sorry, but I have just said the general statement and I know there have been and there is still a miniature of human-hearted politicians who feels the same pain as I do on witnessing this never ending political drama, and yet with pang in my heart I have to say that those very few ones cannot do much and this is what every single citizen of both these countries thinks.

Betrayal, bloodbaths, violence, bomb-blasts, riots, and any dreadful word against the peace of mankind that comes to your mind have been the main composition of this Indo-Pak saga, but their motives haven’t changed a bit and its clear- “Many will come, many will leave, but we will not stop sucking each others blood, until we clean each other till the apocalypse”. India and Pakistan together are spending approximately $200 billion on their defense budgets in 2010 and mind you these are the unofficial figures so just imagine the actual money that is being wasted on something very much avoidable. Then there are those thousands of innocent citizens who die in these clashes between India and Pakistan every year. There are so many heart-stopping figures that we all know, but still it’s going on year after another, generation after generation, and god knows may be whole century until both India and Pakistan are vanished from the world map.

I’m not here to discuss what is happening, because that’s everyone is witnessing, but the question- Are we ever going to put full stop to this political drama that we have been playing since half a century? Are we ever going to see peace in our society? Are we ever going to forget words like terrorism and bomb blasts, and live a fearless life? And I admit when I put my hand on my heart and look for answers to these questions, I found none, but then there is still a small hope deep inside that triggers the positive energy and makes me believe, some day all these questions will be answered, and even though today the condition is far from ideal but I will still try my level best to what I can do to make this part of the world a paradise again, and I hope together we all will achieve what we have been trying for long...AMEN!! 

IN INDIA ITS EARTH HOUR EVERYDAY

A few days ago there was this really huge hype all around the world about the Earth Hour, and the same hype reached to India as well. Pretty much everyday before the Earth Hour day, there would be something in the newspapers about it. Few big companies decided to celebrate the occasion at their India centers, also there were few people who happily wanted to be part of it, but overall the response to it was null. The reason was very simple- Earth Hour is of relevance to only those countries where there is 24x7 power supplies, in countries like India where people almost everyday celebrate Earth Hours, it really doesn’t make sense.

A thought provokes a new thought, and I got this pitiful thought on the day of Earth Hour. In India, the infrastructure is yet so far away from the basic needs of common man that 24x7 power supply is still a big dream. As per the experts there is 22% power shortage on average in India during the peak hours between 5pm and 11pm, and it is anticipated that the number could be higher. Anyway, I m sure the figures don’t show the real picture because there are still so many places in India where there is no electricity et al. People will survive in dark using candles etc, children will study in candle lights, the condition is so bad.

The government has yet not taken severe steps to improve anything, and the best answer they came up was- the situation will improve only after the onset of the monsoon rains. I just wonder we make a huge fuss about the GDP growth of 9% annually, we make a huge fuss about the hot job market, we create unwanted violence for religious and caste issue, but there is nothing done to improve the basic needs at grass-root level. The infrastructure especially the power infrastructure is so pathetic that even after paying so much money in taxes to government nothing has been done. India’s track record in adding power generating capacity is poor- in the last 5 years, the country has just added 20,550MW of capacity, against a target of 42,000MW.

It’s high team, we all focus on the basic needs first, otherwise just imagine what will be the use of buying air conditioners when there is no power to turn them on. Let’s do our bit first, let’s conserve and preserve by using the electricity efficiently. Let each one of us spread the awareness about it, let invent and discover various sources of energy that can make our future better. Let’s do it now !!

MOST FOLLOWED INTERNATIONAL STYLISH MEN IN INDIA

People love style and they love stealing the style tips from the stars. International stars are a big hit in India, but who is top of the fashion hot list? Well, here comes the top 4 international stylish men who have the maximum following in India.

RANK 1
DAVID BECKHAM

The English Soccer player has the maximum followers of his style all across the India. Beckham's ever changing looks have attracted the crowd's attention to the most. Anything and everything that Beckham flaunts becomes the latest fashion trends. The super stunning ever stylish David Beckham is the undisputed king of fashion  and the most stylish international man to be followed in India.

RANK 2
BRAD PITT

The versatile Hollywood actor and the husband of the sexy Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt ranks second in the list of most followed international stylish men in India. Brad Pitt with his strong muscular body inspired a lot of people in the country. Brad Pitt's movie- TROY was a big hit in India and that multiplied his followers a big time.

RANK 3
GEORGE CLOONEY

The veteran Hollywood actor became an instant hit in India with his style and attitude in the movies. His looks in the tuxedo and his style of smoking the cigar were hugely popular in the country. George Clooney ranks third in the list of most followed international stylish men in India.

RANK 4
ORLANDO BLOOM

The Lord of the Rings star gained huge popularity among the people for his looks and good performances in the Hollywood movies like- Troy, Pirates of Carribean and The Lord of the Rings.
The stylish Hollywood actor ranks fourth in the list of most followed international stylish men in India.