Polo

No it isn't about the mint with the hole :P, it's about the sport.

Yesterday, we had gone to Race course for swimming and there we chanced upon a game of polo underway. The smart horses and the talented riders..it was gr8 watching the game.

Anyways the games got me remembering about our horse riding @ Bidar and hence this post goes out to all the friends, the horse riding and the football matches during and after the riding. :)

This post goes out to Angad, Manu, Anurag and Krish. Remembering you guys.

Jeene Ke Liye Bhi Waqt Nahi..

Har khushi Hai Logon Ke Daman Mein,
Par Ek Hansi Ke Liye Waqt Nahi.
Din Raat Daudti Duniya Mein,
Zindagi Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Maa Ki Loree Ka Ehsaas To Hai,
Par Maa Ko Maa Kehne Ka Waqt Nahi.
Saare Rishton Ko To Hum Maar Chuke,
Ab Unhe Dafnane Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Saare Naam Mobile Mein Hain,
Par Dosti Ke Lye Waqt Nahi.
Gairon Ki Kya Baat Karen,
Jab Apno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Aankhon Me Hai Neend Badee,
Par Sone Ka Waqt Nahi.
Dil Hai Ghamon Se Bhara Hua,
Par Rone Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi .

Paison ki Daud Me Aise Daude,
Ki Thakne ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.
Paraye Ehsason Ki Kya Kadr Karein,
Jab Apane Sapno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Tu Hi Bata E Zindagi,
Iss Zindagi Ka Kya Hoga,
Ki Har Pal Marne Walon Ko,
Jeene Ke Liye Bhi Waqt Nahi......... 

-Unknown

Masala Chicken

It has been a killer of a weekend and what a great start to it...Driving around Delhi at 2:00 AM :D

10:30pm

We ( read Rovin Jiju, Shiki Di, Aditi, Vinayak (aka Veenu) and me) start from our place at 10:30 after one round of Dinner for Paranthe Wali Gali ( @ Chandini Chowk) via Veenu's place at Safdarjung Enclave where his room mate and friend ( Aniket and Lakshmi) were waiting for us.

We started for Chandini Chowk in one car while Aniket and Lakshmi went to to pick Swati and then meet us outside Paranthe wali Gali..

11:10pm

We reach Paranthe wali gali where we are 10 minutes too late and the shops have all closed...Probably due to a heavy friday rush...

We debate where we should head next as a few more people arrive to be disappointed..

11:30pm

Its gonna be Masala Chicken @ Jama Masjid on a friday night and even at midnight, there was a crowd at the market at Jama Masjid

1:00am

After a heavy meal of Masala Chicken and Rumali Roti ( which was swimming in butter..and was pretty amazing) and extra dose of entertainment courtsey Veenu and Aniket, it was time for something sweet- Shahi Tukda, Firni and Halwa... we were so full that we were just able to taste these sweets...

Next stop : Chuski @ India Gate

1:30am

India Gate was in darkness and there were heardly any people at India Gate and just one odd ice cream vendor who had an empty cart :(

Since Rovin and Shiki Di had to drive to Chandigarh the next morning, we decided to call it a day

2:15am

Back home on a Saturday morning :D

Anything for you Ma'am

Well, I just finished reading the ebook-Anything for you Ma'am a few hours ago, and if you are a fan of the typical Bollywood masala movies, the one where you already know the twists and turns and how it will all be a happy ending...you might like the book.

In the story, an IIT Delhi student who loves a girl who lives is Chennai ( who is also the classmate of the guy's sister..) plans and goes to meet her in Chennai.

The story starts from the an Industrial tour which our hero (Tarun) wants to bunk and go to Chennai within that duration. Now because it is a Bollywood type script, he is bound to get into trouble with the Professor in-charge in a drunken party in his hostel ( where our hero doesn't drink, but is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time- typically Bollywood.) The prof then feels that the hero is faking the excuse that his brother is getting married to bunk the industrial tour and then wants him to produce proof that his brother is getting married..How our hero then goes for the tour, searches for a doctor in Pune who can give a medical certificate that he is hurt and needs bed rest ligament, to how he goes to Chennai from pune, how there is an attempted robbery on the train, how he meets another IITian ( from IIT Madras this time..) who is heading to Chennai to get married to his love of 9 years ( who incidently was in Delhi while he was studying in Chennai AND who happens to be the brother of our heroine, Shreya with whom oyur hero,  Tarun is in love with. Coincidently, the third person sharing the coupe with them the same Professor from IIT Delhi who was in-charge of the industrial tour and our hero was in his bad books of. How our hero saves him and comes in to his good books finally ( And if you haven't guessed it yet, the Prof is heading to the marriage of the daughter of a Prof from IIT Chennai ( who is his partner in some project.. ) who coincidently happens to be the father in law of the IITian's who our hero has already met on the train..So all three of them are heading to the same destination )

Ohh..I forgot..there are also some songs which the hero manages to conjure at the right time... :P

Typically Bollywood..or in Divya's words- Cheesy.


You can STILL read the book once though..and in case anyone wants, I have the ebook with me..

Earth Hour '10

Well, Earth hour started in 2007 with residents of Sydney switching off their lights. In 2008 more cities followed.

In 2009, India joined the Earth Hour movement. Over 5 million Indians and 56 Indian cities showed their support by switching off, saving approximately 1000 MW of power in that one hour and making the first ever Earth Hour in India a huge success!

However, I have only 1 question...

Why save electricity for one hour when you waste it for the next 364 days....???

You can see streetlights switched on in the day, roadside billboards with 6-7 flood lamps for each billboard, unnecessary wastage of electricity in offices, shops, malls and homes...yet on the last Sunday of March, people overdo it to celebrate Earth Hour ( the concept of Earth hour was that people should switch off unnecessary lights and what most people actually do is that they switch off all lights and sit in the darkness...)

I propose that instead of switching off electricity for 1 hour on 1 day of the year; try to do your bit each day. Switch off unnecessary lights at home or at your office/shop, if your office has 100 lights where it needs 10, write to the HR, switch off your desktop at night and educate the people around you to do the same....

Earlier related blogs : Earth Hour '09

                                 Earth hour in pictures

PS : You can still switch off unnecessary lights from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM on Saturday 27th March and feel satisfied that you are doing your bit.

Quote of the day...

Though this has been my status for a couple of days now...I thought I'll put it down here too..

" Whoever you may be, Wherever life leads you, You are always a Mom's child, a Dad's dream, a Family's future, a Friend's heart & Someone's life! Be the best of it..."

Creativity

Well, I have a bunch of pretty creative friends and where else do you see the creativity apart from Gtalk status messages and Twitter updates...

Last week when Sachin Tendulkar was busy scoring runs for his amazing knock of 200*, people were busy putting up some really creative status messages...

Check out a few of them

Ankit Govil: GAWWWDDD

Rajesh Bhasin: God's last name is not Dammit !.... looks like its Tendulkar

Nimit Mehra: God is sachin not the other way round!

RT @vvkchandra: God wanted to play cricket. Sachin was born!!!

Kartik Chaturvedi: In real.....terms only god can bat better than the maestro himself....!
 
Kazi: Sachin -> The Rajnikanth of the modern world. There is nothing he cant do

Abhay Murarka: Rajnikanth is the sachin of film industry, not the other way round - a friend

Abhay Murarka RT: @virajturakhia: RT @VascoZ Sachin Tendulkar - Reducing the number of atheists in India since 1989


VishrutShukla : A spl award shld be given to Amla for saving Dhoni's boundary in the 49th ovr. W/o Amla we wld hav had a 199* and a dead captain ;)

Pranav Jawale RT @delhidreams: Boss to me: "it is perfectly acceptable that u watched d last 15 overs. now please get back to work."

Abhinav Pophali took a break from office to witness the miracle!!

Nita Chandrasekhar: And just when u start thinking there are no records left to be broken, he breaks one more! Hail Sachin!!


Manu Vats: Sachin 10dulkar not nly brings smile on millions of faces bt also solves various problems like reducing traffic on roads , keep ur boss hppy,saves ur phone bill.....He is a true genius nd an inspiration 4 me nd all.


Kushal Agarwal: Moksha mil gaya aaj :) Sachinnnn :')

About Sachin, I need not say anything. Period.

The Spirit of Living

I recently came across an article in Hindustan Times about two blind men who run a shop in North Campus area in New Delhi...

Intrigued, I read further...

The shop called ‘Andhein Ki Dukaan’ (Blind person’s shop) is run by two visually impaired men, Pradeep and Umesh. The shop stands next to the Hostel For College Going Blind Students (Louise Braille Bhawan), Kingsway Camp and the shop has been selling snacks such as chips, biscuits and eggs and soft drinks since 1995.

It is very hard to even imagine two visually impaired men running a shop, even harder to believe that these men can now distinguish different products and money by touch alone. But Pradeep and Umesh can now distinguish a bottle of one cola brand from another; a fake note from the original..

I am sure that when Pradeep and Umesh must have thought of opening a shop, people would have mocked them, telling them that it will impossible, people would steal from them and they would be unsuccessful...It has been 15 years since that point and by God's grace, they have managed to survive and manage well.

These two men have shown that nothing is impossible if a person is willing to try...and it is this spirit of living that I salute..




P.S: I had blogged about another visually impaired man whom I used to meet on my way to office. Check out that post here...

P.P.S :Check out this news article in HT here...

Save our tigers

Aircel “Save Our Tiger” is the latest campaign where it intends to draw attention towards dwindling numbers of tigers across the planet and bring forward the seriousness of losing tigers from our planet.

Tiger, the national animal of India, has been on key target of poachers and in 2009 alone India lost 86 tigers. From around 40,000 at the turn of the last century, there are just 1411 tigers left in India. The national animal is on the verge of extinction and if serious efforts are not undertaken Tigers will only reside in our history books.

In the international market, a tiger fetches at least $10,000, but broken into body parts, the value can soar to $50,000. Every bit of a tiger is in demand—the brain as cure to pimples and laziness, its whiskers for toothaches, the nose and eyes for epilepsy and malaria, the humerus bone for ulcers, rheumatism and typhoid.

The Penalty...
If an offence is committed against the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, there is a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment or a fine which may extend to Rs. 25,000 or both.

For an offence against a Schedule I or Schedule II (part 2) animal, or for an offence committed within a sanctuary or natural park, there is a mandatory prison term of three years, which may extend to seven years. There is also a mandatory fine of at least Rs. 10,000. For a subsequent offence, the mandatory prison remains same, while the mandatory fine is at least Rs.25, 000.

For an offence committed inside the core area of a Tiger Reserve, there is a mandatory prison term of three years, extendable to seven years and a fine of Rs. 50,000 extendable to Rs. 2 lakhs. In case of a subsequent conviction, there is an imprisonment of at least seven years and a fine of Rs. 5 lakhs which may extend to Rs. 50 lakhs.

Despite these penalties, the laws are difficult to enforce and to date, in spite of hundreds of cases, only 16 people have ever been convicted of killing a tiger.
.
.
If a person can earn upto $50K, would they even care for a fine of Rs. 25k or a jail term (bailable) and the bribe amount which would amount to nothing, but guarantee a safe passage for poachers??


What can you do?

There are various credible organizations working towards the conservations of Tigers in India. You can support them by donating the amount of your choice. Head over here to make a donation.

If you have a blog similar to this, you can write about the urgent importance that is required in this regard. If you have a social networking profile, update your statuses’ (or the likes..) to show your concern (every bit of word helps spread the message).

If you see or know any one in your village hurting Tigers, be it for any reason, educate them and if possible bring them to the law.

And finally, if your want to show your concern on tigers virtually, head over here to make
a mark.


Its time we raise awareness and force the government take steps to increase the guards and
forest rangers to reduce the ease through which poachers helped by local villagers can get to a tiger. Until we can't stop that..we can't stop the killing of wild animals- not just tigers..

Chetan Bhagat @ Symbiosis

This isn't the entire speech that Chetan Bhagat gave @ Symbiosis Pune. This is just a summary of the speech.

"
Dont just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
"Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up?

It's ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices........." :)

"

"Don't be serious, be sincere.!!"

The entire speech is available here.