Is our Honorable PM Mr. Narendra Modi an All Rounder?

Everyone had huge expectations from Our honorable PM Mr. Modi, to an extent its all panning out quiet well, here is why he has proved to be an all rounder?

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yohan- As per reports it has been a roaring Success. With just a bit more than 2 Months of its launch 7 Cr Accounts have been opened with Rs.5000 Cr Deposits. But does it really going to make any difference in the life of common man and our economy..? Well its been one of the best scheme being implemented in the Financial space. Not only we have given formal banking access to unbanked population who will get access to fund at much lower rate.. But help them to save money and grow it at the same time. Lets take an example: even if they were saving Rs. 50,000/- p.a. they did not know much to do with this money and would generally keep it in their homes. But now with their bank account they will get at least 4% interest which is good amount of Rs. 2,000/- p.a. And now just adds up the interest for 7 Cr. account holders annual saving.. there money is not just growing but its quiet safe as well.

Infrastructure- There is a lot which needs to be done in infrastructure space for better connectivity between cities and for fast moving of good from business point of view. Earlier governments did started some crucial projects but there implementation was much behind schedule with very less focus on the adjoining border area infrastructure. Mr. Modi knew its importance and started working on it from day one with special focus on Roads near by border areas. Best example is of 2,000 km road from east tawang to Vijay Nagar in Arunachal Pradesh which is of significant importance for safety, military capabilities and to reduce native population from migrating to big cities.

Swatch Bharat Campaign- Many will criticize current government and may even term politicians as photo opportunist. But i have never seen a national campaign create so much awareness. India has had cleanliness issue since long and every one knew about it. But very few steps were taken to do much about on such large scale. Clean India movement will not only curb spreading of epidemics but also improve tourism prospects and healthy living. Finally we have a leader who does not shy sway to accept this as a problem even in an international stage where he requested NRI's to come forward and take pledge to clear Hole river Ganga. This has opened up a new window of funding and may not even require any funding from government at all.

Connecting with the Masses through Mann ke Baat- Remember last time when you heard your leader speak on a radio? We often forget that more than 50% of India still lives in Rural India and just one third of rural households own a TV set. No matter how much good work you do or launch new social schemes for the common man. If you can't connect with them through constant communication chances are that they are going to feel that they are being left out. Response of his fortnightly address "Mann ke Baat" has been so good that villagers and people from all corners of India come together and listen to their PM who gives them hope of good days ahead for India.

Finally an All Rounder who knows how to play on different pitches and can bat against all types of bowling attack..

The End

It’s good to be home. Sitting on the couch in the living room of my apartment here, I’m surrounded by the comforts of the expat life I missed — satellite television, broadband internet, pretty consistent electricity.

But something’s changed. These things don’t feel the same anymore. The luxuries used to make me comfortable; being comfortable, I thought I’d adjusted to India rather well. The last two weeks changed my mind. Since I set out with a friend of mine on a road trip to discover the “other” India, I’ve come to realize that the India I live in is hardly the same for most people in this country.

As we entered Mumbai last week, I called a friend to say that we had finally arrived. “It must have been amazing to see that part of India,” she said. “It is very interesting. But can you imagine actually living there?”

I had to say no. The country I saw over the last two weeks is most definitely not the India I call home. It looks different, sounds different, even tastes different (food is much spicier, for one). What drives life in India’s modern cities is a mixture of dreams, ambitions and hope. But, I learned, what it takes to live in the parts outside the city limits is something very different.

From our time on the road, that’s the lesson I’ll remember: to live out there, in the India beyond the cities, you muct accept and adjust — to whatever, whenever, however. Drivers regularly defy the rules of common sense, to say nothing of traffic laws. Yet not once did I see a moment of road rage or incredulity. I’m hard pressed to think of an instance when a near-miss didn’t end in drivers smiling at each other. They accept, and adjust.

There’s a Hindi word Indians use often when the unexpected comes up: chalega. Literally, it means “it’ll work” or “it’ll do.” And they use it all the time. Can one more passenger squeeze into a long-haul auto-rickshaw already bursting with a dozen human bodies? Of course: Chalega. What should I do if there’s a truck charging at me head-on? Pull to the left and wait for it to swerve at the last possible moment: Chalega. What happens if my muffler falls off? Re-attach it with some duct tape: Chalega. And if it’s pouring rain and I don’t have an umbrella? Tie a rag around your head and go for a walk: Chalega.

I tend to think I’m a fairly easygoing guy. But I’m not sure I’m laid-back enough for everything I saw. I can’t always say chalega, not to the destitute poverty of children begging the streets of some towns we passed, nor to the poor infrastructure that leaves millions without electricity for hours every day. And I definitely can’t say chalega to the rural health clinics that forced my friend to have his stitches removed and redone in a larger hospital — after lackadaisical care left him with a spreading infection. For me, chalega is not a valid response.

Living in many of the small towns and villages I saw takes an ability to accept and abide, an ability that I just don’t have — mainly because I was raised in America amid comfort and order. But as India develops, and more people become accustomed to similar comforts, I wonder how long that attitude can last. How long will people in the hinterlands of this country accept their lot with a shrug and a nod? How long will people keep making space in already crowded buses and auto-rickshaws for a population bursting at the seams? How long before Indians need more than just a word — chalega — to keep going on?

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiatrip/2008/08/18/the-end/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&mod=indiaTripBlog

"Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Wealth"

A little excerpt from the blog of Daniel Suelo’s who lives in caves in United States since 2000. He has not touched money since then; except for a month in 2001. For this guy recession does not really exist. If you are wondering where does he access the internet from, well he do it from the free Internet provided by one of the library.

My life feels so rich, now. Like the richest man on earth. I don't always feel this way (I sometimes find myself getting pissed off or discouraged, of course) but I usually do - yes, more often than not! I can't figure out if my life is so easy or it's so hard. I don't even know the difference between easy & hard anymore. I don't even know what an ascetic is supposed to be. If I went contrary to my instinct, against my soul, for the sake of earning money, then I would definitely be a self-torturing ascetic. And if I had too much food & luxuries (addictions that abuse the body & mind) I would definitely be a self-torturing ascetic. But, also, if I did not take enough and starved myself and wore hair shirts for the sake of a hungry god of my own making, I would be a self-torturing ascetic. Take only what you need, no more, no less, and all your desires become fulfilled - desire ceases to control you. Needs and desires become one. If everybody took only what they needed, no less, no more, then the human world would come into balance as it is in the non-human world. This is no statement of genius. It's such common sense, so very simple, it's almost absurd I have to say it. But our world has lost the most basic common sense.

What if Indian Rail gets privatized!!

I just wonder some time, what happens if Indian government privatized Indian Rail. Below are few thoughts:

Rajdhani train will face stiff competition from Ambani Comm. Dhani, Birla Dhani, and Mittal Steel Super Fast etc. and Passengers will be lured by some of these kinds of offers:

Travel from Bombay to Delhi via Lucknow and watch Mayawati statues. (Paolitical touch.. A new market strategy altogether)

Free tickets for first 10 customers, going to Pakistan and you could also get the chance to watch Sri Lanka V/S Pakistan Cricket Match played in Lahore (This will fall under the category of Promotional activities)

Travelers coming to Bombay from Northern India will be provided with Z plus security when they disembark in station to their end destination. Security can be extended on a case to case basis to prevent them to become victim of any riots spread by Anti-North Indian elements which are in existence from quiet a long time. (This will fall under the category of Value Added Services)

The Suitcase

True story of Kim in her own words from North Carolina (United States)

Everyone experiences heartbreak. I can't say mine is worse or less painful than any other, I only know how it affects me. And last year, I experienced the worst heartbreak of my life. To make a long, complicated story as short as possible: I fell in love with a man I had known for two years, a dear friend, who lived and worked in San Francisco. We had talked and written and become so close during that two years that being together felt more like the next step than a risky venture. We met in person, were mad for each other from moment one, and after a few months, we decided I would move to San Francisco. We looked at places to live, made plans for a life together, and were both giddy at the thoughts of it all. And then, in the most cruel way imaginable, I found out he had been living with another woman the entire time we made all these plans, the entire time we had written to each other as friends, the entire time we were seeing each other.
After I found out, he abruptly cut off all communication with me, became someone I instantly did not know, and never, ever showed a flicker of remorse or sorrow. I fell apart in ways I am embarrassed to think of now. I completely lost my footing and my confidence.
A great deal of my sorrow was just over the fact that one person could do such a thing to another. Especially to someone who had shown them only kindness and love. And WHY? Why had he drawn me into his life, made these plans, while LIVING with someone? How could I be so stupid? What signs had I missed? Why would someone treat me this way?I needed answers, and never got them. I wanted to understand how this could happen, but there was no explanation.
For almost a year now, I have felt like someone had pushed me off of a cliff, and I was continuously falling, falling...dreading the impact at the bottom, but never hitting it. Just staying in this never ending, horrible free fall, waiting for it to be over.When I came home from that trip, my last trip to see him, I put my suitcase in my extra bedroom and ignored it. I felt that if I opened it, the pain would be too much to bear. Seeing the things I had packed for what I thought would be a wonderful, special trip. The things I bought while I was there, before it all came apart. I couldn't bear it. And day after day, I let the suitcase sit there, haunting me.I replaced all the toiletries, my curling iron, and an electric toothbrush just so I wouldn't have to open it. Weeks went by and then months, until I was in another season, and didn't miss or need anything inside it.
And then, a few weeks ago, I moved to a new apartment. As I carried random boxes, lamps and other items out of the spare bedroom, the suitcase stood in the corner. I realized it had been almost a year since I left it in that same spot, in that same position. My heart hurt remembering how it felt coming home that night.I looked at this bag, and thought of just adding it to the trash pile outside. But I remembered a few things inside it that I had loved. The French shoes I had bought in San Francisco that made me feel as though I was walking on cobblestones instead of concrete. The little black and white dress that made me feel beautiful, even sexy? The journal that I had kept for years before meeting him, knowing him. I took the handle in my hand and loaded the suitcase in the back of my car.A few nights later, I finally screwed up my courage and opened it. The first thing that greeted me was the scent of the perfume I had worn, that I loved, but hadn't worn since then. I was determined not to cry, but it happened before I could think. I wept. For a moment, I thought again of just closing it and trashing everything. But I made myself keep going. I found the French shoes, the little black and white dress, my favorite bathing suit, my journal, jewelry I adore that I had almost forgotten about, clothing I feel my best in, and some writing I had done-some short stories- that are some of my most excellent pieces. I sat there with these things all around me, still in tears.And slowly, I began to replace the things from the suitcase in my life. I wore the shoes to work, brought the perfume out of hibernation, and washed all the clothes and returned them to my closet. My necklaces, bracelets and rings returned to my mirrored jewelry box, and the writing to my desk with my other work. I performed the suitcase cleaning ritual I used to do after my business trips, vacuuming the whole suitcase, spritzing some Febreeze and returning it to my closet.I was fine with the contents out, but the suitcase itself bothered me. I couldn't look at it without thinking of the pain of that last trip, the pain that took me a year to open. So, I tossed the suitcase in the back of my car, figuring I would happen upon a dumpster while I was out.And then, while driving around for work, in a shopping center where I was visiting a potential client, I saw two women behind a table with containers and stacks of odd items surrounding them. A sign read DONATIONS, and listed the name of a women's shelter. I returned to my car and pulled out the suitcase and quietly added it to the stacks of donations. As I walked away, I thought of some woman, starting her life over, exiting from pain, heading somewhere new and safe. I thought of her packing things in this suitcase, beginning anew-- associating this suitcase with happiness. At least that's what I hope. It seemed to clear my head and my heart.I also know that during the time I was in love with him, before the heartbreak, that I felt more beautiful, more amazing, more everything than I had felt in a long time. And the betrayal took that away from me for awhile. During the last year, and especially in the last six months, I have realized that I was not stupid or blind, and I was not part of the betrayal. All of the things I felt --love, excitement, happiness--were all true and real. So the way I felt because of those things- beautiful, worthy, confident--had to be true, too. The only part of the equation that was false was him. I have finally separated myself out of it all, forgiven myself, stopped punishing myself, although it seemed to take forever to get to this point.And it's funny, I think in a way that the suitcase in my house, however hidden, was almost like he was still around. Breaking it open, taking the parts that were the best of myself out of it, and then doing something positive with it freed me. Maybe it sounds dramatic, maybe no one can understand, but it makes perfect sense to me. And it's been almost a year since I could say that about anything.

Source- http://kdsthinkingoutloud.blogspot.com/

A pencil and its significance

We know, how important role a pencil plays in our lives, today we would see the five qualities that a pencil possess, but some of us fail to notice it. But it solely depends on how we look at things.
First quality: We all are capable of great things, but we must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and he always guides us according to his will

Second quality: now and then, we have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So we, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make us a better person.

Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not a bad thing; it helps us on the road to justice.

Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, we should know that everything we do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in our every action.

Statutes for life- Paulo Coelho

1] All men are different. And should do everything possible to continue to be so.
2] Each human being has been granted two courses of action: that of deed and that of contemplation. Both lead to the same place.
3] Each human being has been granted two qualities: power and gift. Power drives man to meet his destiny, his gift obliges him to share with others that which is good in him. A man must know when to use his power, and when to use his gift.
4] Each human being has been granted a virtue: the capacity to choose. For he who does not use this virtue, it becomes a curse - and others will always choose for him.
5] Each human being has the right to two blessings, which are: the blessing to do right, and the blessing to err. In the latter case, there is always a path of learning leading to the right way.

6] Each human being has his own sexual profile, and should exercise it without guilt - provided he does not oblige others to exercise it with him.
7] Each human being has his own Personal Legend to be fulfilled, and this is the reason he is in the world. The Personal Legend is manifest in his enthusiasm for what he does.
8] The Personal Legend may be abandoned for a certain time, provided one does not forget it and returns as soon as possible.
9] Each man has a feminine side, and each woman has a masculine side. It is necessary to use discipline with intuition, and to use intuition objectively.
10] Each human being must know two languages: the language of society and the language of the omens. The first serves for communication with others. The second serves to interpret messages from God.
11]Each human being has the right to seek out joy, joy being understood as something which makes one content - not necessarily that which makes others content.
12] Each human being must keep alight within him the sacred flame of madness. And must behave like a normal person.
13] The only faults considered grave are the following: not respecting the rights of one’s neighbor, letting oneself be paralyzed by fear, feeling guilty, thinking one does not deserve the good and bad which occurs in life, and being a coward.
14] We shall love our adversaries, but not make alliances with them. They are placed in our way to test our sword, and deserve the respect of our fight.
15] We shall choose our adversaries, not the other way around.
16] All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect.
17] A man who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective manner of adoration and of sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, he alone is responsible for his actions along the Way, and he has no right to transfer to religion the responsibility for his steps and his decisions.
18] We hereby declare the end to the wall dividing the sacred from the profane: from now on, all is sacred.
19] Everything which is done in the present, affects the future by consequence, and the past by redemption.

By- Paulo Coelho

Friends and the pain...

Life is a journey which we most of us have to cross all alone. This seems true in every phase of our life that we go through. This is that hard truth which is very difficult to digest. Answer this, who would like to be separated from their loved ones? well I think no one, this thought crossed my mind very recently when some of my college friends decided to move out of MBA programme in the middle of it from IBS Mumbai, whatever may have been the reason for them, but one thing is for sure that I have lost the opportunity of spending two full years with them, may be a little longer with some of them; to get to know about each other and our different cultures; When we have just started to understand one another. Yes, now we all might have been thinking that why do we have to make friends when we all have to set apart one day or the other? Just go a little backwards in to our school days. The time you have spent together with your friends, then after finishing the eventful journey at school. Some of us choose different streams. Some decides to shift to big cities, foreign Universities etc. then by the time you finish your graduation, some lucky one’s will land up with a good job with some reputed company and some cracks the competitive exams and are all ready for their Post graduation. Then again that feeling of loneliness at that new place for some of us arises; like standing in the middle of road when it’s raining and no one to hold umbrella for you, and then after some time we all start our life again from ground zero. But, my friends I feel that this is how we are meant to live our lives and we can’t change it. We just have to adapt to our surrounding and be open for new thoughts.

“Because, the day spent can never be brought back;

But the moments will always be remembered.”

Live life to its fullest.

Atithi Devo Bhavah?

The question mark above denotes, if really the guests are treated as god in today’s time. I afraid but not, We have lot of instances infront of us. list of crimes against our guests seems endless, from Scarlett (European teenager) murder case, foreign women being raped. Our ancestors have laid the foundation of a very good society but it seems, we are moving towards forming a different society.
As the old saying goes, “Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.” That is the essence of Atithi Devo Bhavah. It’s all about developing a sense of responsibility towards our tourists and preserving our rich culture and heritage.
And for that to happen, we need to change our attitude towards tourists. Some of us have lost touch with the hospitality that we were famous for. Let us bring that warmth back. Let us truly embrace Atithi Devo Bhavah. Let's nderstand it from some of the views how we can curb the menace of misbehavior towards our guests/tourists.

1.) Duty- First of all we have to understand that it’s our duty to protect our guests from the criminals. If this is done, then we are half way through.
2.) Change the attitude- We have to bring a change towards the attitude of the people as today’s generation is getting diverted from our rich culture which has always welcomed guest & treated them as god. We should create awareness about it through newspaper, banners, media etc.
3.) Drastic Action- The last resort is to take drastic action against the culprits, this may seem odd, but it becomes important sometimes to control things when they become out of control. So that other people also who have the similar mindset dare to think of committing the same offense.

It is good to see celebrities like Aamir Khan coming forward and taking the initiative by becoming brand ambassador of the Ministry of Tourism for the Incredible India Social Awareness Campaign called “Atithi Devo Bhavah”.

Neither Black Nor White

I'm always bewildered when something happens and I expect the answer to be a clear cut 'yes' or 'no' but ends up being something in between. I'm beginning to realise that as I'm exposed to more new (new to me) situations that nothing is ever black or white but is instead always a shade of gray. You can like someone and not like them at the same time; you can feel hungry and full at the same time; you can want something but not want it at the same time. The list really is endless. Inexhaustive.And I guess that I'm also learning that this is what we should appreciate about life. Because nothing in real life has a straight answer. Though I'm sure the author of Q&A or Slumdog Millionaire as it is now known would like to differ - according to him, life CAN be a multiple choice question. And learning this is the hardest part when you've led a sheltered and fairly problem-free life the whole time before this.

Oh well. As Alanis Morissette once sang - "You live, you learn".