friends

Will Gadkari Succeed ?

2010-02-09T20:36:00.000+05:30

Will Mr. Gadkari succeed as the president of BJP?

Mr. Nithin Gadkari has been appointed as President of Bhajpa, at a time when the party is not doing well at the national level. Shri. LK Advani is in his twilight years, other leaders such as Ms. Sushma Swaraj, Mr. Venkaiah, have been there and not proved themselves with high honours.

Mr. Gadkari, has started well. He has started with Price Rise issue, which is the most pressing problem. With the budget session coming up, an opportunity to highlight the Govt. failures is there to be taken.

With congress playing the Rahul Baba card, Gadkari has a task, in pulling the attention of the youngsters in the country to BJP by being sensible and workmanlike.

Will Paypal Resume withdrawal to Banks in India ?

2010-02-09T20:27:00.000+05:30

Will Paypal Resume withdrawals of dollar amounts to Banks in India ? Recently, from 28th Jan Paypal has suspended withdrawal from Paypal accounts to Banks in India.

Using Paypal you can send money, pay and set up a merchant account in no time and start operating. All you need is a credit card.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, USA, Paypal is a e-commerce company with a 2.2 billion income in 2008-09.

Paypal allowed Indian customers to withdraw from their accounts with Paypal to their bank accounts directly, enabling many vendors an easy way to transact. However, from Jan 2010, Paypal has suspended its services to India, and as of today 9th, Feb 2010, Paypal has not offered an explanation.

Paypal account holders are left wondering will this withdrawal service resume or not.

If you look at the number of transactions which are occurring online, Paypal should be seriously working on how to restore its withdrawal service. By 15th Feb, things should be pretty clear. If Paypal is unable to restore the withdrawal service, Paypal account holders can withdraw amounts via a check or send this amount to a relative or friend abroad and ask them to effect a bank swift transfer.

Core Competencies

2010-01-19T20:03:00.000+05:30

We have taken a path, from which we are finding it difficult to come out. Along the way, we as a nation are acquiring core competencies in areas which are not useful to ourselves as a nation or as individuals.

Take the case of Jyothi Basu's passing away. No doubt, he was a long serving CM, and remained at the helm for many years. But, what happened to Bengal in his time. No need to list it here. We can all see it.

But, see how diligently and in a organized way we paid respects and conducted the whole process of him going into coma, critical condition leading to his passing away, and subsequent tributes, and funeral process itself.

We as a nation are becoming good at handling such events especially the political class - well supported by media.

Another event which occurs frequently in India are Elections - Legislative Assembly Elections for all states, Parliament Elections. We have achieved a certain amount of competency considering the organized way it is conducted by Election Commission of India. While this is good, it does not lead to any good directly to people for their daily lives.

Wrong side of the Bus Stand

2009-12-01T06:57:00.000+05:30

A cold December night in Provo, UTAH, I and my friend Chris from California were at the Bus Stand after watching a movie. We were waiting for our Bus to take us home at Cinnamon Tree apartment. Having never been in such cold weather, and at 10 Pm, I was shivering, must have been looking bad. And, someone noticed. It was the person at the wheel of the bus going in the opposite direction. The kind soul stopped the bus asked us to be seated in the centrally heated bus, we were in the bus for a good 5 minutes, by which time, the bus we were waiting for arrived and we got down and left. We reached our apartments safe and warm.

I recalled this incident while reading this article titled Wrong Number Miracle.

I will never forget the kind soul.

Our path is the correct

2009-11-25T12:12:00.000+05:30

Today PM Manmohan Singh during a visit to USA said, our path is correct as compared to china. He was referring to the path the country is taking on all fronts, or at least on all major fronts. The reasons he gave were human rights, social justice, etc.

Somehow, I fail to understand his reasons.

Each of the above reasons given lead to independent benefits and one does not lead to another. For example, social justice alone will not lead to great innovation. Nor fight for human rights lead to great society.

If you look at the ground situation, the scenario is frightening. Prices are increasing rapidly. Corruption is at the peak. Power situation is bad. Infrastructure is poor.

Or the PM knows something which i do not know.

Will India ever change ?

2009-11-19T07:29:00.001+05:30

Contrary to the views of our Prime Minister, Home Minister, External Ministers, and Planning Commission Chairman, I have a diametrically opposite view. While, our leaders mentioned above think India is progressing well, with the recession behind us, and no major terror attacks for a few months, and a different Growth rate each one is projecting, I believe India is sinking. Why ?

Prices of all essential commodities are increasing rapidly since the last few years. Many Indian families are unable to buy essential groceries and prepare healthy food. They are resorting to buying low cost (and bad for health) essentials and cook them in quantities to last for a couple of days. They are also frequently eating out in roadside food carts which are dishing tasting and tangy food such as noodles, gobi manchurian, and other snacks cooked in unhygienic conditions and served in worse conditions.

Education has deteriorated. Commercialization in all ways has started in schools at a elementary level and all schools have become marketing places for companies. The condition in Govt. schools is pathetic.

Politicians are most irresponsible. Politicians have started disrespecting the people's mandate completely. Even our PM is sitting in his chair without having to go through the mandatory election process as defined in our constitution.

Judiciary is, well no where.

I had a friend back in 1991, Ram Prasad Golla, who was an engineer with Novell, who disagreed with me that economic liberalization will revive India in a big way, and said Indians don't have it in them to lead a better life as a society. While, I did not like it one bit then, I am beginning to agree after all these years.

We badly need a courageous leader like Ashoka, Chandragupta, Krishnadeveraya. I am not saying a King. But, a leader who gets elected by due process of law.

Facing challenges

2009-11-15T16:59:00.001+05:30

Facing challenges is tough. And for girls it is tougher. Wind back to somewhere in 1994-95, a girl riding a two wheeler was chased from SP Road in Hyderabad to Tarnaka a good five km, by a bunch of goons on bikes. Teasing and pulling her duppata they thought they were having their regular dose of fun. They had no idea what they were in for. Because, the girl was made of sterner stuff. As she reached Tarnaka center, she got down from her bike at a busy junction and stopped the guys and took out their bike keys. Immediately, the gentlemen in the crowd, gathered around and helped her to block a couple of the goons from running and created a scene which prompted the police to act and arrest the guys. The incident sparked a overwhelming response from the press and this event was covered by the media the next day.

The girl was Mrs. Kavitha Gudapati.

The above is one positive trait of the many I know of Mrs. Kavita Gudapati. Today, she is a Organizational Psychologist and Certified Coach and teaches and consults people on how to face challenges in life and profession.

A brief of her profile can be see here : Profile

May her tribe increase.

Ten things I love about my school Manasarovar Pushkarini Vidyashrama

2009-10-24T08:43:00.005+05:30

:-) No foul language used by Teachers. This makes it easy for me to approach them.

:-) Saturday is a HOLIDAY.

:-) Fewer Exams and no projects which are usually done by parents, like in my friend's school in JSS.

:-) Green and Well kept school. I love the atmosphere.

:-) Most teachers are good. RK Sir is special as he keeps tight control on the boys. No unruly behavior allowed.

:-) My teachers encourage me to compete in Quiz, Debates and Pick and Speak.

:-) Very well organized extra curricular activities in school.

:-) Huge grounds to play.

:-) Nice uniform. Color is good, exclusive and quality of shirt and pant cloth is great.

:-) Our school annual day conducted during the third week of December is one of the best with everyone getting to participate.

Do you agree ? If yes, Digg the page, and post your additions.

Posted by : Vamsi.K

Dated : 24 - 10 - 09

School : Manasarowar Pushkarini Vidyashrama

Contact : vamsikaredla@gmail.com

Indian National Congress - Parthenium

2009-09-19T20:49:00.002+05:30

The Parthenium weed is a notorius weed as it can spoil Crops, Health and Appearence of any place it grows. Common places of growth are : India, Africa and Australia (Surprised?).

Yesterday, i was talking to a villager near Mysore regarding this weed and he said that it is called Congress simply because it is difficult to clear and clean just like the Congress party. I asked him was he serious ?. Absolutely.

And here is a Wikipedia entry about Parthenium which is amusing to read - check out this link:

Why Parthenium is called 'Congress'

You have more such info ? Pass it on..

Hagalkai - Kakarkai Gojju

2009-09-18T16:43:00.005+05:30

Hagalkai (kannada), Kakarakai (telugu), Bitter Gourd (Eng) is a very interesting vege. Firstly, nutritional value. It is high in Magnesium, Vitamin K, Phosphorus and Vitamin A. Being rich in nutrition it takes time to digest.

Now, how to make Hagalkai - Kakarkai Gojju.

What is required

Kakarakai - Hagalkayyi : 1 piece

Dry Cocconut grated : 1 small cup

Mustard Seeds (spoon full)

Jaggery small pieces

Hing

Red Chillis (hot variety)

Thick tamarind paste : 3 spoons

Coriander seeds (spoon full)

Split chick peas (one small cup)

Cumin seeds (spoon full)

Heat kadai, pour a spoon full of oil, add mustard, add bitter gourd and roast. Separately, dry roast Red Chillis (hot variety), Coriander seeds, Split chick peas, Cumin seeds and grind it to a coarse paste. Make sure all ingredients are in small quantities. Chick peas can be more.

Add this paste to the fried bitter gourd, and add dry coconut powder and tamarind paste and let it boil for 10 min. Add the coconut powder at the very last. Add salt. Best eaten with rice.

Enjoy and Relish !

Please comment after preparing and tasting.

The crab story

2009-09-08T18:02:00.003+05:30

Back in 1977, my physics teacher Mr. L. Hanumantiah, at Vijaya High School, Bangalore, had told us about a world crab exhibition, and how the Indian stall had a peculiar situation. All crabs were at the bottom, and the reason was each crab pulling the other. At that time i could not comprehend the true meaning of his narrating the particular incident. Thankfully, my parents never taught us to react adversly to other's success or riches. However, this is not so with our nation.

This typically signifies our situation. Kalam being pulled down by another scientist, each party going all the way to pull down the other. The most glaring and shameful happening on a daily basis is that the party in power today, treats the main opposition party, more viciously than it treats the constant and long time foe - Pakistan. No wonder, the nation does not have a cohesive response to Pak's frequent terror attacks and proxy war.

YSR - Did anyone predict his death?

2009-09-07T14:08:00.007+05:30

I was curious whether anyone predicted YS Reddy's unfortunate accident and death. I logged on to the Cyberworld and searched. No one had predicted his death or any kind of suffering in the near future. However, one gentleman from Agra, a hi-tech astrologer had predicted his death some 19 hrs before Sonia came to know. (Sonia herself said that around 8.30 am on Friday she came to know Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had died, and incidentally this was the earliest time anyone mentioned). We guessed the inevitable, at around 10.00 am when a meeting of PM, Sonia, Chidambaram and Anthony was reported by NDTV on Twitter.

One question i would like to ask Shri. Punit Pandey, is how could he predict Shri. Rajasekhar Reddy's death when the Helicopter was carrying 4 more people. After all, were all their horoscopes irrelevant ? Would they all have died at the same time if YS Reddy had died normally?

On Sunday i watched an interview by Deepak Thimaya of Ganesh Venkataramaiah. I found that there were no convincing answers coming forth. What came out was that an astrologer needs to know the person before predicting ! If an astrologer has to know the person in detail before predicting, then the whole process of prediction carries a ring of doubt around it.

People with a curiosity of knowing why predictions are a good pastime and predictions by Astrologers is pastime and misleading to say the least. In fact, it can give a sense of legitimacy to unscruplus polictians who can take Astrologers predictions as a vindication of their efforts.

This article on Astrology Astrology fraud or superstition is a must for every person who wishes to understand the one dimension of our thinking.

Other's misery is our fortune..

2009-09-01T08:56:00.002+05:30

I was watching NDTV the other day and i felt News channels particularly are adopting a business motto - "Other's misery is our Fortune".

They reported Swine flune cases day to day, now they have completly stopped. Take the reporting of BJP crisis involving Jaswant, Arun Shourie, Brajesh Mishra and Yashwant Sinha - all of them were interviewed in rapid succession, the objective seeming to be to highlight BJP 's misery.

Along with unsruplus politicians, and inefficient babus, we the citizens have another burden to bear - the News channels - particularly the English ones.

Should Dasara 2009 be skipped..

2009-09-01T08:47:00.005+05:30

Should Dasara 2009 be skipped ? It seems so. Given the rapid growth of the virus H1N1 the Govt. of Karnataka should skip this year's Dasara. While it may seem to be an over reaction, the scenerio of hundreds of tourists coming to Mysore, from Bangalore which is already reeling under the rapid growth of the virus and the climbing deaths, and the resulting spread of the virus in Mysore and surrounding villages and the strain it puts on the Hospitals has to be considered.

It might bring a bad name to the Govt. of the day and if the situation goes out of hand Mysoreons may never forgive this Govt.

I lost my cellphone Nokia N70

2009-08-31T12:05:00.002+05:30

Yesterday, i lost my cellphone. The pack included my Voter ID card and a few visiting cards. I bought this cellphone four years back after much deliberation, considering the price of the phone, nearly Rs.19000/-.

Just after loosing the cell i made a call from my landlline and the person who got the phone disconnected the line. Will he/she return it ? Not till now, after 12 hrs.

Jaswant singh's book..

2009-08-31T11:50:00.002+05:30

I got to read the excerpts of the Jaswant Singh's book after listening to all the furore it has created in the party, and the subsequent media hype. I held Jaswant Singh in high esteem on two counts. One, because of the fluent English he speaks and two, volunteering to go to Khandahar in the same Airplane with the terrorists. While it may have been wrong to go on the same plane, it was really brave of him to go, considering the situation. Jaswant did receive praise from Steve Talbot, a US high ranking official.

However, i cannot just understand why he choose the subject which he did for his latest book. What positive contribution does it do for our country which is facing so many problems such as, rampant corruption, blatant cheating by political parties by not dealing with real problems faced by people, rapid population growth, lack of expertise or knowledge among politicians etc. This book on the other hand, tries to draw conclusions after all the events have long happened. And, no one in India is probably interested to even consider the possibility of serious co-operation with Pakistan given the repeated terrorist attacks originating from that soil.

Let us hope he chooses a better subject for his next book.

Trip to Dubare

2009-08-23T17:58:00.013+05:30

We visited Dubare forest camp, again, to see how Parushuram (a baby elephant maintained by the forest officials) was doing. Last time we saw it, it was refusing to bathe, and disobedient, and was just an year old. Three years later, at four years, it was still naughty, and had learnt to bathe, and accept bribe (donation?) and bless those who only donated !!

See some pics of Dubare and of course at us. The Cauvery river is in full flow, and crossing it was tricky ...

Trip to Bandipur

2009-08-23T17:18:00.011+05:30

In Jan 2009, we visited Bandipur in search of a Tiger and we could find Tiger paw marks. Pics of animals we saw are given here. Along with friends with whom we visited the forests..

2009-08-23T17:17:00.001+05:30

Shantaram's New Bike

2009-08-23T17:13:00.002+05:30

My dear freind Shantaram, proprietor of Ganesh Oils, purchased a new bike. Here is a photo of him on the bike.

Great poets

2009-08-21T14:55:00.002+05:30

I am of the opinion that telling children about the lives of great people who lived in our country will inspire them to acheive much in their lives. The land of Telugu has produced great poets, each with a uniqueness, and different of Indian history. I was searching for a listing of poets of Andhra Pradesh, and here it is:

Great Poets of Andhra Pradesh

If you find such listings of poets in other languages of India please do post them here.

Should nobody question us ?

2009-08-15T18:51:00.002+05:30

I am a bit surprised that so much hue and cry is being raised by the media and congress politicians that SRK was questioned.

When we are in a different country we should learn to follow their rules. I would agree if SRK was ill treated or tortured. But, all that seems to have happened was - a simple routine questioning was done. Is it not proper on our part - particularly the establishment to ask the Americans for their story. What really happened? Why did it take 2 hrs? Why immediately register a protest. And why go to the extent of 'tit for tat'. What an immature and egoistic people we are.

Where is the rule that SRK or for that matter anybody should not be questioned. Nothing can be said till we hear what Americans have to say. If Americans keep quiet, we should force them to give a reply.

Listening to all this, i have a suspicion that SRK would have reacted a bit hastily at that instant. And, any kind of nervous, rebellious or strange behaviour makes them suspicious, since 9/11, 2001.

What can change India..

2009-08-15T14:10:00.002+05:30

Every country makes its own destiny. We still remember Vijayanagar Empire as a great empire, ruled by a popular king Krishna Devarayalu. The story of destiny of India since 1947 has been one ordinary story. Instead of explaining why it is ordinary let me focus on what can make India a vibrant society.

When we start working on the most important problems we face, and when we start seeing light and hope, vibrancy comes automatically.

The three problems today are :

1. Population growth

2. Corruption

3. Cleanliness or lack of it.

While the first problem is nullyfying all the good things we are doing - whether in the private or govt. domain, corruption is making the govt. almost useless. Due to rampant corruption, the authorities are unable to impose any kind authority on all the multi crore projects being implemented resulting in inefficient projects.

Cleanliness or the lack of it, is allowing the public in general to live a life of 'care a damn' attitude to public property and people in general have a very low opinion of our parks, govt. offices, places of historical importance, courts, police stations, railway stations, govt. hospitals, etc.

If the govt. can do something which assures us that population growth will be arrested and we will be a nation of surplus in the near future, we can look forward better days ahead.

If the govt. can control corruption we will start beliving in our govt offices, and allow honest hard working people to lead better lives.

If the govt. kickstart the cleanliness drive, we can be proud of our street, our colony and our city/town/village. With pride comes patriotism, as we would like to protect our good and beautiful country.

Homeopathy and H1N1

2009-08-13T17:05:00.003+05:30

A dear friend of mine suggested two Homeopathy medicines for building resistance to the dreaded swine flu. However, on reading this wikipedia entry on Homeopathy , i was wondering is it wise to use these medicines ?

Dr. Batra has also put forward an homeopathic cure for Swine H1N1 flu. Is the doctor misleading us..

Niligiri Oil SMS scam H1N1

2009-08-12T12:14:00.006+05:30

There is SMS going around that Nilgiri Oil is capable of preventing Swine flu H1N1 virus - attributed to National Institute of Virus, Pune. This is not true and has been denied by NIC Pune.

Hope one does not believe this mischevous SMSs going around.