Disasters and their mitigation "A much required paradigm shift"

India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters on account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. Floods (Bihar, WB, Uttarakhand Aasam), droughts (Rajsthan, Maharashtra, Odisa, Bihar Aandhrapradesh), cyclones (Coastal states), earthquakes (Earthquake belt from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh) and landslides (Himalayan States) have been a recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought.

In view of the recent natural (Or may be Man-made ) disaster in Uttarakhand, it has become necessary to change the way we view it, define it and handle it. Since many decades disasters have been considered as the fate of common man. Even the focus of SDMC ( State Disaster Management Committees) and NDMC has primerily been on only mitigation rather prevention. From 1999 oddisa cyclone disaster to 2001 bhuj earthquakes and now 2013 floods every single disaster has drawn the curtains and showed us how unprepared we are .. 

Early warning systems have been ineffective or maybe we have learnt to close our eyes. It seems that we would rather love to count dead bodies rather preventing their fates at first place.

National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) is the organization working under group of ministries (MoHA, MoD, MoRD, MoIA ) which is responsible for the activities like , Installing, operating and managing early warning systems, carrying rescue and rehabilitation operations and ultimately redefining crisis management policies. Still it's a shame that we need to call army and other agencies in rescue and rehabilitation operations despite of having this strongly manned, well established network of CMCs ... this also shifts focus on the fact that our existing mechanism lacks preparedness in terms of resources, training and manpower. 

It has been proposed to constitute a National Emergency Management Authority at the National level. The High Powered Committee on Disaster Management which was set up in August, 1999 and submitted its Report in October, 2001, had recommended that a separate Department of Disaster Management be set up in the Government of India. It was, however, felt that conventional Ministries/Departments have the drawback of not being flexible enough specially in terms of the sanction procedures.

The worst part is due to lack of separate specialized central department, the responsibility of rehabilitation goes to other ministries and agencies where they build their mansions and Swissbank account balance on the pile of dead bodies.

We as a common citizen either don't know a thing or perhaps we are too busy with other important things like "Cricket, Movies, Temple run, may be wassap ;) ) 

Any ways, least we can do is to be informed and keep asking our authorities through RTI petitions and official complaints that when is NEMA being constituted and empowered in real sense. 

Thanks for ur valuable time

~ Rahul Bhardwaj ~

Reservations Vs. No Reservations (Courtesy ~Suvigya Saxena - National Law Institute University, Bhopal.)

The word 'Reservation' is mostly misconstrued, misunderstood, vague, and even mythical. There is a general belief that those who oppose reservations are free from casteist considerations -- while those who support reservations are casteist, or vote hungry. The truth is that there are many sincere people on both sides. So the question is Do We Need Talent Or Reservations To Build Our Country? Most typical arguments made by those who oppose the very concept of reservations in higher education along with those who propose it, are discussed here.

The opponents often consider it that reservations result in denial of seats to those with merit in the General Category. But in most cases, as per the proponents thousands of general category candidates with basic merit are competing for a few hundred seats. The number of reserved seats is limited to a few tens. Thus the maximum "loss" due to reservations is highly limited. Most general category candidates with merit lose out only because the number of available seats far outstrips the number of candidates with merit. But now when then reservations will rise up to 49.5% then it can not be said that so. It will only make the competition doubly tough (and it’s already one of the toughest in the world) for students who can’t avail the reservations resulting in denial of seats to the General Category. That will mean - more stress, more frustration and more discontent.

The opponents of the reservations say that it results in diluting the quality of professionals (by letting in those with lower marks). When the 50% of the seats that gets filled up is not exactly based on the talent, it is bound to affect the quality of the students. It will also faint the brand image of the premier institutes as the image of the premier institutes is that it produces students of quality much better than most other will only get tarnished a bit as the other half might not have had the kind of background and aptitude as is the norm. But the proponents pay heed to the fact that the reservations are at the entry stage. Each reserved category student has to later qualify in the examination before becoming a doctor or engineer. The "merit" required for qualifying to be a doctor or engineer is NOT lowered by reservations. This is the reason why many reserved category students take longer to complete the course -- as also are some times withdrawn from the course. For this very reason, the students who pass out from private colleges too do not result in significant lowering of quality of professionals. The reality is that, many fit candidates are today denied opportunity simply because of shortage of seats. The advocates of meritocracy must answer as to why they conveniently forget about ‘talent' when seats are sold in the name of NRI quotas or through massive fees hikes. Why don't they oppose reservation of education for the rich through privatisation of higher education? If they are so concerned about talent, why they don't advocate further extension of central educational institutions like IITs and IIMs by increasing their seats and reducing the fees?

Another argument given by the adversary against reservations is that India does not have the money or resources to increase the number of seats in our professional colleges. Also that, it will force more students to move to other countries for their higher education as if one can not find good seats in India, they would not be left with options other than to move to the other countries and the foreign institutes will only be glad to accept the Indian students. On the other hand the promoters believe that the youths should realize that we do have enough money and resources. It is vested interests (such as a section of the Indian Medical Association) who have been lobbying with the government NOT to increase the number of seats -- because in their myopic vision, this would create too many professionals in the country. The fact is that India is woefully short of professionals. Also they describe it to be ironical that those people who are crying hoarse over the loss of merit have never bothered to raise their voice when the government was commercialising education and allowing all sub-standard institutes to be set-up across the country.

Then comes the issue of social inequality. As per the contenders of reservations, social inequity in India (in terms of under-representation of some identifiable communities within the elite) is due to general lack of merit of the concerned community. However the supporter of reservations say this is a racist (or casteist, if you may) stand that we need to reject outright.

It is often argued that granting political equality to each individual Indian will result in every one getting what they deserve where as the reality is that when the seats are in short supply (as they are grossly so, these days), a lot of individuals who are "deserving" end up not getting admissions that they deserve. Conversely, the advocates of reservation state this would remain so even if there were no quota seats! The principle of "political equality" is valid only when the number of seats matches the number of those who deserve to get seats; and only when the problem of glaring economic inequity has been successfully tackled by society.

Some sections of the opponents feel reservations to be acceptable on economic criteria; but not based on caste. After all we are all Indians. Nonetheless the proponents feel, both economic and caste criteria will need to be considered for social upliftment measures by the government. We cannot "claim" to be Indians (in a colour-blind, caste-blind way) where college admissions are concerned, and yet continue to have rigid castes on ground, whose members do not even inter-marry! This is an argument of convenience.

Another genuine argument against reservations is that it will divide India, by asking for the caste of people. If 56 years are insufficient for the so-called uplift of backward classes, then does the government intend to continue the reservation system for an indefinite period? This is a serious issue to be pondered over. Isn’t it fair to say that instead of abolishing the caste system, this policy reinforces it?

By implementing the reservation regime, hatred towards castes will be enhanced which will lead to aggravated tensions not only in the IIT and IIM classrooms, but across the entire country. Democratic government will fail to achieve its purpose and the hidden intention of the government to increase their vote banks will remain unfulfilled in the long run because the rest of the population will ultimately lose faith in the so-called democratic system. However on this note, the backer of reservation have no doubt that we will continue to ask for a person's caste and religion at least for the purpose of marriage -- for a very very long time to come. I do not believe that these real cultural diversities need to "divide India". Let us accept reality -- that we are a country of many identifiable religious, linguistic, cultural and caste communities who would not normally inter-marry. We will need to build our country's unity within this diversity. I feel that it is important that we collect and maintain hard data regarding the caste & religious composition of our people -- to ensure that no single identifiable group would corner social resources disproportionate to their numbers. It has ALWAYS been such iniquitous cornering of resources that has divided countries -- anywhere in the world. Hiding of facts from census reports has never succeeded in preserving a country's unity!

Also Reservations (in India) are different from Affirmative Action (in the US). It is true that Affirmative action in the US works without fixed quotas, and is voluntary -- at least in a nominal sense. But in practice, institutions and private companies have set up quota targets for themselves. The government periodically conducts audits, and penalizes organizations that are lax in implementing Affirmative Action by withdrawing government contracts. Tax breaks too are offered to encourage Affirmative Action. Since 1965, Affirmative Action has created a large "creamy layer" of blacks -- though bulk of the blacks still remain ghettoized. It would seem that they now would need to introduce an "economic criterion" too in their Affirmative Action. But wouldn't that be socialism?

Reservations in India primarily benefit the creamy layer within the eligible groups. This is true in India, as it has been in the US too. This is so because, WITHIN the quota group, the selection is always based on merit. How can this be otherwise? The basic aim of the reservation policy was to give students belonging to SC/ST/OBC equal opportunities because of their social disadvantages and lack of resources and exposure. But the question is whether this purpose has been accomplished with reservation quotas. Reservations were part of the constitution when it was released in 1950. However, that was supposed to be a temporary measure and to serve for a limited period. But even after 56 years, the policy claims to be a measure to promote equality and freedom. We can "skim out" the cream from the quota groups -- this will benefit the reserved groups, but will further increase the shortage in the general category. Is this what the society wants? The only solution is to increase the number of seats.

Conclusion

I am all in the favor of having laws and rules to make sure that the underprivileged get more opportunities and it’s the duty of the government to think about that. But then, that should be done at the primary and elementary school level and not at the professional level or if the government wants it can make separate schools and colleges for reserved category people. Reservation in higher education is violation of Article 26, Para 1 of Universal Declaration of human rights. Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

And having a reservation based on the caste system is nothing but laughable. The real differentiator is the financial background and not the caste background. It is an assault on talent; after all, intellect has no caste. Let’s not try to solve a problem, which existed in 80’s and earlier now, without validating if it makes sense in the current situation.

Having said that - it only pains to know that the authorities in the excitement of forcing the laws forget that steps like this will only create more mediocres. We, as a country, have had our share of mediocrity - it’s time to move a ladder up. Education is a mere tool. There is no dearth of education in India. What we need to develop in India is a sense of entrepreneurship. That is one area no reservations will ever work, or even needed.

Dr Ambedkar and the framers of the constitution envisaged the reservation provision for ten years, so that the society is synchronized. Instead of pursuing the spirit, the ruling elite used it as a tool, political weapon, and keeps the national habitat divided. Shall reservation be perpetual? Reservation conceptually means a small percentage of whole. The reservation has been used by haves among the SC/ ST at the huge cost of the really needy people. The present India is divided only in haves and haves not, not otherwise. It shall be proper to have reservation a sensible proportion for these haves-not as a whole, not dividing them in caste, creed , sex, religion- the true spirit envisaged by the framers of constitution. Study Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in totality not in isolation who stood for national integration , not its fragmentation.

The opposition to reservation arises from those sections that include a large number of the economically deprived. Actually, both the votaries and opponents of reservations seem to consider admission into the limited number of seats and recruitment to the limited number of jobs available as the crucial question for their economic progress. Reservations are one of the important issues raised by the national movement to uplift the socially oppressed sections of our society. Though the reservations were intended as a temporary measure, the failure of the successive governments in ensuring equitable and speedy economic development led to their continuation and made them a contentious issue. We must understand that it is not the policy of reservation that lies at the root of the problem but it is the limited number of employment and educational opportunities that is the root cause.

Due to this failure of the successive governments, meritorious students are suffering because they are being precluded from their seats and backward class students are suffering because even if they are meritorious, the quota tag will always be attached to them wherever they go. Even if some people argue that the basic level of education is not the same, it is not the fault of students from the general categories.

Some people do argue that reservations have benefited only a small section of the people. It has become a political game and the people who should get this opportunity do not get it. People who have money and power get fake backward class certificates and prove before the government that they deserve reservation. At the level of facts, this is true and it becomes nothing else than a sheer attempt to amputee the budding wings of people from General Quota. But instead of pointing to the futility of reservations it only points to an important fact-that unless democratic movement becomes strong enough to get the provision of reservations effectively implemented, this limitation will continue and cannot be avoided.

This decision is a step for setting wrong trend. - Today, it is demanded for these premier institutes. Tomorrow, somebody will demand the same for actual placements in the other fields including the private companies. So, why should there not be reservations in the field of Acting, Art, etc. Is there an end to it? In the end, I would just say that India and reservations can bloom together only when reservations are made on reasonable basis.

Few things I want to share with my friends (My personal views on living my crazy stupid life :D )

Life worth living

Before reading the following lines please make sure that you are free from any negative thought ( Anger, Lust, Greed, hatred and prejudice)
If you are wondering why this is so necessary let me tell you why..

There are two dimensions of human conscience, equally powerful and effective. One of them is very conservative and egotistic which includes facets like Anger, greed, hatred and prejudice. As you will notice these characters are driven by any person's inner desire to place his own self over any other thing in the world ( You should not confuse it with self respect ). When we see or listen to anything new our mind tend to evaluate it by our past experiences and our own judgement. This works like a balancing machine, every thing you will put on it will show you it's measurement in terms of visual readings. And what will happen if the scale of the balance is not correctly set ? You are right, it will give you a wrong reading, a wrong information and hence no matter how wise is the information it's true essence will never reach your mind or soul. So let's reset our scale first, remove any thought ( for few minutes if it feels too difficult  which is making you judgement in simple words just read the following words and try to understand it's meaning without any prejudice.

OK... so now you are ready.

Dear Friend,

First let me thank you for taking your time out to read this. Please do me a favor,please trust my words even if I may sound crazy. All the things written hence forth are my interpretation of a weird dream.. as the things are unfolding  Following are points out of which i need you to choose any ten (But you must include first three) and implement in your life completely without any exception. Well , You may be thinking, who am I to tell you what to do and what not to. You have choice to reject it completely and go back to your normal day to day life, no issues but if you find it useful then you have to promise that you will pass this message to your dearest friends.

1. Take a pen and paper (right now) and note down your principles closest to your heart. I will explain you later why this is so necessary  for now only thing i can reveal is, "Without principles your life is like a game of football where every other person is capable of changing your life and your way of thinking. in fact you will be slave of the situations and ultimately you will lose your free will. so start now and pen down every thing which drives in your life, these can be as simple as "I will never ever judge a person by his looks" or "I get up early in the morning no matter what".
2. Now you have taken a small step on a long journey, now you are ready to listen and think about other important things you are going to read hence forth. The second point is called "law of equality". You must have read Gita, if not then do it after 4 days of reading this note. you must be wondering, why wait 4 days or why read Gita at-all. I am telling you to wait for 4 days because you need to prepare yourself before reading Gita, if you are not in the right frame of mind then rather then getting desired results you may fall in depression !!!!! Yes believe me it's true... Gita is not a book .. There is no other thing in entire world like gita.. But the thing is, in kaliyuga we humans are trapped in a dark blanket of ignorance and to make you understand it more clearly i would like you to recall the movie matrix, now consider yourself as a person trapped in matrix. the matrix is the false world created by our greed, lust and ignorance which makes you think and see the world in a completely different view. it is driving you away from the completely opposite reality. we are being in-forced into a fixed frame of desires. Let's take another example, there is a common weed in country side which needs taller trees to grow on, the tree needs them too for fertility and growth. but what if the weed is allowed to grow uncontrollably !!! Yes you are right... it will cover the tree and ultimately suffocates it to death.. (If you belong to village you must have seen the example) So...what can we do ? We should not destroy the weed completely as it will be a loss for us .. as in society we need these traits to fulfill our basic needs, but we need to trim them down when they are growing over our own self. Now the question is how will you know that what to trim, how much to trim and when to trim? and there is only one answer  "When your desires are trying to make you blind and you are not able to follow "The law of equality" then it is the time to say ENOUGH !!! And this is the time to trim your desires. Let's take an example of sex. We need it, this is a genuine earthly desire, but when this desire occupies your conscience then you are not able to focus on other things which are equally important. In nutshell keep your desires to your requirement level. Never ever overdo it. Your life, your time and your thoughts are priceless, your ultimate goal is beyond these desires. these desires are like food items sold by road side vendors, you stop in your way and enjoy the tasty food but your ultimate goal is not to eat whole day your goal is to walk ahead and reach your ultimate destination, so enjoy your food but don't waste your time by overdoing it. So now you are ready to understand the "law of equality", you must have read or heard that we are not our body rather we are a soul dressed in a earthly body, But without experiencing this truth you will never be able to understand it's true meaning. So what is this soul ? Is it visible? or is it a form of energy ? is it tangible ? and the question is if we have not seen it or felt it then why is it so necessary to know about it ? These questions are very genuine in fact without questioning we should not accept a thing. You will find the answers in below lines. The soul or Aatman is the purest thing in your body, it brighter than 1000 sun it's lighter then a feather, it's innocent then a new born child and it works in a very strange way. We all have felt it in a way or the other but our polluted mind has made us ignore him i will try to bring those memories back to you so that we stay on the same page. Recall the moment when you did some extraordinary things, things which you cherish from the core of your heart, or recall the moment when you were completely peaceful your eyes were closed and your mind was free from any idea from this world. You were feeling above happiness or sorrow, gain or loss. That was the time my friend when you were most close to your soul. If you have not experienced it ever before then you have certainly missed the state of complete bliss !!! Any way, for those of us who have experienced it this fact will be easy to understand and grasp. So just like me and you every other living being has his or her soul. This soul is connected to a divine soul (Parambramh) which is the source as well as the sink. we all are connected to the source just like the rays of light are connected to sun. Irrespective to our appearance and form our soul are alike. we have had many bodies before but our soul was the same. it was there before creation of the universe and it will exist even after the doomsday (Pralay) Our physical body defined our sex, living form (man, cat, dog etc) but our soul  never changed. every soul is equal and part of the same devine parambramha. we have emerged from the same source and our ultimate aim is also to merge back to the same parambramha, who is the source of complete bliss (Parmanand) The pleasure which we seek on earth is limited by our physical sences, like our nose can smell, our tongue can taste but the state of complete bliss (Parmanand) can not be seen or felt by our body only our soul can experience it and that is why we can not receive the moksha without leaving our body. So the question is why we are here? is this life a complete waste? Do we even have a goal? Yes we have.. We have the goal of completing our earthly duties without getting attached to earthly desires. And this is very necessary that we respect other souls on the earth as they are same like yours. This is law of equality, treating all souls alike. 
3. Knowledge ... There is a difference between knowledge and information. True knowledge is the one who introduces you to your inner-self. rest everything is a set of information which will help you survive and prosper in this mortal world. So be knowledgeable as well as well informed, read as much as you can and question everything you learn. God has gifted you one thing which is very unique i.e conscience ...our conscience churns every thing we put in it and the thing which gets imprinted is the very essence of it. Hence question as much as you can, and find answers by your own. And you will find that with time your horizon of knowledge has broadened and you will feel enlightened. Read as much as possible, atleast one book each 15 days. choose one topic or subject and be master of that subject, keep learning and learning.
4. Power of language: Language as we know it is a strong communication tool. A multilingual person has a bigger domain as compared to monolingual or bilinguals. Make a target that that you will learn a language each 5 year. Learning a language is an easy task if you learn how to keep your slate clean, we tend to learn a new language with the help of other language we already know, this is the biggest mistake we make. Every language has it's unique characteristic and hence should be learnt differently. For example it will be very difficult if you are trying to learn English with the help of Hindi, this way you will never be able to think in the new language. you will always try to translate every thing from an older language to the new one and this makes the task very difficult  Apart from learning language you should read lot of books from that language, you need to watch movies and plays to understand the culture associated with it. This will help you further in the point no. 3.
5. Overcoming your fear: Every one of us have few fears in our life. These fears are not there by default for example when you were born, you didn't fear height, water, darkness or public speaking etc. with due course of time these fear accumulated in our head from our experiences. Overcoming your fears is the most rewarding thing in our life. The feeling of achievement and self-respect you earn by overcoming them is priceless. So do yourself a favor and note down your biggest fears and make a target to over come them in coming time. challenge yourself, this will not only make you brave but this will also give a boost to your confidence. And gradually you will realize that you are now a completely different man who is confident and bold.
6. Quit an addiction: we discussed about desires earlier in point no. 2. Addiction has a close resemblance to your desires. Addiction is a form of desire which has eventually conquered your mind with time. Quitting an addiction helps you in 3 ways. firstly it gives you control over your own mind and your will.Secondly It will give you immense satisfaction "More is the craving of any habit more satisfaction you will get after quitting it" this is universal truth !! Try it to believe it.. third benefit is, you will feel more energized, with time our addictions take control of our senses too and in most of the cases it weakens them, for example smoking weaken our power to smell and taste things. After only 3 day of quitting you will start feeling the difference.You will become a better man. Everything you do will be better. You will look better, you will talk better, your presence will be felt stronger, your social skills will improve dramatically. You will no longer live inside a bubble of smoke and dreams, it will be you against the world, like it was meant to be with you riding on the neck of each and every hater who thought that you were inferior. it's time for you to be kick ass.
7. Music and art: As food is the fuel of life similarly music and art is the fuel of your mind. These are the devine ways of expression. learn to appreciate them and you will find that you are able to understand the meaning behind a smallest note of music and smallest stroke of brush. Infact if possible learn any instrument and master it. Every one has an artist inside him, not let that artist die so easily,, only thing that needs is your nourishment  Go play some tune. Draw some sketch or click some snaps... it may take years to master any one of them. After you are done you will see the difference !!!
8. Health: Your body is a temple for your soul, so don't malign it. keep good care of your health. A powerful man with powerful thinking can be change agent a leader. A weak person is neither capable to defend himself nor others. People tend to give more value to the thoughts of a strong person rather than a weak person. Live healthy and die healthy.
9. Embrace your blood: Respect your culture and tradition. this is the tendency of lowlife scums who treat other's culture and tradition as superior from their own. these people have a inferiority complex which they will never be able to overcome. Wear traditional dress at home. if wearing a TIKA is your tradition, then do it, don't feel that what people will think. People stink and this world is full of them. Be proud of what you are, you belong to the most pure land with richest tradition and culture. Protect it, it's your mother, it has taken care of your fathers and forefathers it has big heart and caring anchal, don't betray her. 
10. Be straight forward and be a man: (Point omitted ) 
11. Stay out of debt – Debt is prison. As long as you are in debt you will always be a prisoner. CASH IS KING. If you have the cash, pay for it. If you don’t have the cash, SAVE UP!  STAY OUT OF DEBT AT ALL COSTS.
12. Not more than one hour on FB (I know it's difficult but trust me it's necessary and if possible decrease it further, it's not for the person who have bigger goal) Not spend all day on social networking sites - These sites are for girls. Liberated women who are so independent that they have all the time in the world to whine about how there are no real men. Stay the f**k off of these places, there are better uses of your time.
13. Give 110% at all times: Whatever you do in your life, either give your fullest effort or don't do it at all. Half hearted efforts are for losers. Winning is not always necessary ..even if you come at no. 2 or 3, atleast you will have satisfaction that you gave your best shot.
14. Start power dressing: Don't dress just for the sake of covering your body. dress yourself to present what you are. You are powerful you are intelligent you are kick-ass  you can slaughter any one with your wit and knowledge so let it be visible from your dressing. Look at vivekanad ...learn the art of power-dressing.
15. Be a man of your words: You must have heard it many a times but it's true meaning reflects only when you fail in your commitment, it raises question on your credibility and you lose your self confidence. so the best way to practice this habit is, DO NOT PROMISE AT ALL...If some one makes you promise that means he/she dosen't trust you at all. To follow one's word is the reflection of a true man. SO START NOW. USE EVERY WORD CAREFULLY and once said stick to it no matter what.
16. Now this will get tougher !!! this point is toughest of them all.. condition is, you will have to follow it completely without fail... Take a calender ... Underline 25 days in a row... make a checklist of following pointers for next 30 days !!!
1. write 25 mails to 25 different persons (One each day) whom you appreciate. write the reason why you appreciate them.
2. find a stranger each day, talk to him for 5 minutes, if he walks away in between you fail and failure means you will have to do it again.
3. walk alone for 30 minutes (atleaast) each day (Yes...even if you are ill.... No one cares for your illness... A task is a task...stop giving excuses....be a man and DO IT)
4. Take a moment, close your eyes and day dream about your future. Yes it may involve beautiful maiden.
5. Eat atleast one thing unique for next 25 days.
6. This sub point is optional but this is most adventurous .... Write 2000 words each day in a notebook about your struggle with life. after 25 days you will have a book written by you about you... Bingo !!!!! You are a writer !!!! Get it printed and keep a copy and give me one copy (Don't worry i will pay for it )
7. watch a documentary each day for next 25 days. (Don't give me the crap that you don't have it in your laptop, buffer it, download it, i don't know but i want my 25 documentary any how)
8. Get any damn book ANY .. read one chapter each day... if you finish it before 25 days... Guess what !!! GET ANOTHER..
9. Study a topic you’d like to master each day (As discussed earlier....You need to master a topic and so you will read some thing related to it EACH DAY for at-least 30 minutes)
10. In which ever city you are in ...get the map of the city..mark 25 different places where you have never been....visit one each day..
11. Read an editorial article from a news paper each day.
12. Take a TV break for next 25 days, MEANS NO TV WATCHING FOR 25 DAYS.
13. Read this 20 point resolution each day (Just after getting out of your bed)
14. write a letter to 10 year older you, means write a letter addressing yourself for year 2023 (Write your expectations from the future you) add 100 words each day NOT MORE THAN 100 WORDS.
15. Take a paper, write down your goals for next year and year ahead... i.e for next 25 years ... one year each day.
16. Open youtube and learn a trick and master it for next 25 days.
17. Avoid lift/escalators for next 25 days, use stairs instead..
18. Get your ass up before 7 every day for next 25 days. WITHOUT FAIL even if you have nothing to do.
19. Don't lie for next 25 days: I know it's hard but try it, keep silence if you can't speak the truth but you can not lie.
20. Do atleast one selfless act each day and forget it.
17. Meditation: Sit down, relax and practice yoga with meditation in a closed room on a clean bed atleast for 30 minutes.
18. Read Gita: every week ... read to understand..where ever you have doubt or ambiguity ...just ask....it has key to the last task (20th) your 20th task is a riddle. It may take seconds or it may take years but you will have to figure out it's meaning by yourself. the day you will understand gita completely you will be able to complete the 20th task.
19. Free yourself...

Make new bonds break old threads. you need to reach beyond these boundaries... start sailing now.

मृगतृष्णा

As i got up @ mdnight, I felt a sudden urge to find something.....,i don't know what...and the funny thing about not knowing it is....it could be anything.....
When i was getting ready for office, I was just looking @ my old nokia 1100 ....i dunno why.... i walked up to my regular waiting point....with every ring of phone in the crowded street....i checked my phone... At one point i had fifteen minutes with nothing to do except sit in a chair. Then I checked my cell ..again...i dunno for what...  I waited patiently all day long. Well i guess.....longer the wait sweeter is the fruit.

That's okay. There is still more time left, and I hope the right time has not come yet. I went home and i had lots of things to do but it seemed something is holding me back...something that tells me to look for something else....to do something else... After waiting hours, i turned on the TV. I don't know if i like TV or not, just about anything goes there and i spent lot of time today in front of it not thinking about anything, just waiting for something....i dunno what..... I waited patiently again as i ate my meal, but again.....

Bedtime.... I guess I am too tired....too tired of this ring which makes me walk in circle day after day in a vicious circle....which seems endless.....
i forced myself on bed to get a nap....few hours later i realized that i am still wide awake...perhaps waiting for something.....
then suddenly my whole life flashes in front of my eyes ...pictures so bright so vivid so full of life...
i find myself climbing trees with pranav in my backyard.....
chasing squirrels on the roof...jumping on the pile of hay....making mud houses in the fields.....playing in green grass....
then ..
in school..scribbling on the paper...throwing paper planes....watching ripples in the pond....riding cylce near fort...
and suddenly all of them stop whatever they were doing....they start staring at me.....the smallest me comes near me, smiles and asks ...i wanted to make a castle just like this mud house !!!! Have you made it?
I wanted to go to rivers, mountains, oceans and many more....!!! Did you do that !!!
i wanted to feel free and joyous all the time !!!!
Are you happy????
I sat there with myself on the same branch which i used as hiding place from my mom...
I told him that i did nothing of them....and i am not even happy ....
he asked me....what is holding you back...
I said ..... i donno....
He smiled and whispered in my ears...if you don't know then ....close ur eyes ...... lay back, relax and let go of the things you don't care.....hold the thing that is truly yours...
i smiled back.....Now i knew what this mysterious thing was....
And this mysterious thing is having key of my happiness...the cure of my restlessness.....

It is hard to have a one-sided conversation. Well, i am going to get up tomorrow once again.... And once again I will wait, Hoping that i will find what i am waiting for...

And once i get hold of it, i am going to cherish it forever....and ever..

Our heart should bleed for every Indian not just for Muslims, Hindu or anything else..

Agitation in Mumbai against the riots happening in Myanmar ....
Recently i read one article in The Hindu "Our heart must bleed for everyone... not just for Muslims"
This article, (as it was clearly visible) will certainly raise few 
eyebrows but we need to accept this fact that we Indians (Whether 
Muslims, Hindu or anyone) are taking things for granted. we are so 

vocal about petty issues happening @ some corner of the world that we
are not even focussed to think about our own issues. "If it rains in
Palestine we open our umbrellas here in India".
the author has connected the issue with one particular religion and i
don't think why should't we accept that !!!
People are crying their eyes out for killing of Muslims in Assam and Myanmar, but not a single protest in this country has happened for the BODOs who have suffered equally in this carnage .... We are so damn divided in our communal barriers that our feelings and support has got shrunk in our mental shell...
I want to draw the attention of readers towards some issues which
happened in past. for example statues of Buddha were vandalised in open
daylight and there was not a single violent protest in India cause
people knew it's actually futile to protest against the things which
are neither in our control nor under our influence. in similar way take example of recent killings
in Gurudwara in US. did any Indian protest in-front of US embassy in
India?? But when there is a riot against Muslims in Myanmar we are destroying lord Buddha statue in Lucknow, killing our own brothers from north-east, vandalizing Amar jawan jyoti in Mumbai ..... If caught the culprit should not be treated like common criminal but a damn terrorist who is trying to kill our secular image, who is killing the very spirit of the origin of our great nation..
Remember "there is no prosthetic to an amputated spirit" 

Role of Media:

Initially the media was sleeping as always (Every one knows why). But when story got bigger .... they rushed to the sites and did the same damage which was done @ 2002 godhara riots.....
and the thing which happened after these news flashes will be the most disturbing image of our already deteriorating communal harmony.
this is seriously a big challenge to figure out where is this country heading ... Cause if the situation continues like this, the time is not very far when we will come at the same cross roads where we were during time of our independence...

to sum this all up...

The problem is we still connect more to our religion rather then the country. the day we will start giving priority to our nation above our religion caste creed or sex, India will become a better place to live and prosper.

I am a maithil bramhin hindu

i didn't choose to be the same 

i inherited it....But i am proud of it's traditions and way of living

and i give equal respect to other's in the same manner i give to my upbringing (be it my caste , religion, sex or place of origin)

I hope there will be a better tomorrow for our shattered present...

Congratulation sachin !!!

As a true cricket fan this is really good to see Master blaster reach such a good career achievement !!!

Congrats little Champ !!

India's presence @ noble prize distribution ceremony

India finally represented by its ambassador to Norway, Banbit Roy, at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on December 10, when the jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo will be honoured in absentia.

On the day when the external affairs ministry announced the Chinese Premier, Mr Wen Jiabao’s three-day state visit here from December 15, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said a majority of countries, India included, had confirmed their participation.

China had launched a diplomatic campaign warning countries that choose to attend the ceremony of “consequences”.

Let's cheer for our country