नन्हीं पलकों के ख़्वाब

बड़े होते हैं
नन्हीं पलकों के ख़्वाब।
दूर ही सही,
उन्हें साफ़ दिखाई देते हैं।
वो दबाये रखती हैं दिल में
लंबे हौसलों की डोर,
और ढूंढ़ती रहती हैं
छोटी सी उम्मीद की सीढ़ी,
जो उठा दे उन्हें
ज़मीन से थोड़ा सा ऊपर,
तो उछाल दें
मौके का कोई पत्थर।
डोर से बांध के
अटका भर दें ख़्वाब से,
तो हौसला रस्सी हो जाए,
और ख़्वाब खिलौना।

आओ,
तुम भी किसी की सीढ़ी हो जाओ।

संत

संत की परिभाषा
बदल ली है,
अब मैं
बिना फ़ोन वालों को
संत कहता हूँ. 

नज़रिया

मैं
देखना चाहता हूँ
सबको
वैसा ही
जैसा मैं हूँ
अंदर।

मैं
देखना चाहता हूँ
खुद को
वैसा ही
जैसे सब हैं
बाहर।

You and I

I am but
A cloth,
And you
The substance
Filled inside.

Thank You Sachin

Time doesn't stop. It didn't stop for Einstein, or for Gandhi, nor for Jagjit Singh and Steve Jobs. And it won't stop for Sachin Tendulkar either. But some people will feel that it has stopped, for them. Cricket won't end, but for some, it will. Some will stop watching it. I'll be one of them. I don't know if this will be forever. Maybe I'll watch again when he's a coach. Maybe I'll watch when Arjun comes on crease. And maybe I won't. Maybe none of these ever happen. Nothing is certain.

But what is certain is that I'll not forget what I felt over the years. I'll never forget the way Flintoff paid for his words, or the dreams Shane Warne talked about, or the hooks off Shoaib Akhtar that Sachin sixed and Sehwag copied. They'll remain with me till I die, unless some dementia takes them away from me.

Thank you Sachin. I have not yet, nor can or will try to think how cricket will be without you. Maybe I never see it at all. But you played the first cricket match I ever saw. And I'll see the last cricket match you ever play.

The Button

Disclaimer: It's an unedited, uncut post that was written in five minutes, non-stop. Grammar and spellings, hence, may be incorrect.

It opened finally. yeah, there was a button. It used to keep closed all the time. The button of my shirt's collar. It was something that people around me tried to change a lot. But somehow I was of the opinion that if there is a button, I should be closing it off. I should be allowed to use it. Once a teached of mine even slapped me for keeping the button closed. The button was open for a few minutes. Until he left the class. And then, it was there again. Then I went to college, and there people told me I was being noticed due to that button. But I didn't pay much heed. Well, not much, but a little. And then somehow, in the second year of college, it changed. It changed almost on it's own. And changed a lot. So much that sometimes, just sometimes, even the second button of the shirt was open too.

Well, I am not the one who keeps the button closed anymore. But at the same time, I don't have a problem if I need to do that. I don't have a problem if I need to wear a tie. I don't have a problem if I have to be closed, confined. But yes, I like it free now, and it's more than a button.

होमलेस

दीवारें हैं,
दरवाज़े भी,
खिड़कियाँ हैं,
पर खुलती नहीं,
एक बिस्तर है,
रात सोने के काम आता है,
मेरे भी,
कंप्यूटर के भी,
और कुछ किताबों के,
एक कमरे, हॉल, और रसोई का,
पूरा अपार्टमेन्ट है,
पर तेरे बिना,
मेरे पास घर नहीं.

Write about the Right in the Right Place

RTE. Right To Education.

Have you heard about it? I am more or less sure that you have. But where do we all get to know about the RTE? Mostly in Newspapers, a few magazines, blogs etc.

All the places that are untouched by those for whom the RTE exists. Because they're the ones, who cannot read, or if they can, they do not reach these high level media.

So here is the question, how to let those-who-need-it-the-most know about RTE?

A simple suggestion is, mass media. Let it be known in every home through the mass media that is Doordarshan and All India Radio.

And other than that?

We can tell about the RTE to the very targets of RTE. Kids.

We can have chapters about RTE in the syllabus, say, from V standard or so, so that every kid knows about his or her basic right, and the very schools who might be a block in the RTE would be assigned to teach it. Of course, it is not as easily done as it's said, but even if every kid has written about RTE in her books, the average knowledge of a kid about the RTE will be much more than it presently is. And that CAN make things much better, provided the NCERT and others are able to make every kid understand how important RTE is for them and kids around them.

Bengaluru: In the Wrong Lane

This article probably needs some attention. Because the big authors who travel in cars probably won't be able to see this issue that closely as the average guy on the bus would. Therefore I, a guy who travels to and from office on a bus, decided to write about the small changes being made. Changes that become a loud message as they hit tens of thousands of citizens everyday.

While Bengaluru is desperately waiting for Namma Metro to get into work mode from its present tourist mode, the traffic is not in a mood to wait, and is increasing every day. The number of cars is going up by thousands every month. And while there should be encouragement for public transport users and cyclists in order to not just keep the traffic smooth but help save the environment as well, we seem to be making traffic rules for cars instead. It seems we're forgetting that cars can hardly be the lifeline of a city, even if it's the CEO-city of Bangalore.

Let's talk about the buses in Bangalore. The bus services in the city is in general good, and with a few new buses launched every year, things are not in a very bad shape at least. But other than that, the convenience of a bus taker is a different matter altogether, and depends a lot on the wishes or whims of the drivers and conductors.

First of all, even though there are a lot of buses on the 'popular' routes, a little less popular routes seem to get not enough attention from the BMTC officials, and then bus conductors/drivers as well who may decide not to go on a route if they don't so wish. In fact this is not limited to unpopular roads as I can tell I've never seen a bus going from my home (that is the bustling Whitefield bus stop) to my office on Outer Ring Road, near KR Puram. That is irrespective of the fact that I have caught bus 504A from Whitefield, which should take me to my office.

On top of that, in almost every place, bus stops have been shifted or are being shifted ahead of their earlier locations. This creates inconvenience for those who need to change buses as one needs to walk hundred to three hundred meters extra on an average. Such things definitely discourage any people who think of taking a bus, especially at times when one is in a hurry to reach the office or back home.

Talking of another environment friendly option, i.e. cycling, there are very few cycling tracks for the cyclists, and travelling with all the cars and bikes and superbikes in every nook and corner of the city, things are getting unsafe for cyclists. But that is not all. We now have longer U turns and signal free corridors, which make path much longer, creating unnecessary load for cyclists. In such a situation, even proud cyclists are forced to rethink over their commuting options, leave aside a person who might be still thinking of getting a environment-friendly bike.

So while it's good to give space to cars to travel smoothly, it sends a wrong signal to the city when they get priority over public transport and environment friendly commuters. This discouragement to the latter two, even if looking like creating minimal problems, will in turn force more private vehicles on the road, making this a vicious circle which would harm us even more in longer term. We need to get our priorities right. Right now.

Taking Government Seriously

Before UPA-II, I never took governments seriously. When they said they were going to do something good, I'd consider that their time pass, and when they actually declared something good, I'd consider them lollypops for the public. But now it's different. Now every time the government comes up with some really important and big, even things I have always wished to happen, all I think is How many thousand/lakh crores can be made out of this and/or how is the government going to control people with this measure/law. This is what I find unfortunate. I hope a non-working government (say NDA) would be better than this.

The Itch

So I'm writing. After a long time, I guess. Not like I have not written anything for such a long time, but whatever I have written in all this time was not really writing. It did not come out of that itch that the hand feels when it has not written for long. Instead it mostly came out for the reputation I think I have established among the online Hindi music junkies. The reputation actually exists or not, I have never tried to assess, though what I have been able to confirm is that I have my presence across the webliophilic websites of the world. I don't really know what I should talk about here, or what I want to talk about, so since I have been thinking about the itch of hand, let's continue on that. This itch is a strange thing. It does make you write, but it doesn't generally give you enough matter to write a small essay on. I mean, mostly one can write a small paragraph out of it, and then it stops. Even worse, when you start writing without 'the itch', the itch almost does not surface. Not easily. And the result is that you keep writing for these things, while most of the times, 'the itch' was the main reason you started writing in the first place. And thus, due to lack of 'the itch', the flavor that existed in what you wrote, goes. Many times. So it's an important, very important duty of yours to maintain that itch in whatever ways possible. Whether you need to take breaks, or need to go out of your regular zones, mentally or physically, or just think a little out of the box or cubicle or sphere. And yes, while it's not easy to maintain that itch, there are the other type of people too, who make the mistake of not writing when their hands feel 'the itch'. For them, a strict warning and a humble request, please write, irrespective of the time you can find, because if the itch goes, it may never come, and you might actually feel an itch to bring it back when 'the itch' is no more.

बनाने को ज़िन्दगी

बेतरतीब, कई टुकड़े, साँसों के,

जैसे पिरो दिए हों धागे से,

बनाने को एक कठपुतली सी ज़िन्दगी..

चाट के अनगिनत मसालों जैसे,

एक दूजे पे पड़े, ऊपर नीचे,

बनाने को एक चटपटी सी ज़िन्दगी,

किसी नन्हे ने एक कागज़ पर,

कल के सीखे कुछ हर्फ़ उतारे हों,

कुछ पढ़ें ऊपर से तो कुछ नीचे से,
कुछ परे हम बड़ों की समझों से,
बनाने को एक खिलखिली सी ज़िन्दगी..

एक लम्हे की हंसी तू हंस ले,
एक आंसू कहीं पे मैं रो दूं,
जीने को एक ज़िन्दगी सी ज़िन्दगी..

नाचती, चटपटी सी, खिलखिली सी ज़िन्दगी..

We need Education, not just Literacy

Just now I was reading the report on 2011 census on The Hindu website. I wanted to know a specific statistic, something which has bothered me for different reasons at different times. When I was a child, I was just curious to know how many girls per 1000 boys are there in India. But today, I look for the child sex ratio, to know how we are faring at being humans. Because the number now gives, more or less, an idea of how many girls are being aborted in the country.

Yes, very sadly, the static I wanted to know about read: 'Child sex ratio in 2011 is 914 female against 1,000 male — the lowest since Independence.'

And right after that, was another statistic. 'According to the data, literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent. The literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 per cent.'

So, we have the highest literacy and the lowest child sex ratio by the new census. A little Googling gave me this data: 'At the Census 2001, sex ratio of the population in the age group 0-6 years has been registered as 927, in India, declining from 945 in 1991 and 962 in 1981.' (Source: censusindia.gov.in)

Now we are more literate, more well-to-do, have more means, and kill more girls, even before they are born. It's sad that we still are not able to believe as a nation that girls can be equal to boys, that girls ARE equal to boys. As a result of literacy, we are able to do whatever we want, but we still are not educated enough to know what is right and should be wanted. The end result is the same again, to move ahead, we need to change a lot, but above all else, we need to change our mentality. I can only hope that by the next census there is more education and not 'Just' literacy, so that we are able to make progress. Equally.

कमरे काटते हैं

फर्क है,
घरों में और कमरों में;
कमरे,
कई बार,
घर बन जाते हैं,
घर बन कर
पालते हैं,
बन जाते हैं,
आशियाना,
आसरा,
सहारा,
और न जाने कितना कुछ,
पर कभी कभी,
वापस बदलने लगते हैं,
घर कमरों में;
कमरे,
जो ज़्यादा समझते हैं,
ज़्यादा जानते हैं,
अक्सर ज़्यादा खतरनाक हो जाते हैं,
साधारण कमरों से,
जो कभी घर बने ही नहीं,
कमरे काटते हैं..

Time to Blog

Today I reached a completely new phase of my life. I haven't yet got married, have a job for some two and half years now, and almost everything was running fine with me until when I ran into the nearby barber's shop to get my then horrible hair cut today AND realized that suddenly the number of grey hair in those falling was so much that I could probably not count.

And then, almost the whole of my life came up in front of my eyes as a flickering stream, at a slightly slower speed than they show in movies. Like, I have lived only a few years out of home, I don't yet earn a fortune and haven't bought even an iPod for myself; as for hobbies, I have barely crossed a hundred mark in books read and the number of movies I have seen won't be beyond 500, which is probably a lenient estimate.

And then, I could see my future, quiet, normal, full of tensions of daily life, and my hair getting greyer with them, and one day reaching a stage where I will not be able to do much of the things I wanted to do.

No, I haven't yet decided on what to do with myself so that things can be better, but somehow, one thing was clear, that dyeing my hair black was certainly NOT going to help. I don't even know how permanent or temporary these thoughts are, but I know that the thoughts have hit my mind and even if they don't do much, they WILL make my hair greyer.

Now all I can wish is that while my hair will keep on growing grey, and more visibly so in future, the next time I hit a realization, I have more on my plate, and that not in terms of money or any other numbers, but in terms of satisfaction for the grey hair.

Wish me luck.

बादलों का डर कहाँ है

बादलों का डर कहाँ है,

डर तो केवल धूप का है,

धूप में ही तो ये डर पैदा हुआ है 

स्वप्न जो मैंने बुने हैं

बारिशों में धुल न जाएँ 

इस चमकती धूप में 

बादल कहीं आ घुल न जाएँ 

जब हुई बरसात डर तो पल में ही हवा हुआ है 

फकीरों को डर कहाँ है 

डर तो केवल भूप का है 

डर तो केवल धूप का है 

बादलों का डर कहाँ है...

New Rupee Symbol Picture

Here is my own try on the picture of new rupee Symbol, I guess just that it needs to be a bit more curved at the middle.

Twitter HACKED!!

Oops! This was big. Suddenly Twitter shows that the website was hacked by some Iranian Cyber Army and showed Iranian flag with an email ID iranian.cyber.army@gmail. Though the page showing the flag was loaded only once at around 11.30 Indian Standard Time and seconds after that Twitter was shown as unable to load, link broken, and taking too long to respond in different browser. Unavailable in short.

Even the Desktop client tweetdeck was not working and said 'Problem with all Tweets' which changed to 'There's a problem - don't panic'.

HappySing

Hi.

I have started my new blog HappySing at my own domain name: happysing [dot] com

So please see, http://happysing.com for further posts.

Love you all.

Thanks,
Harshit.

10 Uses of Google

Google is not just a search engine. It's much more. Here I have listed some more uses of Google. See if there's some match.

1. To search stuff u have no idea about and don't know where to find.
2. To search stuff that u know no other site (like Wikipedia, Howstuffworks, etc) will have.
3. To pass time.
4. To check if your internet connection is working or not.
5. To pass time in situations where u have Limited internet access.
6. To search your own name.
7. To show off how slow your internet is working.
8. To open Adsense.
9. To open ANY site. I've seen people typing not just Orkut but www.orkut.com and similarly all other URLs in Google Search Bar. And the number of people is not One.
10. As Homepage.

How to use Twitter with Airtel

Finally Bharti Airtel is the first Cellular network that is giving you a chance to send your tweets from anywhere to Twitter. The cost of one tweet is 1 rupee. And I've tested it, it works. So here is how to send tweets to Twitter via sms with your Bharti Airtel mobile phone.

1. If you have a Twitter account, log in to your account and go to the Settings tab in the top-right.

2. Select Devices tab and Register your phone number there.

3. Now you can see a code there, message the code to 53000 from your Airtel phone via sms.

4. Twitter will send you a message saying your account has been enabled. Now you can send your tweets to 53000. They'll be published and 'from txt' will be written below your tweets instead of 'from web' (or whatever device you use).

5. Now u can follow anybody on u r already following by clicking the circular phone sign next to 'Following' on their page or in ur Following list too. This is free after registration.

6. You can go to the same Devices tab again to change further settings.

So happy sms-tweeting. :)

Made in India

Finally, my dear Venky won Nobel Prize in Chemistry. You know how wonderful he was when he used to study in IISc. My sister was telling me he was such a studious fellow when he was there. My sister, who lives just next to IISc for some 15 years now. She met Mrs Ranga in the Malleswaram market yesterday who told her that her husband, a professor in IISc had once saw a guy in library who looked juuust like Venky. So studious, indeed.

I even read Venky was born in Chidambaram... apna Tamilnadu, the place I used to think of as Madras when I was little, but that was when I was really very little, in school. Though Sharma uncle still thinks the same. Because his daughter did her engineering in Noida only, and now she's working in Gurgaon. But I studied in Vellore, same, Tamilnadu. And I am proud of my college and Tamilnadu. And so, of Venky.

Well, that's my direct connection with Venky. But then, there is a bigger, broader connection. Of India. I know Venky is proud of India, his country, our country. I read in the newspaper today only. My mother told me he will come back to India one day, just like Shahrukh Khan did in Swades. But I said I didn't think he would, because that happened in movies. People rarely came back to India in real life. And then mom thought and said I was probably right. But she was happy to read that Venky was proud of being an Indian, even while staying in America. He told the newspaper people he was making his country proud there.

Indeed he was. He is. The best part is that his name is Indian. And wherever he goes, whatever he does, he will remain Indian. He cannot be an American. Because he loves India. Because he is proud of India, of being Indian. Because we won't let him become American. Not after he has won that Nobel. For us. For India. Our land. His land.

Anything you tweet, Sir!

Tweet: "Have a ridiculously full schedule tomorrow with 17 meetings/engagements. You always pay a price when u come back from a trip."

Headline: After 'cattle class' remark, Tharoor complains about workload.

Well, this was one example of headlines newspapers are designing from Shashi Tharoor's tweets after the 'cattle class' incident was not so over. Incidentally, the DNA headline reached me through Twitter only.

I also came to know that Tharoor had tweeted "Long day catching up with a week's absence from Delhi. Mountains of pending files. Two journalists actually interviewed me on Africa!" through the newspaper. (I do follow Shashi Tharoor for a long time now but do not so regularly watch his tweets as the newspapers do)

Basically it seems that newspapers have found an easy way of creating headlines as Shashi Tharoor and Twitter, especially when combined, are 'hot' in India right now. I admit that such type of 'quick' journalism has been quite popular on TV for quite some time, but Tharoor episode seems to have given the print and web based media a way to 'QJ' too.

Seeing the condition, even I'm thinking of opening a new blog on Shashi Tharoor's tweets. After all, however big a fan of Tharoor I happen to be, I can always get some more clicks criticizing the big T. Isn't it?

Review: Aliva (Fritolay)

Well, I just wrote a music review for Himesh Reshammiya's new movie Radio, and now after reading some pages of Cecelia Ahern's Thanks For the Memories, I was having some new biscuits that I got for the first time. And while eating, I suddenly felt like telling people about the biscuit, and so here I am, writing a review for the biscuit.

Well, This thing called Aliva from Fritolay (read Pepsi people) was seen today in an ad when I was setting up TV on my laptop. The ad was an utterly old concept but it did catch my eye. And today when I was on biscuit hunting in a supermarket, I happened to see the biscuits. I remembered the ad and when I saw it was from Fritolay, I decided to give it a try.

It might sound like an ad but it's not. I'm getting no money to say that Aliva biscuits are good and you should eat them. But genuinely, I loved the Pindi Masala flavor that I had selected for my first trial. Guess I'm gonna have some Mint flavor next. The biscuit is OK and the masala is good which is going to make it demanded. My guess is like Kurkure, this biscuit may also become a travel accessory.

Right now the biscuit is priced at rupees 12/packet of 60g which is not very expensive. Fritolay probably has an idea about the future of the biscuit and has already written rupees 12 as a special price while original price is supposed to be Rs 14/packet.

Another interesting claim about the biscuit is that it has no artificial flavors or colors. Even the box below the ingredients says CONTAINS ADDED FLAVOUR (NATURAL AND NATURE IDENTICAL FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES).

Overall, the biscuit is tasty and if you're one with taste buds for spices, go for it.

Class X board exams: To be or Not to be?

Union Minister for HRD Kapil Sibal says that Class X board exams are a trauma and should be scrapped. Newton's first law soon follows up and almost everybody rises against the change. A minister trying to Change the system, and public against him. All so natural. But in between, the question is, WHY should the exams stay or go?

Newton's First Law:

No doubt, it's the simplest and the best (latter under scrutiny) it go the way it is going, whatever, wherever, however it is. Class X board exam take place like an annual event where millions participate, some win, some lose, and some get lost somewhere. Something that is happening for the years I have seen, and my parents too.

Trauma:

I do not know whether Class X boards are a trauma or not, but I remember that Class X board exams was the time in my life when I had problem sleeping properly. Throughout the exams. And no doubt, people make a 'Hauva' out of the boards. Neighbors and relatives get an extra thing to gossip about, and parents, to brag about. So do students. But the biggest blow comes from school, mostly public schools where conducting two to three PRE-BOARDS has become a trend. Schools create unnecessary pressure on students to Perform well in boards and maintain the "School's results".

Useless:

It hardly is of any use. We need a class XII marksheet everywhere and class X is required for just age certification. Is that all the importance of such hype? Actually class X board exams were made to serve a purpose that no more exists. When most of the schools were till class tenth and mostly students had to go out after tenth to continue their studies, board exams worked as a scale on which every student could be scaled. Never mind different boards as every board thought it was the only existing entity, or at least worked on this assumption.

But now that every school provides education till class XII, there is little use of class X boards. We can simply conduct boards after class XII which ARE (not can be) used for the admissions already.

Still there are arguments in favor of class X boards. Like a student gets to learn, or a student find his/her first public exposure which is important for further life. Or, boards make students more serious. But about all these arguments, my belief is that a student who is serious will be serious and one who doesn't have to, cannot be made serious by board exams. While a turn around can come at any point, I do not think board exams can be used as substitute for the schooling system as it's the entire schooling which is expected to make a child responsible, not the board exams.

So, for now, I think we do not need class X board exams. But then, if they have to be replaced, the replacement should be proper and not in a haphazard manner. We are in no hurry to remove a system that is there for ages just because our HRD minister got the idea now. I think he should take his time and do the needful firmly and after proper planning.