THE INNER VOICE

Kuch dil se

2011-07-31T02:19:00.004+05:30

नयी दौर की नयी रीती ने , मुझको उलझा कर रखा है ...
जितना भी सुलझाऊं इसको , उतना ही उलझता जाता है ...
इस उधेरबुन दुनिया में , मतवाले यार कम मिलते है ...
इस तेज रफ़्तार वाली घडी में ,हम ठहाके खोते जाते है ...

घोटालो का युग

2011-02-23T01:44:00.002+05:30

घोटालो का युग है आया ,
शराफत अब नक्कारी है |
कौन करेगा जांच अब इनकी ,
सबके दिल में बेईमानी है |
पहले चारा , फिर कोयला ,
अब २-G की बारी है |
घोटालो का युग है आया ,
शराफत अब नक्कारी है |
पैसे जमा हो स्विस बैंक में,
क्लीन चीट मिलना जारी है |
कौन करेगा जांच अब इनकी ,
सबके दिल में बेईमानी है |
प्रजातंत्र के चौथे खम्बे,
मीडिया की अब बारी है |
नेतायों के साथ मिलके ,
देश को लूटने की ठानी है |
कौन करेगा जांच अब इनकी ,
सबके दिल में बेईमानी है |
कलमाड़ी , राजा जैसे ,
जिस देश को चलने वाले हो ,
क्या जरूरत है उनको दुश्मनों की ,
जिनके पास ऐसे काफिर हो ...
घोटालो का युग है आया ,
शराफत अब नक्कारी है |
कौन करेगा जांच अब इनकी ,
सबके दिल में बेईमानी है |

36 Poetry Terms

2010-04-11T20:55:00.003+05:30

Wiki defines Poetry as a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to or in lieu of its apparent meaning.

The following are some of the terms specific to the writing of the poetry:

1) Alliteration

A repeated sound , usually applied only to consonants.

2) Anapest

A metrical foot : two short/unstressed syllables followed by one long/stressed syllable (dee-dee-DUM -eg-energize).

3) Assonance

A repeated vowel sound.

4) Ballad

A narrative poem in short stanzas, especially one that tells a popular story.

5) Blank Verse

Verse that doesn't rhyme.

6) Caesura:

A pause in the middle of the line, often indicated by punctuation.

7) Clerihew

A witty, biographical poem of four lines( two rhyming couplets).

8) Couplet

   A pair of successive lines of verse, especially when riming together and of the same length.
9) Dactyl
   A metrical foot : one long/stressed syllable followed by two short/unstressed syllables (DUM-dee-dee – e.g. “poetry”).
10) Doggerel
   A word applied to verse of irregular rhythm, trivial content and inappropriate diction. Much comic verse is deliberately written as doggerel.
11) Elegy
   A poem mourning the dead.
12) Elision
   Deliberate omission of unstressed syllables, typically in order to maintain a rhythm – e.g. “o’er” for “over”.
13) Enjambment
   The lack of a pause between two lines of a poem
14) Foot
   The unit of poetic rhythm; a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
15) Free verse
   Verse that follows no particular form, metre or rhyme scheme.
16) Haiku
   Seventeen syllable poems, generally split into three lines of five, seven and five syllables, often with a theme related to nature.
17) Half rhyme
   A rhyme where two words have similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds – e.g. “hell” and “hill”. Also called a slant rhyme or an imperfect rhyme.
18) Heroic couplet
   A rhyming pair of iambic pentameter lines.
19) Hexameter
   A poem in which the lines have six metrical feet. (And so forth : dimeter = 2 feet, trimeter = 3 feet, tetrameter = 4 feet, heptameter = 7 feet etc.)
20) Iamb
   A metrical foot : a short/unstressed syllable followed by a long/stressed syllable (dee-DUM – e.g. “today”).
21) Internal rhyme
   A rhyme within the words of a line.
22) Metre
   The rhythm of poetry; the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
23) Ode
   A dignified, lyric poem expressing praise or some other elevated notion.
24) Pastoral
   Poetry dealing with rural life.
25) Pentameter
   A line that has five metrical feet.
26) Quatrain
   A four line stanza.
(And so forth : quintain, sestet, septain etc.)
27) Rhyme
   A repeated sound, usually at line endings.
28) Rhyme scheme
   The pattern of rhyming line-endings in a poem – e.g. “abab” means each stanza has four lines, with lines one and three rhyming with each other (rhyme “a”) and also lines two and four rhyming with each other (rhyme “b”)
29) Sonnet
   A 14 line poem, of which there are various forms (Shakespearean, Spenserian etc.)
30) Spondee
   A metrical foot : two long/stressed syllables (DUM-DUM – e.g. “heartbreak”).
31) Stanza
   A a group of metrical lines or verses, usually no fewer than four, arranged in a certain pattern. A stanza is often called a “verse”.
32) Strong ending
   A stressed syllable at the end of a line.
33) Tercet
   A set or group of three lines bound by rhyme.
34) Trochee
   A metrical foot : a long/stressed syllable followed by a short/unstressed syllable (DUM-dee – e.g. “poem”).
35) Weak ending
   Ending a line on an unstressed syllable.
36) Wrenched rhyme
   A rhyming word whose pronunciation is altered in order to force it into a rhyme scheme
This is far from a complete list : an exhaustive glossary would fill many pages. But it does contain some of the main terms used by poets to discuss their work.

The Perfect Case Study - CAT 2009

2010-03-29T05:09:00.003+05:30

Finally , the curtains have been raised and the results have been declared . Alas !! , what I find , is a graveyard . What was I expecting - "The Valley of flowers " ? Who am I fooling - myself ? Wasn't it expected after the way it was conducted ? I guess the fate was sealed the day IIMs decided to continue with the online tests and plea of Joka and thousands aspirants were crucified at the altar of the ego of the self-proclaimed Super Brains of India.
  Thank You Prometric.Thank you Mr. Deodhar. Deodhar Sir made a statement - "Students should feel proud that they are going to be part of something historical". Yes Sir, I am really feel fortunate/unfortunate to be part of it. The only parallel in the World History/ Mythology that can be drawn with this is "Draupadi Cheer Haran". We - the Indians deserved it. Who cares - what injustice has been done ? Who cares how our fate has been sealed ? We will curse our fate for a month , vent out our anger at some public forums and again , will get back to solving RCs and Quants , to play the game of poker the next year. You have done a splendid job in adding the much needed - awe and luck factor to the CAT examination .Thanks for ruining the future of thousands of so-called non-deserving aspirants who were carefully eliminated in an aptitude test designed to select the best of the minds of the country. Thanks for showing us - the lesser mortals - a new way to crack the CAT - riding on the luck rather than your labour and intelligence.

   Well , after almost a month of self-introspection, soul-searching and careful analysis of my preparation, I totally failed to figure out where I lost out except for perhaps choosing the wrong slot/ centre. So , for a change I decided to examine the whole system which was carefully constructed to select the best-future managers , in a descriptive , well-constructed and analytical manner.

Publisher Note : The following analysis of the CAT have been done with utmost care ( Statistically , 500% more than the one with which CAT 09 was conducted ) and each of the points mentioned in favour / against the CAT -09 are more than 100% true to the knowledge of the author and will be totally backed up with the proofs on demand (only for the concerned authorities).

The story begins on 31 August, 2009 with the CAT advertisement coming out and dates for Voucher sale being announced. Cometh the day, 09 -Sep-2009 , there were long queues at the designated Axis Bank centres where the CAT vouchers were being sold. People rushed to the centres to get the vouchers as the Exam Centre / Slot was to be allotted on first-come-first-serve basis rather than the traditional random( God knows what) basis. Filling the form was an online exercise.

1) Online Application Form Filling : The website was designed and maintained by Prometric. I will not deny the fact that there was an instruction guide provided to the candidates to help them in filling the form.

a)Server Crash : But , as usual it happens with all the major exams of India , the server crashes on the day when it is expected to work. How can Prometric be the exception. The server crashed as soon as the candidates starting making the hits to the site. But, here the difference was , the students were not viewing the results , but , filling the form. The panic started setting up in the candidate - when he sees a bank page after filling Page .Which on refreshing , he finds the previous data are gone , all to guarantee - It at all wasn't a smooth affair. The delay due to this meant loosing out to your favourite slot - the herculean effort which you had put up in getting out of bed before 7 was wasted.

b) Faulty software design : Compulsory fields not marked as mandatory - The fields for the marks of Class 10, 12 , graduation etc and other relevant details which are mandatory for getting the IIM calls , were not marked as mandatory , means , you can save and submit your details without entering them . I wont say IIMs/ Prometric are completely at fault for this , as it is expected from the future mangers to be alert enough to enter these details. But, I feel for the first-timers aspirants who had no prior knowledge of what CAT demands. And to that the recurring server crashes where the details entered by you weren't saved.
No Edit /Summary : The software designed was such a crap that it didn't even found it suitable to show a Summary page to the candidates of all the details that he has entered . Nor was the edit facility given to facilitate the editing of the details for the window period in which application can be submitted.
Wrong Data : Prometric sent mails to the students at the designated email id with all the details that they entered and to my surprise , many a students received mails as Centre - Hyderabad State - Arunachal Pradesh. It was really a pathetic state of affair and a matter of shame of the developers who developed that site that event the data were not getting stored correctly.
Result : Many candidates submitted the half-filled application form. A few of them also ,went on to purchase a fresh voucher. A lot of hue and cry was raised over by the students and Coaching students and that resulted in the "Edit facility" being given to the student after the window period was over. I am grateful to IIMs for this , but , who is accountable for the trauma we students faced.

c) No email account : Taking a reference from the XAT , which also facilitates the Online-application filling , provides an email account of its own to its candidates. CAT didn't found it necessary to provide an email account of its own and left the candidates to the mercy of third-party email providers to store all the important data. What would have candidate done had the third party has closed its operation before the CAT ? IIMs please , answer this .

d) Pathetic Customer Care : The customer care was really pathetic in responding to the candidates queries and were ill-equipped with the information to answer the questions .The way they kept transferring the calls from one department to another only aggravated the miseries of the candidate.

e) Changing the exam centre without notifying : God knows what prompted the Promteric to change the examination centre for a few sparring candidates and that too without any explanation for doing so. A candidate who has meticulously planned his schedule according to the date and venue , which was confirmed earlier , were changed adding more to the already traumatised student.

Anyway , all the aspirants kept on their hard work and preparation meanwhile , inspite of the so much distractions.I salute their focus and determination.

2) Demo / Mock Test : IIMs did come up with a demo test -consisting of 5 questions - what purpose did they meant to serve by this . One can only have a look at the software look and yes , confirm , we navigate to previous/ next questions and indeed , the examination will be Computer Based Test not , the Computer Adaptive Test. Inspite of the repetitive pleas for a national wide mock test to test the server and software in real production environment , IIMs kept a deaf ear to all these .The sole reason I believe is they were running out of time in development of the software and I still , believe that the software was put into production without the proper testing . Although , its my personal feeling, I have no document to support this claim of mine.

3) Non-disclosure Agreement - A joke in the Internet Age : Well , just three days before the CAT exam , IIMs and Prometric comes up with the NDA - Non-disclosure agreement , where a candidate was not allowed to discuss the questions of examinations after the exam. I would like to take a bow to the man who framed this . I haven't seen a bigger foolish than you. In the internet age , you expect the people , not to share the questions . First of lets examine ,what could have forced them come up with such a foolish act

a) Why NDA ? As I had already mentioned , I believe the software development team was running behind the scheduled and neither the development was good nor was proper testing done . The officials came to know just 3 -days before the exam.( Yes , I believe the testing began hardly a week before the exam), that the questions are bound to be repeated as the software will simply fetch the questions from the database. This forced them to come up with this act in hurry , so cover up their mistakes.

b) How much feasible it was ?   Was it ever possible to stop a candidate to share the questions that came in the exam he has appeared in . How can we trace him - he can share it orally , he can send it letters, postcards, emails to the friends , and the worst , he can put up those questions in public forum . I guess , IIMs made a blunder here , how will they trace a person on internet ? Questions were shared on public forums , mail chains , private chat groups and coaching classes . People who were lucky enough to give the exam after 10 days , were not only knowing the pattern , but also having a question bank of 300+ questions .Faculties of coaching classes who took the exams on the initial days , went ahead to share the questions with their students. Who is responsible for this ? What has IIM done to check the flow and spreading of questions ? Was it able to catch anyone and punish him ? The answer is straight NO . They not even cared to check what was happening , it was just an excuse to hide their own mistake and the least - they cared about it . Once again , a big Thank You .

To be Continued .....

The God !!!

2010-02-26T06:22:00.001+05:30

Congrats Master .. So , this time its 200 !! Finally, after three unsuccessful attempts of breaching the 200-run barrier , Sachin has finally managed to do so. 186 vs NZ at Hyderabad, 163 vs NZ at Christchurch and 175 vs Australia at Hyderabad - each knock a jewel in itself , but ,all incomplete in one respect - that elusive 200 mark. What so great in this 200 mark , like all the records , this also will be broken with passage of time. Yes , it surely can be as records are made to be broken , but , one thing that cannot be erased till eternity , is the fact that Sachin Tendulkar was the first person to break this barrier. Mount Everest has been conquered a number of times by a number of mountaineers , but , the world still remembers the name of Edmund Hillary. Its about raising the bar even higher , taking the standards to the new heights. Man has to fight the tougher battles with his own inner-self rather than the outer world , in conquering these new peaks. The self-belief of doing something which no-body has done ever before , marks the hall-mark of the great personalities . My salute to them ... the likes of Usain Bolt , Michael Phelps , Roger Federer , Michael Schumacher , Lance Armstrong , who achieved the milestones which were considered to be humanely impossible.This was one of those innings which got inducted into the Hall of the Fame automatically.

Achieving milestones, reaching pinnacles and shattering world records are something which have becomes synonymous with Sachin."We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act , but , a habit " said Aristotle. Like Bradman,Tendulkar has not merely been a cricketer but a symbol of sustained excellence, not just a role model but a metaphor for his country's aspirations , not just a sporting genius but a sociological phenomenon.These two are the players which has given hope to the nation . The mood of the nation , the swing of the stock market and the politics all seemed to be governed by the success of these players on the ground. They are the ones, who unite the nation .They are the hope , the smile. Such is the aura , that , the whole nation comes to stand-still while they bat .

One thing , that such an innings has spurred is - now , the debate has grown across the horizontals and verticals. The arena of era and field of excellence has stretched to the infinity. This man stands tall amidst the likes of Bradman , Hobbs , Grace and Richards, might even the tallest among them, which am sure will be stamped when the Genius hangs his bat .

The CAT Carnival is back...

2009-09-21T21:01:00.003+05:30

Surrounded by all the anxieties and bewilderment, amidst all the speculation , the CAT carnival - 2009 has begun . The trumpet has been blown and the gun has been fired . The race has begun ....

In the April , the IIMs announces that CAT will be going online , much to the disappointment of the students as well as coaching classes. Yet, we all had to embrace the change whether we liked it or not. The Profs need some break from the admission procedure to concentrate on research and academic . Truly, I also feel same. With CAT going online, a lot many coaching institutes till now unknown, made to the limelight. Now, with the minimum of the infra , they can sustain themselves... hmm .. IIMs promoting Entrepreneurship !!! Well, the throne of the established brands .. will take some time to destabilize. Yet, they came out with their own online versions and mocks. I really feel sorry for the student who was the mute witness of all the tamasha going around him . Yes, he was the one whose career was at stake. The years of labor and dream of the family ( we all know , in Indian Middle class ,IIM and IIT entrance tests are not an individual's dream but always a family's dream ). He was the one who was standing in the desert and looking towards the sky to find the faintest of shadow of the Pole Star so that he can get to know the direction to move.
After, a long wait , came the CAT notification on 30 Aug, acclaiming that the IIMs are going paper-less , the fact quite evident from the advertisement, which barely gave any important dates other than the date and location for purchase of the voucher. All the ways lead to the address www.catiim.in . A few announcements , one demo video was all one can get at the site.The students were left to imagine on their own .
The day was 09-sep-2009 , the date when the voucher selling was to be start at a few selected locations.My God! There were more than 200 people standing in the line at the gate of the bank , even before the bank has opened. This fits with the "Grand Opening ceremony of the Olympics".Anyway , people get their turn and bought the vouchers. Rushes to the computer ... Yes.. we have to race against others .. first lap, to book test slot . Get your favorite venue and date, soon , they will be evaporating from the choice list. Go Prometric site and register your application. But, the world-leader in Online Tests , experienced of handling GRE and GMAT boasted in their cv , but, none can match the CAT. I assume more than a lakh hits made to their site , their server cannot handle this . No they can't . This is "Annual CAT Festival". Lakhs of devotees , a mere 1200 seats at stake. Its a do or die situation for many. Not just to get a license to a good life, fame and money , but , to prove oneself , to prove that yes, I too stand there , amidst the few , those immortals whose success stories are the dinner-talk at too many houses , the younger generations burdened with the expectation to outperform them .
Anyways , each one got his chance to fill the application ,many in their 20th attempt. No wonder they made the mistake final time -- the time when it mattered the most -- anyone could have got annoyed with the lost server connections. People did what they are always best at -- make mistakes. The software was of throw-away quality looking as if it is a summer project of any graduating student -- No validations for necessary fields , no edit facility , and no summary at the end. It was further complicated with the technical issues . All the time , it was the poor student at the receiving end. Moreover, they were asked to buy the new voucher and re-register themselves. Clearly, it was a mess all around . The entrance test to select the future managers and who's who of corporate India , was left unmanaged .
Well,mails flowed and calls made. Umpteen number of people approached the Mighty IIMs to consider about the plight of the students. Finally, a cordial agreement was reached to allow the applicants to edit their application. Many breathe the fresh air . Their heart started pumping oxygenated blood once again . But , I still wonder , institution like IIM , still it didn't came to their mind to provide every individual applicant with an email account and give him to receive and direct every mails pertaining to CAT. The start of the application manual mentions in bold letter - "You must have a valid e-mail id for whole of the selection process". We trust Google more than ourselves , it has made us independent on itself . It is the one which has destroyed the world , her intellectuals . Each and every student types Google to look for their assignments. Every software looks to that. How did the IIMs came to trust of Google or Gmail more than itself, that it forgot to provide any email account to the applicants , leaving them at the mercy of the public e-mail domains. God forbid, but , may Gmail server goes out of service ,who will be responsible for it . The worst was the lack of attribute for "secondary email Address". No field was there to provide a secondary address , in case one fails , we have a back up with us. Surely, every event management course will stress on the need to keep a back up plan . How come the so-called best institutes forget it ? Quite , unbelievable and shameful for them , for us .
Well , a man learns from mistake and I do appreciate the initiative they taken . I was pipeline for years , and it should have been properly planned, tested and verified before bringing on to production .
God knows , whats in store on the D-day. How will they manage such a big database of questions, how will they ship out the exam each day each session with same difficulty level . The more you think of it , the more baffled you are .We will see it in days to come. I am not against improvement, I am not against modernization. But, Surely, I am against a step taking without prior planning and testing. Nothing is fool proof, but yes , the measure to which one is surely make some better than other.
We will be back with some more once, the athletes of the race assemble in the Olympic Village - the centre . The rules and strategies have changed , but , one thing that hasn't changed is cut-throat competition . It is the best ever-game I have played , the strategies of chess and cards , the stamina of marathon, the defense of cricket , the attack of soccer , the speed of F1 and brutality of war.
May only the BEST mouse survive .

The Lost Symbol

2009-09-11T14:02:00.003+05:30

Dan Brown is back with his latest novel - " The Last Symbol" . It is going to be released on 15-Sep-2009 -> 15+09+09= 33 . This book has created a lot of excitement in the reader's circle. Every Dan Brown fan is waiting for another masterpiece immersed in cryptography.

Prior to the release of the book , I paid a visit to the book's official website :- http://www.thelostsymbol.com/ . On entering the website , I found the link of : " Play
Symbol Quest Game ". Wow!! Another puzzle game ... I just can't resist the temptation to play it . And, thus , jumped to it !!

The puzzle was to relate the "Symbols" with the "one-liner" information given below.
You have 3 lives i.e. you can at max make three mistakes.It had 33 rounds attached to it .Each round for matching 1 symbol.

Finally, I successfully matched all the 33 symbols to their respective boxes in my 9th attempt ,a very few answers I was knowing , some calculated guesses and mostly , with the help of Google and wikipedia. Special Thanks to www.symbols.com .

Once,I completed the level 33, a message displayed on my screen - "If you finish all the levels without any mistake , a secret message is waiting for you."

I tried the puzzle thrice more , and in my 11th attempt I was able to score a "Perfect 33". Then , I heard the secret message in the voice off "Dan Brown".

The quiz is quite interesting, and more interesting , is the story I found my way to the answers.

1) Latin "recipe" offered by doctors : very easy , can be easily deciphered

2) Hood ornament for Emil Jellinek's daughter : I googled to find out who was the daughter of Emil Jellinek's daughter.Rest you can follow , with the slightest knowledge of brand logos.

3) Who uses this symbol : Too good . Thanks to Parag, I had seen this type of problem beforehand, my experience came to my rescue. :)

4) The cross of Bogart's Falcon : Frankly speaking I did not get much clue about it from the google that falcon is a bird . Bogart falcon also gave some results and pics , but , were of no use at least to me . Some times , your simple thinking helps you crack . The only figure in the list resembling cross was ... Luckily , my calculated guess took me through.

5) Proofreader's mark from the Latin "Delere" : Made a google image search for delere in latin .Delere means delete and this symbol is used by many printers and proof readers.

6) Opposing, yet unified : I guess its easy one -- a few mistakes allowed. Think of something which are opposite , but are together .

7) One eyed man + two ravens : Googling it gives a link to wiki answers .It talks about The wheel cross, sun cross, Odin's cross or Woden's cross.

Nordic Odin and Teutonic Wuotan or Woden was the supreme god of the Nordic religion before Christianity. Odin was the god of art, culture, warfare, and the dead; He is depicted as an old, one-eyed man with two ravens as his intelligence agents and messengers .

8) Meditative chant : All of us do it !!

9) Kafka, Poe, or Khepri embodied : It refers to some Egyptian symbol.(Dung Beetle).

10) Leo's chaste neighbor: Leo is lion and chaste means " one who is pure (virgin)".
Find out leo's neighbor who is virgin. Use www.symbols.com to get exact symbol.

11) Greek Goddess of Triumph : too easy.

12) Zeus's Games : too easy.

13) Alpha's antithesis : Antithesis means Opposite . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet

14) The fork of Zeus's younger brother : fork symbol ...

15) Casanova, Mozart and Houdini had this in common : read about Casanova in Wikipedia and then , you will get a reference to him linking with Mozart , who were part of same society called " Freemasonry". Freemasonry's symbol is Mason Compass and Square.

16) Silence for Berlioz, Bizet and Bartok :

17) An age in the hair of Broadway : Not much sure . After , 2 futile attempts, tried a symbol looking like 'Hair'.

18) French Monarch's lily : Related to Priory of Sion -- see wiki

19) Robert Langdon's favourite symbol : Locate the symbol on this page http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/robertlangdon/

20) Octothorpe: You find it on your phone. Phew !! I was not knowing about it before ...

21) Sounds like a resident in the Garden of Eden : Pretty tough to find .. couldn't get any clue . Went for reverse engineering ...

22) Anagram of "Madras Pen" : easy one .. simple , but a master piece

23) Without end : Maths enthusiasts must be knowing this

24) The Golden Ratio : I love it !! My favorite "Maths constant " -- Simply , its God's Beauty. Those who don't known , please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

25) Venus's Hand Mirror : Venus : the goddess of beauty. easy one.

26) The "S" in Mozart's D.S : There is a symbol like 'S'. Tried that and it worked.

27) Hieroglyph of seven body parts in one : Read about Eye of Horus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

28) Centaur archer : Search for centaur on www.symbols.com
In Greek mythology , centaurs are the race of creatures made up of half-human and half-horse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur

29) Quicksilver : Mercury ... searched for symbols associated to Mercury on www.symbols.com . There are a lot many symbols attached with mercury and unfortunately , 3-4 were in the list . I tried trial and error method for this . finally , after 4-5 tries ( in 2-3 games) I could locate the correct one .

30) Circle's circumference divided by its diameter : Every body knows it PIE

31) IESOUS CHRISTOS THEOU YIOS SOTER : A simple google and wiki search will lead to Christian Symbols. But , read the interesting article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys.

32) Demisemiquaver : Simple wiki search

33) Scribe of Sidereus Nuncius was the first to see rings around it : first , look for what is Sidereus Nincius . It was a short paper published by Galileo . Scribe refers to the telescope used by him. Then , try to find the symbol associated with this planet at www.symbols.com.

Thanks and I wish all of you the best of luck in finding "The Lost Symbol".

Happy Independence Day

2009-08-15T14:23:00.002+05:30

आज मै आपके सामने एक कविता पेश कर रहा हूँ , जिसे मैंने अपने स्कूल के दिनों में पढ़ा था और मुझे बहुत ये प्रिया लगा था । आज भी ये कविता मेरे कुछ सबसे अनमोल धरोहरों में से एक है ....

जननी जन्मभूमि स्वर्ग से महान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
ग्रीक हून शक यवन टूटते थे भूमि पर ,
हारते थे हौसले पंचनद के तीर पर ।
पता नही कहाँ है वे , अतीत में समां गए ,
कल के प्रवाह में नीज को वे मिटा गए ।
भव्य दिव्य लक्ष्य की प्राप्ति ही विराम है ,
अनादी है अनंत है श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
जननी जन्मभूमि स्वर्ग से महान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
छोड़ के हटे जहाँ शक्ति शौर्य साधना ,
छा गई स्वदेश में स्वार्थ क्षुद्र भावना ।
द्रोही तब पनप उठे , जगी प्रचंड वासना ,
शत्रु फ़िर डटे यहाँ स्वत्व की प्रताड़ना ।
देश भक्ति फ़िर जगे , देश का ये प्राण है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
जननी जन्मभूमि स्वर्ग से महान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
जाति वेश भिन्न भिन्न , पंथ भी अनेक है ,
भावना अभिन्न है , धर्मं मर्म एक है ।
पूर्वजो का रक्त एक , आज सबको जोड़ता ,
कौन है कपूत वहाँ , देश को जो तोड़ता ।
अखंड देश की धरा सुना रहे ये गान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
जननी जन्मभूमि स्वर्ग से महान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
अधर्म की घिरी घटा , कुचक्र है पनप रहे ,
पुण्य धर्मं भूमि पर अधर्म करमा बढ़ रहे ।
व्यथा विशाल देश की आज हम समझ सके,
विशुद्ध राष्ट्र भाव से देश ये महक उठे ।
राष्ट्र जागरण करो यही समय की मांग है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।
जननी जन्मभूमि स्वर्ग से महान है ,
अनादी है अनंत है , श्रृष्टि का विधान है ।

First year as a Corporate fresher

2009-06-23T11:24:00.005+05:30

Day - 23 rd June , 2008 Time : - 8 PM

A boy wakes up to the call of his friend -- " 8 baj gaye , ready nahi hona." He takes his tooth brush and rushes to the balcony to see the rising sun. The day was cloudy , but weather was pleasant. He took his file out of the suitcase -- which had been organised and cross-checked hundred times by himself and his mother to make sure that all his certificates are there . Then , wearing the formals --- got to the auto --and reached the place . The building in fornt was majestic and he felt a sense of pride in entering it . It wasn't for the first time that he was entering such a beautiful campus -- but, definitely the feeling of oneness was there with him.
The campus greeted him with an automatic door - ah good.... he liked it. Then , the reciptionist counter he finds a few more similar but anxious faces waiting for their name to be announced. Finally , his turn came and he gets the security clearance and "NEW EMPLOYEE @ ORACLE" batch . He was shown the way to the conference room . The inside corridors reminded him of the galleries of the big offices . In the conference room , HR were there to greet all the new joinees. He comforatbly positioned himself in the 3 rd chair from the front-- a thing quite unusual for him - looking at the fact that he has hardly promoted himself to sit in the first 4 benches of the class room . He said to himself -- the days of being a backbencher has gone. This is a new beginning . After a long presentation ( and boring also) , he was given uncountable number of sheets to make uncountable number of signatures. While signing on the main sheet - he knew -- that the journey has began . He was novice and lonely in this new world - away from his childish desires and fun . Now, every matter is a damn serious business. He will have to overcome his casual attitude , even if he wants to leave a small mark on the industry.
Soon , he was off to meet his new manager -- who will decide his future at his own will. Everything was new , the only exception being his two teammates who happenned to be his previous classmates. Soon , he was to found two more people sitting in his manager's cabin.After some initial introduction, the task-to-do leaflet was in his hand. Although , he was quite impressed by the fact that a lot many neccessities like seat, working station etc has been taken care of by his manager . He still has to do a lot many by himself --- the only grace were the four other new joiness with him .Lets meet the other four -- two of his classmates hwo had been with him for last 4 years -- Muni and Abhishek and two new faces - Vaibhav from IIT-M and Arunoday from IIT-B . Both seemed to be friendly and more or less had the same frequency of mind. He soon got comfortable with them . Their fun loving , casual and take-life-easy attitude matched with him and that nostalgic feeling of the colleges was back in the cubicle.
After a day or two , all five were sent to the training of -- Oracle Database and PL/SQL. The tutor was a knowledgable person. Still ,somehow he could not find training to be much exciting. The luxury of having a net-connected computer and tutor not complaing for not listening was definitely a new experience. The profs would have screamed at him in the college and must have taken this on their ego. But, yes , it was corporate world. No one would push or pull you , they will just throw you out of the race. But , the same attitude was there with everyone and he felt no reason to be exceptional. The only other thing - this fab 5 - did was to be consistently complain about their tutor who was teacing them non-stop from 9:30 to 7 with a few scattered breaks of 10 min . Other batches were left to explore the new city at 5 , and this hurted them badly. So, the days passed and the course completed on paper . Thank God , he didn't had any test post-training . Oracle trusted her employees so much , no test --- A word of wisdom from me -- Don't trust freshers , too much -- atleast engineering grads -- who had an attitude and aptitude for last hour forced study . No force, no incentive , no study -- thats has been motto for last 4 years of engineering.
Well, God has listened to our prayers and next tutors -- were the ones who himself were ultra cool -- just skimmed through the pages -- reading out the lines. Longer and frequent breaks with early departure were the theme of the next training classes. And , officially the training finished after a month. So, a month salary was drawn doing nothing. Thanks Oracle and hence, came the first salary .
The training ends and he is inducted into a team . Core-HR . All 5 friends divided into 5 different teams . New manager is a technically-inclined guy . Well , thats good for me - he thought. Now, he is at work . Business process was too time-consuming. Yet, he started doing so. The quality of work wasn't much interesting for him . His previous coding experience , was no where coming to use, as language was different, and logic required was too simple to need any coding expertise. However, the boy was left to play and know the system . The functional aspect was more to learn than the technical one. Cubersome business processes were to be faced. He was given enough time to make himself well versed with the system and process. Gradually , he started learning the new things.
On the other side , at the personal front also,there wasn't much to cheer about. He was missing the freedom of college , perhaps more than his home. Soon, he realised the next stop was to be IIM . Perhaps, this is only thing which can restore his pride back. So, the nights were devoted to the CAT study. Sundays went in giving mock-cats. A first few scores were average, but , soon he picked up the momentum -- only in DI and Quant, Verbal as always been was still the obstacle for him.
Days passed and then, the months . Recession was there to haunt everyone. Collapse of Lehmann was a shock to him , but the worst was yet to come. Gradually, a few of his friends lost their jobs. Now, the fear of losing the job started haunting him . Yet, in middle of all these , 16th november arrived . The CAT paper came with a new surprise -- 40 questions in English . He knew -- he has lost the battle . But, still he tried his best . Well , next 1 month passed away - trying to save his job.
Came new year and new responsibilty . He was greeted with the P1. His first P1. Good he managed it . He was noved under new mentor. Now, bugs started flowing into his queue. He fought with them bravely. Quite soon , he was well versed with the data-fixes. By this time , CAT result was announced and it was as expected . Once, again he was second best , not the best. He started concentrating on his assignments at office .Bug came and went , he grew in confidence. Code issues started coming in and slowly, he started understanding them after some initial problems. Although , he was solving the bugs , he couldn't see much value addition to his skill sets.
He was quite settled at his workplace as well as his home - although he cannot deny a few disturbances at his home.The difference of opinion and culture could be seen and felt. A series of incidents has left an unerasable remark on this mind.
By this time , he was knowing that he is not there to fix bugs. He has potential , attitude and abilities to make big. So, once again , he started working for CAT - and decided to stop only -- when he is in the best --- this time I will not settle for second-best , how long it takes.2 years , 3 years , 5 years I am ready for it.
And from then onwards , he has been channelising his efforts in this direction. May God bless him and show him the path of success.
Yes , this one year has made him commit a few mistakes , but , he has also, learnt from them. Hopefully, these will be avoided in future.

The burden of responsibility and the joy of earning .
The enthusiasm of learning and the disappointment of parting.
Meeting the new ones and leaving the old ones.
Wondering in the market and looking for utensils.
The late-night fundaes and sleeping sundays.
Maggi in morning and chachi in the dining.
The days are flying, flying and flying .

FIP upgrades IPL v2.0 from Fried Rice to Biryani

2009-05-21T11:07:00.003+05:30

Finally , here , comes the most awaited moment of this year IPL . No friends, I am not at all talking about the semifinalists berths ... but , the FIP face lift. The one that has taken the IPL popularity to the new heights - atleast for software juntas who want all the masala right in front of their screen . As the bollywood directors add item songs to add the much-needed flavour to otherwise dull hindi cinemas , same credit goes to FIP to add the much needed spicey touch to the IPL , after the Indians were shocked to hear the news of IPL moving out of India to South Africa .
Everybody praises Lalit Modi for adding the Kurkere twist to the cricket with the IPL and Sony enterainmemt television to revive the fortunes of Mandira Bedi --- one of the worst anchors I have ever seen - more disgusting than hopeless Arun Lal. There can be some private close intimacy shared by them . But , this fake ipl player has really added another dimension to the cricket . Cricket in India has always tried to carve its apth ahead of Bollywood , the blind followers are more eager to know the off-field life of their stars. We had a few stories like of Sourav-Nagma, Azhar-Sangeeta affairs ,but, all these news came involving the long -term affairs. We were really sorry to miss these ONE-NIGHT stand affairs. Now, we are truely going gloabal .
Even when the IPL started last season , cricketers were unable to gain the off-field limelight from the Bubbly and King Khan . These bollywood veterans were stilling ruling the days top stories charts. We had the full entertainment on the field but the night-stories , party's spill overs and inside-gossips were missing. Although , our news channels and journalists tried to add some pinches of salt , but , the real "Entertainment ka Baap" comes from FIP. He will always be remembered to give the most sought after in-depth details of players differences , their bubbly-dubbly life full of bear and girls .
Hats-off FIP for getting such a wonderful titles for the players . Appam Chutiya has really been a revolution in cricket circle. Even bevdaas, dhakkan and all were quite awesome.I always wondered about the Kishan Kanhaiya -- looking at his dashing personality and over-excellent communication. But, dude , you had made this IPL , one of the driest events for him . I really dont care who are you , as I liked the stories - even , if they have been cooked up. I really feel it takes a good amount of imagiantion and knowlege of cricket inner circles . Your ability to bind the audience is awesome . To make thousand -odd readers wait for your next post is not every body's cup of tea and perhaps , even seasonal bloggers like Amitabh and Shobha De cant do it perhaps. Your writing style was inspiring for young bloggers like me , I cant challenge your point that you missed your IIM interview to see India-Australia match at Kotla. The way you have signed off has been quite good - saving your best for the perhaps the fututer tournaments .
Whatever , be your fate --- but you have set the path ahead for a few of the people to blog the daily cricket diary. Hope for a greater amount of masala and fun in the future tournaments .

Indian Cricket Team in my office - Part 1

2009-05-12T15:21:00.004+05:30

One day , I stumbled upon the idea - if the Indian cricket team is brought into my office and each one assigned a role based on their merits -- better to say , attitude . How is the place around you gonna look like ?

I really feel a lot satisfied in curbing the freedom of these freebies and putting them in the fort -- is it digital fortress -- called 'cubicle'.

So , here comes the Little Master --- Just for the sake of his passion, commitment, love, knowledge and perfection of the game , he can be the Chief Architect -- responsible for meeting the 'Number of Patents ' published deadline. He has been quite innovative in the last few years -- taking the cricket book orthodox shots to the ultimate perfection and inovating a few shots - paddle sweep, scoop hockey shot .

The next comes ' Maharaja ' aka Dada ... he will be more than happy to be here -- enjoying the flexi-timings to the fullest . Coming to office - post-lunch and then , going back before 6 -- managing to survive on the older reputation. His laziness in the field will be stretched to the office work. Work from home -- is the first thing he demands from any company he works for.

Here , goes "The Wall" -- or the " Veteran of the team" . Infact , amidst the new stars, he has lost his shine, but, he is one who is to be consulted when any issue goes above others head. Technically flawless and mentally stable -- you can rely on him , even in the worst of the situations.

Yuvraj ' Flamboyant' Singh ..... you will find him more .. with the girls in the cafeteria ... than on his desk . Most of the bachelors -- are quite jealous of him for this . He has been ruling the charts for quite some time.

Mahendra 'Cool' Dhoni --- Patiently scanning his rappo with his team mates and on-going recession --- the higher authorities comprising of Sharad ' Fat' Power and Lalit ' Money ' Modi have decided to make him ' Firing Manager' and part time responsibility of 'Admin'. He has been picked as the one who will deliver the news of firing to the affected person .. Management is quite confident , that , he can give a part of coolness and calmness to those poor fellows . Another , plus point is his physical fitness which can do him a lot of good in controlling guys like Appam -- oops Srisanth - when they go wild.

Zaheer - called Zak --- will take care of cafeteria and food manager -- heared -- he owns a a resturant in Pune called ZK. I hope , he will get some chefs from his place -- so that we can have some eatable food at the office . And , his pace will help to cater to the needs of the people who stand in the queue for so long -- that their hunger ceases to exist.

Rest of the players ... in the next one .... watch out for more masala ...

Just six steps away ----

2009-04-17T15:05:00.002+05:30

Last few years have seen a rapid growth for the Social Networking sites. The saga that had started with Orkut , has been carried forward by Facebook and LinkedIn and numerous other sites whose account requests spams keep flooding your email account. Rarely is a day , when I dont see the Birthday calender , join my network sort of messages in my inbox and directly as well as deliberately , click on " Report as spam" button. But, unfortunately, messages from same e-mail address invade my inbox a few days later. I have always failed to understand what happiness people draw in sending their reminders and invitations and above all , why the hell they choose my e-mail id . Anyways , I am too much satisfied with my Orkut and to some extent Facebook as my social network accounts and LinkedIn as my professional network account.
Around 1-2 years earlier, I had heard a theory " Six degrees of seperation " when I was going through the concepts and history of networking sites. ( For the guys who ahve developed the habit of googling and wiki..ing ... I leave it for them to search it on ... for others who are lazy enough to avoid it or have got accustomed to spoon feeding , I make a small mention .. This theory says ... that any two person on this earth are separated by at max 5 persons . That is .. if you pick any random person , you are connected to that person through a chain of 5 common acquaintances. )

At that time , I was digging to find out the behind-screens concepts of Orkut. How Orkut chaining works . Can this theory be verified from there ? What I could find aboutOrkut way of listing the link between you and any random profile you visit was ..it takes a common friend of both of you and link you using your common friend . But , alas, that was the end of the stoy . Orkut supported only 1 degree of separation and any profile you visit , not having any common friend , you were linked directly. Shit !!!! My experiment failed. And , the thirst to check its correctness faded away ... thanks to other activities in which I gained interest.
After almost a year and half, I again stumbled to this "Six Degrees" but , this time on facebook . It was an application present on facebook where you type any arbit name --- profile would rather be technically appropriate -- it would genrate the degree of sepeartion for you and that person . It was quite exciting for me . I played with this application for a number of times , giving craziest names from little - known away places . The results were quite surprising . Degrees of separation results came from 1 to max of 9.
Then , I googled for the latest article on this and .... some awesome references were at my mouse-clicks. There were many articles published with their results and findings. A recent study conducted on Facebook quotes avearge separation of the users in the facebook to 5.73 which is strikingly similar to the theory published.
Although , many have disregarded this theory as just an urban myth , giving the references of the African and South American tribes who lives in isolation. But , even if we just talk of the conencted world, we covering 6 billion + of world population . It again reimposes the faith of brotherhood. Just, 6 relations away , we are going to feel the pinch of the pain we inflict on the others. The lessons of peace, tolerance and universal brotherhood are the one which is going to stay with us in the longest run .

K3 - KISSA KURSI KA !!!

2009-04-14T15:48:00.005+05:30

Indian democracy , projected as the largest democracy in the world , is also undoubtedly the most puzzling one. The mood of the voter is tough to predict. It has become more puzzling in the recent years when the National Parties like Congress and BJP having lost its charm towards the regional parties. Regional parties , having become dominant forces in state-level politics have started to flex their muscle at the Delhi throne also.
The era of coalition weak governemnt has badly affected India to adopt strict and clear-cut policies towards the monster issues like foreign policy, terrorism and economic reforms. One would always talk of the large number of options people are getting with more parties, but, this option is presenting a hung parliament and a very weak coalition governement , with every party threatening to pull her leg , for their benefits.
Come the General Election -2009 and we are witnessing the Dance of Democracy. UPA as well as NDA as disintegrated. RJD, LJP have left the UPA allaince , and BJD has left the NDA alliance. Mayawati, AIADMK , TDP and left parties have made the third front. Now, Lalu, Paswan and Mulayam have come together to form the fourth front.
As per the latest exit-poll survey conducted by the India Today , none of these fronts are going to secure a clear majority, which simply means that post-election alliances , where these regional parties can bargain for any thing they wish , right from the high-profile ministeries to Prime - minister or deputy Prime-minister post. Poll survey shows Congress and its allies getting around 190 seats and NDA with 170 seats . Others constitute the rest of the 170 seats .
Although , it is very much clear that in none of the cases , Other can form the government without the support of BJP or Congress. Same holds true for these two major parties also. Now, the party which can do the best political bargaining stands to gain the most. Its this fragmented mandate of the people that local leaders like Mayawati and Sharad Pawar have strated dreaming about their prospects as PM . And , its really unfortunate for us ,we cannot unrule their possiblility of becoming an accidental PM.
Restructuring of the alliances have taken place before the election . Difference in the policies of the parties was the last reason for this as never were they having common policies.The sole reason was difference in seat sharing. What united all of them was their political ambitions. Now, to further place them in the better position to negotiate , these parties have detached themselves from the main alliances just to improve their tally , by contesting on the maximum number of seats. Thats the reason ,Mulayam , Lalu have decided to contest without Congress in Bihar and Jharkhand . Same with BJD-BJP allaince in Orissa where 11 year old alliance was broken . Even, Sharad Pawar's NCP is contesting elections against Congress across the country except Maharastra and Goa.
BJP is looking to improve its prevoius tally in West and Central India but this gain cannot compensate the loss its incurring in states of UP, Orissa and southern states especially Tamil Nadu. BJP -JD(U) hopes for a better performance in Bihar and Jharkhand on the account of the welfare and devlopements programs initiated by Nitish govt and weakening of Sibu Soren's JMM respectively. Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi is as vibrant as ever. The popularity of Modi is Gujarat is even more than BJP's Prime Ministerial Candidate L.K.Advani. Modi is surely going to be the BJP's next poster boy with Varun who has shot him to prime time media coverage putting him at the same level as his cousin Rahul Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh with 80 odd seats and Bihar with 40-odd seats have always played a vital role in deciding who will be hoisting the tricolor at Red Fort , next 15th August. But, the caste politics have given rise to leaders like Lalu, Paswan, Mulayam and Mayawati. Mayawati is riding high with the new formulae of Dalit-Brahmin combination , unique of its kind. She has even rolled out the carpet to welcome Muslims after slapping NSA charges against Varun.
In West Bengal, direct fight between Trinamool and Left is to be witnessed . Mamta Bannerjee has seriously hampered her cause in the Nano case. If West Bengal still stuck with her , then it is surely going to be the bad luck of the Bengalis. Calcutta once, centre of the trade and capital of British India has continoulsy lost its charm and investor confidence thanks to the frequent Unions strike and conservative policies of Left Government. Thats , the reason the Calcutta or Kolkata is still seems untouched by the waves of globalisation and ITisation. Now, that left has changed its stance , its Mamta who drove out Tata's out of Singur.
The countdown has begun for the biggest show of Democracy on the planet , with less than 24 hours to go... This month -long drama has eclipsed the TRP ratings soap-operas, crowd at Multiplexes and thrown away IPL out of India. Lets hope that who so ever wins , the next government works for the people of India uprooting the problems of poverty, corruption , unemployment , terrorism and other social issues.

The Phoenix Tongue

2009-04-13T13:07:00.001+05:30

The journey of English as a language in India is much like a river who finds its way through the terrains and mountains to meet the silent ocean.English has recently been accepted as the language of choice for the Young India thanks to the fast-emerging IT and BPO sector.
The history of this language in India traces back to 18th Century . The language arrived at the sea-ports along with the East India Company ships.It remained the language of the Britishers until Lord Macaulay decided to introduce it in Indian Education system in 1835 although the sole objective was to erect a class of British-loyal English tongued Indian blooded clerks and bureaucrats.The language brought with itself the ideas of democracy,nationalism and liberty.It also opened the gates of the scientific and literature jewels for the Indians. The English language grew in popularity for it was one which united the numerous numbers of kingdoms and Princely states into one united India.
Came the independence after a long battle of 200 years against the colonial imperialism.English being viewed as the foreign language and the relics of the Britishers , met a strong resistance from the Independent India leaders. They were in mood to let it continue as the official language. This move was highly supported by the North-Indian masses who were adamant to get the the official language status to Hindi. However, it was absolutely indigestible for the South-Indian states who had a greater affinity for their own regional language. They started agitating against the Hindi and thus, Hindi and English both were made the official language and the Southern states were given a time frame of 15 years to learn and implement Hindi. But, after 15 years , the Indian government has to again bend towards the agitation especially led by DMK in Tamil Nadu.This agitation of DMK against Hindi won her the support of the Tamilians and set up first Non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu. Although, the Southern States had agitated , but, their fight was more against Hindi, rather than for English. The condition of English in Indian academia reached a new bottom when Gujarat and West Bengal government banned teaching English in primary schools. The three language policy of the Indian government , for teaching English , Hindi and one regional language has an instrumental role in degrading English education in India. But, in spite of all these , it was the Indian middle class which still routed its child to English- medium private schools .
As the darkest time in the night is the hour before the dawn , the same was for the English. The phoenix rose from the ashes . Came the year 1991 , the year of economic reform when India truely achieved its Economic freedom, it opened the gates for the Private sector .And , along with it came the floods of opportunities. The English literate population grabbed this opportunity with both hands and soon, India found herself placed at the top of IT and BPO industry of the world. People who were after English criticizing her as the foreign language embraced it whole-heartedly. The story of rags to riches became a common day-to-day story with a lot of young professionals and entrepreneurs scripting their own -success story. Still, a vast majority of our population is English-illiterate which possess a big challenge as well as an optimism to harness this untapped potential. Now, English has evolved as the language of Media, business class and of-late finding its way into the society with the latest Hinglish culture. The language which came to this land with the traders, has evolved so much and become a part of this country. Eminent writers like Amitav Ghosh and others have chosen to pen down their imagination and views in this language rather than in their own mother tongue. Surely, the success of the modern India was scripted the day English was introduced in our Education system.

Doctors vs Engineers

2009-04-02T19:45:00.002+05:30

I am back to the blogging world after a small lull. This time , I bring one of the most-debated topic of a senior-secondary level student. which profession is better - Engineering or Medical.
Both of these have been the two most sought after and prestigious careers for the Great Indian Middle class. Slowly and steadily though, engineering is gaining ground . Four years of engineering at a decent college will fetch you a well-paying job. What the doctors manage after years of academic grilling is even less than what a fresh MBA graduate from C category B-school manages to earn by selling credit cards and insurance policies.
After 4 years of cool life at engineering college with a good job , and a decent probability of financial-aid for those who want to pursue higher studies abroad. The misery of a medical student starts from the PMT entrance, followed by 5 years of medical ...... again .. an entrance with fewer number of seats to do post-graduate specialization of 3 years and .....if you are an ambitious person , then , another 2 years of super specialization. ... This takes a total of around 10-11 years ,only if you manage to clear all the entrance in the very first attempt , which rarest of the cases . And after , such mammoth effort , you set up your clinic or work under some doctor for some experience, which means best years of your life are over.
It is really pathetic for India that with head count of over 1 billion , we have a few quality doctors coming out of colleges every year. The number of seats is medical college needs to increased so , that we have enough doctors to cater the need of the bulging population. The existing hospitals are already over-crowded. Every year , we hear the increased intake news for IITs and IIMs , but, nothing is heard for medical colleges.There is nothing wrong in it if we find the new geneartion going away from medical profession and moving towards eay but, well apying jobs.
The medical professionals are the one who are left with the minmum of the time to spend with families or to take vacations. Mostly , cant go on vacations because of the fear of loosing patients to their rivals .
Nowadays, a lot of medical graduates are seen pursuing MBA in hospitality management . Another avenue , which is fastly becoming popular in India is Clinical research and if India can manage to pursue the west countries to outsource their clinical trials to India , it could be turn out to be next boom , after IT and BPO industry.If this happens , Indian medical industry will surely go global..

Tendulkar reaches Mother of all milestones

2008-10-17T14:56:00.000+05:30

And, here it is finally. Although, it was well evident, that it is not too far, yet, he made us wait a little longer. Sachin Tendulkar has been at the international stage for almost two decades now, since then, he had been the mainstay of the Indian cricket. None of the players have been able to even match his caliber, leave aside surpassing him.
To play a game is one thing, to play is well is a level higher. But, to play it in a way , unmatched by anyone in the universe is the pinnacle of the achievement.After, being there for 20 years, nothing is left for the master-blaster to prove, but still, every time he enters the field, you can still see that eager for the runs which was there , the first time he stepped in the field. He was a frail teenager who was simply born to play the game. From a tough initiation in Pakistan as a 16-year-old facing the likes of Imran Khan , Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowling at their best, to a match-saving first Test century in England when all other Indian batsmen failed, to a mountain of runs that he piled up against every opposition. In all conditions, against all attacks, against all odds and not to forget the odd-umpiring decisions going against him .
He is the one who has taken the cricket from the green field to the advertisement board, iconising the face of the Indian cricket. The branding of the Indian cricket owes its thanks to Sachin.
The master batsmen has smashed lots of records and runs, but , I do believe it will one of the most sparkling diamonds in his crown when he hangs up his bat-- God forbids that happens in my lifetime.Although, not more than 3 years of cricket left in him, i feel that the little master will make it sure that he takes his tally to such a level which remains unattainable at least for his life long.
Just an apt line to finish up with
" Stones are thrown at you, you convert them into milestones ."

Independence Day in Kashmir Valley

2008-08-21T11:50:00.000+05:30

When whole of the nation was celebrating the 62nd Independance day hoisting the tricolour, the Kashmir Valley was burning in the fire of the communalism. The curfew imposed in the city continued to be there. The armed forces hoisted the tricolor at the historical 'Lal Chowk' in Srinagar. But , as a shock to the millions of Indians, the protestors came out of their home in huge numbers in the evening and hoisted the flag of Azad Kashmir. The armed forces could not do anything other than to watch them do so. Neither could have done anything with such a huge crowd coming for the ritual.
The incidence can be related much to the India's struggle for independence.Do the people of Kashmir really against the Indian rule and are in favour of a seperate Kashmir or there exits a small section of the community who is trying to mobilise the 'awaam' of kashmir for their personal ambitions.
Going back into the past , we find that kashmir row has been there since India's Independence . 61 years have passed by , the Kashmir issue is still wide open.People of kashmir are now annoyed with both Indian and Pakistan Govt who have failed miserably to solve the issue . To be frank, better to say they dont want to do so. In Pakistan , Kashmir is an important election issue and no govt. would like to take rock-solid decision on it. Moreover, the involvement of Pakistan army in their governance owes a lot to this failure. Even , from the indian side , there hasn't been any serious effort rather than allocating extra funds for the state.
At the time of independance , the Hindu Maharaja of Muslim-populated state decided to come with India. But, this was not digestable to the Pakistan.They sent their troops and a war was declared. Right from that time Pakistan has always wanted to add kashmir to her territory supporting Cross-Border Terrorism and Proxy War terming it as "Jihad".
The war of 1948 ended on the note of UN intervention to conduct plebescite and let the people themselve decide. But, to conduct it , the major requirement was withdrawl of both Indian and Pakistani troops which doesnot seems to be possible even in distant future.

The three possible solutions suggested for this issue:
1) Kashmir remains with India and PoK goes with Pakistan( present LoC to be declared as International Border). Altough, there is very little probability to Pakistan aggreing with it.If any of the Indian Govt is able to fix this solution it will be considered as one of the biggest diplomatic victory of India.But, it can only be done with the help of international pressure and Kashmiri's support. It too seems very rare that any international fraternity will like the press pakistan for this , neither will they want it to be fixed.
2) Divison of Kashmir Valley: Pakistan will be more than happy over it. There is very chances that the Hindu-populated regions like Jammu, Kapurthalla and Ladakh will go with Pakistan , instead , they would like to be added to Himachal Pradesh.Even, Pakistan wont mind it.
3)Kashmir as an independant state: Its really one the most feasible solutions with the Hurriyat and others demanding for it. Even, international community will welcome this solution . But, the problem with it lies not in its feasibilty but, its longevity and its impact over the region.
I am afraid of the sovereignity and independence of this state in due course of time as if not India (considering the fact , we haven't invaded any nation in alst 1000 years),Pakistan will surely try for it and India will have to come in fray to stop the Pakistani extension in the South Asia. Moreover, considering the fact that India as well as Pakistan comprises of a wide variety of culture and otehr differences, the voices of independent status will start raising their head and the South Asia region will turn into a turbulent state .India having faced such small protests and demands from seperatists group in the past in state of Punjab , Tamil Nadu , should go on to supress this.

Dreaming for 12 Medals in London -2012

2008-08-20T14:50:00.000+05:30

At last after the wait of over 100 years , taking into account the India's participation during British regime, finally, with the almighty's grace , we have been able to make a mark in GOLD'S medal tally at the olympics. Thanks to the shooter - Abhinav Bindra.
India known for its ancient civilizations , with advanced archery and horse-riding technicalities dating back to vedic age ....it is really a matter of shame that we have been devoid of a single olympics medal . This failure of ours to make a mark at the international sports arena owes to none other than our own society and administrative systems.
On one hand , our society has always been non-suppoertive to the sports , the same had been the case of the Govt. Perhaps, the nation awakes only to the tunes of olympics at an interval of 4 years.
Since, a lot of have already been written about the lack of infrastructure and other loop holes , little attention have been drawn towards the performance of the African and Central American nations at the Olympics- just for an example- Jamaica had always produced Olympics records breaker , not just medal winners - in the Atheletics. Similarly ,Central Asian nations making mark in Gymanastics. And these nation's success cannot be attributed to infrastructure as they lack them more than we. Still, they performs. Hence, the failure cannot be attributed only to the infra.
Lack of proper planning had been one of main root causes of our failure. If we look into the way China has progressed . Taking a leaf out of their success story , we will see that first they focussed into the sports which are low-profile but have bag ful of medals. So, instead of competing in the high profile arenas like athelitics , we can concentrate on something like archery,shooting,weightlifting,boxing etc. Am not asking to neglect other , but , surely we can press a bit harder in thses sections.As once we establish ourselves in the medal tally, we can surely gain confidence for the bigger events.
Aiming for 12 Medals at London-2012 with proper startegy and vision for 20 Golds at Games-2020 won't be a distant dream.