Pledge Amended

After the recent Marathi Vs Bihari episode in Maharashtra, some changes to our Pledge is inevitable.
Our new Pledge is as follows :
Words in Blue reflect the changes

Maharashtra is my country and all Maharashtrians are my brothers and sisters.

I love Maharashtra and I am proud of its so called rich and varied heritage.

I shall always strive to be worthy of it.

I shall give respect to my parents only if they are Maharashtrians, teachers only if they teach Marathi and elders again only if they are Maharashtrians and treat everyone with courtesy HA HA HA HA HA.

To my Maharashtra and my Maharashtrians, I pledge my devotion.

In their well being and prosperity alone lies MNS’s happiness.

Jai Maharashtra!

The original version of the Pledge is written below. Remember our school text books used to have this in the first page ?

India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.
I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.
I shall always strive to be worthy of it.
I shall give respect to my parents, teachers and elders and treat everyone with courtesy.
To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.
In their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.
Jai Hind!

Bad days for the Lord of our Good Luck

In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak, reshaped the annual Ganesh festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. He visualized the cultural importance of this deity and used Ganesh Chaturthi as a National Festival to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and build unity between them in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. The festival facilitated community participation & involvement in the form of learned discourses and served as a meeting ground for common people of all castes and communities, in a time when social & political gatherings were forbidden by the British Rule to exercise control over the population. It was an important festival during the Peshwa rule in Maharashtra, but acquired a more organized form all over India during the Swaraj movement (Freedom struggle).

What started as a movement for freedom struggle has taken gigantic proportions today. Religious belief has been replaced by commercial motive. It has become a big industry in itself. A small section of crowd has been replaced by large serpentine que. The traditional mud idols have been replaced by Plaster of Paris statues. Small idols have been replaced by tall and huge ones.
Of concern is that these murtis (large and small) are made out of PoP and coloured chemicals, which causes significant water pollution when immersed in sea water.

Plaster of Paris (POP) is not a naturally occurring material and contains gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium. The idols take several months to dissolve in water and in the process poison the waters of lake, ponds, rives and seas.

The chemical paints used to decorate the Ganesh idol contain mercury, lead, cadmium and carbon and this increases the acidity and heavy metal content in the water.

Several accessories used during the Ganesh Puja like Thermocole, plastic flowers, cloth, incense, camphor and numerous other materials are dumped carelessly adding more strain to the already polluted rivers and lakes.

Careless dumping of Ganesh idols in waterbodies blocks the natural flow of water. This results in stagnation and breeding of mosquitoes and other harmful pests. The polluted water causes several diseases including skin diseases.

The pollution from Ganesh Chaturthi idols also damages the ecosystem, kills fishes and water plants. In many areas, the same polluted water gets pumped into homes.

People drink and dance to loud music on the streets showing absolute disrespect to Lord.

The day after immersion, it’s a pathetic sight to watch at the sea shore as parts of the Ganesh Idol which was worshipped ends up being beaten, dismembered and left to fall apart in the water.

Check the following links which contains pics of Lord Ganesh taken the day after the idols are immersed in sea water.
NOTE: It is illegal to publish desecrated images of Ganesh idols. Hence, links to other websites, which contain such images are given here. The intention is to show how disrespectful we are towards God and how Hindu faith is being abused. This is purely to create awareness and not hurt sentiments.
Image 1
http://fractalenlightenment.blogspot.com/2007/10/pros-cons-of-ganesh-chaturthi.html

Image 2
http://basia.blog-city.com/colors_of_asia_pink.htm

Image 3
http://vivekchavan.blog.co.uk/2007/09/14/aware_indians~2977247

Image 4
http://trak.in/tags/business/2007/09/19/polluting-ganesh-festival-idols/

Image 5
http://www.fropper.com/posts/6972

This is not the way to worship. No other community behaves this way with their God. In the name of worship, we have made a mockery of the entire tradition. Over so many years, we lost our values and traditions and we have pushed ourselves into doing business and making profits with religious issues. We should change our behavior to continue respecting God and keep our tradition running.

So what should one do?

1. Use a small idol for immersion and worship a permanent stone idol every year. Let us keep the idol small and the theme Big.

2. Return to the traditional use of natural clay idols and immerse the idol in a bucket of water at home.

3. Use eco-friendly idols made of paper pulp, clay, flowers etc that easily dissolve in water and do not break into pieces when immersed.

4. Instead of immersing it in sea water, use a tub or a water tank. Artificial ponds are available across Mumbai and we can use them. http://www.ecoganpati.com/artificial-ponds.html

5. Do not paint (or at least over paint) the idol. Avoid using chemical colors.

6. Do not use items such as plastic for decoration.

7. Avoid using crackers and loud music.

It is not necessary to be fancy about our Lord. Lets just show respect to the lord of our good luck.

Did you realise we feed the terrorist ??

Two men wearing helmets come in a bike and throw a polythene bag in a busy area and escape. An innocent little child picks the bag up to return it back to them. The next min, the child is dead. 28 September, 2008, Mehrauli, Delhi.

How does one convince himself to plant a bomb in his own soil and kill his own people? Broadly speaking, it is the inefficiency on the part of the Indian Government to spread education and improve the standard of living of every Indian, especially the minorities. It is the inaction on the part of the Government to punish the offenders and set an example so that such incidents are not repeated again. After every blast, there are a few arrests made and then nothing happens to them after that. They live a life in prison, without worrying about food, clothing and shelter as they have now been taken care of. 

The Government has spend Rs 144510 Lacs on jail inmates in 2006-07. That is an increase of 12.2% over the previous year. Food expenses contribute 63% of the total expenses.

And where does the Government get the money to feed these terrorist? It is ofcourse the taxpayers money. Think about it. We do the hard work to earn some money and we are forced to part some of it. The Government spends this money back into the society for the benefit of the society, which also includes spending money on feeding jail inmates and taking care of them.

Why do these people have to live at all. Simply by enforcing a ban on terror outfits has not worked well enough for the society. Once the crime is proved the Government should promptly come into action and give them nothing less than capital punnishment as is done in some countries. If they dont need India, we also dont need them. 

Human rights activist protesting against capital punishment should consider the following : 

At the end of 1990s, several N.Korean army generals were executed by being burnt alive inside a stadium. Muzafar Avazov was an Uzbekistan national who was immersed in boiling water in 2002. On 12-Jan-08, an Indonesian housemaid was beheaded in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of killing her employer. Also 4 Srilankan naotionals were beheaded in Feb 07 in Saudi Arabia for armed robbery. As of 2008, US states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia still reserve the eletric chair as an option for execution. 

We also have hanging as a form of capital punishment, but we dont seem to use it.

I know I am asking too much from India. We have always been ruled and dictated and I am sure nothing will change. Terror will continue to dominate and kill, innocent people will continue to die, ministers will continue to condemn, arrests will happen, and you and I will feed the terrorist by paying taxes. One fine day a blast will take away our life as well and the only loss for our Government will be the tax amount that we were paying till yesterday.

If I ever had a choice, I would authorise the Government to use my tax amount on buying a bullet and shoot a bloody terrorist to death.

The following is a chronology of terror incidents that has taken place since 2005 till now.

2006, March 7: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi kill 28 and injure more than 100.

2006, July 11: A series of explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing 209 and wounding another 714 civilians.
2006, August 16: A bomb exploded in a Hindu temple near Imphal, killing five and injuring nearly 50 other
2006, September 8: At least two bomb blasts target a Muslim cemetery in the western town of Malegaon. The blasts kill 37 people and leave 125 others wounded.
2006, November 20: A suspected terrorist bomb explodes on a train in India
2007, February 19: Samjhauta Express, a train headed toward Lahore an hour after it leaves New Delhi; two bombs explode
2007, May 18: Attack on Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. 
2007, August 25: Hyderabad bombings. Twin bombings kill at least 44 and injure 54 in Hyderabad. Two bombs are diffused and 19 others are found unexploded. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, blames Islamic militants with ties to Pakistan or Bangladesh, saying that the extremists want to foment tension between India's Hindus and Muslims. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan deny the accusations
2007, October 14: A bomb explodes in the Shingar Cinema in Ludhiana, killing at least six people and wounding 20, police say
2007, November 23:Uttar Pradesh serial blasts. Near-simultaneous blasts triggered by militants in court premises in Varanasi, Faizabad, and the state capital kill 15 people and injure more than 80
2008, February 20: Panvel. A small explosion occurred in a movie theater screening Jodhaa Akbar, a controversial film found by ethnic Rajputs to be "offensive"2008, May 13:Jaipur. A simultaneous bomb blast at eight different sites, including a crowded shopping site and a Hanuman temple, a self-styled Indian Mujahideen, (a collaboration of LeT & SIMI) has claimed responsibility
2008, May 31: Navi Mumbai. Police defused a small explosive at a movie theater screening Jodhaa Akbar, a controversial film found by ethnic Rajputs to be "offensive"
2008, June 4: Thane. A bomb exploded in the parking lot of an auditorium hosting a play that parodied the Mahabharat. Two men, ages 50 and 34, admitted guilt to the attack and others on February 20th and May 31st. Although the men claimed membership in Hindutva groups, they stated that they acted alone without support
2008, July 25: Bangalore. A series of nine blasts kills 2 and injures 20 people
2008, July 26: Ahmedabad. A series of seventeen blasts killing 49 and injuring 160 people
2008, July 27: Godda, Jharkhand. At least six people were injured when a bomb exploded at a bus stand in Jharkhand's Godda district
2008, September 13: Delhi. A series of 5 bombs exploded in Delhi, killing 30 and injuring 90.
2008, September 27: South Delhi. One child was killed and many more were injured;the injured were taken to AIIMS. The blast occured at about 2.15 pm (IST) near a flower market in Mehrauli, close to the historic Qutub Minar.

What a waste of Talent

Here I find someone interesting enough to write about.
This kid, Ravi is just about in his teens and sells peacock fans at Hanging Gardens (also known as Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens), Mumbai. Just like so many other kids in India, even he has never got a chance to go to school. That does not deter him from being enterprising in the job that he does. Everyday he meets tourist from different countries and sell fans to them using his USP, which is, speak to them in their local language !!.
Hear him speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Iranian, Israeli, English



The following video was taken a couple of years ago.





Such a amazing talent. Imagine if he too got a chance to go to school like you and me. Also notice his body language when he explains about hanging gardens. Awesome, aint it?. You may learn the language from someone else but the skill and confidence in presenting is something which you have to develop on your own.

Hope some NGO sees this talent and helps him from this hardship. Surely he deserves better than this.

I googled for more info about this kid. This is a compilation of what I found, though there is no way of verifying it.

Ravi moved to Mumbai eight years ago from a rural area, initially to start a retail sales business. In the subsequent years he also established a small manufacturing operation and a tour guide business.

Ravi speaks nine languages conversationally – his regional native tongue plus English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German and Russian. Remarkably, he is entirely self-taught, although he has recently started taking night classes to broaden his education.

Ravi has a very warm, engaging personality and you instantly like him. With a quick sense of humor, he laughs easily and is a very talented raconteur.

His grandmother brought him to Mumbai from deep in rural India when he was 4 years old, to help the rest of the family survive because conditions were so desperate in his village.
He learned how to approach strangers and pitch them his product. Closing a sale, he then followed his customers around with their tour guides, learning not only their language but also the stories the guides told about the Hanging Gardens or the Tower of Silence or other local sights.

As he made a little money, Ravi was able to buy raw materials for his grandmother to make fans of peacock feathers at night that he could sell the next day—adding more profit to his sales.

Ravi is nothing if not fearless and it was an easy step for him to suggest to a trinket customer that they let him guide them through the Gardens. He has a direct manner and a warm smile that are impossible to resist. Within a few years, Ravi could give a respectable tour of the Gardens in a variety of languages

God Bless Him !!

End Of The World

A while ago, one of the news channels showed a programme on the End Of The World. The date predicted by the channel was 22-Dec-2012. The channel was refering to prophecies by Mayan Civilization.

This prompted me to do some googling on this subject. Read below :

The belief :

The Mayan calendar ends on December 22, 2012. For centuries thousands have believed the Mayan prophecy that all life on earth as we know it would cease to exist on that date, and that the earth would be reborn and a new cycle would begin.

Explaining the rubbish:

The so-called calendar "end date" is December 21 not 22 or 23. The answer to the question is NOTHING IS HAPPENING ON DECEMBER 22, 2012.

And this is what's happening on 21-Dec-2012: The Mayan Long Count calendar is moving over from 12 Baktuns to 13 Baktuns (similar to our calendar going from 1999 to 2000 except a Baktun is 400 years long !!). Also on that morning, which is the winter solstice, there will be an astronomical alignment between the sun and the dark spot on the Milky Way at dawn.

Want to know more:

The following link explains the rationale behind the Mayan Prophecy. I dint go through the whole thing as I found the article was toooooo lengthy :).

http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm