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Which is the recent memory which looks like a nightmare for me? The flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco? May be not…there is another ridiculous memory coming in to my mind..
It happened about two months ago, when I was back in India. I got a discount coupon (when I had coffee from a café) of a premium saloon and spa. I went to that saloon and did haircut (usually I do not visit such places since a haircut can be done for less than one forth of the amount these kind of saloons charge). It was a nice experience. The ambiance, the chair, the equipments, the process involved, and the way the guy behaved etc.
I was coming back with a happy feeling. When I passed my regular saloon on my way back to home, this thought of doing a facial came into my mind since I got very tanned due to an one week long travel in a hot place. So, I dropped in to that saloon and told that I want a facial. He suggested a ‘Papaya’ one. This was the first time in my life so far that I was trying out any such grooming other than haircut.
He started with a bleach and it I did not feel any issues (well, any difference in my skin tone too) and then he applied something and started massaging my face in such a way that I felt like he thinks that my face is a road and he is running a road-roller. At some point of time, he poked my nose and it became watery, even the eyes (he applied that thing on my eyelids too). I thought I better stop the whole thing and save my face from his barbaric acts. I realized that he don’t know even the basics of facial massage. I was waiting for him to wipe off the stuff he applied.
When he did that, I opened my eyes and…
My eyes were red and my face was yellow ! how can I go home this way? He was trying his best but the color stayed there… I asked him what this is and he said it will go when he finish the whole process. I don’t know what he was applying on my face but he applied couple of more things on my face and continued his brutal massage…it took about an hour for him to finish his ‘work’
Then he asked whether I want to go for a head massage. And I politely said no coz I didn’t want to lose the precious hair that is left on my head in an hours time and end up in a severe headache. When I paid the money, he expected some tips but I did not give any…he stared at me and I just said thanks and left the place…May be he thought I thanked him for his ‘work’ , but no…
All that ‘feeling good’ that I got from the haircut place is gone now…its replaced by feeling bad…
Same day, same kind of place and opposite results….
Some days are like that, can't help it...
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Californian Thoughts V 1.0
It’s 11 days here in California. I am still in a hotel and yet to get settled here. Settled in the sense living in our own (rented)house, getting the Social Security Number, getting California driver’s license, sending my son to the school, having an idea where my wife is working, getting familiarized with the neighborhood place I am going to live etc. So far I have no idea about how our income and expenditure account would be. But it looks like we can’t save much (or anything) because of many factors.
I spent this weekend with a relative in San Francisco. Had lots of Indian food (thanks a lot, guys!). It was a beautiful place in a hilly area. We can see the downtown San Francisco from there. Their neighborhood had more Filipinos than Indians. I did not miss any chance to visit shops there. Almost anything and everything had further choice here. Milk and yoghurt is available in varied fat levels and in big big quantities (I did not find any half liter milk)....onion, orange, apple they all comes in different varieties..
We can see obese people everywhere. U.S has everything that can make you fat. I was surprised to see some teenage looking girls wearing kind of plus size (may be its not plus size here) jeans. This is not the case with India and that is not because Indians do not have anything to eat. It has everything to do with what and how people eat and their physical activities. Here even the trash bin is sensor monitored and we don’t have to press the pedal and waste our energy to open it. Just place the hand over the lid and there it opens. Machines to wash and machines to dry too (yes, its catching up in India too). Most of the food available here in the restaurants is packed with tons of calories. And the funny part is I hardly saw anybody walking here (there are exceptions like school hour and some odd people taking their dogs out).
I happened to read a statement by our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that biking (bicycle) is a healthy option to commute. But here in California, one can hardly live without a car. It looks like people are scared (of mugging, mostly…Why do people mug? For fun? Not really.. its mainly coz of poverty and unemployment) to walk. Back in my apartment in India, people start morning walk and jogging by 5-5.30 in the morning. This is one aspect that I liked about Hong Kong (this could be the case with many other Asian countries too...same is the case with Paris). People walk, they have excellent public transport system too.
There could be business behind this. It’s all about marketing. Capitalism…I believe in science but also believe in applying commonsense. Do normal kids need vitamin supplements just like that? We can find vitaminized candies (for kids), milk and eggs, fortified rice, ‘heavy weight’ potato and onions, tons of frozen foods etc at one end and organic products at the other end. At one shop, I saw a strange over-the-counter tablet. This offers comfortable sleep (apart from acetaminophen, it contains a mild sedative). I wouldn’t have minded testing one but it came in a double pack containing 250 tablets each ! One bread company says ‘Eat more bread’ and I saw it written on a white bread. It looks like most of the health issues here starts from stomach. And what about the health system? Its damn expensive. If you do not have insurance, you are done with it. The other day a taxi driver told that a doctor charged 250 dollars for a check up (for his kid) and finally he had to shout and bargain to reduce it (he told this coz we hired his taxi for an appointment with a doctor. On our way, when we almost reached the hospital, they called up and cancelled the appointment saying that the doctor went for an emergency). Now I understand why India is promoting medical tourism. Last month, I happened to talk to a dentist and he said if people have some major dental things to do (like couple of root canal and a cleaning), it is cheaper to fly back to India and get it done. These days, we can get high quality health care in India and Singapore at cheaper rates compared to developed countries. In some ‘developed’ countries we need to wait for our turn even for surgeries.
As I mentioned earlier we need to apply commonsense. Nobody here force you to take high calorie food. No rule says one should not walk. But in the contrary, here in California, pedestrian has the right on road.
I was checking out the possible part time jobs here and I found one strange job. ‘Interns to lead campaign’. Campaign means next governor election campaign and this campaign is against human trafficking. This was a surprise for me. (The CIA fact sheets about many Asian countries states that human trafficking is a major issue in these countries and thy keep mum on U.S). This is what that organization says:
“17,000 slaves are sold in the United States each year—70% are female and 50% are children. At the same time, American minors are being exploited as sex slaves in the pimping industry. Today, a convicted human trafficker can walk free after 3-5 years under California law”
(check out : http://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/)
So, women are treated ‘equally’ everywhere in the world? Even in the U.S.?
Another shocker for me was the internet connection which drops very often..
Am I being critical about US? Nope, I was just observing things around me and naturally, my head and mind started comparing it with the places I had been, especially the place from where I am from. May be I had a different picture about U.S in my mind. or too much expectation?
I spent this weekend with a relative in San Francisco. Had lots of Indian food (thanks a lot, guys!). It was a beautiful place in a hilly area. We can see the downtown San Francisco from there. Their neighborhood had more Filipinos than Indians. I did not miss any chance to visit shops there. Almost anything and everything had further choice here. Milk and yoghurt is available in varied fat levels and in big big quantities (I did not find any half liter milk)....onion, orange, apple they all comes in different varieties..
We can see obese people everywhere. U.S has everything that can make you fat. I was surprised to see some teenage looking girls wearing kind of plus size (may be its not plus size here) jeans. This is not the case with India and that is not because Indians do not have anything to eat. It has everything to do with what and how people eat and their physical activities. Here even the trash bin is sensor monitored and we don’t have to press the pedal and waste our energy to open it. Just place the hand over the lid and there it opens. Machines to wash and machines to dry too (yes, its catching up in India too). Most of the food available here in the restaurants is packed with tons of calories. And the funny part is I hardly saw anybody walking here (there are exceptions like school hour and some odd people taking their dogs out).
I happened to read a statement by our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that biking (bicycle) is a healthy option to commute. But here in California, one can hardly live without a car. It looks like people are scared (of mugging, mostly…Why do people mug? For fun? Not really.. its mainly coz of poverty and unemployment) to walk. Back in my apartment in India, people start morning walk and jogging by 5-5.30 in the morning. This is one aspect that I liked about Hong Kong (this could be the case with many other Asian countries too...same is the case with Paris). People walk, they have excellent public transport system too.
There could be business behind this. It’s all about marketing. Capitalism…I believe in science but also believe in applying commonsense. Do normal kids need vitamin supplements just like that? We can find vitaminized candies (for kids), milk and eggs, fortified rice, ‘heavy weight’ potato and onions, tons of frozen foods etc at one end and organic products at the other end. At one shop, I saw a strange over-the-counter tablet. This offers comfortable sleep (apart from acetaminophen, it contains a mild sedative). I wouldn’t have minded testing one but it came in a double pack containing 250 tablets each ! One bread company says ‘Eat more bread’ and I saw it written on a white bread. It looks like most of the health issues here starts from stomach. And what about the health system? Its damn expensive. If you do not have insurance, you are done with it. The other day a taxi driver told that a doctor charged 250 dollars for a check up (for his kid) and finally he had to shout and bargain to reduce it (he told this coz we hired his taxi for an appointment with a doctor. On our way, when we almost reached the hospital, they called up and cancelled the appointment saying that the doctor went for an emergency). Now I understand why India is promoting medical tourism. Last month, I happened to talk to a dentist and he said if people have some major dental things to do (like couple of root canal and a cleaning), it is cheaper to fly back to India and get it done. These days, we can get high quality health care in India and Singapore at cheaper rates compared to developed countries. In some ‘developed’ countries we need to wait for our turn even for surgeries.
As I mentioned earlier we need to apply commonsense. Nobody here force you to take high calorie food. No rule says one should not walk. But in the contrary, here in California, pedestrian has the right on road.
I was checking out the possible part time jobs here and I found one strange job. ‘Interns to lead campaign’. Campaign means next governor election campaign and this campaign is against human trafficking. This was a surprise for me. (The CIA fact sheets about many Asian countries states that human trafficking is a major issue in these countries and thy keep mum on U.S). This is what that organization says:
“17,000 slaves are sold in the United States each year—70% are female and 50% are children. At the same time, American minors are being exploited as sex slaves in the pimping industry. Today, a convicted human trafficker can walk free after 3-5 years under California law”
(check out : http://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/)
So, women are treated ‘equally’ everywhere in the world? Even in the U.S.?
Another shocker for me was the internet connection which drops very often..
Am I being critical about US? Nope, I was just observing things around me and naturally, my head and mind started comparing it with the places I had been, especially the place from where I am from. May be I had a different picture about U.S in my mind. or too much expectation?
Thursday, December 03, 2009
The California Thing..
It wasn’t an all of a sudden affair. But I took it lightly since I already had a bad experience in a similar situation. So, I kept it low. Did not get excited about it…did not make any plans in advance… Finally, when things looked like a reality, I had very little time left to arrange things properly. This does not mean that I had no plans. My plans got interfered by many others. When you stand alone against many, it’s a different experience coated with frustration and pity. I always believe in planning in advance and I believe that some times we need to compromise money over convenience if we can afford it. When one is doing things alone, one can stick to his plans otherwise it’s not easy.
26-Nov-2009, Thursday
We are supposed to travel tomorrow. This is a long term assignment and hence we need to carry lots of things but even the packing was yet to start. There were many things to buy plus lots of things to move out from our apartment since we are going to let it out. We had one dinner invite too. My wife and I had to be at our apartment till almost 9 and thus reached the dinner place bit late. We stayed at my in-laws place. I could not sleep coz of two reasons – I was very tired then I did not get enough space to sleep (might sound silly but its true that I prefer to sleep alone in the bed…but this time the whole family, the three of us, had to share a single bed).
27-Nov-2009, Friday
Woke up with headache since I could not sleep last night. But there were still lots of things to be done, including some last minute shopping. I decided to do the out door chores and my wife decided to start packing. She did not get enough support since she did not want to blindly follow others opinion and thus it became a tiring job for her. I was running around till 6 pm that too without drinking enough water. Thus I was really tired.
We left at 10 in the night ( I wanted to leave at least by 9-9.30). Since we could not get the boarding passes early, we did not get window seat. Our first flight was from Bangalore to Hong Kong (Dragon Air). The flight was at 2.35 in the early morning. Couple of people in the flight had cold, it seems. I heard some sneeze and finally, I too started sneezing..then I had a tablet to arrest sneezing and headache.
28-Nov-2009, Saturday
I could not sleep well again and hence there was terrible headache. I wished I could lie down somewhere. This is the second consecutive day without much sleep. So, as soon as I boarded my flight (Cathay Pacific) I tried to sleep. The headache did not stop but increased heavily and hence I had one more tablet. Headache was not affordable for me since we had lots of luggage (we carried the maximum that airline allowed, in terms of number of suitcases and weight. This wasn’t my idea and I always prefer to travel light). We got two window seat and one middle seat. But we exchanged the window seat (a Chinese guy…this poor guy accepted one Indian vegetarian meal delivered to him which was supposed to be ours). I lied down on my wife’s lap for almost the entire trip (18 hours) but I could hardly sleep coz of the headache. The third tablet started suppressing it..
We reached San Francisco around 10. The officer who interviewed us was a Chinese man and he was very friendly and he gave 3 years permit though we had only 1 year visa. Now we can stay here for 3 years in one go (if we go out of US after one year, once again we need a new visa). My sister-in-law (who live in Seattle came here just for this purpose)was there to receive us. And within a few minutes, there came another relative (who are settled in SF). As soon as I came out of the airport I felt the coldness and this made me very happy (I love it, though my body might not like it many a times).
We straight away went to that relative’s house and within 10 minutes I went to a nearby Chinese store to have an idea about how the US stores are like….Then we had lunch, Indian food. It was a nice house and they had an apple tree in the backyard. Since we were surrounded by our own people, I did not feel like I am really in the US. It was a surprise for all of them seeing me not sleepy coz of jet lag (my wife and son were sleepy). Yes, I wasn’t sleepy though I could not sleep for couple of days plus this long travel crossing time. (But this doesn’t mean that my body does not need sleep. It does need sleep just like anybody else. For me, this happens so coz of my mind. But body warns me with headaches and heartburn/acidity and sometimes even with chest pain).
In the evening we checked in to our hotel and then went to Starbucks to have coffee. Most of the malls here are not single huge building with escalators but lots of small but independent buildings/shops. It was cold and windy outside, but sunny too.
For dinner, we went to a place which sells pasta, pizza and some Mexican and American food. I did not much like the food but I had no issues in eating them. Everything had lots of cheese. Food was expensive.
29-Nov-2009, Sunday
Woke up very early. The complimentary breakfast wasn’t good. Re-arranged and re-packed stuffs and came to know that baniyan (an inner vest for men made of cotton which is worn under shirt/Tshirt) and the sandal that I bought as last minute purchase turned to be wrong size (they showed me something and packed something else). The only Indian traditional dress I brought got spoiled by some mango pickle (we were not supposed to bring this, I guess. But I was helpless…the one against many issue again).
Checked out many apartments. The houses were spacious and neat. There was one neighborhood full of Indians and my personal choice was to keep away from that. Finally we decided on one and told them that we are interested.
Did some essential goods purchase. Sister-in-law, who was driving the car, bought a GPS. We even got Indian roti/chapatti from one store. The variety available here in the US is amazing. We have lots of choice here. Even eggs come in many different varieties and sizes. Same with milk, it comes in different fat levels. One particular store called Costco sells everything in big quantities but at lesser price. There are so many chain shops specialized in different stuffs like food, grocery, stationery, saloons etc…I really enjoyed the shopping experience. Happened to be at a McDonald’s which did not have any vegetarian stuff and thus I had to go for a burger without anything inside.
30-Nov-2009, Monday
First working day after we arrived here. But woke up little late and hence had to hurry. We had so many things to do. First was to return a mobile phone which did not work and when returned, came to know that it was billed more when we purchased. There was a difference of $5. The we proceed for the most important thing in the US, the Social Security Number. I will never forget this visit, coz…
We entered the SSN office and parked the car. I got down from the car and started walking and heard a lady saying:
“Excuse me”
I saw a tall, athletic looking blonde lady saying that to my wife. She continued:
“You made a dent on my car”
Then my sister-in-law interfered
“There is no dent, nothing happened, its just a..’
She tried to wipe it off
Then that lady took her wallet and took an id and showed it. The first thing I read was
“POLICE” in bold red….
She was a police officer. I checked her car and yes, there is a dent. And that was caused by our car when my wife opened it…it ended up in claiming insurance…
26-Nov-2009, Thursday
We are supposed to travel tomorrow. This is a long term assignment and hence we need to carry lots of things but even the packing was yet to start. There were many things to buy plus lots of things to move out from our apartment since we are going to let it out. We had one dinner invite too. My wife and I had to be at our apartment till almost 9 and thus reached the dinner place bit late. We stayed at my in-laws place. I could not sleep coz of two reasons – I was very tired then I did not get enough space to sleep (might sound silly but its true that I prefer to sleep alone in the bed…but this time the whole family, the three of us, had to share a single bed).
27-Nov-2009, Friday
Woke up with headache since I could not sleep last night. But there were still lots of things to be done, including some last minute shopping. I decided to do the out door chores and my wife decided to start packing. She did not get enough support since she did not want to blindly follow others opinion and thus it became a tiring job for her. I was running around till 6 pm that too without drinking enough water. Thus I was really tired.
We left at 10 in the night ( I wanted to leave at least by 9-9.30). Since we could not get the boarding passes early, we did not get window seat. Our first flight was from Bangalore to Hong Kong (Dragon Air). The flight was at 2.35 in the early morning. Couple of people in the flight had cold, it seems. I heard some sneeze and finally, I too started sneezing..then I had a tablet to arrest sneezing and headache.
28-Nov-2009, Saturday
I could not sleep well again and hence there was terrible headache. I wished I could lie down somewhere. This is the second consecutive day without much sleep. So, as soon as I boarded my flight (Cathay Pacific) I tried to sleep. The headache did not stop but increased heavily and hence I had one more tablet. Headache was not affordable for me since we had lots of luggage (we carried the maximum that airline allowed, in terms of number of suitcases and weight. This wasn’t my idea and I always prefer to travel light). We got two window seat and one middle seat. But we exchanged the window seat (a Chinese guy…this poor guy accepted one Indian vegetarian meal delivered to him which was supposed to be ours). I lied down on my wife’s lap for almost the entire trip (18 hours) but I could hardly sleep coz of the headache. The third tablet started suppressing it..
We reached San Francisco around 10. The officer who interviewed us was a Chinese man and he was very friendly and he gave 3 years permit though we had only 1 year visa. Now we can stay here for 3 years in one go (if we go out of US after one year, once again we need a new visa). My sister-in-law (who live in Seattle came here just for this purpose)was there to receive us. And within a few minutes, there came another relative (who are settled in SF). As soon as I came out of the airport I felt the coldness and this made me very happy (I love it, though my body might not like it many a times).
We straight away went to that relative’s house and within 10 minutes I went to a nearby Chinese store to have an idea about how the US stores are like….Then we had lunch, Indian food. It was a nice house and they had an apple tree in the backyard. Since we were surrounded by our own people, I did not feel like I am really in the US. It was a surprise for all of them seeing me not sleepy coz of jet lag (my wife and son were sleepy). Yes, I wasn’t sleepy though I could not sleep for couple of days plus this long travel crossing time. (But this doesn’t mean that my body does not need sleep. It does need sleep just like anybody else. For me, this happens so coz of my mind. But body warns me with headaches and heartburn/acidity and sometimes even with chest pain).
In the evening we checked in to our hotel and then went to Starbucks to have coffee. Most of the malls here are not single huge building with escalators but lots of small but independent buildings/shops. It was cold and windy outside, but sunny too.
For dinner, we went to a place which sells pasta, pizza and some Mexican and American food. I did not much like the food but I had no issues in eating them. Everything had lots of cheese. Food was expensive.
29-Nov-2009, Sunday
Woke up very early. The complimentary breakfast wasn’t good. Re-arranged and re-packed stuffs and came to know that baniyan (an inner vest for men made of cotton which is worn under shirt/Tshirt) and the sandal that I bought as last minute purchase turned to be wrong size (they showed me something and packed something else). The only Indian traditional dress I brought got spoiled by some mango pickle (we were not supposed to bring this, I guess. But I was helpless…the one against many issue again).
Checked out many apartments. The houses were spacious and neat. There was one neighborhood full of Indians and my personal choice was to keep away from that. Finally we decided on one and told them that we are interested.
Did some essential goods purchase. Sister-in-law, who was driving the car, bought a GPS. We even got Indian roti/chapatti from one store. The variety available here in the US is amazing. We have lots of choice here. Even eggs come in many different varieties and sizes. Same with milk, it comes in different fat levels. One particular store called Costco sells everything in big quantities but at lesser price. There are so many chain shops specialized in different stuffs like food, grocery, stationery, saloons etc…I really enjoyed the shopping experience. Happened to be at a McDonald’s which did not have any vegetarian stuff and thus I had to go for a burger without anything inside.
30-Nov-2009, Monday
First working day after we arrived here. But woke up little late and hence had to hurry. We had so many things to do. First was to return a mobile phone which did not work and when returned, came to know that it was billed more when we purchased. There was a difference of $5. The we proceed for the most important thing in the US, the Social Security Number. I will never forget this visit, coz…
We entered the SSN office and parked the car. I got down from the car and started walking and heard a lady saying:
“Excuse me”
I saw a tall, athletic looking blonde lady saying that to my wife. She continued:
“You made a dent on my car”
Then my sister-in-law interfered
“There is no dent, nothing happened, its just a..’
She tried to wipe it off
Then that lady took her wallet and took an id and showed it. The first thing I read was
“POLICE” in bold red….
She was a police officer. I checked her car and yes, there is a dent. And that was caused by our car when my wife opened it…it ended up in claiming insurance…
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Blog Break..
I am very busy...and I will be very very busy for the coming days. I think I can continue blogging only after thanks giving, with some all new experiences...
So, now its a small bye from me..Take care pplz
God bless...
So, now its a small bye from me..Take care pplz
God bless...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What a day !!
Yesterday! The weather wasn’t friendly and I had slight headache, but still I had so many things in my to-do list. One lift wasn’t working. The working one smelled kerosene. There was heavy traffic on the road….I was supposed to get a document from my son’s school but they said it is not yet ready. Then the gas agency people asked for a supporting document which I do not have. Two disappointments in a row!
Then, all of a sudden, like a pregnant woman, I felt like eating a particular sweet which was available only at a particular store (I have not seen that anywhere else except in their chain stores). I took a wrong route and happened to proceed further at a cross road which forced me to travel about a kilometer to take a U-turn. Then this slow moving traffic with a hell lot of motor vehicles. At the end, I missed the store and decided to get away from the traffic and reach home.
On my way, I decided to buy a somewhat similar tasting sweet from a store near my apartment. I got a good parking, went to the store and they had the sweet I was looking for. I paid the money, collected my bag and went home. I changed my dress , washed my face and opened the box and there lies some pieces of fruit cake !!! Dressed up again, drove to the store and accepted that salesman’s sheepish smile and came back. Before changing dress, I opened the box, and ate one to make sure that the sweet is for real. I thought I just talk to somebody about my day. There was only one person online (others were either busy or invisible or out of touch) I waited for a ‘hi’ from her…one minute… 10 minute….one hour….no, no response…my son was about to return home from his school by 4.15. I was waiting in the balcony. 4.20, 4.30, 4.45….his bus did not come…..Man, enough is enough!
If a day starts like this, we better postpone the things in our to-do list, if possible, to avoid further disappointments. And if we believe in God, we better do a couple of rounds of rosary (at least 108 counts)… It is said that, even Lord Shiva had to suffer the influence of Saturn when he was on earth…Krishna, Buddha, Jesus…they too had their share of bitter days when they were here. It is better we keep our cool, coz some days are like that, we can’t help it.
Then, all of a sudden, like a pregnant woman, I felt like eating a particular sweet which was available only at a particular store (I have not seen that anywhere else except in their chain stores). I took a wrong route and happened to proceed further at a cross road which forced me to travel about a kilometer to take a U-turn. Then this slow moving traffic with a hell lot of motor vehicles. At the end, I missed the store and decided to get away from the traffic and reach home.
On my way, I decided to buy a somewhat similar tasting sweet from a store near my apartment. I got a good parking, went to the store and they had the sweet I was looking for. I paid the money, collected my bag and went home. I changed my dress , washed my face and opened the box and there lies some pieces of fruit cake !!! Dressed up again, drove to the store and accepted that salesman’s sheepish smile and came back. Before changing dress, I opened the box, and ate one to make sure that the sweet is for real. I thought I just talk to somebody about my day. There was only one person online (others were either busy or invisible or out of touch) I waited for a ‘hi’ from her…one minute… 10 minute….one hour….no, no response…my son was about to return home from his school by 4.15. I was waiting in the balcony. 4.20, 4.30, 4.45….his bus did not come…..Man, enough is enough!
If a day starts like this, we better postpone the things in our to-do list, if possible, to avoid further disappointments. And if we believe in God, we better do a couple of rounds of rosary (at least 108 counts)… It is said that, even Lord Shiva had to suffer the influence of Saturn when he was on earth…Krishna, Buddha, Jesus…they too had their share of bitter days when they were here. It is better we keep our cool, coz some days are like that, we can’t help it.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Illness and God
Illness is not cured by saying the word medicine, but by taking medicine. Enlightenment is not achieved by repeating the word God but by directly experiencing God.
- A Hindu saying
- A Hindu saying
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Beautifully Speaking...
I grew up in an environment where I did not hear any swear words from any of the women members (can not remember any male member too) of my family and relatives. It was not part of the middle class people’s culture (We might hear it in slums or among upper class people (but they say it in English)). This could be one reason that I do not like to hear bad words spoken by women.
When foul words come even from world’s most kissable lips, it takes away the beauty…isn’t it so?
When foul words come even from world’s most kissable lips, it takes away the beauty…isn’t it so?
Moving Moving
I was out of station for sometime. I love long drives. I was satisfied with my driving. These long drives are one moment that makes me feel greedy for high-end cars and good quality roads. I am a ‘slowman’ who love speeds.
The trip was successful but one strange thing about this trip is that I did not use the camera, not even once, even at the beach. Before the start of the journey, I told my wife that we should take lots of photos and it ended up with no photos (except couple of them taken by my mobile). It’s really a shame that too considering the beach was quite known for filming and neighborhood is filled with film actors...
Only one friend complained me for not telling in advance about my travel. Yes, I should have told. But does it matter that much when a person moves from one place to another in this virtual reality world? I wonder…
What difference it makes when one of my Philippino friend moves to Dubai or one Indonesian friend moves to Singapore? Logically it doesn’t make any difference as long as the touch is maintained. But somehow I feel that there is some difference…I don’t know what or where
Can time tell me that?
Let me wait and see, after all, its official now…I am going to make a big move
The trip was successful but one strange thing about this trip is that I did not use the camera, not even once, even at the beach. Before the start of the journey, I told my wife that we should take lots of photos and it ended up with no photos (except couple of them taken by my mobile). It’s really a shame that too considering the beach was quite known for filming and neighborhood is filled with film actors...
Only one friend complained me for not telling in advance about my travel. Yes, I should have told. But does it matter that much when a person moves from one place to another in this virtual reality world? I wonder…
What difference it makes when one of my Philippino friend moves to Dubai or one Indonesian friend moves to Singapore? Logically it doesn’t make any difference as long as the touch is maintained. But somehow I feel that there is some difference…I don’t know what or where
Can time tell me that?
Let me wait and see, after all, its official now…I am going to make a big move
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Kill Kill and Kill... Peshawar blast
Yesterday, Pakistan faced the worst terror attack it had seen since 2 years killing over 90 people and injuring more than 200. This country is playing with fire since many years and now it has become world’s terror hub. The Government, Army and ISS used terrorists in many ways to ‘manage’ internal situations and then to disturb India’s peace and economy. And now it looks like they can’t control the giant that came out of the bottle.
Taliban already is on a war against India and now the funniest statement is 'India is helping them' !!! We are not that stupid to fund them to buy weapons to use against us. It is like me hiring some professional killer to kill me.
I am an Indian but still, I condemn this dirty act by Taliban, especially killing many innocent kids.
Taliban already is on a war against India and now the funniest statement is 'India is helping them' !!! We are not that stupid to fund them to buy weapons to use against us. It is like me hiring some professional killer to kill me.
I am an Indian but still, I condemn this dirty act by Taliban, especially killing many innocent kids.
Congrates (Dhoni's) India !
Congrats Indian cricket team for a wonderful match against word’s most of the time number one, the Australia. The captain’s act was a feast to watch. The records tell the story.
Indian Captain Dhoni’s 124 is the highest by any captain against Australia
That again is the highest by any wicket keeper against Australia
India’s 354 was the highest total kept against Australia by any other team in the world
Keep it up..
Indian Captain Dhoni’s 124 is the highest by any captain against Australia
That again is the highest by any wicket keeper against Australia
India’s 354 was the highest total kept against Australia by any other team in the world
Keep it up..
Monday, October 26, 2009
Chauvinist Jay
I was talking about how a woman should or should not look like. I wasn’t talking about her natural looks. At the end, a friend of mine called me a chauvinist. Then I happened to see a ‘shoutout’ posted in Friendster by a second degree friend of mine ‘Trust no man’…..another friend of mine posted ‘no man is capable of taking care of the family’…
Isn’t it sheer ignorance? Just because one man cheated her (her version, possibly) how can she say ‘trust no man’ as s universal statement? May be she will keep that statement until she falls for another man…if no man can take care of his family, does that mean that I am not a man? so, I wrote to my friend to which she replied ‘ dont take it personal’
When my friend called me a chauvinist, she was kidding, I know….she just wanted to tease me. But is there a chauvinist in me?
Yes, I like women to look like women and not like men. That is my personal preference. A six pack abs is the last thing I want to see in a woman and I think usually we men think that way. Cutting the hair like a boy and dressing like a man will not make a woman a man. There are some women who have strong feminist views. But I wonder, then why do they want to be equal to men? When a woman dress up like a woman, she is not going below a man, on any scale. There is no need to copy a man to show that we are equal to you. It’s too childish.
Nature created man and woman with some general and some distinct characters. When a woman looks feminine, she looks more beautiful, cute, attractive… and not the other way. Yes, there are some boyish girls. In many such cases, if we check the level of male hormone in them, it will be slightly above the normal level from a typical girly girl. This is one reason why some women have mustache or very deep voice. Their outlooks are different. If they are into sports, they easily beat other ladies. I used to play badminton with ladies and I have observed this. We can make out even from the way they walk (girls usually do not walk spreading their legs).
My kind of woman is not somebody who thinks ‘I am equal to man and I want to do everything a man does’… a man is a man and a woman is a woman. So, workouts and gym is only for men? No, not at all. I believe in keeping fit and this applies to women too. When I talked about women and tummy, a friend of mine reacted this way
‘ it is natural for a woman..there is no need to worry about it..if you do not want a tummy, do not get pregnant’.
Is that true?
When she said that, I assumed that ‘ yes, she has tummy and since she could not get rid of it, she is justifying it’. I have a friend who is the mother of 3 kids and where is her BIG tummy? (Hey, if you are reading this, you can blush, OK? That will only make you more girlish, which is cute) I know many other ladies who are mothers but maintain good shape. It’s all about our perspective. I did a small survey and almost every woman wants a trimmed tummy. But many of them are not ready to compromise on what they eat and if they did not get results very soon, they give up their exercise routine.
A woman should be proud of her womanly looks and there is no need to become like a man. Some religions might say men are superior. But I do not believe in that. if there are no women, there are no men and if there are no men, there are no women too. It’s complementary and not contradictory.
Isn’t it sheer ignorance? Just because one man cheated her (her version, possibly) how can she say ‘trust no man’ as s universal statement? May be she will keep that statement until she falls for another man…if no man can take care of his family, does that mean that I am not a man? so, I wrote to my friend to which she replied ‘ dont take it personal’
When my friend called me a chauvinist, she was kidding, I know….she just wanted to tease me. But is there a chauvinist in me?
Yes, I like women to look like women and not like men. That is my personal preference. A six pack abs is the last thing I want to see in a woman and I think usually we men think that way. Cutting the hair like a boy and dressing like a man will not make a woman a man. There are some women who have strong feminist views. But I wonder, then why do they want to be equal to men? When a woman dress up like a woman, she is not going below a man, on any scale. There is no need to copy a man to show that we are equal to you. It’s too childish.
Nature created man and woman with some general and some distinct characters. When a woman looks feminine, she looks more beautiful, cute, attractive… and not the other way. Yes, there are some boyish girls. In many such cases, if we check the level of male hormone in them, it will be slightly above the normal level from a typical girly girl. This is one reason why some women have mustache or very deep voice. Their outlooks are different. If they are into sports, they easily beat other ladies. I used to play badminton with ladies and I have observed this. We can make out even from the way they walk (girls usually do not walk spreading their legs).
My kind of woman is not somebody who thinks ‘I am equal to man and I want to do everything a man does’… a man is a man and a woman is a woman. So, workouts and gym is only for men? No, not at all. I believe in keeping fit and this applies to women too. When I talked about women and tummy, a friend of mine reacted this way
‘ it is natural for a woman..there is no need to worry about it..if you do not want a tummy, do not get pregnant’.
Is that true?
When she said that, I assumed that ‘ yes, she has tummy and since she could not get rid of it, she is justifying it’. I have a friend who is the mother of 3 kids and where is her BIG tummy? (Hey, if you are reading this, you can blush, OK? That will only make you more girlish, which is cute) I know many other ladies who are mothers but maintain good shape. It’s all about our perspective. I did a small survey and almost every woman wants a trimmed tummy. But many of them are not ready to compromise on what they eat and if they did not get results very soon, they give up their exercise routine.
A woman should be proud of her womanly looks and there is no need to become like a man. Some religions might say men are superior. But I do not believe in that. if there are no women, there are no men and if there are no men, there are no women too. It’s complementary and not contradictory.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Smile please
We are not sent empty handed into this world. Every one of is ‘gifted’ with something by the creator.
I was trying to understand one friendship, since couple of days.
There are people who can easily smile, possess no inhibitions, very outgoing, can mingle easily with others, shows well mannerism, talks attractively etc….They can easily act or pretend since they are gifted that way…When they combine all their gifts, it’s a lethal combination if their intention is to cheat.
I happened to get acquainted with such a guy. Initially, I did not doubt his credentials though I wasn’t sure about it. Days passed and he looked more and more impressive and some point of time, I even wished
“oh, I wish I could be like him…see how cool he is when dealing with people. Look at his life style…look at the way he speaks….”
Well, when I thought about his life style, it looked like some extravaganza but ‘I pamper myself once in a while’ kept my extravaganza thoughts in a fix.
It was during a process of ‘me trying to help him’ (by referring him to another guy who can be of real help for his present crisis) that this special moment appeared and I started doubting his credentials. I wasted some time to inquire about him using many means and the bubbles started bursting one by one…casual facts looked like factual lies…
And it ended in an anticlimax when my recommendation looked something like this:
“Please do not help the person carrying this letter” !
One of the lessons I learnt from this episode is that don’t fall for the smiles of people coz they smile for many reasons and many a times with deep rooted intensions hidden inside. We humans are the only creature who show our teeth when we are happy. Animals show their teeth when they are angry, though sometimes it looks like a smile.
We humans are gifted (within us) with a pinch of everything in this universe…rock, plants, water, snow, planets,……even animals.
I was trying to understand one friendship, since couple of days.
There are people who can easily smile, possess no inhibitions, very outgoing, can mingle easily with others, shows well mannerism, talks attractively etc….They can easily act or pretend since they are gifted that way…When they combine all their gifts, it’s a lethal combination if their intention is to cheat.
I happened to get acquainted with such a guy. Initially, I did not doubt his credentials though I wasn’t sure about it. Days passed and he looked more and more impressive and some point of time, I even wished
“oh, I wish I could be like him…see how cool he is when dealing with people. Look at his life style…look at the way he speaks….”
Well, when I thought about his life style, it looked like some extravaganza but ‘I pamper myself once in a while’ kept my extravaganza thoughts in a fix.
It was during a process of ‘me trying to help him’ (by referring him to another guy who can be of real help for his present crisis) that this special moment appeared and I started doubting his credentials. I wasted some time to inquire about him using many means and the bubbles started bursting one by one…casual facts looked like factual lies…
And it ended in an anticlimax when my recommendation looked something like this:
“Please do not help the person carrying this letter” !
One of the lessons I learnt from this episode is that don’t fall for the smiles of people coz they smile for many reasons and many a times with deep rooted intensions hidden inside. We humans are the only creature who show our teeth when we are happy. Animals show their teeth when they are angry, though sometimes it looks like a smile.
We humans are gifted (within us) with a pinch of everything in this universe…rock, plants, water, snow, planets,……even animals.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Friendship..
The bonds that good men share are like good bound books,
revealing new enchantments at each new encounter.
It is not constant meeting and companionship,
but shared sensibilities that confer the alliance of friendship.
A smiling face is no sure sign of friendship.
Friendship is found deep within a smiling heart.
- Thiru Kural
revealing new enchantments at each new encounter.
It is not constant meeting and companionship,
but shared sensibilities that confer the alliance of friendship.
A smiling face is no sure sign of friendship.
Friendship is found deep within a smiling heart.
- Thiru Kural
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Last Uncle...Lost
One of my uncles, the youngest sibling of my father passed away, yesterday morning. Now, my mother and all her siblings, my father and all his siblings, they are all gone.
I never had any particular attachment for this uncle of mine. During childhood, the only emotion that I had towards him could be fear. He went in a wrong track as far as spirituality is concerned.( Who am I to judge him or say he was wrong? Well, though I wasn’t attached to him in any way (when I look at the paternal side, I was attached only to the eldest brother of my father), I used to observe him and I saw he quitting his then’ right’ and coming to my then and now ‘right’). Thus he himself created an invisible wall and some visible limits around him. When I was a kid, I wasn’t even allowed to touch him….
I still remember one incident, I had to meet him and address him as ‘Uncle’ (I address him ‘Kochachan’, which means the ‘younger brother of father’) and he spoke:
“Don’t call me uncle; I am not your uncle….”
I felt it ridiculous.
But things changed over years, and when I visited him last time, he was all smiles. I addressed him in the same way ‘Kochacnan’ and he did not show any hesitation but accepted it happily...
Yes, when I think of him now, the last image of him that comes into my mind is his smiling face…
I don’t know where you left, but wherever you are, be at peace…
I never had any particular attachment for this uncle of mine. During childhood, the only emotion that I had towards him could be fear. He went in a wrong track as far as spirituality is concerned.( Who am I to judge him or say he was wrong? Well, though I wasn’t attached to him in any way (when I look at the paternal side, I was attached only to the eldest brother of my father), I used to observe him and I saw he quitting his then’ right’ and coming to my then and now ‘right’). Thus he himself created an invisible wall and some visible limits around him. When I was a kid, I wasn’t even allowed to touch him….
I still remember one incident, I had to meet him and address him as ‘Uncle’ (I address him ‘Kochachan’, which means the ‘younger brother of father’) and he spoke:
“Don’t call me uncle; I am not your uncle….”
I felt it ridiculous.
But things changed over years, and when I visited him last time, he was all smiles. I addressed him in the same way ‘Kochacnan’ and he did not show any hesitation but accepted it happily...
Yes, when I think of him now, the last image of him that comes into my mind is his smiling face…
I don’t know where you left, but wherever you are, be at peace…
Monday, October 12, 2009
Nobel Peace and Barak Obama
“And the Nobel for Peace goes to Mr. Barak Obama…”
So, they proved that the era of Nobel Prize having some esteem is gone. Or Mr. Obama has to rise to the occasion and stop doing military killings which the U.S. started years ago. He better call his troops off from Asian and Middle East countries. And he should think it over being supportive to the terrorist hub in the world, where killing is a religious hobby. He can go further by exposing some of the terrorist and military/State owned outfits and their actions using the data and evidence available with him right on his table…
I guess one reason for Alfred Nobel writing such a will could be the guilty feeling that it was his invention that resulted in the killings of hundreds of thousands of humans around the world.
Look at the irony….
So, they proved that the era of Nobel Prize having some esteem is gone. Or Mr. Obama has to rise to the occasion and stop doing military killings which the U.S. started years ago. He better call his troops off from Asian and Middle East countries. And he should think it over being supportive to the terrorist hub in the world, where killing is a religious hobby. He can go further by exposing some of the terrorist and military/State owned outfits and their actions using the data and evidence available with him right on his table…
I guess one reason for Alfred Nobel writing such a will could be the guilty feeling that it was his invention that resulted in the killings of hundreds of thousands of humans around the world.
Look at the irony….
Thursday, October 08, 2009
The Tree (of Wisdom)
Under that tree they sat and
Under that tree they took nap.
They traded dreams and thoughts
They resolved quarrels and agonies.
Under that tree they sat and
Under that tree they respite.
Within the tree He sat and
Through its shades He spoke.
Under that tree they took nap.
They traded dreams and thoughts
They resolved quarrels and agonies.
Under that tree they sat and
Under that tree they respite.
Within the tree He sat and
Through its shades He spoke.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Why Flood Occur?
Its flood time. We are said to be facing one of the worst floods we have seen since 50 years or so. Somebody asked me whether I am affected by it or not. It’s funny that I had asked the same question to that person a week ago, when I read of floods in that country.
Then this question came,
"why floods occur?”
Simply put, it is because there exists a phenomenon called flood in this planet and it’s in nature’s nature to call it as and when she feels to do so (using 'natural' causes). But is that the only reason why it floods? Don’t we have to do anything with it? Should we always blame the nature?
One of the main culprits for floods in cities is garbage and poor drainage system. Even if there is a drainage system, when it gets clogged, it becomes useless. From where does this garbage come? People with no civic sense are most responsible for it. They throw everything everywhere; the worst is when that litter happens to be plastic.
I saw some TV ads by the government, using celebrities, asking the people to not to litter. Yes, that is from where we should start to avoid man-made floods. We dug up all the sand from the rivers and dump it up with garbage. Day after day trees are just disappearing…It’s natural for a river to flood during heavy rain days. Even though people know this, they encroach near riverbanks to add up to causalities and disasters. (I read about recent deaths in connection with flood (and H1N1), but not even a single politician died !) When will people ever learn?
Many a times, instead of doing sow and reap, it looks like what we do with nature is sow and rape…
Then this question came,
"why floods occur?”
Simply put, it is because there exists a phenomenon called flood in this planet and it’s in nature’s nature to call it as and when she feels to do so (using 'natural' causes). But is that the only reason why it floods? Don’t we have to do anything with it? Should we always blame the nature?
One of the main culprits for floods in cities is garbage and poor drainage system. Even if there is a drainage system, when it gets clogged, it becomes useless. From where does this garbage come? People with no civic sense are most responsible for it. They throw everything everywhere; the worst is when that litter happens to be plastic.
I saw some TV ads by the government, using celebrities, asking the people to not to litter. Yes, that is from where we should start to avoid man-made floods. We dug up all the sand from the rivers and dump it up with garbage. Day after day trees are just disappearing…It’s natural for a river to flood during heavy rain days. Even though people know this, they encroach near riverbanks to add up to causalities and disasters. (I read about recent deaths in connection with flood (and H1N1), but not even a single politician died !) When will people ever learn?
Many a times, instead of doing sow and reap, it looks like what we do with nature is sow and rape…
Guy's Nightout...
When I wrote about rat meat, I had no idea that the very next thing would be me having a dinner with a guy who eats almost anything. Should I try to erase that dinner memory? No, it was one of the good memories I would like to keep in my memory locker coz it was a rare moment since 12 years.
I am in this city since 12 years or so. And the thought of the last time I had a dinner with my friends too pulls my memory back to 12 years. Strange days and strange things, couple of recent days looks like that......
I had no idea that the person I got acquainted very recently was someone who played basket ball for my country, a national level player…I had no idea that he did some movies, TV serials and ads. I was seeing this guy for the past 2 and a half years and only now we got acquainted….strange (oh yeah? You said strange? Man, its all coz of your introvert attitude !!)
Somewhat same with another guy that I met in the recent past. I had no idea that he holds a high position in an MNC and he travels to many countries very often.
Then suddenly this happy night came into existence when one of those guys suggested a dinner out. We all had a common friend, none other than our gym instructor. So, it became a ‘Four married men turns bachelors’ affair.
I was bit exited about this coz I never had such an outing since many years. Such moments were very common 13 years ago. That time, though I had other friends, my colleagues became good friends too and hence almost every day, we used to sit together for a cup of tea or coffee. Things started changing about one year prior to me moving into this city when guys started moving to other organizations. There weren’t any internet or mobile phone that time and none of us had any pager too. still, we managed to keep in touch, somehow, and we used to meet on weekends…and then, all of a sudden…
The one who planned it was the tall boy among us (6 foot 3 inches). The short guy (our trainer, who is about 5 feet something) had a problem leaving early plus he said he wont come to the restaurant the other guy suggested since its managed by his employer company. Then the fourth guy did not turn up…It was a disappointment for me. But somehow I convinced our trainer and we called the fourth guy; he too said 'OK, I am coming'..finally !
Two of them wanted to go to a restaurant which serve beer or liquor but here in this city, they are not allowed to serve such things after 11 pm and many of them won’t take orders after 10 pm. The time was already 9.15 and almost all such good restaurants needed at least 45 minutes drive (coz of traffic).
At last, we stopped at a place…it was a bar and restaurant. I don’t know why, but there was a broad smile on my face..
“Me and Sir will have some orange juice” said the gym man (by ‘sir’ he was referring to me).
“This milk drinking boy, huh ” said one
“No, you and Jay are too drinking….” said the third one… they both belonged to the same religion which is against drinking.
The place was crowded and we moved on to a hall which had a tag ‘Family Room’. Then a staff came and said:
“Sir, that’s a family room, you cant sit there”
“We are family, we are brothers” said the tall guy….
I could not resist laughing… one was very tall and fair and even did not look like a South Indian, one is short, one wearing glasses and one with a french beard...none of us had same built, looks, or even skin color…the only common thing among us was that we all looked physically fit.
That staff guy smiled and said:
“No, sir”
"What is this yaar? you people don't allow even brothers to sit together?" Asked the spects guy..
We moved on to another place which looked quite. None of use felt like sitting in a crowded place, especially the tall guy. But there the only table available had a tag “Reserved”
One of the staff allowed us to sit there, though another one raised some objection. I wasn’t bothered about the situation coz those two guys who came with me were highly capable of handling people and situations.
“Vodka, Cut green chilly and lemon..” says one
“Me and sir want orange juice” says another one
“So, you don’t drink?” one of them asked me
“hmmm, No…” I said
“You don’t mind a beer, at least?”
The gym man was looking at me as if I am his savior…but I failed
“No problem….”
There was this ‘you shouldn’t have said that’ look in gym man’s face…
(They ordered some chicken to snack and I ordered a plate of ‘Gobi Manchurian’ – Cauliflower)
One of them talked about cooking..
“YOU cook? I asked
“Aary Yaar ! I am an awesome cook” he gave me a kind of look, as if I asked Bill Gates ‘do you know computer programming?”
That was time I came to know that this guy eats meat…
“You eat pork?” I asked
(Other two too were non-veg but they do not eat pork coz its not allowed as per their religion)
“Pork, duck, horse, crocodile, tortoise, fish, crab, chicken, beef….I have tried all these…I could not eat octopus though, I had to spit it out”
His ‘I did not try’ list had items like scorpion, dog, rat, worms etc…
We went to another place to have food, which was on the same road..it was closing time. It was a restaurant run by Muslims and hence we can hardly expect anything Veg. They had Roti and Paneer Butter Masala but I thought I would try ‘Egg Biriyani’. The Biriyani was same for Egg and Chicken Biriyani…the only difference was I got two boiled eggs and others got one egg and one chicken leg. The guy used same ‘thing’ (that forceps kind of thing – what was its name???) to pick the chicken legs and then eggs. Usually they do not do that in a restaurant which serve both Veg and Non-Veg….I said to myself :
‘Just forget it’
I drove very slowly, while coming back…enjoying the talks…At last, when I entered our apartment’s main gate, one of them commented:
“What happened to him? He was driving so fast before and now, after having a beer, he is stopping at every hump..”
All of them laughed, including me.
Guys, you don’t know how happy you made me (though I thanked one of them, next day)…
Thanks for gifting me with a good n memorable moment (that I had been waiting for the past 12 years???)...May God bless you all...
I am in this city since 12 years or so. And the thought of the last time I had a dinner with my friends too pulls my memory back to 12 years. Strange days and strange things, couple of recent days looks like that......
I had no idea that the person I got acquainted very recently was someone who played basket ball for my country, a national level player…I had no idea that he did some movies, TV serials and ads. I was seeing this guy for the past 2 and a half years and only now we got acquainted….strange (oh yeah? You said strange? Man, its all coz of your introvert attitude !!)
Somewhat same with another guy that I met in the recent past. I had no idea that he holds a high position in an MNC and he travels to many countries very often.
Then suddenly this happy night came into existence when one of those guys suggested a dinner out. We all had a common friend, none other than our gym instructor. So, it became a ‘Four married men turns bachelors’ affair.
I was bit exited about this coz I never had such an outing since many years. Such moments were very common 13 years ago. That time, though I had other friends, my colleagues became good friends too and hence almost every day, we used to sit together for a cup of tea or coffee. Things started changing about one year prior to me moving into this city when guys started moving to other organizations. There weren’t any internet or mobile phone that time and none of us had any pager too. still, we managed to keep in touch, somehow, and we used to meet on weekends…and then, all of a sudden…
The one who planned it was the tall boy among us (6 foot 3 inches). The short guy (our trainer, who is about 5 feet something) had a problem leaving early plus he said he wont come to the restaurant the other guy suggested since its managed by his employer company. Then the fourth guy did not turn up…It was a disappointment for me. But somehow I convinced our trainer and we called the fourth guy; he too said 'OK, I am coming'..finally !
Two of them wanted to go to a restaurant which serve beer or liquor but here in this city, they are not allowed to serve such things after 11 pm and many of them won’t take orders after 10 pm. The time was already 9.15 and almost all such good restaurants needed at least 45 minutes drive (coz of traffic).
At last, we stopped at a place…it was a bar and restaurant. I don’t know why, but there was a broad smile on my face..
“Me and Sir will have some orange juice” said the gym man (by ‘sir’ he was referring to me).
“This milk drinking boy, huh ” said one
“No, you and Jay are too drinking….” said the third one… they both belonged to the same religion which is against drinking.
The place was crowded and we moved on to a hall which had a tag ‘Family Room’. Then a staff came and said:
“Sir, that’s a family room, you cant sit there”
“We are family, we are brothers” said the tall guy….
I could not resist laughing… one was very tall and fair and even did not look like a South Indian, one is short, one wearing glasses and one with a french beard...none of us had same built, looks, or even skin color…the only common thing among us was that we all looked physically fit.
That staff guy smiled and said:
“No, sir”
"What is this yaar? you people don't allow even brothers to sit together?" Asked the spects guy..
We moved on to another place which looked quite. None of use felt like sitting in a crowded place, especially the tall guy. But there the only table available had a tag “Reserved”
One of the staff allowed us to sit there, though another one raised some objection. I wasn’t bothered about the situation coz those two guys who came with me were highly capable of handling people and situations.
“Vodka, Cut green chilly and lemon..” says one
“Me and sir want orange juice” says another one
“So, you don’t drink?” one of them asked me
“hmmm, No…” I said
“You don’t mind a beer, at least?”
The gym man was looking at me as if I am his savior…but I failed
“No problem….”
There was this ‘you shouldn’t have said that’ look in gym man’s face…
(They ordered some chicken to snack and I ordered a plate of ‘Gobi Manchurian’ – Cauliflower)
One of them talked about cooking..
“YOU cook? I asked
“Aary Yaar ! I am an awesome cook” he gave me a kind of look, as if I asked Bill Gates ‘do you know computer programming?”
That was time I came to know that this guy eats meat…
“You eat pork?” I asked
(Other two too were non-veg but they do not eat pork coz its not allowed as per their religion)
“Pork, duck, horse, crocodile, tortoise, fish, crab, chicken, beef….I have tried all these…I could not eat octopus though, I had to spit it out”
His ‘I did not try’ list had items like scorpion, dog, rat, worms etc…
We went to another place to have food, which was on the same road..it was closing time. It was a restaurant run by Muslims and hence we can hardly expect anything Veg. They had Roti and Paneer Butter Masala but I thought I would try ‘Egg Biriyani’. The Biriyani was same for Egg and Chicken Biriyani…the only difference was I got two boiled eggs and others got one egg and one chicken leg. The guy used same ‘thing’ (that forceps kind of thing – what was its name???) to pick the chicken legs and then eggs. Usually they do not do that in a restaurant which serve both Veg and Non-Veg….I said to myself :
‘Just forget it’
I drove very slowly, while coming back…enjoying the talks…At last, when I entered our apartment’s main gate, one of them commented:
“What happened to him? He was driving so fast before and now, after having a beer, he is stopping at every hump..”
All of them laughed, including me.
Guys, you don’t know how happy you made me (though I thanked one of them, next day)…
Thanks for gifting me with a good n memorable moment (that I had been waiting for the past 12 years???)...May God bless you all...
Friday, October 02, 2009
Eat Rats !
One of my acquaintances asked me to try eating rat meat. She said her country people eat it. She even told me how to cook it. Why should a vegetarian eat rat? She said it’s very tasty. So I asked:
“There are people who eat human fetus. So, if one such person suggests you to taste it, will you try that?”
Her response was that she is not a cannibal, as if it’s very obvious. What amuses me is why that logic is not applicable for a vegetarian when he/she says:
“Sorry, I don’t eat meat because I am a vegetarian”
Is there any need for humans to eat rats, cats, frogs, dogs, cockroaches, worms etc?
First of all, it lacks esthetics. We humans are supposed to be living like humans and not like animals. We are the only creature which is supposed to be made in the likeness of God (as per Bible). We are the only beings who walked through civilizations and got fine tuned.
Assume that the Prime Minister/President of a country where people eat worms or rat is hosting a dinner for his/her counterparts from other countries. Will he/she serve worms and rats? I don’t think so. If somebody serve rat to the U.S. President, it will be considered as an insult, I guess. Because, we humans grew from the primitive stage, long back, though it looks like some people are still not aware of it.
I was asked:
“What is wrong in eating rat?”
As I said, it lacks esthetics, especially when the situation is not survival but just to satisfy an organ of 4 inches called tongue.
This could be one reason some religions specifically asking its followers to avoid meat from certain animals. When it is in their Scripture, many people won’t question it. Because they think that it is God’s words. Those who wrote the book were clever. But we have cleverer people out there.
So, who should eat rats?
Rat is the natural food for cats, snakes, owls, eagle, vulture etc…let us not loot their food.
Some might still ask:
“What’s wrong in…”
There are animals that eat even shit and among the humans we can see the subtle aspects of the entire creation, not just animals.
The choice is ours…
“There are people who eat human fetus. So, if one such person suggests you to taste it, will you try that?”
Her response was that she is not a cannibal, as if it’s very obvious. What amuses me is why that logic is not applicable for a vegetarian when he/she says:
“Sorry, I don’t eat meat because I am a vegetarian”
Is there any need for humans to eat rats, cats, frogs, dogs, cockroaches, worms etc?
First of all, it lacks esthetics. We humans are supposed to be living like humans and not like animals. We are the only creature which is supposed to be made in the likeness of God (as per Bible). We are the only beings who walked through civilizations and got fine tuned.
Assume that the Prime Minister/President of a country where people eat worms or rat is hosting a dinner for his/her counterparts from other countries. Will he/she serve worms and rats? I don’t think so. If somebody serve rat to the U.S. President, it will be considered as an insult, I guess. Because, we humans grew from the primitive stage, long back, though it looks like some people are still not aware of it.
I was asked:
“What is wrong in eating rat?”
As I said, it lacks esthetics, especially when the situation is not survival but just to satisfy an organ of 4 inches called tongue.
This could be one reason some religions specifically asking its followers to avoid meat from certain animals. When it is in their Scripture, many people won’t question it. Because they think that it is God’s words. Those who wrote the book were clever. But we have cleverer people out there.
So, who should eat rats?
Rat is the natural food for cats, snakes, owls, eagle, vulture etc…let us not loot their food.
Some might still ask:
“What’s wrong in…”
There are animals that eat even shit and among the humans we can see the subtle aspects of the entire creation, not just animals.
The choice is ours…
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Scrambled Thoughts
There was a flood in Philippines, the other day. Flood or storm is not something new for them; but I thought it affected only Manila and hence I asked a friend who stay in Marikina to update me on another friend who lives in Manila. It is hard to believe but at the end, I got updated by the Manila friend that the Marikina friend is hit by flood….And my worry about a friend who lives near by a river turned negative…
It was bit hard to digest the realities. This is not for the first time I am hearing about a flood or storm. My city got a flood sometime back (a year back or so) and Mumbai too faced a flood. But this was for the first time somebody in my own circle getting affected by it.
I saw lots of people dragging God and faith into it (comments in many sites which reported/showed the flood) and this made me think about the laws of the nature. I was wondering about one thing; it is said that 70% of earth’s surface is covered with water. Why can’t this storm go to some deserted sea area to show its strength? I don’t know.
Today I read the news about the worst draught in African countries, especially in Kenya. People and animals (including cows and elephants) died/dying of draught.
Flood and draught at the same time, though not at the same place; what is the logic behind it?…now that this earthquake in Indonesia killing thousands...plus a Tsunami in South Pacific Islands... God, no wonder you are called G.O.D…
***
India's Moon mission disproved some western theories about water in the Moon...
***
Today I saw that lady whom I mentioned in one of my blogs; the one who smiled at me when I could not return couple of shots. She developed knee pain and her doc asked her to stop playing badminton…
***
I never had any idea that a recent friend of mine had a real gun (licensed) at his native place and it was a surprising shock when he invited me for hunting, allowing me to use the gun. But killing animals and me? You got to be kidding…
***
My wife learnt how to make scrambled eggs, finally…
It was bit hard to digest the realities. This is not for the first time I am hearing about a flood or storm. My city got a flood sometime back (a year back or so) and Mumbai too faced a flood. But this was for the first time somebody in my own circle getting affected by it.
I saw lots of people dragging God and faith into it (comments in many sites which reported/showed the flood) and this made me think about the laws of the nature. I was wondering about one thing; it is said that 70% of earth’s surface is covered with water. Why can’t this storm go to some deserted sea area to show its strength? I don’t know.
Today I read the news about the worst draught in African countries, especially in Kenya. People and animals (including cows and elephants) died/dying of draught.
Flood and draught at the same time, though not at the same place; what is the logic behind it?…now that this earthquake in Indonesia killing thousands...plus a Tsunami in South Pacific Islands... God, no wonder you are called G.O.D…
***
India's Moon mission disproved some western theories about water in the Moon...
***
Today I saw that lady whom I mentioned in one of my blogs; the one who smiled at me when I could not return couple of shots. She developed knee pain and her doc asked her to stop playing badminton…
***
I never had any idea that a recent friend of mine had a real gun (licensed) at his native place and it was a surprising shock when he invited me for hunting, allowing me to use the gun. But killing animals and me? You got to be kidding…
***
My wife learnt how to make scrambled eggs, finally…
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Viral or Bacterial?
Some doctors do not like asking questions. But I have this chronic ‘disease’ of asking questions. Thus, once, when the doctor said:
“Its viral”
I responded:
“How do you know?”
Then I realized that how irritating such a question is, for a doctor. So I explained:
“I just want to know how you doctors comes to a conclusion that its viral”
That was the time I got introduced to this doctor and now he is sooooooo used to me. So, he will be surprised if I did not ask any question during a visit.
Last Friday, I went to meet him since my son was having a cold and cough. And in the present scenario, the school authorities ask for medical certificate even for a day’s absence. The doctor said:
“It’s viral only, but no need to worry”
(What he meant was, there is no need to suspect H1N1)
“......It looks like all the viruses are on a spree… did you notice that kid waiting outside? He has chickenpox; so I asked them to leave immediately..... This is not the season for that virus”
Yes, I noticed him asking me to sit in his consulting room and going outside (to attend that kid first)
“Oh, that’s interesting…usually that comes during summer..but its OK, my son already had chickenpox when he was small” I responded
“Yes, I know”
(True, but I did not expect him to remember that. So this guy has good memory, huh !)
So, how do these docs distinguish between a viral and bacterial infection?
If it is something like chickenpox, rabies (both viral), tuberculosis, syphilis (both bacterial) etc its easy for them.But what about a cold like symptom? A cough? Sore throat? Fever?
In reality, what matters is their experience (or gut feeling) if the patient visits the doc at a very early stage. Because without doing any test, they cant simply say its viral or bacterial, in the early stage. (that is one reason why they ask ‘when did it start?’…if our complaint was a cold with nasal discharge and suffering since 10 days or so, doc might rule out virus. Usually, virus infections won’t stay for more than a week. Our body will fight it out, if it can, within that period – I am talking about common cold and seasonal flu. But a bacterial infection can be chronic/ lengthy).
How can they confirm? Testing for a virus is a costly affair (plus there are very few virology labs compared to the regular labs) so what they do is checking whether its bacterial or not, if at all they want to test (usually the docs don’t suggest a test for seasonal diseases; at least my doc). Here, what they do a culture test (means taking a sample and keeping it in nutrient medium to observe whether there is bacterial multiplication. If it is positive, they conclude that its bacterial; if negative they assume that its viral).
But sometimes a viral cold can lead to bacterial infection (depends on many factors like a person's immunity, contact with infected person or surfaces etc). I have personally experienced this. This can be noticed by the color change in the nasal discharge. That is one reason why a doc sometimes prescribe an anti-biotic for a flu or cold, even though it has no direct impact on a virus. Usually, viral infections are fought out by our body using its immunity mechanism.
How do these infections differ and what is the difference between an antibiotic and antiviral?
Though it’s a silly answer, bacterial infections are caused by bacteria and viral infections are caused by virus. But the style of their attack is very different.
Virus is not a living organism and hence we can not kill them using a drug. Virus need a living host cell for their existence. They are just a shell made up of some proteins and organic compounds (means a compound which has carbon atom). Inside the shell, there is some genetic material (eg. materials found inside a nucleus) like DNA or RNA (explaining DNA and RNA is out of scope of this particular blog). They can’t reproduce themselves and hence they hijack our cells and ‘command’ them to produce their replica (virus). Usually they use up our cell and its resources, kills it, detach from the cell and moves on. One technique used in anti-viral drug is that it interferes with this detaching process in such a way that the virus can not detach. Thus we can control them.
But a bacterium is a living cell and hence it can reproduce by division. So they can survive even in non living environment (like a cell phone or door knob) for a long time and even multiply. They produce toxins and this will damage the cells that are infected by them. Since they are living, they can be killed and that is what an antibiotic do.
Its just one ‘aaaaaachum’ but there is a wonderful script behind this story…
“Its viral”
I responded:
“How do you know?”
Then I realized that how irritating such a question is, for a doctor. So I explained:
“I just want to know how you doctors comes to a conclusion that its viral”
That was the time I got introduced to this doctor and now he is sooooooo used to me. So, he will be surprised if I did not ask any question during a visit.
Last Friday, I went to meet him since my son was having a cold and cough. And in the present scenario, the school authorities ask for medical certificate even for a day’s absence. The doctor said:
“It’s viral only, but no need to worry”
(What he meant was, there is no need to suspect H1N1)
“......It looks like all the viruses are on a spree… did you notice that kid waiting outside? He has chickenpox; so I asked them to leave immediately..... This is not the season for that virus”
Yes, I noticed him asking me to sit in his consulting room and going outside (to attend that kid first)
“Oh, that’s interesting…usually that comes during summer..but its OK, my son already had chickenpox when he was small” I responded
“Yes, I know”
(True, but I did not expect him to remember that. So this guy has good memory, huh !)
So, how do these docs distinguish between a viral and bacterial infection?
If it is something like chickenpox, rabies (both viral), tuberculosis, syphilis (both bacterial) etc its easy for them.But what about a cold like symptom? A cough? Sore throat? Fever?
In reality, what matters is their experience (or gut feeling) if the patient visits the doc at a very early stage. Because without doing any test, they cant simply say its viral or bacterial, in the early stage. (that is one reason why they ask ‘when did it start?’…if our complaint was a cold with nasal discharge and suffering since 10 days or so, doc might rule out virus. Usually, virus infections won’t stay for more than a week. Our body will fight it out, if it can, within that period – I am talking about common cold and seasonal flu. But a bacterial infection can be chronic/ lengthy).
How can they confirm? Testing for a virus is a costly affair (plus there are very few virology labs compared to the regular labs) so what they do is checking whether its bacterial or not, if at all they want to test (usually the docs don’t suggest a test for seasonal diseases; at least my doc). Here, what they do a culture test (means taking a sample and keeping it in nutrient medium to observe whether there is bacterial multiplication. If it is positive, they conclude that its bacterial; if negative they assume that its viral).
But sometimes a viral cold can lead to bacterial infection (depends on many factors like a person's immunity, contact with infected person or surfaces etc). I have personally experienced this. This can be noticed by the color change in the nasal discharge. That is one reason why a doc sometimes prescribe an anti-biotic for a flu or cold, even though it has no direct impact on a virus. Usually, viral infections are fought out by our body using its immunity mechanism.
How do these infections differ and what is the difference between an antibiotic and antiviral?
Though it’s a silly answer, bacterial infections are caused by bacteria and viral infections are caused by virus. But the style of their attack is very different.
Virus is not a living organism and hence we can not kill them using a drug. Virus need a living host cell for their existence. They are just a shell made up of some proteins and organic compounds (means a compound which has carbon atom). Inside the shell, there is some genetic material (eg. materials found inside a nucleus) like DNA or RNA (explaining DNA and RNA is out of scope of this particular blog). They can’t reproduce themselves and hence they hijack our cells and ‘command’ them to produce their replica (virus). Usually they use up our cell and its resources, kills it, detach from the cell and moves on. One technique used in anti-viral drug is that it interferes with this detaching process in such a way that the virus can not detach. Thus we can control them.
But a bacterium is a living cell and hence it can reproduce by division. So they can survive even in non living environment (like a cell phone or door knob) for a long time and even multiply. They produce toxins and this will damage the cells that are infected by them. Since they are living, they can be killed and that is what an antibiotic do.
Its just one ‘aaaaaachum’ but there is a wonderful script behind this story…
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Love Scam - Update
I thought I write an update on what has happened to Miss Rose. Well, Just now, I got another mail from 'her'. Remember that my reply was "Good try, but you got the wrong guy". But look at the funny reply I got:
Dearest sweetheart,
I am more than happy in your reply to my mail. how is your day;Mine is a little bit hot over here in Dakar Senegal.My condition here is terrible Its just like one staying in the prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out here soon.i don't have any relatives now whom i can go to all our relatives ran away in the middle of the war the only person i have now is Rev. John Dada who is the pastor of the (HOPE OF GLORY CHURCH) here in the camp he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the female hostel because here they have two hostels one for male the other for female.The Pastors Tel. number is (00221-767545166) and his e-mail address is ....(revernedjohndada77@yahoo.com), so if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he will send for me in the hostel. my conditon here i don't have any right or privilledge to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country.I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the traggic incident that lead to my being in this situation now took place.Please listen to this,i have my late father's statement of account and death certificate here with me which i will send to you latter,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank in which he used my name as the next of kin,the amount in question is $6.5(6 Million five Hundred Thousand Dollars) So i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account and from it you can send some money for me to get my travelling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.I kept this secret to people here the only person that knows about it is the Revrend because he is like a father to me.So in the light of above i will like you to keep it to yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it.Remember i am giving you all this information due to the trust i deposed on you.I like honest and understanding people,truthful and a man of vision,truth and hardworking. My favourite language is english and i speak english very fluently.Meanwhile i will like you to call me on 1 p.m that is london like i said i have alot to tell you Have a nice day and think about me.Awaiting to hear from you soonest.
Yours in love Miss Rose.
This time the attachment had another picture of hers. I thought 'hey this is a good entertainment'. I collected another picture of her from the net (just Google for 'love scam' and use common sense) and mailed back like this:
Hello Dear, You said you don’t have any relative, but don’t worry. May be you don’t know, but you have a twin sister. Her name is Miss Mabel. I am attaching her photo here. And you have another relative by name Miss Lilian. They are also ready to transfer millions of USD into my account. Let me see who is going to give me more...
This is the last blog on this topic since I am no more interested in this dirty scam..Those who are interested can proceed to: http://419.bittenus.com/
Finally, should you make a donation to me for providing this info?
THINK TWICE
Dearest sweetheart,
I am more than happy in your reply to my mail. how is your day;Mine is a little bit hot over here in Dakar Senegal.My condition here is terrible Its just like one staying in the prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out here soon.i don't have any relatives now whom i can go to all our relatives ran away in the middle of the war the only person i have now is Rev. John Dada who is the pastor of the (HOPE OF GLORY CHURCH) here in the camp he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the female hostel because here they have two hostels one for male the other for female.The Pastors Tel. number is (00221-767545166) and his e-mail address is ....(revernedjohndada77@yahoo.com), so if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he will send for me in the hostel. my conditon here i don't have any right or privilledge to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country.I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the traggic incident that lead to my being in this situation now took place.Please listen to this,i have my late father's statement of account and death certificate here with me which i will send to you latter,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank in which he used my name as the next of kin,the amount in question is $6.5(6 Million five Hundred Thousand Dollars) So i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account and from it you can send some money for me to get my travelling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.I kept this secret to people here the only person that knows about it is the Revrend because he is like a father to me.So in the light of above i will like you to keep it to yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it.Remember i am giving you all this information due to the trust i deposed on you.I like honest and understanding people,truthful and a man of vision,truth and hardworking. My favourite language is english and i speak english very fluently.Meanwhile i will like you to call me on 1 p.m that is london like i said i have alot to tell you Have a nice day and think about me.Awaiting to hear from you soonest.
Yours in love Miss Rose.
This time the attachment had another picture of hers. I thought 'hey this is a good entertainment'. I collected another picture of her from the net (just Google for 'love scam' and use common sense) and mailed back like this:
Hello Dear, You said you don’t have any relative, but don’t worry. May be you don’t know, but you have a twin sister. Her name is Miss Mabel. I am attaching her photo here. And you have another relative by name Miss Lilian. They are also ready to transfer millions of USD into my account. Let me see who is going to give me more...
This is the last blog on this topic since I am no more interested in this dirty scam..Those who are interested can proceed to: http://419.bittenus.com/
Finally, should you make a donation to me for providing this info?
THINK TWICE
419 Scam, Nigerian Bank Scam, Advance Fee Fraud, Russian Scam, Love Scam, Lottery Scam and so on
Most of us might have received at least one ‘419’ scam spam mail. The number 419 is related to some section related to Nigerian Criminal Code (said to be chapter 38, I don’t know). In practical sense, this section deals with obtaining wealth by cheating.
The typical mail tells that somebody died leaving millions of USD in a bank and asking our help to get it legally on a sharing basis (subject like might look like ‘need your assistance’). What happens we reply? They will ask us to send some money for legal consultation or to pay the attorney or something like that. This scam is also known as ‘Advance Money Scam’.
What if we send the money? Well, they will update us about the progress and ask us to send more money and this goes on and on.
The scam is said to be originated in African countries and even today most of the criminals involved in such scams are from Africa (mainly Nigeria). Recently one of them got arrested while visiting India (he successfully cheated some people here).
Another flavor is ‘Love Scam’. Here we might get a mail from our opposite sex saying they have fallen love with us. If we reply, they plan their next step accordingly. They collect our mail id mostly from social network or dating sites. Many people we add up are fakes (though they have their pics and every detail. If we do a google, we can find out some of the sample pictures they commonly use). Another version of this cheating is the ‘You have won a lottery’ mail.
The other day, I signed up for a penpal site and the very next day, I got a mail which read:
HelloMy name is Miss Rose am 24yr old . I saw your profile today on allpenpals.com and it really acttract me alot i believe that you are the man i have been looking for to share my love; How is your health? i hope all is well with you. I believe that we can move from here ; but remember that distance;age and colour dose not matter what matters is the true love and understanding; in my next e-mail i shall include my pictuer; i been waithing for your reply mail me with this mail address (rose.frank83@yahoo.co.uk) for further introduction.Bye hopeing to hear from you soon. pLs contact me with this mail (rose.frank83@yahoo.co.uk)
I wanted to test how they respond if I reply. So, I said 'If you mean a friendship, you are welcome'. Within 6 hours, I got a reply:
(I came to know that irrespective of the reply we give, they sends same reply with one of the pic they use for this purpose)
My Dear,I am more than happy in your reply to my mail.How was your day today? .Mine a little hot over here in Dakar Senegal.My name is Miss Rose (24years) single and never married, i am from monrovia in west Africa and presently i am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country last three years.My late father Dr FRANK BENSON was the chairman managing director of(FRANK BENSON INDUSTRIAL COMPANY LTD),in MONROVIA the capital of my country,and he was also the personal advicer to the former head of state before the rebels attacked our house one early morning and killed my mother and my father in a cold blood.It was only me that is alive now and i managed to make my way to a nearby country Senegal where i am living now as a refugee.I would like to know more about you.Your likes and dislikes,your hobbies and what you are doing presently.I will tell you more about myself in my next mail.I have Attached my picture in my mail bye and have a nice day.Hopeing to hear from you soonest. Miss Rose.
The typical mail tells that somebody died leaving millions of USD in a bank and asking our help to get it legally on a sharing basis (subject like might look like ‘need your assistance’). What happens we reply? They will ask us to send some money for legal consultation or to pay the attorney or something like that. This scam is also known as ‘Advance Money Scam’.
What if we send the money? Well, they will update us about the progress and ask us to send more money and this goes on and on.
The scam is said to be originated in African countries and even today most of the criminals involved in such scams are from Africa (mainly Nigeria). Recently one of them got arrested while visiting India (he successfully cheated some people here).
Another flavor is ‘Love Scam’. Here we might get a mail from our opposite sex saying they have fallen love with us. If we reply, they plan their next step accordingly. They collect our mail id mostly from social network or dating sites. Many people we add up are fakes (though they have their pics and every detail. If we do a google, we can find out some of the sample pictures they commonly use). Another version of this cheating is the ‘You have won a lottery’ mail.
The other day, I signed up for a penpal site and the very next day, I got a mail which read:
HelloMy name is Miss Rose am 24yr old . I saw your profile today on allpenpals.com and it really acttract me alot i believe that you are the man i have been looking for to share my love; How is your health? i hope all is well with you. I believe that we can move from here ; but remember that distance;age and colour dose not matter what matters is the true love and understanding; in my next e-mail i shall include my pictuer; i been waithing for your reply mail me with this mail address (rose.frank83@yahoo.co.uk) for further introduction.Bye hopeing to hear from you soon. pLs contact me with this mail (rose.frank83@yahoo.co.uk)
I wanted to test how they respond if I reply. So, I said 'If you mean a friendship, you are welcome'. Within 6 hours, I got a reply:
(I came to know that irrespective of the reply we give, they sends same reply with one of the pic they use for this purpose)
My Dear,I am more than happy in your reply to my mail.How was your day today? .Mine a little hot over here in Dakar Senegal.My name is Miss Rose (24years) single and never married, i am from monrovia in west Africa and presently i am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country last three years.My late father Dr FRANK BENSON was the chairman managing director of(FRANK BENSON INDUSTRIAL COMPANY LTD),in MONROVIA the capital of my country,and he was also the personal advicer to the former head of state before the rebels attacked our house one early morning and killed my mother and my father in a cold blood.It was only me that is alive now and i managed to make my way to a nearby country Senegal where i am living now as a refugee.I would like to know more about you.Your likes and dislikes,your hobbies and what you are doing presently.I will tell you more about myself in my next mail.I have Attached my picture in my mail bye and have a nice day.Hopeing to hear from you soonest. Miss Rose.
(I traced the mail and it originated from Senegal; or they successfully changed the IP)
Miss Rose !!!
For which I replied:
‘Good try, but you got the wrong guy’, the result was…
The next mail was from one Ms.Gloria Pattugalan from Philippines !. This was a real surprise for me and could be a pure coincidence. I hardly think that those criminals know of my Philippine connections. But this time the mail originated from Czech Republic.
The mail reads as follows:
Hello,My name is Ms.Gloria Pattugalan, daughter of Late Judge Nathaniel Pattugalan of Philippines. My father survived an attempt murder in life on the 27th of October 2005. And was killed 19th of January 2007.Since the first attempt till date his murderers have not been identified .I am afraid of my life because i believe his death has to do with the government or politicians because my father was against corruption.After the first attempt on my father's life, he went to secure US$3 Million outside the country.I would want you to assist me retrieve this money,so that i will come to live a new life in your country.Yours sincerelyGloria Pattugalan
This time I wish to reply :
“NO NO, wait, don’t come to my country, with USD $3 million, we can buy a small private island in Philippines with nice white sand beach and then we live happily ever after…”
The first thing one should do if one gets such a mail is to mark it as Spam and ignore it. If got accidently opened, just delete the mail. Or if you want some time pass, give them some stupid reply (at your own risk since I don’t know what will happen to you if the other guy gets arrested one day and the police trace all the contacts [for police, your stupid answer could be ‘code words’])
What if somebody don’t want to ignore it but want to know more about it? One can get lots of information from here, including samples of most of the mails getting circulated:
http://www.419scam.org/
Miss Rose !!!For which I replied:
‘Good try, but you got the wrong guy’, the result was…
The next mail was from one Ms.Gloria Pattugalan from Philippines !. This was a real surprise for me and could be a pure coincidence. I hardly think that those criminals know of my Philippine connections. But this time the mail originated from Czech Republic.
The mail reads as follows:
Hello,My name is Ms.Gloria Pattugalan, daughter of Late Judge Nathaniel Pattugalan of Philippines. My father survived an attempt murder in life on the 27th of October 2005. And was killed 19th of January 2007.Since the first attempt till date his murderers have not been identified .I am afraid of my life because i believe his death has to do with the government or politicians because my father was against corruption.After the first attempt on my father's life, he went to secure US$3 Million outside the country.I would want you to assist me retrieve this money,so that i will come to live a new life in your country.Yours sincerelyGloria Pattugalan
This time I wish to reply :
“NO NO, wait, don’t come to my country, with USD $3 million, we can buy a small private island in Philippines with nice white sand beach and then we live happily ever after…”
The first thing one should do if one gets such a mail is to mark it as Spam and ignore it. If got accidently opened, just delete the mail. Or if you want some time pass, give them some stupid reply (at your own risk since I don’t know what will happen to you if the other guy gets arrested one day and the police trace all the contacts [for police, your stupid answer could be ‘code words’])
What if somebody don’t want to ignore it but want to know more about it? One can get lots of information from here, including samples of most of the mails getting circulated:
http://www.419scam.org/
Friday, September 18, 2009
timeLess ...
Prologue:
I sent a mail to a friend of mine asking some questions (of that person’s area of expertise) and that person mailed me back telling that I can expect a mail very soon. I waited…one day, one week…it is now one month..
Another mail, another person and this time a reply came (at least) starting with ‘sorry for the belated reply’
Same day, I got one more mail (from a relative) starting with ‘sorry for the belated reply’…
Some similar non mail experiences follows…
(Yes, I know its just coincidence)
* * * * * * * *
“I want an appointment with God” I called up His secretary
“May I know who is calling?” a cute and sweet voice asked.
After verifying my credentials, I got an appointment.
“So? What do you want to ask?” He was yawning
“Why is this? Why those delays? Why didn’t they get time to reply though they wanted to ?”
“It’s a secret...”
“Tell me…..”
“Can I trust you?”
“Well, I think you can”
“They did not get time, right? They will not"
"Why?"
"Light, darkness, water, heaven, beast, man…..sorry, I forgot to create Time”
“But you are the…”
“Shhhhhhhh”
I sent a mail to a friend of mine asking some questions (of that person’s area of expertise) and that person mailed me back telling that I can expect a mail very soon. I waited…one day, one week…it is now one month..
Another mail, another person and this time a reply came (at least) starting with ‘sorry for the belated reply’
Same day, I got one more mail (from a relative) starting with ‘sorry for the belated reply’…
Some similar non mail experiences follows…
(Yes, I know its just coincidence)
* * * * * * * *
“I want an appointment with God” I called up His secretary
“May I know who is calling?” a cute and sweet voice asked.
After verifying my credentials, I got an appointment.
“So? What do you want to ask?” He was yawning
“Why is this? Why those delays? Why didn’t they get time to reply though they wanted to ?”
“It’s a secret...”
“Tell me…..”
“Can I trust you?”
“Well, I think you can”
“They did not get time, right? They will not"
"Why?"
"Light, darkness, water, heaven, beast, man…..sorry, I forgot to create Time”
“But you are the…”
“Shhhhhhhh”
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Back to Badminton...but
Long after the ligament tear (after a break of one and a half years), I returned to badminton court to give it a try. I requested my gym coach to come with me to give some practice to observe how the knee reacts. We tossed the birdie for some time and it made me soooooooooo happy. I could not sleep that night because of the excitement.
I was surprised to see the way my gym coach played. About one and a half years back (that was the time I started learning badminton and it ended even before I could play 20 hours in total), I used to beat him in singles and now I am nowhere near him. He got sculptured into a fine player and I came to know that he already beat many of them who ‘taught’ him how to play.
I got chance to practice for two weekends (about 15 minutes for each session) and then the court wasn’t free for exclusive use. So, I played some double games with others. I used to tell them that I had a ligament tear and I am still struggling and hence I am unable to move fast or take net-shots by leaning forward (body weight shifts to our front leg). The result was amazing !
My opponents started targeting me. They placed the shuttle in such a way that I have to run or lean. Once I even got smashed on my eye (and I had to consult an eye doctor). Thus, some people started thinking that they lost the game because of me. Some got irritated. And yes, there were couple of them who said ‘ its OK’.
Once, a lady who was playing against me smiled when I missed couple of easy shots. I could not take it because I had to run. But her smile irritated me and so I told her:
“Don’t smile, I will hit next time”
“You hit” she responded
I missed once again and she laughed and told me
“You should play like that, OK?”
“Sure” I replied
I missed another one too and she repeated it again
“Like that, OK?”
“Yes” I said.
Though I smiled, inside me, it was kind of rage. But we lost the game. I said we will play one more game. And I this time I played madly and hardly missed any return shot. We won for 15-7. Then I smiled at her and I told her that I was playing with injury. But what was the real result?
I ended up with ice pack and rest for two days…the pain stricken back.
God, why is this world like this? Where is his answer?
The other day, there came two kids. One was 15 and another one 17. The 15 year old boy plays really well. He spent some time playing with me giving tips and correcting my mistakes. And last Sunday, I was sitting with my racket without any company. That 17 year old (he knows about my knee issue) came and asked
“You want to play badminton?”
He did not trouble me with his skills…He did not made me run..We did not play as a game and hence nobody won, nobody lost..
May be that was His answer…
I was surprised to see the way my gym coach played. About one and a half years back (that was the time I started learning badminton and it ended even before I could play 20 hours in total), I used to beat him in singles and now I am nowhere near him. He got sculptured into a fine player and I came to know that he already beat many of them who ‘taught’ him how to play.
I got chance to practice for two weekends (about 15 minutes for each session) and then the court wasn’t free for exclusive use. So, I played some double games with others. I used to tell them that I had a ligament tear and I am still struggling and hence I am unable to move fast or take net-shots by leaning forward (body weight shifts to our front leg). The result was amazing !
My opponents started targeting me. They placed the shuttle in such a way that I have to run or lean. Once I even got smashed on my eye (and I had to consult an eye doctor). Thus, some people started thinking that they lost the game because of me. Some got irritated. And yes, there were couple of them who said ‘ its OK’.
Once, a lady who was playing against me smiled when I missed couple of easy shots. I could not take it because I had to run. But her smile irritated me and so I told her:
“Don’t smile, I will hit next time”
“You hit” she responded
I missed once again and she laughed and told me
“You should play like that, OK?”
“Sure” I replied
I missed another one too and she repeated it again
“Like that, OK?”
“Yes” I said.
Though I smiled, inside me, it was kind of rage. But we lost the game. I said we will play one more game. And I this time I played madly and hardly missed any return shot. We won for 15-7. Then I smiled at her and I told her that I was playing with injury. But what was the real result?
I ended up with ice pack and rest for two days…the pain stricken back.
God, why is this world like this? Where is his answer?
The other day, there came two kids. One was 15 and another one 17. The 15 year old boy plays really well. He spent some time playing with me giving tips and correcting my mistakes. And last Sunday, I was sitting with my racket without any company. That 17 year old (he knows about my knee issue) came and asked
“You want to play badminton?”
He did not trouble me with his skills…He did not made me run..We did not play as a game and hence nobody won, nobody lost..
May be that was His answer…
Monday, September 14, 2009
Countries to Visit ...
Which country/countries I wish/wished to visit?
My wish started with Russia. From childhood, I wished to visit Moscow. That time, Russia was U.S.S.R, and was said to be one of the most powerful nations in the world. The first foreign magazine I had seen during my childhood is ‘The Soviet Union’. It was colorful and most of the time, it had some pictures of snow or people wearing winter dress. As a kid, I thought living in snow is fun.
When I grew up, I became a member of the House of Soviet Culture Library. They had a theater too where they used to screen Russian movies. I read lots of Russian literature during that time. I mostly read translations in my mother tongue and then started reading in English too. I cant recollect the name of the authors, but I can not forget Mikhail Sholokhov, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekov, Maxim Gorky (that building/campus was named after him – Gorky Bhavan), Fyodor Dostoyevsky etc. At some point of time, I wished to study in Russia; but I had no idea how.
Russia and U.S weren’t friends that time. There was ‘cold war’. I had heard the word ‘cold war’ during my childhood but I had no idea what exactly it is. Since my love was for Russia, I did not like the U.S. And hence I did not fancy visiting U.S.
Years passed and I became a member of ‘Trivandrum Public Library’, which was one of the oldest and the largest libraries in my city (established during 1829). They had a huge collection of books. I started reading travelogues. This made me think ‘ I wish I could visit this place… oh ! I wish I could visit that place’. Thus, Egypt, Singapore, Bali (Indonesia), Tibet, Greenland, Paris etc started coming into the list, apart from Russia. My wish to travel to the Gulf region was only for the purpose of looking for a job.
Years passed. Technology changed and internet was a revolution as far as information is concerned. I was able to get lots of info about any country. Still, travelling to a distant country was not easy. One needs lots of money and we Asians need Visa to travel to almost every other country. I always wished to have some friends from around the world. When a real Russian, that too somebody grew up in Moscow became a friend of mine, I became very happy. But when I listened to the real stories, I understood that the Russia in my dream was not real.
I got some good friends from Philippines, the U.S., Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. And naturally, I wished to visit those countries. Yes, Estonia too got added up to that list, recently. When one of my cousins got settled in Germany, Germany too got highlighted (another cousin got settled in the U.S. , about 20 years ago…now, two more cousins live there.. but U.S wasn’t on my list till I got a friend from there).
Philippines dominated my internet friends list and thus Philippines became the ‘must visit’ place and topped my list. Indonesia stood second at some point of time. Some months ago, when the ‘racism in Australia’ thing was going on, I got a chance to visit Australia. But by that time, I ended up with no friends there. Though the reason for rejecting that opportunity wasn’t lack of friends there, I was sure that having some friends would have made me consider it seriously.
Thailand became an attraction because of Lord Buddha and there too was a friend connection.
I was almost sure about Philippines visit. I made plans to travel to Philippines during the end of 2009 or early 2010. It wasn’t because Philippines became my dream country but it was because of the friends element. Through my friends (especially one) I saw many places in Philippines. I even saw some places ‘Live’ using webcam. Slowly, not just the people, but ‘the country with lakes and beaches’ too became my favorite.
But things changed over months or years. Friendships started getting scattered. People started moving away from me for this or that reasons. There is no point in getting emotional about it, I know. And it is wise to accept the realities. Thus Philippines started climbing down the ladder. Thus Hong Kong went ahead of Philippines when I planned a vacation, last time..
Now?
Every country in this world will have some good and friendly people living there, isn’t it so? I seriously considered that thought when a ‘white’ lady told me ‘ I will be the last person to consider your skin color’ in response to my ‘I am brown, just in case you want to know’.
So, now, I wish I could visit every country in this wonderful world. No country is same, though it is difficult for me to distinguish people from many Asian countries (other than Indian sub-continent). Every country is special in one way or another.
Alas! Now I feel like meeting my old buddies first and then proceed further...
My wish started with Russia. From childhood, I wished to visit Moscow. That time, Russia was U.S.S.R, and was said to be one of the most powerful nations in the world. The first foreign magazine I had seen during my childhood is ‘The Soviet Union’. It was colorful and most of the time, it had some pictures of snow or people wearing winter dress. As a kid, I thought living in snow is fun.
When I grew up, I became a member of the House of Soviet Culture Library. They had a theater too where they used to screen Russian movies. I read lots of Russian literature during that time. I mostly read translations in my mother tongue and then started reading in English too. I cant recollect the name of the authors, but I can not forget Mikhail Sholokhov, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekov, Maxim Gorky (that building/campus was named after him – Gorky Bhavan), Fyodor Dostoyevsky etc. At some point of time, I wished to study in Russia; but I had no idea how.
Russia and U.S weren’t friends that time. There was ‘cold war’. I had heard the word ‘cold war’ during my childhood but I had no idea what exactly it is. Since my love was for Russia, I did not like the U.S. And hence I did not fancy visiting U.S.
Years passed and I became a member of ‘Trivandrum Public Library’, which was one of the oldest and the largest libraries in my city (established during 1829). They had a huge collection of books. I started reading travelogues. This made me think ‘ I wish I could visit this place… oh ! I wish I could visit that place’. Thus, Egypt, Singapore, Bali (Indonesia), Tibet, Greenland, Paris etc started coming into the list, apart from Russia. My wish to travel to the Gulf region was only for the purpose of looking for a job.
Years passed. Technology changed and internet was a revolution as far as information is concerned. I was able to get lots of info about any country. Still, travelling to a distant country was not easy. One needs lots of money and we Asians need Visa to travel to almost every other country. I always wished to have some friends from around the world. When a real Russian, that too somebody grew up in Moscow became a friend of mine, I became very happy. But when I listened to the real stories, I understood that the Russia in my dream was not real.
I got some good friends from Philippines, the U.S., Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. And naturally, I wished to visit those countries. Yes, Estonia too got added up to that list, recently. When one of my cousins got settled in Germany, Germany too got highlighted (another cousin got settled in the U.S. , about 20 years ago…now, two more cousins live there.. but U.S wasn’t on my list till I got a friend from there).
Philippines dominated my internet friends list and thus Philippines became the ‘must visit’ place and topped my list. Indonesia stood second at some point of time. Some months ago, when the ‘racism in Australia’ thing was going on, I got a chance to visit Australia. But by that time, I ended up with no friends there. Though the reason for rejecting that opportunity wasn’t lack of friends there, I was sure that having some friends would have made me consider it seriously.
Thailand became an attraction because of Lord Buddha and there too was a friend connection.
I was almost sure about Philippines visit. I made plans to travel to Philippines during the end of 2009 or early 2010. It wasn’t because Philippines became my dream country but it was because of the friends element. Through my friends (especially one) I saw many places in Philippines. I even saw some places ‘Live’ using webcam. Slowly, not just the people, but ‘the country with lakes and beaches’ too became my favorite.
But things changed over months or years. Friendships started getting scattered. People started moving away from me for this or that reasons. There is no point in getting emotional about it, I know. And it is wise to accept the realities. Thus Philippines started climbing down the ladder. Thus Hong Kong went ahead of Philippines when I planned a vacation, last time..
Now?
Every country in this world will have some good and friendly people living there, isn’t it so? I seriously considered that thought when a ‘white’ lady told me ‘ I will be the last person to consider your skin color’ in response to my ‘I am brown, just in case you want to know’.
So, now, I wish I could visit every country in this wonderful world. No country is same, though it is difficult for me to distinguish people from many Asian countries (other than Indian sub-continent). Every country is special in one way or another.
Alas! Now I feel like meeting my old buddies first and then proceed further...
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Content Filter
Which is an easy way to filter internet content to safeguard kids (for example) against porn etc?
There are some exclusive parental control software applications available for this purpose. And some internet security suites too provide such features. But we need to pay for the good ones. There are some free browser based filters too, which I think lacks flexibility.
So, is there any free and flexible application for this purpose?
I don’t know whether this is the best and you can’t filter individual words too, but still one can give OpenDNS a try.
OpenDNS is a DNS service. It is said to be fast and reliable too. (Why you need another DNS service? Sometimes our default DNS might fail to resolve addresses. For example we might have experienced a situation where our internet works but can not go to specific sites owned by yahoo, google, Microsoft etc. This could be because of DNS issue. With OpenDNS, there is no or less chance for such situations).
This is what company says about them:
“OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world.”
OK, back to content filtering. OpenDNS offers a decent content filtering service. What we have to do is to route our data through their servers by changing our DNS settings. For that, all we need to do is visit
http://www.opendns.com/
and press ‘Start using OpenDNS. And Press ‘Computer’ in case what we want to configure is our computer (we can configure our mobile, router etc too). They provide very good assistance (plus they have a forum, video tutorial, support and blog too, in case we need more info). Just follow the instructions depending on your Operating System.
If we want to keep things permanent, we need to create an account (free), so that we can add our network and manage accordingly. Once it’s done, all we need to do is go to ‘Settings’ Tab and select the filtering level. It is better we use ‘Custom’ since we have the choice to decide what to filter and what not to filter. If we want to allow or block a particular site, that too is possible.
Once done, press ‘Apply’ and sign-out, its done !
But what if we are using Dynamic IP? That is, the IP that changes every time we switch off and switch on our modem? All we need to do is download a (free) Updater application provided by them and install it. This will take care of the rest by refreshing the IP address automatically.
Last, but not at all the least, READ THE PRIVACY POLICY before you use this service. Just like all other free sites, OpenDNS too collects your IP address. This too uses cookies and collects some basic information. And don’t forget to read the FAQ, when you get time.
Some fun/game applications available with some social networking sites get our consent (when we start using it) even to use the entire content we have with our profile including the photos we upload. So, make it a habit to read the Privacy policy when you are availing any service over internet, irrespective of what it is.
Note:
DNS- Domain Name System. Every site we visit has some numerical address like our street and door number. This is the Internet Protocol Address or IP address. (Here, protocol means a set of standardized communication rules using which data can be sent from one computer to another over internet). It is a difficult task to remember long numbers for every site and hence there is this Name resolving system. For example, when we type http://www.google.com in the browser’s address bar, our DNS server (all of us have one, provided by our Internet Service Provider) translates it into 74.125.19.103 (I think so; it can be a different number for you). If you want to find the IP address of any particular site, do the following, for windows users:
Press Start – Run
You will get a command window. Here, type:
Ping www.google.com (I mean the name of any site you want to check)
Then connection will be established and you can see a message like:
‘pinging www.google.com [74.125.19.103] …
The number we see in brackets is the IP address.
Type ‘exit’ without quotes to come out of the window
There are some exclusive parental control software applications available for this purpose. And some internet security suites too provide such features. But we need to pay for the good ones. There are some free browser based filters too, which I think lacks flexibility.
So, is there any free and flexible application for this purpose?
I don’t know whether this is the best and you can’t filter individual words too, but still one can give OpenDNS a try.
OpenDNS is a DNS service. It is said to be fast and reliable too. (Why you need another DNS service? Sometimes our default DNS might fail to resolve addresses. For example we might have experienced a situation where our internet works but can not go to specific sites owned by yahoo, google, Microsoft etc. This could be because of DNS issue. With OpenDNS, there is no or less chance for such situations).
This is what company says about them:
“OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world.”
OK, back to content filtering. OpenDNS offers a decent content filtering service. What we have to do is to route our data through their servers by changing our DNS settings. For that, all we need to do is visit
http://www.opendns.com/
and press ‘Start using OpenDNS. And Press ‘Computer’ in case what we want to configure is our computer (we can configure our mobile, router etc too). They provide very good assistance (plus they have a forum, video tutorial, support and blog too, in case we need more info). Just follow the instructions depending on your Operating System.
If we want to keep things permanent, we need to create an account (free), so that we can add our network and manage accordingly. Once it’s done, all we need to do is go to ‘Settings’ Tab and select the filtering level. It is better we use ‘Custom’ since we have the choice to decide what to filter and what not to filter. If we want to allow or block a particular site, that too is possible.
Once done, press ‘Apply’ and sign-out, its done !
But what if we are using Dynamic IP? That is, the IP that changes every time we switch off and switch on our modem? All we need to do is download a (free) Updater application provided by them and install it. This will take care of the rest by refreshing the IP address automatically.
Last, but not at all the least, READ THE PRIVACY POLICY before you use this service. Just like all other free sites, OpenDNS too collects your IP address. This too uses cookies and collects some basic information. And don’t forget to read the FAQ, when you get time.
Some fun/game applications available with some social networking sites get our consent (when we start using it) even to use the entire content we have with our profile including the photos we upload. So, make it a habit to read the Privacy policy when you are availing any service over internet, irrespective of what it is.
Note:
DNS- Domain Name System. Every site we visit has some numerical address like our street and door number. This is the Internet Protocol Address or IP address. (Here, protocol means a set of standardized communication rules using which data can be sent from one computer to another over internet). It is a difficult task to remember long numbers for every site and hence there is this Name resolving system. For example, when we type http://www.google.com in the browser’s address bar, our DNS server (all of us have one, provided by our Internet Service Provider) translates it into 74.125.19.103 (I think so; it can be a different number for you). If you want to find the IP address of any particular site, do the following, for windows users:
Press Start – Run
You will get a command window. Here, type:
Ping www.google.com (I mean the name of any site you want to check)
Then connection will be established and you can see a message like:
‘pinging www.google.com [74.125.19.103] …
The number we see in brackets is the IP address.
Type ‘exit’ without quotes to come out of the window
Friday, September 04, 2009
Satan ... Satan worship or In Satan's Good Books...
Over 5-7 years ago, there was this free MSN chat rooms. I personally was involved in a particular room, as a co-moderator, for sometime but I used to visit many other rooms related to religion, spirituality, science and computers. I still have many interesting memories of that ‘olden’ time.
Once I was in one atheism room. I was just observing what is happening there. Then suddenly somebody entered the room and said this (following is not verbatim):
“Repent, you sinners, even now it’s not too late”
Then some people who were in the room responded to it in different ways. I found it interesting and amusing. So I too participated in it, supporting the atheists, for fun and to observe.
Me: “Sinners? whom do you call sinners?”
“All of you”
Me: “Well, now you are in this room, and I understand that you are a believer. What if there are others like you?”
“I mean the atheist ones”
Me: “why should they repent?”
“Else they will not get eternal life.”
Me: “oh yeah?”
“Are you teasing me?
Me: “no, I am not..can I ask you something?”
“Sure”
Me: “after our death we will go either to hell or heaven, right? And where can we find Satan?”
“Yes, you are right…you can find Satan in the hell, of course”
Me: “and what will happen to the ‘sinners’?
“On the judgment day, they will be sent to hell”
Me: “you said hell is Satan’s place. What authority your God has to send somebody to hell? What if the hell authorities reject it? Or are God and Satan friends?”
“You are questioning God and his powers..you have to pay for that”
Me: “really? Will they accept credit card?”
“I really pity on you…God will punish you”
Me: “Sometime back I too did some ‘scripture’ reading. I believe in myself and not in your God. I believe in some socialistic principles and I do good to people. So, there is a possibility of me going to heaven. But I think I better worship Satan, if what you say is right. You said after death we will go either to hell or heaven. So I will be safe either way. If I land in heaven, its fine, I will enjoy it. But if I go to hell, since I worship Satan, he will reward me. so, that also is fine for me. And on a second thought, if God can send somebody to hell, then Satan can send somebody to heaven too, right? What if he sends me to heaven? ….so, which one is the better bet, worshiping God or worshiping Satan?
That person called me many names (swear words) and left the room :(
(NB: This is not my personal belief on God/Satan. I was doing a discussion for 'academic' purpose)
Once I was in one atheism room. I was just observing what is happening there. Then suddenly somebody entered the room and said this (following is not verbatim):
“Repent, you sinners, even now it’s not too late”
Then some people who were in the room responded to it in different ways. I found it interesting and amusing. So I too participated in it, supporting the atheists, for fun and to observe.
Me: “Sinners? whom do you call sinners?”
“All of you”
Me: “Well, now you are in this room, and I understand that you are a believer. What if there are others like you?”
“I mean the atheist ones”
Me: “why should they repent?”
“Else they will not get eternal life.”
Me: “oh yeah?”
“Are you teasing me?
Me: “no, I am not..can I ask you something?”
“Sure”
Me: “after our death we will go either to hell or heaven, right? And where can we find Satan?”
“Yes, you are right…you can find Satan in the hell, of course”
Me: “and what will happen to the ‘sinners’?
“On the judgment day, they will be sent to hell”
Me: “you said hell is Satan’s place. What authority your God has to send somebody to hell? What if the hell authorities reject it? Or are God and Satan friends?”
“You are questioning God and his powers..you have to pay for that”
Me: “really? Will they accept credit card?”
“I really pity on you…God will punish you”
Me: “Sometime back I too did some ‘scripture’ reading. I believe in myself and not in your God. I believe in some socialistic principles and I do good to people. So, there is a possibility of me going to heaven. But I think I better worship Satan, if what you say is right. You said after death we will go either to hell or heaven. So I will be safe either way. If I land in heaven, its fine, I will enjoy it. But if I go to hell, since I worship Satan, he will reward me. so, that also is fine for me. And on a second thought, if God can send somebody to hell, then Satan can send somebody to heaven too, right? What if he sends me to heaven? ….so, which one is the better bet, worshiping God or worshiping Satan?
That person called me many names (swear words) and left the room :(
(NB: This is not my personal belief on God/Satan. I was doing a discussion for 'academic' purpose)
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Happy Onam..
Today is Tiruvonam (second day of Onam). The most important festival for the people of my native State. I had a feast at my in-laws' place. It was a good day..Wishing everyone out there a very happy and prosperous Onam...
Why did I..?
Sometime back, I had a ‘clash’ with a Known Psychologist from the U.S. over one of my blogs. Later, I posted an apology. After reading those blog series, a friend of mine reacted:
“Why did you say apology?, You were telling the truth.”
Whereas my wife’s reaction was:
“She insulted you. I don’t like her”
So, why did I…..?
It has three main reasons:
I too understand mind/people, though I don’t have a trailing PhD in Psychology after my name.
I wanted to avoid enmity; and more importantly,
I wanted to observe and study…
“Why did you say apology?, You were telling the truth.”
Whereas my wife’s reaction was:
“She insulted you. I don’t like her”
So, why did I…..?
It has three main reasons:
I too understand mind/people, though I don’t have a trailing PhD in Psychology after my name.
I wanted to avoid enmity; and more importantly,
I wanted to observe and study…
Friday, August 28, 2009
MileStone
I am a milestone over the highway.
Cars and vans, bikes and trucks
Men and women, boys and gals
They all passed me in ones and groups.
Some looked at me; some did not
Some stared at me; some did not
‘Yes!, we are almost there’ some
Shouted with cheer; and some
Said ‘Oh No ! long way to go’.
And Some? Some did not see me
And they lost their way, somehow.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Creatine and Migraine..
Can supplementing with Creatine monohydrate result in migraine headaches?
Well, I think it can. It has something to do with the body type also. Some people require more water than many others (like me). If such people has the history of migraine too, one has to be a little more careful with Creatine. Why coz, the presence of creatine forces the muscles to draw more water into it. If there is not enough water, it draws it from blood causing a pressure imbalance that can trigger migraine (remember that migraine is a vascular issue). And hence one has to drink lots of water. For people with the history of migraine plus need more water should drink at least 3-4 liters of water if supplementing with creatine. Says who?
Says me. I did not read any research paper on this but I did a research on my body at my cost. And it’s a fact. When I started getting migraine on a regular basis, I started keenly observing my diet. And found that the nutritional supplement I was taking had creatine. Then one can ask, a supplement can contain many things and creatine is just one among them. So, how can we conclude that creatine is the culprit?
Easy. Stop that supplement and take creatine alone for a short period. And I did that. I took 5 gram of creatine per day and experimented with different quantities of water intake and found out that the quantity of water we drink has a lot to do with the migraine we get (and the muscle cramps, obviously). When I tried very little of creatine and lots of water, it did not end up in migraine. That means creatine may not be a direct trigger for migraine.
Well, I stopped playing with creatine when my doc told me that I am playing with my own kidneys since creatine is excreated through kidneys (urine) and not through stools. So, if you are supplementing with creatine, drink lots and lots of water, plain water. IT IS A MUST. Else you might end up damaging your kidneys (yes, I know, the manufacturers too ask us to drink enough water).
And there is one very important thing about supplements. If you have doubts about supplements, ask a medical doctor and not your fitness trainer.
Well, I think it can. It has something to do with the body type also. Some people require more water than many others (like me). If such people has the history of migraine too, one has to be a little more careful with Creatine. Why coz, the presence of creatine forces the muscles to draw more water into it. If there is not enough water, it draws it from blood causing a pressure imbalance that can trigger migraine (remember that migraine is a vascular issue). And hence one has to drink lots of water. For people with the history of migraine plus need more water should drink at least 3-4 liters of water if supplementing with creatine. Says who?
Says me. I did not read any research paper on this but I did a research on my body at my cost. And it’s a fact. When I started getting migraine on a regular basis, I started keenly observing my diet. And found that the nutritional supplement I was taking had creatine. Then one can ask, a supplement can contain many things and creatine is just one among them. So, how can we conclude that creatine is the culprit?
Easy. Stop that supplement and take creatine alone for a short period. And I did that. I took 5 gram of creatine per day and experimented with different quantities of water intake and found out that the quantity of water we drink has a lot to do with the migraine we get (and the muscle cramps, obviously). When I tried very little of creatine and lots of water, it did not end up in migraine. That means creatine may not be a direct trigger for migraine.
Well, I stopped playing with creatine when my doc told me that I am playing with my own kidneys since creatine is excreated through kidneys (urine) and not through stools. So, if you are supplementing with creatine, drink lots and lots of water, plain water. IT IS A MUST. Else you might end up damaging your kidneys (yes, I know, the manufacturers too ask us to drink enough water).
And there is one very important thing about supplements. If you have doubts about supplements, ask a medical doctor and not your fitness trainer.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
No reason..Wrong reason
Sometimes, we lose our friends for no reason. And sometimes it is for wrong reasons.
A close friend of mine started walking away from me for no reason. Another friend (?) of mine kept me at bay thinking that I am not educated and knowledgeable. Third one kept away from me for years thinking that I am physically handicapped !
All that required to reason could be a few open moments…
A close friend of mine started walking away from me for no reason. Another friend (?) of mine kept me at bay thinking that I am not educated and knowledgeable. Third one kept away from me for years thinking that I am physically handicapped !
All that required to reason could be a few open moments…
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Understanding H1N1
The WHO declared swine flu as a pandemic (an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world). So far it is the pandemic of 2009.There was panic around the world. What is this H1N1?
I am NOT talking about the symptoms or treatments or precautions to be taken or what one should do or what one should not do or when to meet a doc or diagnose or treat the flu or anything like that. What I discuss here is some very basics about the virus that cause swine flu.
What is A(H1N1)?
That is the technical name given to a virus that cause flu or what is called ‘swine flu’. There are basically three categories of virus that can cause influenza or flu in humans and they are Influenzavirus A,B and C. The swine flu virus belong to Influenza A virus family (Orthomyxoviridae family, to be specific).
Why is it called swine flu?
Swine flu has three stages. This virus can cause flu in pigs. This flu can spread from pig to pig and that is the first stage. Then this flu virus enters into humans (and undergoes some modifications) who are taking care of these infected pigs and that is the second stage. At the third stage, virus spreads from to human to human and that is what we are facing now. As we can see, the roots points to pig and hence somebody named it swine flu. But the cause of infection is NOT eating (cooked) pork.
Why this virus is named H1N1? Or what dose those number mean?
H (or HA) stands for hemagglutinin and N stands for neuraminidase. These two are proteins found on the surface of the virus. The number was given on the basis of its form/type. So far, 16 variants of HA has been identified (H1 to H16). Same is the case with N. There are 9 types of neuraminidase (N1 to N9). Swine flu virus has H1 type of hemagglutinin and N1 type of neuraminidase (other than these two proteins, an Influenza A virus has 9 more proteins in them).
Why does H1N1 cause pneumonia?
Not just the H1N1 but the all the viruses that comes under Influenza A category are said to be pneumotropic. That means these viruses have some special affinity for lung tissues. That is the reason why some people developed pneumonia after getting infected by H1N1 flu virus. People who had earlier history of lung related diseases are more prone to develop pneumonia and not every one who gets infected by H1N1.
Finally, how serious is H1N1 infection?
A very healthy person might not require any antiviral medicine (like Tamiflu). A combination of rest and nutrition is what our body needs to fight it out in most of the cases. It is like any other seasonal flu and mortality ratio (about 1%) is not very high (or that is what I understand from the statistics given by W.H.O). In MANY of the death cases, it is said that, those died had some history of other illness (like pneumonia, high blood sugar, asthma, bronchitis, hypertension etc or people who are less immune – means who used to catch seasonal diseases almost all the time).
I am NOT talking about the symptoms or treatments or precautions to be taken or what one should do or what one should not do or when to meet a doc or diagnose or treat the flu or anything like that. What I discuss here is some very basics about the virus that cause swine flu.
What is A(H1N1)?
That is the technical name given to a virus that cause flu or what is called ‘swine flu’. There are basically three categories of virus that can cause influenza or flu in humans and they are Influenzavirus A,B and C. The swine flu virus belong to Influenza A virus family (Orthomyxoviridae family, to be specific).
Why is it called swine flu?
Swine flu has three stages. This virus can cause flu in pigs. This flu can spread from pig to pig and that is the first stage. Then this flu virus enters into humans (and undergoes some modifications) who are taking care of these infected pigs and that is the second stage. At the third stage, virus spreads from to human to human and that is what we are facing now. As we can see, the roots points to pig and hence somebody named it swine flu. But the cause of infection is NOT eating (cooked) pork.
Why this virus is named H1N1? Or what dose those number mean?
H (or HA) stands for hemagglutinin and N stands for neuraminidase. These two are proteins found on the surface of the virus. The number was given on the basis of its form/type. So far, 16 variants of HA has been identified (H1 to H16). Same is the case with N. There are 9 types of neuraminidase (N1 to N9). Swine flu virus has H1 type of hemagglutinin and N1 type of neuraminidase (other than these two proteins, an Influenza A virus has 9 more proteins in them).
Why does H1N1 cause pneumonia?
Not just the H1N1 but the all the viruses that comes under Influenza A category are said to be pneumotropic. That means these viruses have some special affinity for lung tissues. That is the reason why some people developed pneumonia after getting infected by H1N1 flu virus. People who had earlier history of lung related diseases are more prone to develop pneumonia and not every one who gets infected by H1N1.
Finally, how serious is H1N1 infection?
A very healthy person might not require any antiviral medicine (like Tamiflu). A combination of rest and nutrition is what our body needs to fight it out in most of the cases. It is like any other seasonal flu and mortality ratio (about 1%) is not very high (or that is what I understand from the statistics given by W.H.O). In MANY of the death cases, it is said that, those died had some history of other illness (like pneumonia, high blood sugar, asthma, bronchitis, hypertension etc or people who are less immune – means who used to catch seasonal diseases almost all the time).
Monday, August 17, 2009
Swine Flu and Helmet !
Finally swine flu reached here in my city too. When I mentioned death in my earlier blog, I had no idea that death in the form of H1N1 is going to visit my city.
The first H1N1 death here happened to be a teacher from my son’s school. This was a slight shock for many of us.
Is H1N1 that serious? I read lots of stuff and finally got fed up. The reality is no one exactly knows. This is because it’s said to be a new strain of virus. It will take some time to understand the virus and develop a proper vaccine (the vaccine just got developed is said to have some serious known and unknown side effects like paralysis or even death) There are doctors and experts who think that it’s not serious. And on the other side too stands a set of qualified doctors and experts who say it is serious. After all, those who died include medical doctors too.
There was this statistics showing normal flu death is more than H1N1 related one. Is that true? For me, it looked clever. Because in that representation, this particular strain [A( H1N1)] stands at one end and all other flu viruses stand at the other end as a single entity.
(There are lots of viruses that cause flu. Flu causeing viruses in human are mainly classified into Influenzavirus A, B and C. H1N1 is a subtype of Influenzavirus A. There are many other members in the same family like (H2N2 [caused Asian Flu), H3N2 [caused Hong Kong Flu], H5N1 [caused Bird Flu] etc). H stands for Hemagglutinin and N stands for Neuraminidase. These two are proteins found on the surface of the virus. H number and N number is assigned based on the structural form of these two proteins. The structure differes from strain to strain)
How is the government handling the issue? The government should be ashamed of themselves. One needs to understand that H1N1 came to India after many deaths in the Americas. India should have taken it seriously when we saw the reality that a country likes US had hundreds of victims. This is very important coz the US is a developed country and it has all the machineries to handle such issues where as India is a developing (since ages) country which do not have any such system to handle such emergencies.
The most stupid decision the government came out with was approving ONLY government hospitals to handle H1N1 cases. We all know what government hospitals are known for – dirtiness, lack of facilities, rude staff, lack of staff, no accountability, irresponsibility…. The Indian government should have taken a lesson from Philippines. They allowed major private hospitals to screen and admit H1N1 cases (India too did it at last, when things went worse).
What is the ‘cure’ for H1N1? Around the world, docs depended on one brand of anti-viral tablet – Tamiflu. What was the procedure to get Tamiflu in India? One need to get it confirmed by the labs, even if one had classical H1N1 flu symptoms. How long will it take to get it confirmed by the lab? Initially it took even 5 days. Most of the people who died here got the test result after their death ! (And the souls hesitated to take Tamiflu !; am kidding)
Why is this? Coz there were one or two labs who can do the test. At this point, the government needs to consider one thing. India has the second largest population in this world and keeping just one or two virology lab is ridiculous. This is more important than sending a mission to moon.
Yes, the government came out approving more labs and more hospitals when their initial facilities failed to meet the situation. When the death toll crossed 20, government came with a new norm for Tamiflu. Now the doctors can start the drug before the lab result arrives.
Is the government and the beaurocracy committed to people as they swear? When the government implemented the helmet rule, they said its for the safety of the people. What they wanted was to save people’s life !!! HAHAHA
Now that we got a chance to see how the government and beaurocracy love their people. Why is it so?
Its all coz of the thrash politicians and their system.
The first H1N1 death here happened to be a teacher from my son’s school. This was a slight shock for many of us.
Is H1N1 that serious? I read lots of stuff and finally got fed up. The reality is no one exactly knows. This is because it’s said to be a new strain of virus. It will take some time to understand the virus and develop a proper vaccine (the vaccine just got developed is said to have some serious known and unknown side effects like paralysis or even death) There are doctors and experts who think that it’s not serious. And on the other side too stands a set of qualified doctors and experts who say it is serious. After all, those who died include medical doctors too.
There was this statistics showing normal flu death is more than H1N1 related one. Is that true? For me, it looked clever. Because in that representation, this particular strain [A( H1N1)] stands at one end and all other flu viruses stand at the other end as a single entity.
(There are lots of viruses that cause flu. Flu causeing viruses in human are mainly classified into Influenzavirus A, B and C. H1N1 is a subtype of Influenzavirus A. There are many other members in the same family like (H2N2 [caused Asian Flu), H3N2 [caused Hong Kong Flu], H5N1 [caused Bird Flu] etc). H stands for Hemagglutinin and N stands for Neuraminidase. These two are proteins found on the surface of the virus. H number and N number is assigned based on the structural form of these two proteins. The structure differes from strain to strain)
How is the government handling the issue? The government should be ashamed of themselves. One needs to understand that H1N1 came to India after many deaths in the Americas. India should have taken it seriously when we saw the reality that a country likes US had hundreds of victims. This is very important coz the US is a developed country and it has all the machineries to handle such issues where as India is a developing (since ages) country which do not have any such system to handle such emergencies.
The most stupid decision the government came out with was approving ONLY government hospitals to handle H1N1 cases. We all know what government hospitals are known for – dirtiness, lack of facilities, rude staff, lack of staff, no accountability, irresponsibility…. The Indian government should have taken a lesson from Philippines. They allowed major private hospitals to screen and admit H1N1 cases (India too did it at last, when things went worse).
What is the ‘cure’ for H1N1? Around the world, docs depended on one brand of anti-viral tablet – Tamiflu. What was the procedure to get Tamiflu in India? One need to get it confirmed by the labs, even if one had classical H1N1 flu symptoms. How long will it take to get it confirmed by the lab? Initially it took even 5 days. Most of the people who died here got the test result after their death ! (And the souls hesitated to take Tamiflu !; am kidding)
Why is this? Coz there were one or two labs who can do the test. At this point, the government needs to consider one thing. India has the second largest population in this world and keeping just one or two virology lab is ridiculous. This is more important than sending a mission to moon.
Yes, the government came out approving more labs and more hospitals when their initial facilities failed to meet the situation. When the death toll crossed 20, government came with a new norm for Tamiflu. Now the doctors can start the drug before the lab result arrives.
Is the government and the beaurocracy committed to people as they swear? When the government implemented the helmet rule, they said its for the safety of the people. What they wanted was to save people’s life !!! HAHAHA
Now that we got a chance to see how the government and beaurocracy love their people. Why is it so?
Its all coz of the thrash politicians and their system.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Fragmented thoughts..
“You are not bothered, are you ?” asked my wife to me.
She is going through some BIG stress. She talked her issues at office to me since I can understand it. Yes, things at her work looked something stupid but at the end, I told her some silly thing that happened to me that day. That was when she asked me that.
Well, she had genuine reasons to get stressed or worried, I understand. But sometimes I (unnecessarily?) go logical and here too I saw some logical reasons. Well, I can’t tell that to her, so I just shared her concerns and tried to dilute the stress.
We can be philosophical with others but when something happens to our dear ones, we worry. Its natural, I guess. Its kind of bad time, it looks like. Stress stress and more stress.. I just got a news letter I subscribe and it read like this:
“These are stressful times. Whether it’s the latest economic news, personal health issues, family problems, or world events, you are faced with challenges that can cause stress. Stress has been linked to heart disease and stroke, influences cancer and respiratory diseases, and can trigger asthma, arthritis, and gastrointestinal problems…….”
The swine flu finally reached my city too. Today, I sent my son to school, as usual and then I came to know that they closed school for 5 days (I got the SMS message from school bit late. He waited for his school bus and finally came back since the bus did not come). Death of couple of kids can add stress to parents.. Death is the ultimate reality (though we can come back) but its very hard to digest when someone close to us dies.
Sometimes some kind of people can give us more stress that too at bad times. I have a friend who goes very philosophical (but lives truly materialistic) and says ‘everything has a reason’ whenever I fell ill or shared my worries. But the typhoons in her country, her illness, her family issues…..such things were ‘big issues’ for her. She was sad the other day when her country’s former president died of colon cancer (she was 76). That time, I deliberately went philosophical and said :
“people die and it needs a reason”.
As I expected, my friend did not like that and avoided me for couple of days. I was thinking of my father that time. He was damn healthy. I have never seen him falling sick with flu or cold or any such seasonal diseases (at least I don’t remember not even a single instance other than his last days). But he died at the age of 55 !.
Anyway, I think it is better we don’t go philosophical when somebody is in heart mode than head mode. Now I think it was good that I wasn’t in touch with that friend when my mother died.
This thought reminded me of another friend of mine. We weren’t in good terms when my mother died. But even after two years I can tell that she gave me one of her most memorable moments for me. A total contrast to the other friend, though both share many identities….
I was thinking of death, the other day…
Death, dead body, graveyard or even the thought of such things can give us fear, in general.
It was night and I was waiting for the lift to come….
(There is a glass covered area near out lift. And from there we can see a part of our own car parking lot to kilometers and kilometers. Next to our boundary, there is a temporary colony of workers. They are from far away places and they work for a construction company which is building an apartment just about half a kilometer away from our apartment. Once the work is over, these workers will move to new location.)
I saw a dim light in that colony. And in that dim light, I saw a new grave. Somebody died there and they buried the body there itself. It was decorated with orange and yellow colored flowers. It looked really spooky.
“……look, I have seen an accident spot where the skull got crushed and brain came out…I have been to mortuary and seen bodies of some accident victims…it was just in front of my eyes that blood started oozing out of my mother’s mouth…” : me
“OK OK, will you please stop this?” : my wife
I stopped...
She is going through some BIG stress. She talked her issues at office to me since I can understand it. Yes, things at her work looked something stupid but at the end, I told her some silly thing that happened to me that day. That was when she asked me that.
Well, she had genuine reasons to get stressed or worried, I understand. But sometimes I (unnecessarily?) go logical and here too I saw some logical reasons. Well, I can’t tell that to her, so I just shared her concerns and tried to dilute the stress.
We can be philosophical with others but when something happens to our dear ones, we worry. Its natural, I guess. Its kind of bad time, it looks like. Stress stress and more stress.. I just got a news letter I subscribe and it read like this:
“These are stressful times. Whether it’s the latest economic news, personal health issues, family problems, or world events, you are faced with challenges that can cause stress. Stress has been linked to heart disease and stroke, influences cancer and respiratory diseases, and can trigger asthma, arthritis, and gastrointestinal problems…….”
The swine flu finally reached my city too. Today, I sent my son to school, as usual and then I came to know that they closed school for 5 days (I got the SMS message from school bit late. He waited for his school bus and finally came back since the bus did not come). Death of couple of kids can add stress to parents.. Death is the ultimate reality (though we can come back) but its very hard to digest when someone close to us dies.
Sometimes some kind of people can give us more stress that too at bad times. I have a friend who goes very philosophical (but lives truly materialistic) and says ‘everything has a reason’ whenever I fell ill or shared my worries. But the typhoons in her country, her illness, her family issues…..such things were ‘big issues’ for her. She was sad the other day when her country’s former president died of colon cancer (she was 76). That time, I deliberately went philosophical and said :
“people die and it needs a reason”.
As I expected, my friend did not like that and avoided me for couple of days. I was thinking of my father that time. He was damn healthy. I have never seen him falling sick with flu or cold or any such seasonal diseases (at least I don’t remember not even a single instance other than his last days). But he died at the age of 55 !.
Anyway, I think it is better we don’t go philosophical when somebody is in heart mode than head mode. Now I think it was good that I wasn’t in touch with that friend when my mother died.
This thought reminded me of another friend of mine. We weren’t in good terms when my mother died. But even after two years I can tell that she gave me one of her most memorable moments for me. A total contrast to the other friend, though both share many identities….
I was thinking of death, the other day…
Death, dead body, graveyard or even the thought of such things can give us fear, in general.
It was night and I was waiting for the lift to come….
(There is a glass covered area near out lift. And from there we can see a part of our own car parking lot to kilometers and kilometers. Next to our boundary, there is a temporary colony of workers. They are from far away places and they work for a construction company which is building an apartment just about half a kilometer away from our apartment. Once the work is over, these workers will move to new location.)
I saw a dim light in that colony. And in that dim light, I saw a new grave. Somebody died there and they buried the body there itself. It was decorated with orange and yellow colored flowers. It looked really spooky.
“……look, I have seen an accident spot where the skull got crushed and brain came out…I have been to mortuary and seen bodies of some accident victims…it was just in front of my eyes that blood started oozing out of my mother’s mouth…” : me
“OK OK, will you please stop this?” : my wife
I stopped...
Monday, August 10, 2009
Windows 7 Beta RC RTM Crack Keygen...
I deleted my older blog about windows 7 (which can be found below this blog). Because, it is not the truth now (as on this date)…the scenario changed and I don’t want to mislead people. I was talking about the genuine Windows 7 release when I wrote my first blog about Windows 7.
Now that the RTM (Release To Manufacturers or Release To Marketing – given to PC manufacturing companies to be given along with Windows 7 preinstalled PCs. This kind of version comes after RC) got leaked from somewhere. One is said to be from Lenovo and other one from MSDN. Both these versions are available in the net. Not just that, serials, keygens, timer nukes and loaders too are there to heat up the Windows 7 thrill. If this is the way Microsoft is handling things, we can expect a Gold version too in the net, very soon.
Anyway, I liked Windows 7. And I recommend PC people to give it a try. Just go for the genuine one available with Microsoft (but it will stop working by March 2010).
OLD BLOG:
I happened to see in some forums people asking for a crack or keygen or a serial to activate the all new operating system from Microsoft, the Windows 7. As a user of Windows 7, I wonder why people need a crack to activate it. Why? Let us check out some facts.
Windows 7 which is available to the public is still RC (Release Candidate) and not the Gold (final) version.
The RC is available for download till August 20 2009. And can be activated within 30 days.
RC will work till March 1 2010 (then it will shut down every two hours till June 1 2010)
Microsoft will give you a product key for free and all you need is some (free) account with them like a hotmail or windows live.
What we are getting now is the fully functional version of Windows 7 ultimate and they started providing updates too.
Check this out :
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx
If somebody is looking for a crack, that means that person already has a copy of windows 7 and what is needed is just a product code to activate it. Microsoft says:
Just need a Product Key? It's easy to get. If you've already downloaded the RC or have an installation disc, start the download process above by selecting your version and language. You'll be asked to enter your Windows Live ID, and to answer a few registration questions. Then you'll see the product key you can use to activate the RC, and you won't need to go through the download process again.
There is no final release available now. So how can these cracks convert the RC into a final version? Why one need a keygen when Microsoft gives you a valid key for free? So, why one need to take the risk and tamper with a genuine operating system for no reason at all?
Well, I don’t see any reason at all.
Note: RC or Release Candidate is very close to the final release but not yet ready for sale. Usually it will undergo some more final testing process and then gets officially released.
Now that the RTM (Release To Manufacturers or Release To Marketing – given to PC manufacturing companies to be given along with Windows 7 preinstalled PCs. This kind of version comes after RC) got leaked from somewhere. One is said to be from Lenovo and other one from MSDN. Both these versions are available in the net. Not just that, serials, keygens, timer nukes and loaders too are there to heat up the Windows 7 thrill. If this is the way Microsoft is handling things, we can expect a Gold version too in the net, very soon.
Anyway, I liked Windows 7. And I recommend PC people to give it a try. Just go for the genuine one available with Microsoft (but it will stop working by March 2010).
OLD BLOG:
I happened to see in some forums people asking for a crack or keygen or a serial to activate the all new operating system from Microsoft, the Windows 7. As a user of Windows 7, I wonder why people need a crack to activate it. Why? Let us check out some facts.
Windows 7 which is available to the public is still RC (Release Candidate) and not the Gold (final) version.
The RC is available for download till August 20 2009. And can be activated within 30 days.
RC will work till March 1 2010 (then it will shut down every two hours till June 1 2010)
Microsoft will give you a product key for free and all you need is some (free) account with them like a hotmail or windows live.
What we are getting now is the fully functional version of Windows 7 ultimate and they started providing updates too.
Check this out :
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx
If somebody is looking for a crack, that means that person already has a copy of windows 7 and what is needed is just a product code to activate it. Microsoft says:
Just need a Product Key? It's easy to get. If you've already downloaded the RC or have an installation disc, start the download process above by selecting your version and language. You'll be asked to enter your Windows Live ID, and to answer a few registration questions. Then you'll see the product key you can use to activate the RC, and you won't need to go through the download process again.
There is no final release available now. So how can these cracks convert the RC into a final version? Why one need a keygen when Microsoft gives you a valid key for free? So, why one need to take the risk and tamper with a genuine operating system for no reason at all?
Well, I don’t see any reason at all.
Note: RC or Release Candidate is very close to the final release but not yet ready for sale. Usually it will undergo some more final testing process and then gets officially released.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Tinidazole Side Effects / Reaction
This is a first hand (personal) experience on the reaction/allergy/side effect aspect of Tinidazole, a commonly prescribed anti-protozoa/antibiotic drug.
I was advised to take ZOXAN-TZ tablet (ciprofloxacin 500 mg, Tinidazole 600 mg) for a suspected Amoebiasis.
Day 1 (24-Jul-2009)
I took the first tablet at 8.30 pm on 24th (24-Jul-2009). Within 2 hours, I felt tingling under the skin in my mouth.
Day 2 (25-Jul-2009)
I woke up with swollen lips and penile itching (with slight swelling). Inside the mouth also, I felt some discomfort, especially in the palate. I felt the skin under the lips very sensitive (as if it’s getting thinner). Eyes became blood red, watery, itchy and painful. There was headache too. Felt like I am facing some vision problem too. The white coating on the tongue became thicker.
I met the doc and he asked me to discontinue the tablet and put me on Citrizine.
Eating/drinking became difficult
Day 3 (26-Jul 2009)
There developed ulcers/sores inside mouth, throat and under the lips. Lips and angle/corner of lips became very dry (when I sneezed, lower lip got broke and blood started oozing) and there was hyper-pigmentation (became dark/black).
It was very difficult to have food.
Day 4 (27-Jul-2009)
Wasn’t able to open my mouth (because of the dryness of corner of the lips, if I force open, it would tear and result in ulcer/sore).Hyper-pigmentation in lips became more prominent. But the penile itching almost went off.
Eating and drinking became more difficult mainly because of the pain. Wasn’t able to eat any solid food and hence was on a porridge diet. Was unable to eat anything hot (even slightly hot).
Called up doc and he asked me to take Folic Acid.
Day 5 (28-Jul-2009)
When I woke up, my lips were sealed. This was due to the odema in the ulcers on the lips. Lightly applied water and managed to open my mouth. It was a painful affair.
I felt the ulcers in the mouth more viscous/slippery and more spread than deep. Coffee, tea, health drinks, milk, even water was difficult co consume due to ulcerous pain
Day 6 (29-Jul-2009)
White coating on the tongue reduced. Overall pain looked like a little more stinging. But started reducing as hours passed. Skin on lips started coming off (yes, the entire skin that went hyper- pigmentation has to go and new skin has to replace it). Was able to open my mouth without much trouble. Started eating solid food.
Day 7 (30-Jul-2009)
Some relief, finally! Pain got reduced and now its (the pain) mainly from a particular ulcer which was the biggest ulcer in size. There is slight difference between the regular mouth ulcer (aphthous ulcer/canker sore) and this ulcer caused by reaction. This ulcer did not show any tendency to go deep but it was more wide or spread. Under the lower lip, it was a group (about 15)of small ulcers. Later on some of them joined together and gained some size.
Today, the skin on the lips started coming off more easily. But the new skin looked like darker than the one I had before this reaction. It was tight (if I smile, I could feel the stretch) and shiny/glossy but very soft.
Day 8 (31-Jul-2009)
I am sporting a new skin on my lips since the old one got peeled off. But still, I am feeling the tightness. I feel the stretch when I smile too. Hyper-pigmentation is there in the new skin too. looks like this skin too should go and new one should come. But the skin is very soft and hence there is no possibility of this getting peeled off today.
Ulcers under both the lips are still there but the pain reduced. I am getting a feeling (when I touched it with the tip of my tongue) that it’s on the healing process. The main pain generator still is the one big sore on the palate somewhat near the left tonsil.
Day 9 (1-Aug-2009)
Today, the new skin on the lips started coming out. And the hyper-pigmentation started getting lighter. There is less tightness of skin on the lips. I can smile without much trouble. Still there are ulcers under the lips but they are not that painful. The BIG ulcer on the palate too became less painful.
Day 10 (2-Aug-2009)
99% of the ulcers under the lips disappeared. The Big ulcer is in healing mode and became painless, though it’s still visible as an ulcer. The skin on the lips are still coming out. Color of the upper lip is almost back to its original stage and the lower one is still undergoing some peeling off process (that I don’t know) to get back its original color.
Hope the pain days will end and everything will be back to normal in a couple of days.
(NB:The doc gave it in writing that its 'Allergy to Tinidazole)
I was advised to take ZOXAN-TZ tablet (ciprofloxacin 500 mg, Tinidazole 600 mg) for a suspected Amoebiasis.
Day 1 (24-Jul-2009)
I took the first tablet at 8.30 pm on 24th (24-Jul-2009). Within 2 hours, I felt tingling under the skin in my mouth.
Day 2 (25-Jul-2009)
I woke up with swollen lips and penile itching (with slight swelling). Inside the mouth also, I felt some discomfort, especially in the palate. I felt the skin under the lips very sensitive (as if it’s getting thinner). Eyes became blood red, watery, itchy and painful. There was headache too. Felt like I am facing some vision problem too. The white coating on the tongue became thicker.
I met the doc and he asked me to discontinue the tablet and put me on Citrizine.
Eating/drinking became difficult
Day 3 (26-Jul 2009)
There developed ulcers/sores inside mouth, throat and under the lips. Lips and angle/corner of lips became very dry (when I sneezed, lower lip got broke and blood started oozing) and there was hyper-pigmentation (became dark/black).
It was very difficult to have food.
Day 4 (27-Jul-2009)
Wasn’t able to open my mouth (because of the dryness of corner of the lips, if I force open, it would tear and result in ulcer/sore).Hyper-pigmentation in lips became more prominent. But the penile itching almost went off.
Eating and drinking became more difficult mainly because of the pain. Wasn’t able to eat any solid food and hence was on a porridge diet. Was unable to eat anything hot (even slightly hot).
Called up doc and he asked me to take Folic Acid.
Day 5 (28-Jul-2009)
When I woke up, my lips were sealed. This was due to the odema in the ulcers on the lips. Lightly applied water and managed to open my mouth. It was a painful affair.
I felt the ulcers in the mouth more viscous/slippery and more spread than deep. Coffee, tea, health drinks, milk, even water was difficult co consume due to ulcerous pain
Day 6 (29-Jul-2009)
White coating on the tongue reduced. Overall pain looked like a little more stinging. But started reducing as hours passed. Skin on lips started coming off (yes, the entire skin that went hyper- pigmentation has to go and new skin has to replace it). Was able to open my mouth without much trouble. Started eating solid food.
Day 7 (30-Jul-2009)
Some relief, finally! Pain got reduced and now its (the pain) mainly from a particular ulcer which was the biggest ulcer in size. There is slight difference between the regular mouth ulcer (aphthous ulcer/canker sore) and this ulcer caused by reaction. This ulcer did not show any tendency to go deep but it was more wide or spread. Under the lower lip, it was a group (about 15)of small ulcers. Later on some of them joined together and gained some size.
Today, the skin on the lips started coming off more easily. But the new skin looked like darker than the one I had before this reaction. It was tight (if I smile, I could feel the stretch) and shiny/glossy but very soft.
Day 8 (31-Jul-2009)
I am sporting a new skin on my lips since the old one got peeled off. But still, I am feeling the tightness. I feel the stretch when I smile too. Hyper-pigmentation is there in the new skin too. looks like this skin too should go and new one should come. But the skin is very soft and hence there is no possibility of this getting peeled off today.
Ulcers under both the lips are still there but the pain reduced. I am getting a feeling (when I touched it with the tip of my tongue) that it’s on the healing process. The main pain generator still is the one big sore on the palate somewhat near the left tonsil.
Day 9 (1-Aug-2009)
Today, the new skin on the lips started coming out. And the hyper-pigmentation started getting lighter. There is less tightness of skin on the lips. I can smile without much trouble. Still there are ulcers under the lips but they are not that painful. The BIG ulcer on the palate too became less painful.
Day 10 (2-Aug-2009)
99% of the ulcers under the lips disappeared. The Big ulcer is in healing mode and became painless, though it’s still visible as an ulcer. The skin on the lips are still coming out. Color of the upper lip is almost back to its original stage and the lower one is still undergoing some peeling off process (that I don’t know) to get back its original color.
Hope the pain days will end and everything will be back to normal in a couple of days.
(NB:The doc gave it in writing that its 'Allergy to Tinidazole)
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