India's National Animal.. Save them !

I have always being a great lover of animals and especially of Tigers and Lions. I am really not sure about the reason behind selecting Tiger as our National animal but I always felt proud we did. I was so happy and proud when I learnt that India was one place where the tiger population was growing as compared to the diminshinig numbers in other places. However there are is always changes... people who just don't get the value of these majestic creatures or any animals for that matter. How would they feel if it was the other way around.. if animals would hunt/torture us and sell our skin for whatever..? It is so wrong.. no value for life of the creatures we share the planet with. I despise the people who would happily flaunt their leather bags, tiger skin rugs, ivory decoratives, etc. I used to be one of them .. rather I was totally blind-sided to the fact that leather bags come from animals killed for this. I have started to change.. I do not buy leather items anymore, atleast not the real leather from animals. And we have started to donate every year to one animal chairty. I hope more people realize this and wake up from their ignorance or arrogance and start valuing every form of life.

I found this story about a man who has taken the responsibility to stand up for our tigers and I heartfully applaud him.
http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/india-tigers/paul-kvinta-text/1

Why is India a Target?

I found this article on yahoo and I liked it so much I wanted to save it in my blog to come back later and read and verify... Here it goes,

Why India is a target?

Tue, Dec 2 04:08 AM

We're poor. We're illiterate. We're still traditional. Too many religions, too many languages, too many ethnicities. What do we have that the extremists repeatedly make us the target of their terrorism?

Those very things - poverty, illiteracy, tradition, multiple religions, ethnicities and languages. Not because they are a fertile breeding ground for radical recruits but because India is finding workable, affordable and replicable solutions which will help it overcome the same problems. Those solutions are being emulated by emerging societies across the world, giving them hope for their own futures. That is why India's unexpected rise is threatening to those forces that work in the darkness of despair.

Socially, politically and economically, India sits between two extremes: the West and China. The models of the western world are too developed to be easily adapted - 50 years of aid has not been effective. China is autocratic, its top-down growth delivered by an appointed, disciplined elite to an obedient population. Neither condition is universal. India's is. "India is, in a sense, the crucible of the world," says Prableen Sabhaney of Fabindia. Under the umbrella of India, in varying stages of development, is the rest of the world - south Asia, where it is the mother culture, but also Africa, some nations of the Middle East, south and central America, central and south east Asia. These are regions rich in assets, and human capital with the potential and now the desire, to develop. They all think: If India can do it, so can they.

India is showing how a developing country can transform itself - from the bottom up. Politically, it is democratic, pluralistic, inclusive. Its democracy is chaotic and imperfect, but it functions and it is moving forward. What counts is the vote, first and foremost. Accountability... that'll come later, at some point when democracy has produced enough social and economic equality. But that vote is empowering, it creates upward mobility and a huge constituency of the poor and underprivileged for democracy that gives it staying power.

The executing machinery of this democracy is often faulty, but understands the constraints within which it operates. The election commission knows how to access and include people from the remotest corners of the country and overcome the boundaries of tradition - a case study that Afghanistan could use. The judiciary is overburdened and inefficient but also activist when necessary - Pakistan has seen that. The press is free and self-serving but enough times the watchdog it needs to be; the parliament is obstructionist but vital. Rather than spill blood, Indians have learned to use electoral politics and affirmative action to negotiate their way up and out of the centuries-old repressive caste system that left craters of inequality.

It left India's elite, the Brahmins, excluded from the political and administrative system, so they turned to entrepreneurship from their professional degrees - mostly engineering. That's how information technology arrived in India, like the new avatar of Vishnu, bestowing upon India its transformative powers of a virtually workable existence. Sure, all developed countries have software, cellular and satellite technology. But resource-poor India used it differently. Software services were used as the engine of exports. Cellphones weren't just about communication but also about affordability. And affordable, home-built satellites which brought in western programming, transported ordinary Indians into the drawing rooms of the world and forever changed the aspirations of generations of young Indians. They all want to emulate the success of those Brahmin engineers, and education - which gives them freedom from poverty - has become their priority.

Now India is known as a country whose brain power has 'ingenuity' and the unique capability of 'frugal engineering.' It also has model corporations like the Tata Group, which have a charitable trust as is majority shareholder, and understands the true meaning of 'stakeholders' and 'shareholders.' Companies like Fabindia have shown that artisanal collectives can compete with the mass production of China, and still keep India's delicate social balance intact. The economic success of a poor, democratic country is enough to threaten the terrorist way of life. But what really gives them sleepless nights is India's accessible dreams. It is possible in today's India, to go from rags to riches in one generation. There's confidence, there's education, there's increasing equality.

This is fuelled by the exuberance of India's entertainment industry. Bollywood still produces mostly musical family fare but its stories have morals and are a handbook on how traditional, multi-religious and ethnic societies traverse the thorny path into the modern era without losing their identities. When terrorism strikes, Bollywood will show Muslims to always be the most loyal of friends. When traditionalists revolt against western cultural domination, Bollywood will tell the tale of a girl who lives in America and wears a short skirt, but can still fall in love with a son-of-the-soil and be a devoted wife in small town India. Television also unites this diverse India: talent from Kashmir to Meghalaya to Kerala dream of becoming the

Indian Idol.

The Taj and the Oberoi symbolized this India of accessible dreams. Accessible to Indians, but also to nations like India - poor, traditional societies, some re-emerging from the dark years of colonialism or misguided socialist policies or autocratic rule, looking for affordable, democratic, socially acceptable development models which will give them hope for a bright future. Exactly what the terrorists don't want.

The writer is India bureau chief, 'Businessweek'

Militants

"Militants" Isn't this word been floating around a lot these days?

Who are the militants?

This word has become an excuse, an abode, a weapon for higher powers to turn to or use when they need to create a situation and impose ideas onto common people for their own selfish reasons. 

They become the terrorists if the India-Pakistan situation is to be used.

They become the Muslim extremists or the Hindu extremists if the Hindu-Muslim war is to be used.

They become the local gangs if the other gang in the city has to be taken down. 

   Who are they? Are they human or not? Why is that these "militants" are always there to cause chaos and sadness only in innocent lives, why aren't they used against the actual monsters who are really causing this pain?

    Do they realize how they change a life or lives depending on the life they have taken merely by a simple bullet? All they loose is a bullet while this has taken a life of a human being, who would have dreamed of a lot of things in life, who would have loved and who would have being loved by someone, who would have being the apple of someone's eye. So many lives altered permanently merely by a bullet...? Don't they have any remorse? What are they made of? What drives them to these heartless deeds? 

   I think the right question to be asked here is who creates such monsters? Who are accountable for such horrific monsters? What do they get out of these acts? Feel powerful? Get power? Create fear? What power and what fear they have created? Or use God's name and instigating innocent peopleto turn on their brothers in the name of GOD? It’s a shame on them who think they can hide behind these "militants" destroying the lives of thousands of innocent, thousands of so called militant's lives. They are the biggest cowards, they are the biggest monsters, they are the heartless creatures who are so self centered, who have never experienced the pain of loosing someone, or the pain of taking a bullet, the pain of the last minute thoughts in a dying person's mind that he will never be able to see his family, never hold his loved ones close to his heart, never be loved again, his dreams dying with him. 

   Where is god now? I hate to think about this question. I am a strong believer of god and I believed that anything one does in this life he will repay in the same life, where is it happening? How are the monsters in these high powers getting what they deserve all the good things, living like pigs in luxurious houses with 100 servants, while the innocent people are being used as steps to obtain their selfish goals and power? Where is the justice in this? I hate this question because thinking about this alone makes me rethink whether God exists? I hate this question as my core beliefs are moved seeing this injustice, but I still want to believe he is there, fearing that something right might not happen with me, if I don't believe. Hypocrisy & Stupidity! I know. 

  I bet almost all of us know that these militant attacks in India atleast 50% or more are political, these high power pigs use these horrific acts to gain power, but even then we can't do anything. There are organizations trying to bring a change but what can they also change, the system is so corrupted any change u make goes unnoticed. We just continue to live on with our lives as if nothing happened, as long as we are not the ones directly effected we don't really think about how or why these things continue even after so many times? We sure feel bad as I am feeling bad, but I really don’t know what else I can do to make any difference. I feel helpless as always but that’s all, tears well up in my eyes, the hairs on my skin stand, I feel deep pain and anger a lot of anger but I really don’t know whom I should be angry on myself? Government? These "militants? I really don’t know. I always wish there was someone who knew answers to all my questions, who had a solution which would bring an end or atleast reduce all these wrong things. But everytime I see these things the cold reality hits me and tells me there is no such magical solution or a person who will know the how-to-solve this situation.

   Then it comes to my mind that I wish there was a reset button somewhere and God would push it and it would reset all of us to a neutral mind. Atleast it should clean up our system in India, once we have a clear and good internal system, we can stop 50% of these attacks rest external we can handle them once we have cleaned up our internal crap.

 Is this too much to ask? I know I am not going to get any answers nor there is any answer to this wish or question? As usual these are my random ranting mind’s thoughts that I put down just to get them out of my mind, as I am not doing anything else better for this situation. How I feel so badly that wish God gave me the power to see what’s happening and make it right..? Anyways till next time which I hope would be for something more hopeful and happy thing I will try and see if I can take one step towards doing something for what all I have said above.

Can you feel the change?

A friend of mine recently sent a mail to me. Quoting him,

"Hey!

All of us have at some point or the other wondered with despair why we're stuck with a choice between the Jayalalithas, Deve Gowdas, Laloos, Dharam Singhs, Narendra Modis, Mayawatis, the Communists........

Looks like 4 of them have gone beyond just wondering. At this point, this is all that India needs. Read this most encouraging article in the hyperlink below. I also politely urge all of you to support them in every which way you can. Their email address is in the 2nd hyperlink. Do write to them; I did. Thank you. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1384411.cmsAlso see www.paritrana.org"

Please support them, because they really sound sincere. Atleast its better than sitting and idling away.

Kudos to silent warriors!

Hey all,

Last time the blog was about the warriors who fought for the those who could not fight for themselves or those who did not realise that they need to fight. That fight was against the cancer of corruption, politics, rage, etc which was eating INDIA from all sides. Today some silent warriors are building a sheild against the rich treasures of INDIA, left by our ancestors as a gift for us to preserve, utilize in the proper way and be proud of.No, No don't think hmm, treasure gold, money etc. I am talking about the rich cultures, huge bundles of ancient knowledge which today are being sneaked out and made profit out of by many other countries. THEY ARE PATENTING OUR IDEAS,INVENTIONS AND RESOURCES!!! Its not fair. We all know somewhere that this is being done, and we use those products with a flair of aha an international product must be good,hmm?? How many of you know neem, turmeric etc which are INDIA's indigneous products are been exploted to make profit outside in the world. Thank God that we still have people who care about this explotation and want to take a strong step against it. Some doctors of New Delhi are planning to roll out an encyclopedia of the country's traditional medicine in five languages - English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish - in an effort to stop people from claiming them as their own and patenting them

So all this to say that I found this article on BBC, I thought it was worth sharing with u all. The doctors are really trying hard to save our ancstral wealth from being exploited, so lets kudos to them. Its very important that their effort be recognised and be followed in any small way by us possible. Like for instance we can start realizing products we use today,where they are manufactured in the world and trace down its roots, if its from INDIA, spread that word around as much as possible and claim our name on it and that maybe the start.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4506382.stm

Jai Hind

Preserve the Gems!!!

Hi all,

I knwo I have returned after a long time, but I am happy that atleast this blog has made me come back to it. If not again I would have resolved to do soemthing and again everything is normal. Today one of my friends has forwarded an article about a person who got back demotion and disrespect in return for striving for his motherland, being honest and bold in the face of corruption and politics. I wanted to share this article with whoever reads this blog so that they too know how INDIA today is loosing the few left GEMS, those gems which can only bring about any cange in our INDIAN system.

INDIAN system has today bebcome filthy, mailny becasue of the politicians. They are the ones who sit there and make the whole play run. I don't say all the politiians are like that. I do with due respect bow to those who have the golden hand and the pure heart to take INDIA to a level where it is today. Politics today has become the most profitable and most royal form of earining money. I do agree, that corruption is pre-vailing at all levels, but that is becasue its root is only corrupted, the politicians. If only they were righteous they would not have allowed the lower levels to get into this. Today this corruptio has left us with nothing, we could have been the world biggest powers today had not this corruption had eaten up our support for standing up. It is everywhere, who is goign to remove it, who is goign to stop it from destroying our INDIA totally? People like RAJU NARAYANASWAMY IAS, do take birth to face the corruption and the filth and to try help bring th people who ahve got buried deep inside this shit. But good cannot stand for long where bad reigns the day and night. Read this article and you will know what is really happening :

RAJU NARAYANASWAMY IAS

> First Rank in State in Secondary School Examination
>
> First Rank in University in Plus Two
>
> First Rank in IIT Entrance Examination
>
> First Rank in All India IIT Computer Science
>
> First Rank in IAS Entrance Examination
>
> First Rank in IAS Training Institute
>
On passing out from IIT Chennai Mr. Narayanaswamy was offered
scholarship by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
USA.
>He who came from a middle class family believed that he had a moral
>obligation to give something in return for the lakhs of rupees the
>government spent on him as an IIT student. He had the intelligence and
>conviction to realize that this money came also from the poorest of
the
>poor - who pay up the excise duty on textiles when they buy cloth, who
pay
>up customs, excise and sales tax on diesel when they travel in a bus,
and
>in numerous other ways indirectly pay the government. So he decided to
join
>IAS hoping he could do something for the people of this country. How
many
>young men have the will power to resist such an offer from USA?
>Narayanaswamy did never look at IAS as a black money spinner as his
later
>life bears testimony to this fact.
>
>
>
> After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, today, Narayanaswamy is
>being forced out of the IAS profession. Do you know why?
>
>
>
> A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned
>under law. An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub
>collector the, for an exemption from this rule for this plot of land.
Upon
>visiting the site he found that the complaint from 60 poor families
that
>they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby
>Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up was
correct.
>Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was
>right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was
his
>first confrontation with politicians.
>
>
>
> Soon after his marriage his father-in-law closed down a public road
to
>build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached
Narayanaswamy
>with complaint. When talking with his own father-in-law did not help,
he
>removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result, his
marriage
>broke up.
>
>
>
> As district Collector he raided the house of a liquor baron who had
>defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment to government and carried out
revenue
>recovery. A Minister directly telephoned him and ordered to return the
>forfeited articles to the house of the liquor baron. Narayanswamy
politely
>replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy
will
>suffer.
>
>
>
> In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for
>earthen bunds meant for poor farmers,but which were never constructed.
A
>bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected
the
>bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after
the
>rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected
the
>earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the
rain.
>But he created a lot of enemies for saving 8 crores public money.

> The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to
go
>on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was
posted as
>"State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools". This
is
>what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post
him in
>the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that
>nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State
>Service he opted for central service. But that too was denied on some
>technical ground. What will you do when you have a brilliant computer
>career anywhere in the world you choose with the backing of several
>advanced technical papers too published in international journals to
your
>credit? When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why
should
>you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme?
>
> Mr. Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to
take
>up a well paid United Nations assignment. The politicians can laugh
>thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless
people
>of this country who will lose - not Narayanaswamy. But you have the
power
>to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayaswamy,
G.R.Khairnar
>and Alphons Kannamthanam who have suffered a lot under self seeking
>politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such
>politicians with these kind of people dedicated to the country. The
>question is will you do the little you can do NOW? At least a vote or
word >in support of such
personalities?

He is not the only one, who today has the courage to stand up against the higer power who suppress us and make us do the wrong things again and again.The people who have that courage are either vanished from the face of the earth or are demoted, disrespected. And how much will an human endeveour, he too has a limit, so he leaves INDIA in its present state and finds a much better palce where his services will not be disrespected if not acknoledged or respected and followed. And once again the politicians are happy they ahve gotten rid of an obstacle, the ignorant ppl just continue to swim in this filth, most ignorant that this is filth, and that its a much better world wihtout this filth.

I dont want to hurt anyones feelings by this blog. I jsut want to bring to the notice of many that INDIA needs elp in recognizing and retaining its gems who are becoming rare today. We need to hold on to them, though not support them and do what they say but atleast extend your feelings for them. This would provide them the moral support they need to fight the war on behalf of us. Thay are fighting for us, so lets join them. Not everyones a fighter, not everyones a free thinker but everyone, every INDIAN has some feelings for his/her motherland. Knowing all this can you still be happily just sit seeing whats happening to the people who want to start the jyothi which will eat up this corruption?

Just try talking to your friends or anyoen who also wants to do somehting for our Motherland and who as no idea what to do. Even I am helpless, even I did not do anything what I ahve said above. That was becasue I was and am alone, I need strength. We the people are the biggest powers, if we really decide then we can come together and atleast oppsose little little things like unfair behaviour toward the strong people who are facing the corruption.

UNITED WE STAND DIVIDD WE FALL.

If we are togetehr noone can do anything to us. The Govenment needs to listen to us is we a re a big and significant mass. They cannot just push us away. Yes this ahs risk in it, but what does not, driving on the road, any lorry can just hit us and go, flying or swimmin theres risk verywhere. so please spread this awareness and lets together make INDIA a better palce to live.

Jai Hind

Salaam Namaste

INDIA a land of great diversity, land of great heores with great principles, strong cultural values and what not. It facinates me and I am sure many more as to how so many diverse cultures stay in harmony under on roof. Yes I know many would have raised their eyebrows and said "harmony?". Any family with four people in it (though from the same culture and language,etc) will have some disputes within them, its human nature. Same is with INDIA, we do have disputes within us but they are relatively small ones when compared to whats going on in other countries with a single culture prevaling in them. Today INDIA is ranked among the developed nations and this is solely on the basis of our own hardwork and talents. I am very proud of my country. Even with these virtuous principles, theres a lot discrepencies which are making life of a common man difficult like corruption, slag at every stage of work. Population. I can name a lot more. Then why isnt anything done again these?

I am a mediocre INDIAN with big dreams of changing our INDIA for its best!!!
The motivation for starting this bolg are the thoughts of helpessness that keep haunting me whenever I read of another blast or another war that has caused chaos in innocent peoples lives. All that suffering, all the fear, hunger, poverty, population and so on the list goes which today are celebrating their victory over INIDAN lives for more than 50 years and will be for the next generations to come.

Awareness can be a strong weapon against these, provided its on large scale. Today I see there are tons of blogs of similar ppl like me who have started blogs and spreading the awareness of whats eating up INDIA and what can be done. I congratualte them becasue though it is a drop in the ocean , I promise them it did bring change in me. It might be the starting.

I always thought I should do something, but that feeling was strong only for the day I decide and , I'm back to the mundane chores of my life. So I decided, I needed a constant alarm which would remind me of what I really wanted to do. And thus blogging started.

I am not hoping to radically change everything in INDIA with this blog but atleast share my views and see how strong they are. Maybe this discussion form will get the best of me after some dedication to it.

This is an open blog started by an INDIAN for INDIANS who are equally worried about their motherland and would like to do something. The greater the army we have the stronger the battle can be against the parasites feeding on INDIA.

We fought and got our Independence from the Britishers, why can't we do it again?

Jai Hind