I really miss them

Reproduced from an email forward

When gulli-danda and kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket ...

When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai and pitthoo anytime ...

When we desperately waited for 'yeh jo hai jindagi' ..

When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, dada daadi ki kahaniyaan were so fulfilling ...

When there was just one tv in every five houses and

When bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle ...

When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the 'yeh jo hai jindagi' day ...

When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them ...

When Maths teachers were not worried of our mummys and papas while slapping/beating us ...

When we were exchanging comics and stamps and chacha-chaudaris and billus were our heroes ...

When we were in nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechis ...

When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and 'ek do teen chaar' and 'Rajni' inspired us ...

When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees ...

When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work ...

When 'chelpark' and 'natraaj' were encouraged against 'reynolds and family'

When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kishtis' ...

When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening ...

When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored 'antardesis' and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home ...

When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding 'ice-cream and papa' type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing ...

When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaals on Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents ...



The list can be endless ...
On the serious note I would like to summarise with ...

When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding' ...

When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerily ...

When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future ...

When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak ...

When sharing worries and happinesses didnt mean getting vulnerable to the listener ...

When blacks and whites were the favourite colors instead of greys ...

When journeys also were important and not just the destinations ...

When life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some superfast's second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows ...

20 Great American Drives

Ever wondered to put the hood down, load that mp3 player and hit the road ? I was "trawling" through my computer and stumbled upon this book-mark,

20 Great American Drives

Link courtesy - MSNBC



Since the link might get outdated, I have also posted the print article for download HERE

3 top national park pictures

Someone in office asked me to post my top three pictures of National Parks, so here they are :)Sunset on the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, October 2004 (above)

Final Rays of the Sun setting down in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, August 2005 (above)

Half-Dome reflection, Yosemite National Park, June 2001 (above)

Poem on Bombay

Original source : Suketu Mehta, "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found", pp 477

What could be sold in this carnival?

What intoxication could there be in this earth that the naive and innocent
come to this crossroad of rushing and thieving? ....

They are in search of dreams that will clas with their dreams

Nice picture of the Taj

The 4 kinetic ideas behind Hindu Vedic Spirituality

Karma - The law of universal causality, which connects man with the cosmos and condemns him to transmigrate.
Maya - The world is not simply what it seems to the human senses.
Absolute reality, situated somewhere beyond the cosmic illusion woven by Maya and beyond human experience as conditioned by Karma
Nirvana - The state of absolute blessedness, characterized by release from the cycle of reincarnations; freedom from the pain and care of the external world; bliss.
Yoga - Implies integration; bringing all the faculties of the psyche under the control of the self

India

"In India,
I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth, but not adhering to it,
Inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them,
possessing everything but possessed by nothing"

---Tyaneus, Greek philosopher in 1st century AD

The Good Old Days

Email forward from Mira Chokshi

The Good Old Days
(Off the Internet. Forwarded to Baroda-Online by Ravi Pandya)

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint, which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same. We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this. We would spend hours building go-carts out of scrap and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded. We did not have play stations or x-boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no lawsuits. We had full-on fistfights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played knock-on-the-door-and-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...They actually sided with the law. This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good. For those of you who aren't old enough thought you might like to read about us. This my friends, is surprisingly frightening, and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986. They are called youth. They have never heard of "We are the World", "We are the children", and the Uptown Girl they know is by West life not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle. For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam. AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they were born. Michael Jackson has always been white. To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are Films from last year. They can never imagine life before computers. They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red-Hand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll never have applied to be on "Jim'll Fix It" or "Why Don't You". They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

11 Lessons in Life !!

Something to ponder on. (Email forward from Saket Jagati)

11 Important Lessons In Life

1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return, But what is
more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just have to let go.

3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

4. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone-but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

6. Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

7. Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

8. Always put yourself in the other's shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

9. A careless word may kindle strife; a cruel word may wreck a life; a timely word may level stress; a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

11. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, ends with a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Why hurry ?

On facing some looming deadlines, a wise consultant once remarked, "aaj karo so kal, kal karo jo, so woh karo parso, kya jaldi hain yaaro, kab jeena hain barso?"
Suspicious English Translation: "Why Hurry when there is a lifetime to worry?"

Patriotism

The senseless zeal of nationalistic identification is the biggest stumbling block to our moving forward as a species, as long as there is an unanswering response to the call of anything in the name of "patriotism", we will not see a truly humane world. - Albert Einstein

Keep Walking

Email forward, courtesy Alok Mehta
Whatever you do.... always ..keep walking !!
and remember...
Problem may come from "HAYWARDS 2000 and 5000"
but you must take it as a "ROYAL CHALLENGE"
otherwise people will call you an "OLD MONK"
and stick a "BLACK LABEL" on you.

But you must fight like a "NAPOLEAN"....
Live like a "BAGPIPER"....
Walk like a "JOHNNY WALKER"
Work till "8 pm"
and think like a "DIRECTOR'S SPECIAL" ......

then your life will be like "IMPERIAL BLUE" with perfection of "KINGFISHER".
If you do the above things, you will be the "UB EXPORT"
and then there will be a very good value for your "SIGNATURE" ....

Farewells

"A farewell is necessary before we can meet again, and meeting again, after moments or a lifetime is certain for those who are friends." - Anon

Your element is Fire.

Like fire, you have a hot temper and you can be warm and loving as well and angry and wild.
It all really comes down to what you are feeling. You have a lot of close friends who you are very protective over, and with your temper probably some enemies too. You are not Mr Popular in school since you are your own person and don't want to be forced into behaving this or that way. You are the untamed wild horse, the kind that everyone wants to catch. But you don't want to be tied down for the moment and just keep going with your life. Your will is strong and if you set your mind to do something, you will most likely succeed. But beware, your friends may not always accept your mood-swinging behaviour. Even if you don't mean to be mean, they can still feel hurt. You just need to start thinking some things through before you do them, and not always jump in with so much courage. One day you may be hurt because of that, but then again, your element isn't fire if you start to analyse situations before you act. After all, your nature is to shoot first and ask the questions later.

Take your element quiz at Quizilla

Solidarity - Dire Straits

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms.
Dire Straits.

Originally quoted on Secular Rights India

Mother Teresa on Life

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it
Life is a beauty, admire it
Life is bliss, taste it
Life is a dream, realize it
Life is a challenge, meet it
Life is a duty, complete it
Life is a game, play it
Life is costly, care for it
Life is wealth, keep it
Life is love, enjoy it
Life is mystery, know it
Life is a promise, fulfill it
Life is sorrow, overcome it
Life is a song, sing it
Life is a struggle, accept it
Life is a tragedy, confront it
Life is an adventure, dare it
Life is luck, make it
Life is life, FIGHT FOR IT

-- Mother Teresa

William Blake - WHO CAN STAND?

Oh for a voice like Thunder, and a tongue to drown the voice of war,
When the soul is driven to madness,
WHO CAN STAND ?
When the souls of the oppressed fight in the troubled air that rages,
WHO CAN STAND ?
When the whirlwind of fury comes from the throne of GOD,
WHO CAN STAND ?
When the frowns of his countenance drive the nations together,
WHO CAN STAND?
When sin claps his broad wings over the battle, and sails rejoicing in the flood of death,
When the souls are torn to everlasting fire, and fiends of Hell rejoice upon the strain, Oh who can stand?
Oh who has caused this?
Oh who can answer at the throne of God?
The Kings and Nobles of the land have done it,
Hear it not Heaven,
Thy Ministers have done it !

-- William Blake

Sachin - A treat

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
--BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar.

Original find http://chirayusapre.net/

Noise cannot drown the truth

It is hard to hear among the gunfire.... But even the softest whisper can be heard when it tells the truth

Poem - Brotherhood

Recently, came across this simple poem from a story on the Graham brothers in the Oklahoma State basketball team in Sports Illustrated of December 20, 2004. This simple poem was a poigant reminder and a striking tribute.

He shares the same dreams and visions
Stands by you in the strongest wind without fears
He is Brother

You can count on his friendship, strength and loyalty
He believes his actions speak for themselves
He is Friend

Charity

Our help serves only to make people more dependent unless it is supported with actions designed to wipe out the actual roots of poverty. In a 'totally gone world', an exploiter is better than a Santa Claus, an exploiter forces you to react, whereas a Santa Claus demobilizes you.

It is at the grass roots level that gestures of solidarity are really noticed and appreciated. A simple smile can have as much value as all the dollars in the world.