The Great Indian Political Drama

As I (lifelessly and with the least possible interest) go through the headlines of today in the newspaper, there is this one news that seems to be everywhere. Ramdev Baba, apparently had to flee from Ram Lila maidan, where his much anticipated fast was being held; due to ruthless action by police who lathicharged and harmed innocent citizens who had come to ‘protest’ peacefully against the government’s lack of interest in tackling corruption.
Having been a part of a few anti corruption rallies in favour of the Lokpal bill myself, I feel strongly for the Lokpal bill and the movement. Having heard Mr. Kejriwal speak with all the passion he has and having seen an Indian settled abroad (who doesn’t even have to worry about the corruption we have learnt to live with) work so hard to make the bill a success, I can’t help, but appreciate the importance of such a bold and potent bill, which, if implemented, should be able to cure India of the dreadful corruption plague. So, when the government recognised some (if not all) important clauses of the bill and managed to please Anna Hazare so much such that he was ready to break his indefinite fast, a broad smile ran over my lips. Being the ignorant fool that I am, I have no idea about what Mr. Hazare has done for general welfare, nor am I aware of any of his achievements, yet I hold him in very high regards, perhaps since Mr. Kejriwal and Ms. Kiran Bedi (people whom I definitely admire) all look upon him as their leader.
One key member of this team who has been championing the cause is Baba Ramdev. My first reaction on seeing him in the anti corruption rally was simple joy, analogous to what you would get when you would see a Salman Khan plant a tree or a Sachin Tendulkar impart his skill to an orphan. To me, Ramdevji was there to promote and gather support for this noble cause that he too, believed in. Forgive me, if I am short on knowledge in this regard, but I never really heard Ramdevji being an integral part in the drafting of the Lokpal bill. Hold on a second; even if I am mistaken, it will be of little significance with regard to this blog, as you will soon find out. It was Kiranji and Arvindji that had taken the bill to various political parties so that it could be introduced in that grand house (that makes laws for us, and whose canteen is never affected by inflation); and as we all know, it was callously put aside by the same parties that have been holding satyagrahas and who have drawn analogies with The Jallianwaala Bagh.
So my question is why am I so mad about the present state of affairs? Isn’t it routine for our so called leaders to change their stance, isn’t it something taken for granted that our leaders will use anything and everything that can make them popular in the eyes of the people of ‘great’ India. Well let me answer it myself; I am frustrated because due to whosoever’s lack of thought, the current developments have undone all the hard work done by the makers of the Lokpal bill, and in doing so, have managed to dilute the genuinity of this bill; in fact in some ways tainted it with the dark paint of politics, power and the dirt associated with it.
What current state of affairs? Yes, I am talking about all the fiasco over Ramdevji’s fast that has managed to remove the spotlight from the Lokpal bill to petty issues of politics and backbiting that we now so easily associate with our politicians. Never had the common man showed so much enthusiasm, nor had he ever, so openly challenged the government. The government, for the first time knew it was under the eyes of the people who had given them the power they so badly desire. Our babus were on their heels, lest they should do something to displease the common man.
But boom, here comes Baba Ramdev with his own fast demanding that the government give in to a few demands for the common man’s good, or face the wrath of the people for forcing their favourite yoga teacher to go on an indefinite fast. What follows??It takes absolutely no time for things to go out of hand, Lathicharge, tear gas shells, four people in the ICU and suddenly all focus shifts to Baba Ramdev v/s the govt. Suddenly the point of debate on ‘We the people’ shifts from ‘Is this the beginning of a new era in the Indian political history, where democracy functions for the people.’ to ‘Could the government have handled the case in a more professional manner. Is Baba Ramdev trying to make himself a political hero by these gimmicks?’
Whatever happened to the “JAN LOKAPAL BILL” and all the hard work that its founders had put in, what about all the hard work that we did, that I did. Alas!! All of it seems to have gone down the gutter. I am not here to blame anyone for the doldrums our country’s political scenario seems to be in; the doldrums that all of us, as Indian citizens seem to be in; but here I am, only to vent my feelings of regret and anger that have risen out of the ashes of my hopes of living in a corrupt free India, where I won’t have to bribe people just because they can manage to cause roadblocks in letting me do my work the way it should be done; Ashes of hopes that were burnt with that small piece of the gigantic pandal (where the supposedly ‘Jallian Wala Bagh 2’ took place). The fire was short-lived, but was enough to burn down every ounce of positive thought that came to my mind when I thought of politics and reform, and all that is left behind is utter cynicism and indifference- towards politicians, towards active participation in democracy and towards dreams of a beautiful India. And I believe there will be millions of rational citizens throughout this beautiful country of ours, who will second my thoughts. I don’t know if this cynicism will ever leave me, may be it finally gives way to the feeling of apathy, apathy in my mind, in the minds of millions of Indian citizens, or may be, we again somehow manage to believe that ‘Yes, We CAN’. However till such inspiration manages to create the phoenix in me, I sign off.
-Disappointed Indian

Wish You A Safe Friday The 13^th

Unlucky number thirteen plus a Friday…. While Friday brings with itself, hopes of a fun filled weekend, and a break from our exhaustive schedules, the addition of the number 13 to its attributes kind of makes the day creepy, if not scary, right??? The fear of the day when the two combine is widely known as ‘PARASKEVIDEKTRIAPHOBIA’

Don’t ask me how is it pronounced, I had to copy- paste the entire word myself. So, is this fear just a blasphemous trend being passed from generation to generation, or is there even a tinge of reality behind the world’s most infamous belief which grips nearly 20million citizens of the U.S alone, not to forget the approximate loss of $800 million to business every time the duo combine, which is largely in stock markets ;since people tend to be ultra safe in transactions on such days

Myth or reality, all Fridays, the 13^th have been marked with black ink ever since Jesus Christ was crucified on a similar day, a FRIDAY ,Yes it was the 13^th, and yes that was, after he was betrayed by his disciple, Judas during the Last Supper. Interestingly, Judas was the 13^th man at the Last Supper, the others being -11 apostles and Jesus himself!!! Another reason for the day not having a particularly favourable image in the eyes of most of us is the supposed brutal crucification of the order of The Knight Templar, a reference of which has been made in Dan Brown’s much hyped -not to forget, controversial- novel, DaVinci  Code. So when did the crucification take place, any guesses??? October,1307, FRIDAY THE 13^TH  !!!!

Regardless of how rationale the space between your ears is, the day, sure sends a slight shiver down your spine. Beyond doubt, the day has a certain, unavoidable mystique, associated with itself.

A little knowledge about mythology shows us how the number 13 isn’t exactly a lucky charm anyways. The magical number 12 signifies completeness, as is perceivable, going by the 12 months of a year, the twelve zodiac signs, the 12 hours in a clock, the 12 apostles of Jesus or the 12 Gods of Olympus. Now adding a single integer to it sucks out all the perceivable stability of the number and forms an equally incomplete, unstable and dangerous number 13, one that only disturbs the delicate balance of completeness and stability. Not convinced yet?? Here is a timeline to chew upon---

FRIDAY THE 13^th

• 1915-Eatrthquake in Arizzano, Italy kills 29,800 innocents.
• 1939-Black Friday Bush fire burns 20000 sq. km area in Australia, along with 71 humans, not to forget the infinite wildlife that perished.
• 1943-Hitler declares ‘TOTAL WAR’, the repurcussions of which are visible till date.
• 2001-Earthquake measuring 7.6 on the richter scale hits El  Salvador, again killing thousands of people.

Still not sufficient?? Read on then…

Pissed about all the hype this day was getting, a group of like-minded people decided to start a new club, “The 13^th club”. So these guys were supposed to meet on every Friday the 13^th, I say supposed to, since one Friday, the 13^th was all that they could outlive since this novel idea struck their heads. 3 days since the first meeting was held, the whole bunch leaves for their heavenly abode, all thanks to a most bizarre accident. Want more?? You got it..

Most high rise buildings avoid numbering any floor 13^th, as is the case with streets and apartments. However, when one Gregon Johnson, does decide to number the 13^th floor of his building as ‘13’, the building collapses-3 days into its completion- and that too, till the 13^th floor. Since then, it has been structurally sound…

So, guys I am not asking you not to venture out of your house on such days, nor am I asking you to link everything bad that happens on such a day to it being a FRIDAY the 13^th. All that I am saying is that you can’t deny the legitimacy of the fear and awe that the day commands among so many people. With that note, to all the believers and non-believers, I wish u a very safe Friday the 13^th. Tudoooo.

6 Features of Gmail You Didn't Know About

GMAIL- one of the craziest and sought after advertising supported webmail, POP3 and IMAP service provided by Google. Available to the public since 7th February, 2007, has undergone innumerable changes in the features which a regular user might notice. A few of them yet go un-noticed as the best features are either hidden away under layers or aren’t turned on by default, making them worth exploring.

Being a regular user of Gmail and a big fan of it, I always thought that there can be possibly nothing about Gmail that I do not know, but, actually, there are loads.

Here are a few of them that you may not know about and be surprised that these are also options provided by one of the best webmail services.

The Gmail Labs is one of the outstanding features provided. The concept was introduced in June 5, 2008 to allow users to test on the new nifty little features Gmail has provided. It has 60 features that can be turned on or off at your own disposal but it is constantly shuttling between a few new and a few old ones. My favourites would be

A sweet cracker buster feature would be the “UNDO SEND” option that Gmail provides. It must be innumerable times that you accidentally click onto the send button or you just happened to miss out a correction in the mail you are forwarding. Not to worry any more, friends. Gmail provides you with an option to undo your accidents within a time span of 30 seconds. This is as all the mails are sent via the same server, so it might just happen that yours isn’t sent immediately and might be queued up for the process. So if you realise your mistake in this short period of time then you can stop a large percentage of your mistakes.

Another amazing feature would be the CANNED RESPONSES that lets you create a template of the most frequently used replies or text. Now you do not need to make the effort to re-type the same old, boring stuff again and again and save your time. You can simply use the template to start a new message. Oh! How it reminds me of stored procedures in Database Management Systems.

The SEARCH AUTOCOMPLETE which automatically suggests the various linked terms, keywords, names and label, when you start typing in the Gmail search box. This saves you the pain of typing the entire word and allows you to select it with a swift movement of the hand.

ATTACHMENT DETECTOR which will notify you if you have forgotten to attach a file after mentioning that you would do so. This feature is such a sweetheart. I love it as it reminds me all the time of my carelessness.

Another incredulous feature which caught my attention would be the MOUSE GESTURES. Now you can use your mouse to shuttle between your old and new mails withy gestures. Sounds fun nay..?? All you need to is to enable the MOUSE GESTURES from your Gmail labs. Then, to start using it, hold the right cluck button of your mouse (or that of your keypad) and move the mouse to the left to go to the previous mail and the right to go to the next mail. Also, to go to the inbox view, all you need to do is press the same right key and gesture the mouse to move upwards. Just a small reminder, this feature is known to work best on windows platform.

Every Gmail account comes with an infinite capacity of individual addresses that you can use. Literally, infinite. All you need to do is to add a “+” symbol after your username and create whatever new address, funky or professional, for what so ever purpose. It also helps you filter your incoming emails that save you from missing out your important mails among a bunch of dullard ones. Not to forget the devilish headaches and the precious time.

So, people, go ahead and explore your gmail account some more and discover the vast superbly exciting features it has to offer and keep me informed. Till then, cia..