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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Todays lesson

"I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level." 
-- Diana Nyad, swimmer 

Subject - Say hello to transparency!


Subject - Say hello to transparency!
Say hello to transparency!

Everyday we see scams (sometimes even when they are not there) being
exposed in the media, demonstrations, Parliament jams and court
orders. But there is little positive action. What is needed is action
against black money, the driver of all corruption. Are we citizens
ready to move beyond protests and take a small step that could hit at
the heart of black money?

Black money thrives in the cash economy. If we introduce
traceability in financial transactions, it will be difficult to hide.
We can do this using some simple available technologies. It is
possible to carry out all transactions in electronic form, where money
is transferred from the payer’s bank account to the payee’s. The back-
end core banking system of almost all banks allows that. ATM
withdrawals, any-branch banking and internet banking thrive on it. The
internet, however, is used by a small section. Credit card (and debit
card) based payments and transaction could be another way, but have
not caught on much (except for use of debit cards for cash
withdrawals).

But India has over 750 million mobile phone connections, and
growing at 15 million per month. Over 500 million invididuals are
believed to have mobiles. In a few years, mobile telephony could touch
most of India’s adult population. It is now possible to link one’s
mobile phone to a bank account. So, it is possible to carry out most
transactions including money transfer, bill payments, balance enquiry
and checks on past transactions. A bank’s computer uses the caller
line identification (CLI) and a customer’s PIN to authenticate her,
following which any transaction can be carried out using an
application loaded on her phone. End-to-end encryption makes
transactions secure. Transactions are instantaneous: for example, any
payment is notified by sending an SMS to the payer as well as payee.

The Mobile Payment Forum of India, RBI and National Payment
Corporation of India worked with banks, telecom operators and
technology providers to make money transfer possible between customers
of any two banks, any two operators and any two technology providers.
One does not even need the bank account number to make payments, as
the payee’s mobile number and a mobile money ID (MMID) uniquely map to
her bank account.

Mobile payments would make cash redundant. One could pay a
vegetable vendor who displays a mobile number and MMID at the shop.
Similarly, auto fare or kirana shop payments can be made
instantaneously. Money can be transferred whether the recipient is
near or far. Doing so from Mumbai to an Orissa village would now be a
simple matter. A single day amount could be small, say Rs 50, or as
much as Rs 50,000.

Safe, secure, simple, instantaneous, and with a complete list of
payments and receipts in one’s passbook, there is no reason why anyone
would not use this method. Using mobile payments instead of cash could
be our way to bring in traceability and say no to the black money
economy.

Do all banks provide mobileto-mobile payments? About 10 banks do
and another 15 will by the end of next month. Will there be teething
troubles? Sure, but nothing that can’t be handled. Will transaction
charges be too much? Banks and telecom operators can make transactions
below Rs 1,000 free and charge one or two rupees for transactions up
to Rs 10,000. Will SMS come in real time? Telcos can ensure that.

One may argue that many in rural India and some in urban India do
not have bank accounts. With financial inclusion initiatives, no-frill
accounts can be opened quickly. In fact, mobile payments would
incentivise people to open such accounts. Further, telecom operators
are tying up with banks to come up with phone-based pre-paid cards
(mobile wallets) for making payments and transferring money as in
mobile banking. Will illiteracy be a bottleneck? Several banks and
technology providers use mobile voice banking: one just has to speak
to carry out a transaction. So, there may be some hiccups, but there
are technological answers.

Many of us will remember that computerisation of railway
reservations in the 1980s dealt a blow to rampant corruption. As an
example of technology being used to bring in transparency, mobile
payments give us a much bigger opportunity. In due course, we would
demand that government recalls 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and makes it
mandatory for all shops and vendors to accept only electronic
payments. But let us take the initiative. Let us get our MMID and
start making mobile payments instead of using cash. Let shops start
displaying their mobile numbers and MMID. That would be a big
statement against black money.

Let Lord Vishnu protect himself from the clutches of humans

The extent to which Indians are rich are not only exhibited by their noble values and heritage but with such vast riches that the World would ponder to know for ever.

Having said the above,human greed which was non existant in the past is very much prevalent in the present day world.
It should not even be worthwhile to know further about this Godly treasures which has been so well preseved over centuries.More we know, more we would be curious and the dirty human mind will explore all perverted ideas to encash by one way or other.Infact other than the purpose of journalism initiatives, the said treasure was not even worth knowing.It is the secrets of God and almighty.It is someting to have pleasure to know the treasures of a neighbors family which is immoral.In this case its is the treasure of Lord Vishnu, which no human worth the salt should even explore.

Friends,keep the things as it exists and concentrate on your good positive daily work.Do not even imagine or think positive/personal of this treasure as this princially does NOT belong to you.It would be futile and with bad omen already sensed with the death of the petitioner by intial exploration,things would be much more henious and would be bad for the community and even human race if something unforseen happens!
Pray Lord Vishnu to give better strength to maintain peace, love and order in human society.That would be more than required to protect the wealth of God by less trusted humans be it commandos, Police or anyone.They all come under the sam umbrella of present Government functioning which has led to current sorry stste of affairs in the name of poor.The poor could remain happy if he is left alone.Do not make him happy by unscrupoulous means.

Let Lord Vishnu protect himself from the clutches of humans 

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Subject - Just an ordinary day!!

Subject - Just an ordinary day!!



Subject - Just an ordinary day!!
Sunday is a lazy day for me. Not so for the visitors. Even before the sunrise people start coming to home. . Many of them are the regular visitors who visit at stipulated time.


The earliest one to visit is the maid. No, not the regular housemaid. This is our ‘cleaning lady’ who cleans our courtyard. She comes as early as five early in the morning. She sweeps a little area outside the gate near the road and throws water to clean the courtyard. She is an artist too!! A motif is drawn with colored powder at the courtyard. She is expected to draw different patterns on different days. On auspicious days she makes larger and more colorful ‘rangolis’.

My wife is very particular about it. I can see the arguments every month end when she come to collect the money. wife says she repeated the same pattern for two consecutive days! She denies and says why should she repeat the same since she knows more than 50 patterns ranging from peacock to sunflower!!!

She never wakeup us early in the morning. When we open the door in the morning all what we can see is the work done.

An hour or so later comes milkman. He comes by a small bike with a big plastic container attached at the rear. We have tied a small basket at the gate for him to leave the milk pouch. He also doesn’t go scotch free when come to collect the money at the month end.wife arguments could be anything from leakage in pockets and how last week a cat cut open the milk pack at the basket. What would the poor milkman do for the cat’s mischief? Finally they reached an agreement. He would ring the bell so that she could come and take the milk pack before the cat comes to know about it!

By seven or so the newspaper boy arrives. He comes by a bicycle. In fact I’ve never seen him coming. I always see him running away after throwing the newspaper at doorstep with surgical precision from the road. He has been always in a hurry as if someone is chasing him. I think from the reporters to the printing press to the delivery boy, everyone in the news business work in a hurry!! I wanted to stop him one day to tell that I wanted a different paper to be put everyday. I could catch him only at the month end Sunday when he came for collecting the subscription money.

Reading the news with a hot cup of morning tea, I heard a knock at the gate. “FLOWER” shouted the invader. Oh. Yes. It’s our ‘flower lady’ who brings flowers for decorating the Gods. She brings different type flowers for us to choose from. We have hand picked a few Gods from a million of deities and installed at the prayer room. The short-listed Gods to be offered flowers and other rituals everyday according to their specialty!

The Goddess Saraswathi, the goddess of learning is placed at the middle. There is Lord Vinayaka, the remover of all obstructions. There is Lord Shiva, the destroyer god. Lord Vishnu, the most popular god who appears in ten avatars. Then there is Goddess Lakshmi who is responsible for creating wealth in the ministry of Gods!

Flowers for all of them as a daily affair, created the ‘flower ladies’ all over the country. She has a big round and shallow bamboo basket. Flowers are placed over the leaf petals.

Then came the ‘Vehicle wash man’ with an ear-to-ear grin. I could count all his teeth in that long and wide grin. He had a reason to do so. For the past so many weeks I’ve been telling him in a simple language that he understands. NO. I DO NOT WANT YOUR SERVICE. But he comes ever Sundays thinking that I might have changed my mind. I repeated the same this time also. I was surprised by his optimism. I know he would come next week also to listen to my ‘NO’!

The next visitor arrived has the ‘right’ to enter the home without much of permission. He is our “Iron man”. No. He just presses our cloths. He does it with a charcoal powered 18th century Iron! It’s amazing how he does it without burning the cloths. He comes about twice a week. Collect all the washed cloths in the morning. The neatly pressed and stacked cloths are delivered by the evening. I like the warm smell of pressed cloths.
MY wife is not very happy with his washing cum pressing service. So she bought the washing machine and the pressing job alone is given to him. I do not know the reason. But almost all the ‘ladies’ in the neighborhood do the same. The ‘Iron man’ is slightly afraid ofmy wife. Her complaint is that he destroys the shirt buttons. “You should never run the hot iron on the buttons” she warns him regularly. We pay about 2 to 4 rs for every piece of cloths he presses.



Now this guy with the four-wheeled pull cart brings all sorts of vegetables to the doorsteps. He doesn’t ‘stop’ in front of every house. Stops at every four/ five houses or so. He has to deal with a number of ‘ladies’ simultaneously. Someone asks ‘How much is for tomato today?’ before he completes the answer come the next question ‘what about carrot?’. “What discount will you give if I buy 2kilo” questioned another. Everyone is choosing, picking and negotiating on a vegetable-by-vegetable basis. Imagine him handling five ‘ladies’ with all sorts of logics and questions.

He should know why tomato prices are going up and up everyday? He should answer why the cucumber color is differed from the one he has brought yesterday? Another one has come with a potato she has bought from him yesterday! “There was a worm inside” she declared showing the cut potato to the crowd for support. The evidence presented was examined one by one and declared “yes. Indeed”. The crowd threatened him that he would be ‘blacklisted’. He offered a free replacement. How would he know if a worm is hiding inside a potato he has sold?? He is a versatile genius. It looks more like Karpov playing chess simultaneously with that odd crowd. The game typically lasted for about 20-30 minutes. All the women let him move on after paying him the money. He moved on to the next inevitable attack by the next batch of housewives!

Here comes the most hated man in the neighborhood. The self-appointed night watch man. No one wanted him to patrol the lanes inside the residential locality. But he does it by himself. And visit every home at the end of the month for the ‘service charge’.
No, he is not hated for his self-style or for the money he asks. He spoils everyone’s sleep. He ‘patrols’ the lanes late in the night or in the wee hours. He does it by walk. Makes loud noise all the way by hitting the baton on the road. This is how he announces that is on ‘duty’.
As if that is not enough, a dozen dogs in the neighborhood start barking at him simultaneously. A few of the stray dogs chase him at times creating a mess of noises at the doorsteps. Everyone getup from the sleep with a rude shock. It’s very difficult to get a nice sleep after that. He is an old bachelor. No one wants to be bad with him. People bear him as an unavoidable pain.

The next visitors were the neighbors with their cute little girl. They came with a box of sweets to announce their new possession. They’ve bought the ‘latest model’ Television set yesterday! They wanted us to come to their home and see it. She explained me how it was better than the one bought by the other neighbor last week. I agreed to her fully, as I know a debate would be fatal to me. Our TV was not in the contest anyway as it was about two years old. We promised that we would join them in the evening.

The little girl also was exited with the new TV. She said there were a lot of cartoons in it. We liked her talk. She wanted me to lift her to see the items kept on the top shelf. Her mom said her no. I said she is only a little girl and she was just curious to see. I lifted and held her in my arms. She touched and inspected each items kept there.

She picked up a pen. I was relived, as this was not anything she would drop and damage. She started scribbling with it over my collar. I didn’t care, as it was on my old casual home ware. After a few minutes she called her mom to show what she has done with that pen. Everyone seen it one by one and broken into laughter. I looked like a fool and went to the mirror to see what it was.


She has written in capital letters on my collar - DOG

Just an ordinary day!!

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Best Feeling in Life...


The Best Feeling in Life...
Do you know what is the best part of life?

Its when your family understands you as a friend,
And your friends support you like your family !

True yeah?

"The power of your subconcious mind" by Joseph Murphy.

"The power of your subconcious mind" by Joseph Murphy.

A simple overview on this book is..

The author says the human mind can be divided into conscious and sub-conscious. The conscious mind is that we are aware of what we speak when we are talking to someone..or while typing a mail etc..The concious mind is active when we are awake. This knows the difference between positive and negative or good and bad..

The subconscious mind is the one thats active when we are in sleep. This does not know the difference between positive and negative or good and bad..Whatever we speak/think/ act conciously is taken as an input by the subconscious mind be it positive or negative. This is the reason why people say think/ speak/ do good..

Whatever we want to achieve, we can tune it through our subconcscious mind by consciously dreaming about it and taking necessary efforts. For example you might have a business presentation in front of your CEO. You can prepare and along with that consciously dream as to how you want to be appreciated by him/ her for your work.. This works..

When we end each day we consiously can say "Tomorrow is going to be an excellent day. I am going to face constructive challenges that will aid my development personally/ professionally". This is taken as an input by our subconcious mind and our subconscious leads us to this.

This has benefitted me a lot.. Hope this review benefits you all too.. 

What is missing in life????"

What is missing in life????"

This human life is most valuable and God has provided us with everything.But its in our own hands to utilise it to the maximum.coming to the topic what does an individual miss in his life???Eventhough he has a bungalow,car.......everything.......he still lacks something........thats "Peace of Mind".......there is only pieces of mind........if this is not there everything in life becomes void........An individual loses this important aspect of life due to the desires........THE DESIRE FOR MORE......MORE MONEY.......MORE POWER.......so if we have a ceiling on our desires.........we can still be happy and live in ultimate BLISS even in this age..