An open letter to MNS chief Raj Thackeray from columnist and author Shobhaa De.
Dear Raj, Wah! Kya baat hai. You've done it. Proved a point. And succeeded in your main objective, which whether or not you acknowledge it was to show Uddhav. Well, you've certainly shown your cousin Uddhav. Now what is that is the key question. And why just Maharashtra , the rest of India has its eyes on you. So, let me, as a bonafide daughter of the soil, spell it out clearly. Treat it as an important piece of communication from one Marathi manoos to another. The main job ahead of you is to de-demonize yourself. Baring your teeth has served its original purpose which was to get yourself noticed. And subsequently, to get yourself acknowledged as someone who means business. You walked the talk, went for the jugular, advocated violence, condoned your workers who indulged in shocking goondagiri, and created an ever-widening chasm between outsiders and those you defined as the asli Marathi manoos. You were well aware of the provocative and dangerous message you were sending out. My guess is, that was your intention. Within a startlingly short time, you made national headlines and got India talking about you. From being viewed as just a discarded nephew of an ageing Tiger, you transformed yourself into a terror... even a menace. Civil society across the board condemned your brazen tactics, your aggressive, crude ways. I guess, you had the last laugh... you have achieved one of your key objectives, which is to stake a claim to Balasaheb's formidable legacy. You didn't care a damn what anybody thought or even that your dhamkis were being seen as Goonda Raj. You seemed to revel in the Attila the Hun reputation, even as sane, thinking citizens reviled you and found themselves reeling at the audacity of it all. Virtually overnight, you became the Gabbar Singh of politics. Kitney aadmi the became a familiar chant, as the body count of defenseless, innocent victims attacked by your foot soldiers went up. You remained remorseless and unrepentant, shocking critics still further. A monster was born. Do you want to perpetuate the Monsters reign? It would be entirely short-sighted and foolhardy to do so. The Marathi manoos by nature is not pro-violent. No right-thinking person is. A lot of us are distressed, embarrassed and ashamed that the Marathi manoos is getting a bad name, thanks to a small section of individuals who adhere to these undemocratic methods. Accepted that the legitimate grievances of the Marathi manoos deserve to be heard, addressed and resolved. But certainly not through the means advocated by you. Your party's impressive showing in the recent assembly elections should not be taken as an endorsement of your methods. All that the win signals is the fact that in certain pockets of Maharashtra you have successfully tapped into people's frustration. But from this point on, people expect you to deliver on basics and that cannot happen through the politics of destruction, exclusion and hate. You are a smart, intelligent, thinking person. You have proved you have the pulse of your people. The same people will now be looking at you to come up with programmes and solutions that spell growth and progress. Think you are up for it, Raj. After a certain point, your differences and volatile relations with your cousin are nonissues. We don't really care or give a damn whether you and he are at logger-heads or katti. That's your problem. We are more concerned with the quality of constructive criticism your people will provide in the assembly. The actual contribution your legislators will make. In other words, what the MNS will bring to the table in its new, improved avatar. Even the Tiger eventually changed his stripes in Maharashtra. What you may inherit down the line will be a totally transformed party such as it may exist, post-Balasaheb. A true player knows how and when to leverage advantage. Your time to do that is now. Exploiting fear psychosis serves only a limited purpose, as Narendra Modi has discovered. Exploit your charisma instead. Work for the people of Maharashtra. Win their love, and more importantly, their respect. You, my dear Raj, have a terrible reputation. But this is your chance to redeem yourself. Don't squander it. Yours sincerely, Marathi Mulgi, Shobhaa
PS: This article has been taken from TOI.
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GOA – truly the paradise of peace. Probably the best and the most exhilarating journey of our entire lifetime. Goa doesn't disappoint anyone. We were just 4 of us – me, Rahul, Vaidya and Shree - the roomie gang. We left from Mumbai and we were already charged up for the matter of fact that finally, our months of fruitless planning bore the sweet fruits and we were finally on our way to enjoy which seemed to be our last joy of life. We were so zenned up right from the beginning of the journey that we did not give anything even a single second thought. As we all were tired after a day's work on Wednesday we slept as soon as we boarded the train from Thane. We had to anyhow preserve our energies for the fore coming days.
Day 1
We reached Goa at around 11am on Friday and after some effort in the heat we found a room to stay, but somehow it was a bad deal. The best part about being in Goa is you are always enthusiastic and so were we. Not enough rest but who cares and we started with some shopping followed with a heavy lunch (obviously whenever we opened our mouth to feed ourselves we had a b***e; so needless to mention having b***e every time coz believe me we had countless numbers in our four days journey ;). Within no time we all were set ready for the action.
Now after a heavy lunch in scorching heat what a normal person would die for? Yes some rest, but these insane guys, yes I mean enthusiastic guys wanted to roam some more and so they headed towards Panaji and I moved towards our room (I was damn sure raat tak inka sab enthu nikal jaayega :P)
It was a lovely evening & by default we had to feed ourselves :-), then applying a tattoo which as always our Shree uncle had a unique design on the back of his neck and we all headed off to our room to get ready to party. Sometimes I would think whether our day started at night :P. Had a quick bath and though not preplanned but black was our theme of that night. All set to party and how could I forget this part; Goa without skunk (w**d or g**ja) is incomplete. Had some of it and we zoomed ourselves to Mambos near Baga beach but were quite unaware that we were AGAIN to face the worst part which most of the guys would have faced 'STAGS NOT ALLOWED'. But we were not the ones to give up, started looking for some girls to get us in but to no avail (as I & Sagar always say G***DU naseeb ;). After a bit of searching we headed near Anjuna beach to a place called Paradiso. Once there, we were relieved that we were not so unlucky, there were some generous disc owners in Goa :). As we reached early we headed to a place called Zooris, exactly adjacent to Paradiso. This was the place at which I had a lovely evening on my last trip some 4 years back. Now as I said earlier I knew the enthu in these guys would be lost and here I was having some drinks before the actual party with my 3 over-enthusiastic friends :P. This place Zooris means a lot to me & I always wanted to enjoy this time but I forgot it's not a place where you can enjoy with guys :(. But the party was yet to begin at Paradiso so I knew for sure as soon as these guys would see some chicks around they would be back to normal.
It was 10pm & we were all set to party. This club had an entry charge and then the drinks inside were 'On the House'. As soon as I learnt this I knew this was going to be a rocking party; not for we don't have to spend anymore but because everyone had already spent at the entry and hence no one would be without booze, hence I always liked places with Unlimited B**ze motto :) Within an hour we were all back in our happy senses (I have my own levels of senses when it comes to B**zing) and here I was standing at the bar ordering a few more drinks a lovely lady with the cutest smile (I was still in some senses so I knew it was the cutest smile ;)) was too ordering stuffs. I do believe in love at first sight coz I have fallen so many times and I just could not let go this chance to get introduced to her; but as always it was short lived. By the way she was Alice from Australia with Dad from England & Mom from Australia (people who know a bit of history would surely find it funny). Had few more drinks until we all were fully high and at 3 am we left that place.
Btw what happened in between was another funny little love story between our very own uncle Shree and the bartender Rajendar; yeah he was a guy :P. It was almost 2 am & we 3 (I, Sagar & Vaidya) decided to leave but Shree was busy chatting to his soul mate. We told him that we had to leave but he insisted to stay for 5-10 mins more. Again after some time when Shree was asked to leave we got the same reply. Believe me we could have waited for another hour had it been a company of a girl for Shree; but he was too high to know what he was doing (he puked too :P). Finally we had to wait until the club was closed.
But it wasn't the end of our day or rather night; we had plans to have some more b***e. After some info we got to know that a place called Kamaki's near Baga beach was a 24 hour pub, now that's what people like us would expect in Goa. Off we zoomed on our bikes and it was truly an amazing ride back. Soon we reached Kamaki's and instead of having b***e we settled in br***ers; believe me we already had a lot. Had amazing burgers in the joint opposite to Kamaki's and left for home around 7am. Now we had a bit of a conversation with a lady called Helen while we were having burger but I am not interested in describing that. After reaching home I was not feeling sleepy so I stepped out and it was a lovely morning, had a bit of a stroll on the beach and had to return back in 15-20 mins coz of nature's call. Now that was surely the end of my first day ;-P
Second day began for us, quite possibly as it could be, very late. We all had Goan hangover of our first day and that restricted us in our enthusiasm. We had to get out of our beds unwillingly and so we ordered our lunch in the shack itself. By every means it was a bad food. But we ate it to neutralize our body acids. After that tough job we strained our brains a lot as how to arrange our remaining day but alas a failure to all of us. We decided to go in for water sports but somehow delayed to do it on our third day.
After gaining the power shots, we got ready for the so called life in Goa for yet another day. And guys, believe me, this feeling, of partying again when you had a rock-solid party a day before, is truly amazing and mind blowing. I more than love this feeling. The only thought of it, rode us all with a pleasant gesture. We all were ready in white as the theme of the day and off on our bikes, we headed to Baga beach in search of some wild parties. Unable to find anything, clearly due to lack of gurlz with us, we went for ourselves to enjoy, had some (some = too much) b**ze and JD shots. Then we strolled to Curlis and then to Paradiso. By now, we were known by the Curlis guys. We drank our hearts out, danced till our last breaths, and enjoyed till the last moment. This time more wildly and lost. Without caring about the world or may I say without cribbing for not having girls with us. :P
After getting in total mood, pace and swing, we were too undesired to end the night so soon. It was 4 am then :). So we took our march to Kamaki's, the sole bread provider to Goans I think. Else, which damn pub would be open at 4am with loud music and swirling dance floors with firangis and hotties swinging all over.
And the story still is unchanged. We ordered for the same delicious burger and I couldn't eat it being too full on high doses. Kamakis was fun, with a peaceful corner to sit with our pints and chit chatting about who-care topics. With countless b**zes, noodles, burgers and fries, it was like what more could we ask for from life. It was the end of our 2nd day in the heaven as we managed our ways back to our shack.
I have started believing in the saying, "Love wild life. Throw a party." :-)
Day 3
3rd day saw us all half drenched in enthusiasm and our bodies sheerly with lack of H2O. As per the protocol, we woke up late. Still in only half of our senses we had our suits on and off we went for water sports on the Baga beach as pre decided. We were totally hungry and had to speed off our lunch as it was already late for the water sports. Water sports was the most fun part of the entire Goa trip. We had to do 3 water sports – motor boat, para sailing and banana ride. Rahul denied being on banana ride as he was a bit scared. I wanted to experience it. And my fear knew no bounds when that f**king boat threw me inside the sea and I went 10 feet under the water. I was completely galloped and shocked with fear factor bursting out of me. And when I survived and came up, it was like rising to life again. It was the single most exhilarating moment of my entire life that shook me off right from my toe to the tip of my hair. I was dumbstruck. It was worth the dare. Para sailing was more romantic – in the way sun was settling down, it was a peaceful arena with no chitchats and no fuss. It was all clear. It was the most beautiful scene of nature and life could not be better than this.
Then we had ourselves submerged in water for almost an hour in a calm and composed way just to enjoy the beautiful water and nature in Goa thinking when we could be back here. Then we headed to our shack for changing. Then we headed to hill top Hill top was something which took our senses off our heads. It was a dreadly encounter and we were totally set back by the very location and view of it. Thought it did not provide anything to our expectations, it was worth a try.
Day 4 began for us in quite a lazy and disappointing manner with the very thought of returning back to our homes. After getting up late we packed our bags and planned to go for some shopping. Then we headed to Mapusa, shopped for cashew and all other stuff. It was a hot afternoon which took my glucose away and I started feeling the heat waves. After winding it up we decided to go for a chill out session on Baga beach. We just sat there for couple of hours, listening to soft music and watching people enjoying a typical lazy Sunday afternoon in Goa. Our bodies were dull and aching with all the fun we had on all these days. It was somehow a pain-n-pleasure kinda feeling. After winding it from there, we headed to the railway station with our luggage just in time to find the train. With some quick relieving snacks we boarded our train to end the most exhilarating journey of our lives.
All in all, it was the time of our life. Life was indeed a blessing for all those 4 days. It was infact more than life to us. After all the tortures, work pressures, house hold tensions, relationship hues, Goa was a boon for all of us. No doubt we were dampened by the very thought of returning back home, but had to do it. An awesome and a reigning period came to an end. But it still lives inside our hearts – fresh, green and high :-)
PS: Day 1 has been compiled by Rahul and day 2,3 and 4 by Vaidya, Shree and myself. This blog is a joint venture by we four. We had tough times accumulating the accurate data after so many months of the actual trip. Thanks to all of you for your patience.
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It was a chilly winter night. Just a regular December night. Everyone sat huddled beneath their shawls and blankets. Staving off the cold. Trying to stay alive. And then it happened. 42 tonnes of lethal methyl-iso-cyanate changed the course of history. 10,000 people died within 72 hours. 25,000 over the next 20 years. The date was 2nd December 1984. The place was Bhopal. We looked. We wept. And as screams and cries echoed from anguished mothers whose children has just stopped breathing, we promised ourselves: this will never happen again. Never.
We were wrong. Exactly twenty years later, we were informed of a mighty French warship, the Clemenceau, heading towards India. 22,000 tonnes of steel. 300 tonnes of lethal asbestos, to be dismantled on the shores of Alang, Gujarat. Alang, the graveyard of ships, considered to be the most dangerous business destination in India. Ill-equipped and barefoot laborers were going to dismantle the ship that had been refused entry in most of Europe due to its toxic components.
But if it's good for business, it's good for India, they said. We disagreed. The ship was boarded by Greenpeace activists in France and off the coast of Egypt, but they were forcibly removed by the French special forces. It was denied entry to the Suez Canal. The Supreme Court of India ordered the ship to stay away from the Indian coastline. But the 22,000 tonne monster kept coming. We blocked, we protested and we pleaded. But it kept just kept coming. We moved the French Supreme Court. We protested outside French embassies. People all over India joined us in putting garbage outside the French embassy.
And then, the tide turned. On 15th January 2006, French President Jaques Chirac agreed to take back the Clemenceau and decontaminate it in France. Just as the ship was entering the Indian Ocean, it was told to turn back and head back home. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
However, the celebrations were short-lived. Every year, every day, every hour, every minute, toxic products continue to leach into our society, into our bloodstream, into our drinking water, into our children. The toxic French warship has been sent back, but the fight to keep away toxic chemicals out of our washing machines, computers, cell phones and microwaves must go on. We might fail, but we must try. It is our job, to make sure that companies swear by high standards and zero toxics in their products. Our job. Not your job, not my job. But our job.
And the only way we can finish this job is by getting lots of people to work on it. Click here to turn our solitary mission into an national movement.
1.The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn’t know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. In fact it was noted that the submit button had a long time coming and hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life.
2.Due to the sparseness of the homepage, in early user tests they noted people just sitting looking at the screen. After a minute of nothingness, the tester intervened and asked ‘What’s up?’ to which they replied “We are waiting for the rest of it”. To solve that particular problem the Google Copyright message was inserted to act as a crude end of page marker.
3.One of the biggest leap in search usage came about when they introduced their much improved spell checker giving birth to the “Did you mean…” feature. This instantly doubled their traffic, but they had some interesting discussions on how best to place that information, as most people simply tuned that out. But they discovered the placement at the bottom of the results was the most effective area.
4.The infamous “I’m feeling lucky” (When a user clicks on this button the user is taken directly to the first search result, bypassing the search engine results page) is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button.
5.Orkut is very popular in Brazil. Orkut was the brainchild of a very intelligent Google engineer who was pretty much given free reign to run with it, without having to go through the normal Google UI procedures, hence the reason it doesn’t look or feel like a Google application.
6.Google makes changes small-and-often. They will sometimes trial a particular feature with a set of users from a given network subnet; for example Excite@Home users often get to see new features. They aren’t told of this, just presented with the new UI and observed how they use it.
7.Google has the largest network of translators in the world.
8.They use the 20% / 5% rules. If at least 20% of people use a feature, then it will be included. At least 5% of people need to use a particular search preference before it will make it into the ‘Advanced Preferences’.
9.They have found in user testing, that a small number of people are very typical of the larger user base. They run labs continually and always monitoring how people use a page of results.
10.Gmail was used internally for nearly 2years prior to launch to the public. They discovered there was approximately 6 types of email users, and Gmail has been designed to accommodate these 6.
11.They listen to feedback actively. Emailing Google isn’t emailing a blackhole.
12.Employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model.
13.Quote: Give Users What They Want When They Want It.
I remember when I was a kid I was so much excited about the Diwali celebrations and all the fuss around it. I used to go shopping with dad, wear new clothes on the auspicious occasion, take snaps, perform pooja, visit relatives, fire crackers, play around; it was fun all the way. But as years passed, I have stopped lighting crackers. I do celebrate it but probably not with even half of the zeal I used to in past years. It has become a mere formality now. What has happened?
And here, I am not talking just about me, but about the entire generation in all. We could see for ourselves how low was the enthusiasm level for Ganapati and Holi celebrations this year (may be Swine Flu was just the reason of time), then the new years? I remember I used to get enthralled during new year eves by some or the other thing – may be it the all night drives on our bikes, eating Chinese, watching movies or just laying off and goofing up. But lately, I don’t even go out. Moreover, I don’t even watch a lot of TV on that day (yes, TV is the ultimate time pass on new year’s eve). All the excitement has been dampened by God knows what. Is it the increased wisdom, or just a lull in this phase of life I call it as quarter-life crisis(http://goneintothewild.blogspot.com/2009/09/quarter-life-crisis.html), or is it just the matter of fact that we are grownups now? I don’t know what, but surely I am not happy with all these things.
I mean, yesterday while returning from office, I saw some kids lighting fire crackers, running around and having absolute fun. They were totally engrossed with the ‘Diwali’ thing. I mean what more a kid can ask for – the exams are over, they have got a decent 18 day Diwali vacation, they have got new clothes; it is all exciting. Looking at them I was kind of bemused as to why I can’t be the same way they are. Why can’t I leave back all my worries and just go and enjoy. And I was clueless. I laid on bed thinking about this which made me all the more depressed. Had some ‘Arrested Development’ episodes to change my mood and then I ended my day.
Also during my last birthday few months back when I turned 24, I felt the same. I had all my friends, relatives, parents having a ball party for this occasion and probably I was only person who was least excited about it. I also had a mention of this in (http://goneintothewild.blogspot.com/2009/04/happy-birthday.html).
It is a down trend in all the things. Whether it’s shopping or visiting relatives, or celebrating occasions. Or is it the change in the season after your teenage is over? I mean, the things I used to like, I don’t like them anymore. And now, I like new things. I love watching movies, I love partying with age old friends, I love blogging; which I used to do it earlier too but not in the volume as I do it now.
Right :-) So here I get the equation of life. Probably, this is a phase where we tend to shed our old values, thoughts, hobbies and move on to a new life. A new beginning with a new thought ideology, a new wisdom, a new process, new dreams. Probably much bigger than we earlier had.
It's the "Festival of Lights",
It's again the day of Diwali,
It's time to dress up folks,
It's time to adorn the thali.
It's the occasion to throng the temples,
Pray to the Gods and give them offerings,
It's an opportunity to entreat the deities,
To bless us all and rid us of sufferings.
It's the day to light the diyas,
Ignite the rockets and burst crackers,
But it's also the time to be safe,
From the fireworks and all the sparklers.
It's the season to pay a visit,
To all our friends and relations,
To hand them over sweets and presents,
Diwali is a splendid occasion. But while you spend a time of joy,
Don't think it's merriment all the way,
Out there wait many of those,
For whom it's no time to be gay.
Denied of laughter and smiles for days,
They know not what it is to enjoy,
Can you not share something you have,
Can you not bring them a little joy? When you can make someone else smile
When you can be someone's ally
That's when you can yourself be glad
That's when you'll have a HAPPY DIWALI!
