Bye Bye 2011

Last day of 2011 & Last post of 2011 –

There have been so many ups and downs, happy & sad moments this year…

An attempt to summarize 2011 –

We have lost many great personalities this year. The great personalities include Bharatratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Satya Saibaba, M.F.Hussain, Shammi Kapoor, Nawab Mansoor Ali Pataudi, Co- founder of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs, photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha,  Gazal maestro Jagjit Singh and the evergreen star of bollywood Dev Anand. These personalities will be missed by millions of people. And there were a few deaths which were awaited (or even celebrated) by the people. These included most wanted Osama Bin Laden & Colonel Gaddafi.

 

And Now some other events.

For politicians this year has not been a great year. Some big names have settled in Tihar Jail.

All of them are ‘in’ under one label i.e. corruption.  Definitely the common man feels a bit satisfied because of this.  In fact 2011 should be declared as the year against corruption. Even Ramdeo Baba jumped into this movement. How can we forget the 3 fights (April, August & December) against corruption?  Members from Team Anna must be the most talked about people this year.  Hope so their issue is solved this coming year and they come up with some new issue in 2012.

For gadget lovers this year has been all about tablets. It seems every other company wants to jump into the tablet market. The cheapest tablet named ‘Aakash’ with a price tag of RS. 2500 was launched this year. I wonder will it ever be made available to all the students who desire it even at a cheaper price.  In mobile phones I Phone 4 S rocked the markets all over.

In the sports world, no one can forget 2^nd April 2011. It was the day when Team India won the CWC after 28 years.  I think this must be the highlightd moment of success & happiness for majority of Indian population this year. The IPL4 was won Chennai super kings & the Champions League T20 by Mumbai Indians. Viru scored a massive double ton Vs WI. India also won the Asian Championship (Hockey) & Kabbadi World Cup.  The much awaited Formula one Grand Pri was held at Buddh International Circuit in Noida. In 2012 India awaits Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th ton. Hope 2011 brings such good memories also.

And now to wrap up, some remarkable incidents this year -

• Royal wedding of Kate Middleton & Prince Williams.
• Mumbai was again attacked by 3 bomb blasts and people are still waiting when that guy Kasab will be hanged.
• The Japan earthquake.
• The treasure found at Padmanabh Swami temple in Kerala.
• Sushil Kumar winning 5 crore in KBC.

As this year comes to an end, I thank 2011 for bringing so many memories & WELCOME 2012 with a great pomp and joy.  To All my readers I wish a Very Happy NEW YEAR!!! May 2012 be a prosperous, Successful & Healthy year for you. Enjoy this year as much as possible. Who knows the world might end in 2012.

Chaos

Traffic jam near my home in Garkheda, Aurangabad. 

Not so frequent scene here.

Merry Christmas

Christmas decorations at a mall in Aurangabad.

Merry Christmas to all of you !!!

May Santa bring lots & lots of gifts for you !!!

Gazania Flowers

Cosmos Flower

Towards The Sun

Seems like all the clouds are moving towards the Sun at the time of Sunset. Even though the Sun was not clearly visible, the sky looked beautiful.

Pentas Flowers

I Fly Alone

Captured this lonely bird flying in the sky at Worli Seaface, Mumbai.

Diwali Snapshots 2

Diwali Snapshots 1

Diwali is incomplete without Diyas. These are a few photos I captured this Diwali.

Vinca Flower / Sadafuli

Captured this on the terrace of my home.Popularly known as Sadafuli (सदाफुली) in Marathi. The raindrops making it more beautiful. 

The Road Ahead

Revolution 2020

I was confused when I saw the cover of the book. It looked like a love triangle but with the title Revolution 2020??? Being a fan of CB, I was excited about the book and CB didn’t disappoint.

I loved the introduction of kids. It is cute.  The novel revolves around Gopal, Raghav and Aarti who live in the Varanasi. The two guys are appearing for engineering entrance exams. Raghav succeeds while Gopal doesn’t.

            Gopal fails in spite of two attempts for the entrance exams.  Spending a lot on studies (or say coaching) leaves no wealth in his hand. You will feel sad for Gopal as nothing seems going his way. But later things seem to change.  With the help of a politician he starts a new engineering college. The politician as expected is not a clean person and even Gopal becomes corrupt.  In the mean time Raghav fights against the system. And there is a problem; they both loved the same girl. Seems like a bollywod movie script na? The twist in the end may not be digestible to some of the readers.  

The book is interesting. It’s not just a love story. It also has aspects like, ambition, corruption, poverty, politics, passion, power and system. The books depict the problems of small Indian cities like dispute in a family over land, people wanting their children only to be an engineer and the dirty & ugly side of education.

The book will make you think on the system.  A person is not born corrupt, but it the society and the various incidents in his life are the one which make a person corrupt.  If there is any message in this novel, it would be one has to follow his passion in life.

But I have a complaint. I don’t understand why most of the novels which have youth (mostly love stories) don’t go ahead of IITs and IIMs or any other engineering college.  Is it so that students of commerce and arts don’t have interesting lives or it won’t sell like this one’s do. Well to some extent this one has tried going beyond it. But it has the AIEE/JEE element in this.

Overall it is an interesting book and very well narrated by the author. Chetan Bhagat has made INDIA read by his previous novels. Hope this one does the same !

The Tech Guru

          It was Dussehra morning and like every morning i opened my Facebook account. i was expecting that there would be Dussehra fever all over Facebook. But i was shocked!!! Someone had shared a photo of Steve Jobs with the tagline RIP 1955 - 2011. Below that post there were many other posts confirming that it was not a rumor.The Apple's i was no more. He was gone just a day after Apple launched i phone 4S. No doubt he was the greatest inventor and visionary of our times. Steve was the one who gave a new meaning to word Apple other than a fruit.  He was the one who a great inventor as well as a great businessmen. Steve left the world very early. Steve’s death is a big loss for the world of technology. i wonder what and how many more he would have given to us. He not only gave birth to Apple, but also Next(later Apple bought it) and Pixar(it was sold to Disney).

          Many have criticized that Steve as well as Apple that their products were not used by the common man. But i think Apple was a trendsetter in the world of technology.All products brought by Apple were not the first in their respective categories, but whenever apple launched the product, they just redefined the product and set a trend in the market. Once Apple launched an innovative product, the other companies followed at cheaper prices. But no one has reached the level of perfection that of Apple.

•  It was Apple who made the computers 'Personal'. And then others followed.
• Apple launched the i pod (making the walkmans useless) which changed the way we listened songs.
• Apple launched i phone and later many companies brought their touch or smart phones.
• And last year Apple launched i pad and we are now flooded with tablets.

          Steve was not only popular for his intelligence, but for his simplicity too. He was often seen wearing jeans a black T-shirt at the launch of his products. i don’t think there are many CEOs who attend a press conference in such an outfit.

A college dropout, Steve Jobs was invited for a speech at Stanford University and his speech is one of the most inspirational speeches i’ve ever read/listened. A few quotes that I have extracted from the speech are -

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” 

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."

 “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.”

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

And my favorite one which I think was Steve’s mantra of life “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

Do read/watch the full speech click on the below link  -

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Googol

Note- There is no spelling mistake in the Title "Googol'.

Google celebrated its 13th birthday on 27th September 2011.

Google welcomes us with its new logos called Doodle on special ocassions.

I am writing this post because over the years Google has become an important part of my life. Google was the first website I visited as a netizen. The world of internet is incomplete without Google. Don’t agree??? Just imagine Internet without Google for a few seconds. It provides us with so many services like from the mails we send/receive to the photos we edit & share (Picasa and picnik) and the videos that we watch (YouTube).

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Stanford University Graduates ( I wonder why they are not as famous as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates) were working on a search engine called BackRub. They named it Google and the name was derived from the word Googol which is a mathematical term to represent 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. 

  And now a days if you don't know anything, we just "Google" it. 

 Here are a few facts about Google - 

• Google was incorporated in September1998.
• In July 2001, it launched Image Search.
• In January 2003, Google was the most useful word in America for 2002. (I think it should be the most useful word till today). The next month they acquired Pyra Labs (creators of Blogger).
• In August their IPO took place at NASDAQ.
• In June 2005 Google Earth was unveiled and in the next month Google Talk.
• In June 2006, Oxford English Dictionary added 'Google' as a verb. In October, Google acquired YouTube.
• On Valentine's Day 2007, Gmail was opened for everyone. In the same year in November, ANDRIOD (open platform for mobile devices and the most popular OS for mobiles & tablets) was launched.
• In September 2009, Chrome was launched.
• An important launch form India's point of view was launch of Google India Elections Centre in 2009 , where people could check if they are registered to vote and even find their polling places. 
• And in June 2011 Google + project was launched. 

                        And I don’t think that I need to mention from where I got the above stats…;D

                        Thank you Google !!!

मराठी  म्हणी (continued) -

१. थोरा  घरचे श्वान त्याला सर्व देती मान - मोठ्या माणसांच्या आश्रयाखाली राहणाऱ्या क्षुल्लक माणसाला मान मिळतो या अर्थाची  ही म्हण आहे. 

२. अडाण्याची मोळी भलत्यास गिळी - अडाणी माणसाने एखादी गोष्ट केली तर त्याचा परिणाम विपरीत होतो. 

३. कुठे जाशी भोगा तर तुझ्यापुढे उभा - कुठल्याही संकटातून बाहेर पडल्यावर लगेच आणखी एक  संकट समोर येणे.

४. एकादशी च्या घरी  शिवरात्र -  एक दारिद्री व्यक्ती  दुसऱ्या दारिद्री व्यक्तीला काय मदत करणार अशा अर्थाने ही म्हण वापरतात. 

५. सासू नाही घरी नणंद जाच करी - मालक हजार नसतांना नोकर मालकाच्या  रुबबतात वावरतो. .

६. एक कोल्हा सतरा ठिकाणी व्याला - एका व्यक्तीकडून अनेक ठिकाणी त्रास होणे.

७. ठिकाण नाही लग्नाला आणि कोण घेते मुलाला - कोणत्याही कामात उताविळपणा करून घाई करणे. 

८. चोरी काकडीची शिक्षा फाशीची - छोट्याश्या किंवा क्षुल्लक गोष्टीला अवाजवी महत्व देणे. . 

९. आंधळी पाण्याला गेली आणि घागर फोडून आली - अडाणी  माणसाच्या  हाती  एखादे काम दिल्यास  तर  त्या कामाचा  बोजवारा  उडतो.  

१०. हातावर कमवावे, पानावर खावे - दररोज मेहनत करून जे मिळेल त्यावर उपजीविका करणे. 

मराठी म्हणी - 

१. सात सुगरणी आणि भाजी अळणी - एका कामासाठी पुष्कळ  जणांची नेमणूक करूनसुद्धा काम व्यवस्थित न होणे या अर्थाने हि म्हण वापरतात..

२.हिंग गेला वास राहिला - हिंगाचा वास जसा लवकर जात नाही तसा एखादी घटना झाल्यानंतर त्याबद्दल  चर्चा करणे..

३. लोकांचे शिकले वडगाव विकले - लोकांच्या नादी लागून भलतीच गोष्ट करणे.

४. तरण्याचे  झाले कोळसे  अन म्हातार्याचे आले बारसे - काम करण्यासाठी  तरुणाने आळशीपणा करावा आणि म्हातार्याने  उत्साहाने काम करणे.

५.हौसेने केला पती त्याचा झाला रगपती - एखादी  गोष्ट हौसेने करूनदेखील त्याचा शेवट निराशेनेच व्हावा.

६. पाय धू म्हटलं तर म्हणे तोडे कितीचे   - सांगितलेला काम न करता भलतीच चौकशी करणे.

7. नात्याला  नाही पारा आणि निजायला नाही थारा - नातेवाईक किंवा  मित्र मंडळी खूप असून देखील संकटाच्या वेळी कोणी धावून न येणे.

८. वकूब थोडा दिमाग बडा - योग्यता अगदी थोडीशी पण रुबाब मात्र खूप मोठा दाखवणे. 

९. सासू गेली उन्हाळ्यात, आसू आले पावसाळ्यात - एखादी गोष्ट होऊन गेल्यावर पश्चाताप करणे.

१०. दुभत्या गाईच्या लाथा गोड - ज्या गोष्टी पासून आपल्याला काही लाभ आहे, त्याचा त्रास  त्रास गोड वाटतो.

The Big Movement

In almost all Indian cities, there were more Indian flags visible on a day after the Independence Day. It was not for a belated celebration, but for a movement against corruption. People were on streets for supporting Anna Hajare. There have many movements in India before. But this movement by Anna Hajare and his team including Arvind Kejrival, Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhuhan, Prashant Bhushan, Swami Agnivesh and other has received overwhelming response. One of the reasons for this is the timing. Since the last year we have come across so many scams like CWG scam, 2G scam, Aadarsh building scam and many more. There was anger in the minds of people about it. People used to watch or read the news on TV or newspapers about corruption and say “Kya Hoga is Desh Ka???” There was growing resentment in the minds of people about the increasing corruption. There was a need that personalities, whom people respect (other than politicians), raise their voice against this issue. And the above mentioned people did it by insisting for the Jana Lokpal bill. The Lokpal bills were introduced several times since 1968, yet they were never passed by the Indian Parliament.

The common people felt helpless as they were the victims of corruption. If someone has a work pending in a Government office, he/she has to pay bribe for it to get completed on time. Infrastructure and development projects are pending because of lack of funds and the scams were of THOUSANDS of CRORES...

          The another reason is that the Govt. (acting like dictator) did not co operate with the members of Team Anna. The Ministers of the committee made for drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill made vague comments on Civil Society (Team Anna). There are debates on whether to include the Pm and judicial system in this bill or not.

There is huge discontentment among the young citizens who are participating in it.People criticizing younger generation have to agree that if guided properly, the youngsters can devote themselves for a good cause. The Social Networking sites have played an important role in informing people about where and when the marches are to be held. Many people participating in this marches protesting corruption don’t even know the issues on which there are difference between parliament and people or what exactly Jana Lokpal Bill is for. But they are supporting just because they know that it is for a better India.

Recently many other countries had experienced revolutions where the common people revolted. Eg. Egypt. Another point is that the movements in other countries were violent. But this movement has been followed on the path of non-violence showed by Mahatma Gandhi. Not a single stone thrown to break and damage public property nor a person protesting was hurt. It is great example which Indians have shown other countries that such mass movements can take place without a single incident of violence.

For more details about India Against Corruption(IAC) visit-

 http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org

A Wednesday

               Mumbai was again  rocked with series of 3 bomb blasts on  13th July, 2011 @  Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar & Kabutarkhana(Dadar). Again the target were crowded places and time was peak / busy hours.Its was a normal Wednesday evening and many people were returning home from their office & the blasts took place making it a Black Wednesday.
               Mumbai has become a soft target for the terrorists. The terrorists have attacked the city again and again. The financial capital has now become the capital of BOMB Blasts. I wonder how the city derived it's former name 'BOMB'ay.

               The Common & innocent people are not safe while criminals (our guests) are safe in jail. Whoever is behind this i.e. Indian Mujhahiddin or L-e-T., aren't we going to finish these instituions any day? A few news channels reported that it was AJMAL KASAB"s Birthday. And it is horrible that it was celebrated(by terrorists) not by cutting cake but killing innocent people.



              Mumbai has digested many such BOMB BLASTS before. Nothing new in this one. As always the ministers have expressed their sorrow towards and the Government has provided compensation to the victims.Some of the politicians have even made strange comments. The opposition parties have expressed anger  and have criticized the ruling party. The so called Mumbaikar's spirit has also been praised.
The police will invistegate the issue and case will go on & on for years in the court. The verdict of the court will be challanged in the Supreme Court and on and on...But the people behind this wont be punished..
How many of us remember a convicted person in such cases has suffered severe punishment. In the days to come we will forget this incident and another attack may happen.
And again the above mentioned procedure will take place. The Question which I came across is-

How many such attacks are we gonna sustain in future & is this ever going to STOP ???