50 words English derived from India

I have just gone through the website and found an interesting article which states "50 words that English derived from India". Thought of sharing it with you guys.

URL - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18796493

50 words that English derived from India

• A - atoll, avatar
• B - bandana, bangle, bazaar, Blighty, bungalow
• C - cashmere, catamaran, char, cheroot, cheetah, chintz, chit, chokey, chutney, cot, cummerbund, curry
• D - dinghy, doolally, dungarees
• G - guru, gymkhana
• H - hullabaloo
• J - jodhpur, jungle, juggernaut, jute
• K - khaki, kedgeree
• L - loot
• N - nirvana
• P - pariah, pashmina, polo, pukka, pundit, purdah, pyjamas
• S - sari, shampoo, shawl, swastika
• T - teak, thug, toddy, typhoon
• V - veranda
• Y - yoga

Enjoy!!!!

India @2013 - at the cross road of "Reconstruction" or "Self Destruction"

Almost every adult citizen of our country remembers of the most often statement that was used to describe "India" in the beginning of 21st century - the rising super power of 21st Century. We were the most admired country for the world at every front that time be it political, economic or social. Our democratic structure put us ahead of China (our competitor) which had complete govt control. Our young educated population along with rise in Information Technology enhanced our credibility by many a times on the World Arena. The diverse sangam of so many religions, tribes and caste enabled us stand completely apart among the others. With so much to offer to this world, we were the ones, the entire world was looking at that time. 

10 years have now been passed and the euphoria, the enthusiasm and the hope has faded. Our democratic structure has been badly shaken by the so called "coalition politics" where regional parties have given priority to local factors than to the nation as whole. The non-stop running chain of corruption has further dented the credibility of our political brass, which unfortunately, controls our democratic structure.

The economic situation is no better either. Our economic growth is threatened by rising food and consumer inflation, less growth in income levels and too much reliance on imports. Though govt quickly puts the blame on the global turmoil but fails to answer its role to steer us of this danger. In the end, India was never responsible for  what happened in the global economy. Rather, it provided us a great opportunity to steer ahead of developed economies as they were cooling off. The testimony of poor economic situation is the currency which has depreciated against every major currency of this world in last decade or so.

At the social level too, we are now divided. Maharashtra feels threatened by Bihar, the same lies with Dalits and Brahmins, Hindu & Muslims, Jats and Gujjars, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (Cavery River issue) and so many to add in the list. The country is now in danger as we fight to take a caste / religion ahead but dragging the nation backward. 

In the end, we are a country which can blame nobody but us only for the complete mess. We are a country which has set an example of "Self Destruction" and tells the world that how promises are to be broken. 

We can still change the scenario as only 10 years have been passed which is a small phase in life of a nation. We need to put pressure on our political brass to stand and deliver. We can push them to build policies which support innovation, create job opportunities, help entrepreneurs build organizations for the future and several more such steps. 

We should make attempts to unite with each other. Treat each other as humans, respect every religions, caste or people with low economic background. Just a change in attitude and we will again be the country - the world will look at with respect.

Jai Hind!!! 

How IT making our lives complex!!!

Read it all the way through! It's a good laugh! AND really quite true!!

When my son got me a Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1,800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my kids, their spouses, 3 grand kids and could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting World.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the shopping bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship..

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't   figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look. I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do fart a lot."

P,S - senior citizens don't need any more gadgets. 

The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we need to handle.

एक दिन का गणतंत्र व् आजादी

एक दिन का गणतंत्र व् आजादी 

26 जनवरी या 15 अगस्त आते ही हमें देश की याद आती है। हर चैनल और अखबार गाँधी, बोस, नेहरु या भगत सिंह के बारे में लिख लिख कर हमें शायद याद दिलाते हैं की हम जो हैं अभी इन्ही की कुर्बानी की वजह से हैं। हमें हमारे गोर्वमय अतीत की याद दिलाता है। हमें याद दिलाता है की हम "अनेक में एक हैं"।  खेर जैसे ही 27 जनवरी या 16 अगस्त आती है, देश भक्ति की जगह परिवार, समाज और पैसा ले लेता है। 

ऐसा क्यूँ है की आज हमने अपनी आज़ादी को और सविधान को महत्व नहीं दिया हुआ है । हम में से बहुत ही कम शायद सविधान को अछी तरह से समझते हैं, हालाकि हम सबने इससे पड़ा है स्कूल में। आज भी हम सब अमीर और गरीब में भेदभाव करते हैं। आज भी हमारे घर में मज़दूर को रोटी और चाय अलग बर्तन में दी जाती है मगर 26 जनवरी को स्व: डॉक्टर अम्बेडकर साहब को याद ज़रूर करते हैं।

आज़ादी की लड़ाई में गांधीजी ने भेदभाव से लड़ने की शिक्षा दी मगर 1984 में और फिर 1992 में हमने उनके विचारों को दरकिनार कर दिया। शहीद भगत सिंह ने नौजवानों को निडर हो कर देश सेवा करने की शिक्षा दी परन्तु हम स्वयं सेवा और परिवार सेवा में ही उलझ कर रह गए। यह तो भला हो 70 साल के बुजुर्ग श्री अन्ना जी का की हम नौजवानों को अपनी ज़िमेदारी का एहसास हुआ और आगे बढ़ कर हमने गलत के खिलाफ आवाज़ उठायी है ।

आजादी की लड़ाई नारी शक्ति के बिना भी असंभव थी। हर एक आन्दोलन में बढ़ चढ़ कर हिस्सा लिया। सुभाष चंदर बोस की सेना में रानी झांसी रेजिमेंट थी जिसने अंग्रेजों के खिलाफ मोर्चा संभाला था। परन्तु आज हम उसी नारी जाती का अपमान करते हैं, तिरस्कार करते हैं। यहाँ भी सोच बदलने की ज़रुरत है।

अभी बहुत कार्य बाकी है। देश और समाज एक दुसरे का प्रतिबिम्ब ही है। अगर समाज सही होगा तो देश भी प्रगति करेगा और रोज़ हमें एक आज़ाद और गणतंत्रत होने की एहसास देगा।

वन्दे मातरम।।। जय हिन्द ।।।

Gang Rape Incident - Introspection for all us...

The recent "gang-rape" incident brought tremendous amount of anger, anguish and sense of helplessness to most of the people across the country. It also led to many questions to each one of us on what needs to be done to prevent this. 

The initial outburst was to "give death penalty" to the 6 accused people and to create fear among the others not to do it. The view is absolutely right as fear prevents human beings from do heinous acts. We fear pain and miseries and that is why we pray to God. We pay taxes because we fear that Tax Authorities may catch us. Most of us try to earn and not steal because we fear that if we get caught while stealing, we will be punished by authorities. Thus, sense of "fear" should be placed in the accused minds to ensure they don't resort to such heinous crimes.

But in my view, many more steps are required to prevent such incidents. Most of the social issues arise from society's own structural setups. There is a deep sense of divide in the name of religion. Each religion followers think his religion is superior and hence, whenever he gets the chance to downcast the other religion, he does that. The very same way, "Gender Inequality" is a big issue which is prevalent in almost every family and household.

We have seen in almost every household that Women are treated badly. The kids, especially boys, watch the head of the family (usually their father) dominating his mother, wife, sister and daughter. Thus,  gets the sense that it is the right way to treat women. And when he grows up, he tries doing the same with his wife, mother, sister and daughter.

So the very first place it needs to be stopped is in our very own household and ensure that kids while they are growing up should be taught to treat everyone - younger /  older / any gender - with respect. Teachers in schools should also play an active role to monitor the kids who are aggressive or abusive in nature and take corrective action at the very first place.

So by taking steps early, majority of social issues can be handled. The law can only prevent when something is exception. But when we all know that domestic violence is so so common now a days amongst Indian families, any law in  the country cannot enforce discipline.

So change begins from within us. I am sure if we are able to change our mindset and start treating women like any other human being, such crimes would not happen at all.  Let us pray for the girl that she survives not just the body but also the mental and social trauma that will haunt her in the days to come...