the challange

You get up every morning expecting that day will be good, hoping that it will bring new avenues with it, eying for the new challenges. Life, when it becomes stagnate, is really unexciting. Empty mind gives place to all sorts of thoughts. Negativity fills our mind.

The greatest challenge is to keep ourselves motivated enough not to become slave of boredom. Life has different phases and we have to live every one of them. To make the best use of everyone is the challenge in front of us.

Everyone has got a day which consists of just 24 hours. When you do what you like, then these 24 hours seem too short a duration. But on the other side when boredom spreads, every second becomes really long to pass.

Right now I am facing same kind of phase. I need a change, a welcome change.

(picture associated is a copyrighted work of nyah74, taken from flickr.com)

bornfree art school

Goddess Saraswati bestowed upon we humans with gift of arts. Art is one strong way to express ourselves. We live and we die, but what stay behind is our deeds, good or bad. Art makes you immortal.

Music, dance, painting, photography, drama - everything is an art. Its just our interest to get indulged in any or more of them. Visual art always has the advantage that “one picture is worth thousand words”. Everyone has t he right to express himself or herself. everyone should get the chance to enjoy the wonderful experience called Art.

Following the same philosophy, well known sculpture artist and photographer John Devraj, set up Bornfree Art School International. Its not a regular art school where you can enroll yourself or your children by paying a hefty fee. Its for the kids from the disadvantaged background. Kids who have not seen the childhood, who have been working in their tender age instead of playing and reading. Some of them worked as signboard painter while some worked in circus and many more like these.

At the school, John, his associates and many volunteers, are trying to impart these kids art. Art in the form of sculpture, art in the form of photography. Music and dance are also there. You have got any art and you have got the time, come and teach the kids. Also teach them basic of survival and of course importance of reading and writing.
Just one aim, when these kids go out, they don’t return to their old self but do something good to earn their living.

More about Bornfree can be found out on internet or contact John at 9886306366. you can mail them at bornfreeart@gmail.com

The school has put up an exhibition of the photographs which the kids took in their history expedition throughout Karnataka, in St Joseph’s Indian High School. It ends on 14^th June, 7pm. Please visit the same to see the work and contribute to the cause.

Game for a movie?

If you are fed up of watching same old one-shaadi-two-deaths-and-12-songs Hindi movies, or for that matter one-macho-hero-beating-one-thousand-aliens-to-save-the-world Hollywood movies, here is a chance to see the best from the world cinema. International Film Week is your gateway to watch movies that are not run of the mile, movies that have won critical acclaim all over the world in various film festivals.

The fest, organised by Forum Films in association with Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce Suchitra Film Society and Alliance Francaise, is on show simultaneously at Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, (June 9 to 15), Belgaum and Hubli (June 16 to 22). In Bangalore it is at Pallavi Theatre.

This film festival showcases seven films from France, Denmark, Belgium, Canada and Bosnia. So for all you movie buffs who like to watch movies from different countries, depicting their culture, their ideas through the medium of cinema, here is what is lined up in the International Film Week:

L'Enfant -9^th June
Lemming – 10^th June
Gori Vatra (Fuse) – 11^th June
La Marche de L'Empereur (The Emperor's Journey)- 12^th June
Kongekabale (King's Game)- 13^th June
Les Invasions Barbares (Barbarian Invasions)- 14^th June
De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrete (The Beat My Heart Skipped)- 15^th June

More about the movies can be found here and here.

Every film is on for four shows at 1 p.m., 3.30 p.m., 6.30 p.m. and 8 p.m., and tickets for each film are priced at the normal show rates (25, 35 and 50 INR). Season tickets are also available.

For details on the festival, contact Alliance Francaise on 41231340/ 43/ 44 or Suchitra Film Society on 26711785.

Bonne Anniversaire

Its been exactly one year since I finished my engineering. One year passed, just like that.
Lots of memories, lots of moments, lots of laughs, lots of tears. Lots of life over all. In one year I saw myself changing from one college-going lad to one so-called Software Professional. Let me note down some of the most important events which affected my life in past year.

Completion of graduation
I am a graduate now. I can earn my own living and live my own life. Now my worries shifted from get-a-degree-and-job to stabilize-career and sometimes thinking about higher studies.

Leaving the hostel
We spent four most important years in our life in hostel. We lived as one big family, a family of 200 odd-batch mates + more people from other batches. We cried and laughed together. We ate and drank together. And suddenly everyone just parted away. Luckily for me, I got a job in Bangalore and thus we could form a big group and we stayed together. A mini-hostel in making.

Setting up our home
First thing we did after leaving hostel was to take a new house, and then to arrange it, to make it a home. We contributed from our money and arranged everything here. We have everything today, and it can make any bachelor envious. We shopped for the grocery for the first time in our life, so did for the vegetables. For that matter, we cooked and washed our utensils also. From daily chores to works such as booking a Gas cylinder, we did everything. Really an experience in itself.

Life and enjoyment
I did whatever I wanted. From a expensive lunch in Leela to spending night out on beach with girlfriend. Explored life working with children, taught them Computer, learnt bits of French, went on treks, met people from all walks of life. I spent my time and money my way. Total freedom. I lived my life in my terms.

Work
We all are working in Bangalore. So from 6day class week, our life changed to 5day work week. Weekend became longer and we needed more rest. Weekdays now just mean work. We realized the true meaning of weekend only last year. The whole week we slog our asses just to enjoy life on weekends. Work can be fun but for me real fun is what I do on weekend.

Love and family
I found the time to live for myself. I found the happiness in my life. I found my first love. And I saw my first breakup. I hurt some hearts and sometimes hurt myself also. I fought with my family, and I loved them. I gave them tears in eyes, both of happiness and sorrow. I saw the pride in their eyes when my parents came here and stayed in my house. I felt proud when I went to my home on Diwali and gifted my mom what she wanted. I talked with my sister, everything and anything. I shared my life with my friends. We all laughed and cried together. A family that eats together laughs together and cries together.

Overall one hell of experience. Nobody teaches life better than life itself.
I have to heal so many hearts, fulfill so many hopes, wipe off so many tears. Its just a start. I will do whatever I am destined to, whatever I like.

I have promises to keep.
Miles to go before I sleep

Boss kaun hai, maalum hai kya?

• Does mind rule the heart or heart is the ultimate boss?

• In situation where your mind and heart try to guide you to two different paths, which one you will take?

• Why most of the time logic and emotions have conflicting directions?

• Does being logical is the ultimate solution or emotions do stand some place in our life?

• Why most of us turn into either emotionless machines or emotional fools?

• Can we defy logics?

• Can we go against emotions?

Too many questions, difficult answers…
This is life...

A day to remember

Bryan Adams sang the song “Let’s make it night to remember” Yesterday was my birthday so I thought why not let’s make a day to remember. And without much of conscious efforts, it really turned out be one unforgettable experience.

24 hours, from 00:00:00 hrs to 23:59:59 hrs, filled of different feelings. My heart experienced gamut of emotions – from a satisfaction of existence to fear of failure in life. I touched the peaks and lows of emotional strength. I laughed with everyone, for everyone, but could not cry for myself. There were moments where I felt like losing everything still somehow I gained something from it in the end. From the excitement of everyone singing “happy birthday to Pritesh” to sitting alone, totally silent, thinking about anything and everything. I broke my heart yesterday but also got the best of words to gain my strength back. Sometimes life was a real PJ while at other times I cracked PJ.

Overall, I don’t repent for whatever happened, I learnt a lot from it and it will help me to make my life better. I am happy that my birthday became such a memorable day.

I thanlk you all, for the lovely wishes and making my day such a memorable one. I shall cherish it my whole life.

Ghoom – a real time pass

Hasya ras is one of the most important ras in life. Life will be very dull without it. It can be enjoyed in various forms- jokes, movies, music, reading comics and novels and many more other ways.

Movies have been a great source of getting spice of laughter in our life. They are the easiest way to tickle anyone’s funny bones.

I watched Ghoom last night. This movie is a spoof on Abhishek John starrer Dhoom. For someone who watches, MTV Fully Faltu with great interest, it will be a really good experience. It’s typical MTV humor. I wont say anything more, just go and watch it. Dont miss it.

There is one advantage of cable TV era. We get to see different type of humor. Shows like of MTV Fully Faltu, TGICS and Comedy Inc have shown us the real meaning of comedy in life. They show how we can juice out humor from same-old daily life.

LiveStrong - for a cause

Off late, you must have seen youth wearing colorful rubber wristbands. The trend caught pace when many Indian cricketers started wearing it. We saw them all (Yuvraj, Srisanth and others) wearing bands in different colors. Today you can find it everywhere. Globally these rubber bands came into fashion after cyclist Lance Armstrong introduced LiveStrong band for aid and support for his Lance Armstorng Foundation.

Wikipedia gives following description about “LiveStrong Band”

“The Livestrong wristband is a yellow wristband developed by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong in the summer of 2004. The band is part of the Wear Yellow Live Strong educational program, intended to support cancer victims and survivors and raise awareness about cancer. The band sells in packs of 10, 100, and 1200 as part of an effort to raise $5 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in cooperation with Nike who manufacture and donate the wristbands. Individual bands sell for US$1 each. Yellow was chosen for its importance in professional cycling, as it is the color of the yellow jersey worn by the leader of the Tour de France and other prestigous races.”

Today there are bands available in almost all the colours. Some of them had some cause or meaning associated with it, while rest came just after it became a trend to wear them.
Let me list some of the causes and meanings associated with these bands:

More yellow: Support Our Troops (also in camouflage green)
Blue: Anti-bullying, anti-Bush vote, tsunami relief, prostate cancer
Pink: Breast cancer
Red: Heart-disease, vote Bush, anti-tobacco, HIV
Purple: Cystic fibrosis, lupus (also orange), domestic violence
White: Jesus Loves Me, right to life
Orange: Asperger's, self-harm
Grey: Diabetes, brain cancer
Black & white: Racism in football
Green: Ecology, leukaemia, organ donor
Gold: Childhood cancer
Black: Mourning, melanoma

Here are some of the good readings related to LiveStrong bands and other Cause bands.

• Do you know your awareness bracelets?

• Top 10 Bands for a Cause- Charity Wristbands

• LiveStong official website

• LiveStrong bands on eBay? Its not about charity

What we get in market in India, are all cheap fakes of the original LiveStrong design. Only Nike has the rights to sell it through retail shops. And LiveStrong officially has created only yellow color band, rest all are just replicas.

Heaven spelt as SAMARKAND

BJN group boasts of many of the better dining places in Bangalore. It operates restaurants of the like of Indi Joe, Sahib Sindh Sultan and Angeethi. Samarkand is another gem of a place from the same group. Located at Gem Plaza, 66, Infantry Road, it is an up market restaurant serving North West Frontier Cuisine. The cuisine and the ambience are designed to transport you to the exotic lands of Mangolia, Afghanistan and Samarkand.

It’s not a place to go for eating dinner. It’s a place for a dream date or for those memorable treats that you will cheer your whole life.

Samarkand has variety of offerings for both Veg and Non-veg tastes. To start with, you are served with bread-sticks and cheese. The menu for food is in the form of a news paper, while that for drinks is on a glass-bottle. Indded an innovative idea, you will realize it after seeing the art work on the menu.

For starters, you can chose from shorba (soup) which comes in more than two variety. Veggies can chose tamatar (tomato) while non-veggies can opt for chooze ka shorba (chicken soup). For veg starters, Cheese Kurkuri is a must. You will not get such a good thing anywhere. You can also order any other Veg Kababs if you want to try something else. Quantities are good so be sure of your appetite before you order anything. Mixed Platters can also be a good option but they come with lots of different thing and you get it in all the other places. For chicken lovers, Chandni Kabab is a must try. Also for some more choice, try Galawati Kabab. In these kind of places, starters are really good, try to enjoy most of them.

For main course, veggies can opt for Jehangir Malai Kofta and any Paneer gravy. Daal Afghani is the only daal option you have on the menu but trust me after tasting it you will not ask for any other daal. For veggies, Mirch Makai Pyaaz is a specialty here. Don’t forget it to taste it. Non-veggies can choose from Lagan ka Murgh, Gosht ki Dum Biryani, Chicken Makhni and many other chicken variety. For fish lovers, Chippe Ka Machi is a must have dish. All the dishes come in good quantity and thus you need to be very choosy to decide on one specific.

For bread and roties, you get lots of variety. Other than usual Kulchas and Naans, you should try Khameeri Roti and Roomali Roti. Seeing the chef making Roomali in front of you is a amazing experience (kitchen has glass partition from the dining area).

If you want some drinks to go with nice food, you have verity of Cocktails and Mocktails.

A nice dinner can not end without Desserts. And thus you should keep some place free in your stomach for the yummi Kulfi and Khurmi. Khurmi is a like kheer while Kulfi comes with Rabadi and Sevaiya. Really a heavenly experience. If you are a Paan lover, you can opt for Paan also.

A really (stomach) fulfilling experience. Places like this give you a feeling which you can not forget for a long time. Indeed a heaven for Fod-lovers. For food-franatics, it’s a must go place. And bit-heavy-on-wallet factor (Rs. 500 upwards per head) should not deter them. You will cherish an amazing food with quality service and never forgetting ambience.

Heaven is indeed spelt as SAMARKAND also.

darana jaroori hai...

For you lovers of horror and thrillers....
here is whats coming your way in next few months...
enjoy... bloody enjoy...

How does engineering help engineer you?

Out future depends upon the foundation we lay today. Our professional future totally depends upon the graduation we get. Our graduation defines the course of life for us. I am a BE graduate today. And I felt that engineering is a really good graduation option. And when I say this, I am not only thinking about the job opportunities in this field, but many other aspects.
Let me recollect all my experiences of last half decade or so.

Let me first define engineering here. When I say engineering I mean only BE or BTech or higher degrees. A four year full time course in engineering field or technology. There are many reasons for not including BSc, deplomas and other courses like MCA here. I shall consider them as and when needed.

Engineering life starts with preparation for entrance exams. When a young lad enters class XI or XII he starts preparing for various exams for entrance in different colleges. The exams consist of papers on Physics, Chemistry and Math. These three subjects have the whole science within them. You get to learn the most in this phase of life. And no other thing can improve aptitude better than Math. Logic and understanding comes your way when you study physics and chemistry. Moreover this is most probably first time in life when student really do some hard work.

Engineering starts with one year of preparatory courses. A mix of everything. No other field gives such an opportunity to learn so many things at one time. Again Physics Chemistry & Math play a crucial part.

When you do a MCA or any other diploma course or for that matter a three year BSc course, these things are totally missing.
Diploma courses in India could not take a proper form. They were neither job-oriented nor knowledge based. So doing them is just a waste of time. And by doing them you miss the foundation years of XI and XII too. So overall a loser option.
MCA again tries to teach logic the hard way. And in three years without help of math, it’s a really hard job. MCA people lack a lot on aptitude side thus.
Same applies for BSc and other 3 year courses. They are totally bookish, and lack on practical aspects of learning. Aptitude can not be developed in these courses, so does the logic.

Aptitude and logic hold a really important effect on your future and professional life. Engineering teaches you without any extra effort. I have seen so many enginnering students showing excellent results in exams like CAT where aptitude is checked thoroughly.

Four years of engineering teach one more important thing, that is facing tough situations. Semester exams are always time of high tension. But still student survive them year after year. My experience says, by the time they reach final year, they exactly know how to prepare for exam in exactly 2 days and how to pass it with flying colors. Stress is part of life in an engineering course and it really helps in long way.

khabarein..sabse pahle.. sabse alag...

Mahajans have created lots of breaking news last few days. I have full sympathy with them, but what happened in media last few days, is really sad.

Lets consider Mr. Pramod Mahajan's death. For at least three days after the unfortunate event, media was showing only one story. How it would have happened, what does some Mr. X feel about the events, what could have been the reasons? 10 News channels and 10000 questions. They asked doctors, they asked police, they saked poor Rahul. Dont they have any sympathy or feelings?

Last wednesday Rahul Mahajan episode happened. Rahul is still in hostpital, and doctors are still trying to find the exact reason for the problems. Police have registered case and are investigating it.
Yesterday(on Friday) two news channels claimed to be the first to bring the news of three possible suspects. According to them, these three guys were present at Rahul's residence where all the events happened. Both these newschannel claimed that the three guys came and spoken to them exclusively and told the story of what happened that night. So we saw two exclusive
red hot (breaking) news.
Today again, these news channels claimed that they could find the fourth suspect Sahil also. Sahil is in Srinagar, and he came out on his lawyers sugestion. News channels arranged for exclusive live coverage of Sahil's press appearance.Now look at the kind of talks happening there.
Reporter: Sahil what do you know about the events of that day?
Sahil: (silence)
Reporter: Who got the drugs?
Sahil: (silence)
Reporter: Sahil can you tell the viewers what exactly happened that night?
Sahil: (silence)
Sahil's Lawyer: Sahil is going to surrender before police and he has promised to help police every possible way.
Reporter: Sahil can you tell who all were there and who all consumed the drugs?
Sahil: (silence)
Sahil's Lawyer: I am telling you Sahil will tell everything he knows to police.They are the right athority. We dont need to speak here.
Reporter: Sahil, whatever you say here is going to the nation. Nation wants to know what happened that night. You can tell it here, for the whole nation.
Sahil's Lawyer: I have told you that Sahil will say only in front of the investigating agencies. There is no point of asking it here.
Reporter: But you can tell the story to whole country here. Whole country needs to know what happened that night.
Sahil's Lawyer: You are crossing all the limits.
[the above conversation are not the exact transcript but they have the exact feelings and sense]

What was the reporter trying to do? Create a story out of nowhere. Today most of the news channel give importance to creating sensation rather than presenting news. Everyone wants to show it first. They can go to any level to make a story. Grow up media.

grass and smoke...

Mr. Rahul Mahajan (son of Late Mr. Pramod Mahajan) is fighting with death in Appolo hospital in Delhi. He was admitted there on late wednesday night. polic initially considered it a case of poisoning or food poisoning. But when they searched his house (crime scene), they found some packet with white powder and some bottles of champagne. Today media stories are taking about that white substance as cocain. They are chances that it was a case of overdosage of drugs.
Let them find the truth and may god give best of health to Mr. Rahul.
But this issye reminded me of one basic problem todays youth is facing.
Drugs
I could never understand why people drink, smoke and take drugs? What do they gain by it?
Drinking, especially if it is in limits and is occasional, can not be as severe problem as others. There are some proven advantages of drinking also. Today in IT society, social drinking is a requirement also. So it can be accepted to some extents.

I could not think of any advantage of smoking. Some people do it for relieving stress while some do it for just some showoff. Most of the college going youth does it as smoking is known to be a hep thing. If you dont smoke in college, people might take it as a surprise. Why to burn your lungs for no advantage at all?
Last thing on list is Drugs and dope. I still remember seeing one football team tshirt in college. It said "my day starts

with kicking some green grass" I could not understnad the meaning initially but later I was told the maeaning of grass.
Its a hard truth, but drugs are present in college life. Today one friend of mine told me that she was very high. I asked do you take drugs? She asked me "are you surprised?" I was not surprised, coz I have seen it. College going guys and gals want to try atleast once. Someday it will become a trend which everyone will follow.
Its true also that not all are same, number of people doing drugs are not very high, but they do exist amongst us, in office, in college, everywhere. Why do people want to do something which will give them pleasure for a small time and pain for long-term?

Jokes of the day..

India, Pakistan agree on elimination of terrorism:

India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed on the need to take steps for a "complete elimination" of terrorism.

A joint statement at the end of the two-day talks between Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal and Pakistan Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah said the two sides "reiterated their commitment to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and re-emphasised the need for the complete elimination of this menace." It stressed the "need to pursue effective and sustained action against the terrorists."

India has submitted a list of 35 fugitives it wants Pakistan to trace and hand over. "Among them are Bombay don Dawood Ibrahim and Syed Salahuddin, the head of the terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen," said an Indian official.

"Pakistan has agreed to go through the list with all its seriousness," the official said, adding that in turn Pakistan handed over a list of 58 fugitives it wants deported.

Another one:
Panel set up to finalise modalities for free colour TV scheme:
The DMK Government in Tamil Nadu today initiated the process of providing colour TVs, one of the party's electoral promises, by setting up a seven-member committee headed by the State Secretary to decide modalities for its implementation.

The committee would announce within a week the procedure for floating global tenders and procurement besides modalites for identifying the beneficiaries, an official release said.

A meeting headed by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi also decided that a committee of representatives of all political parties which have members in the state assembly would discuss the plans to inaugurate the scheme in September this year.

and the real one now:
Himesh Reshammiya song attracting GHOSTS !!
Residents of Bhalej, about 80 km from Ahmedabad in Anand district, have banned his popular score "Jhalak dikhla ja..." saying those who listen to it or sing it get possessed.
The villagers cite several cases to substantiate their claim. For instance, Firoz Thakor, 25, was allegedly possessed by a spirit 10 days ago while singing the song in the evening. "He wasn't talking to anybody but himself and refused to budge from the place where he was sitting. He only became normal when we consulted the maulana," said Aarif, Firoz's elder brother.
"Getting possessed by evil power is not a new phenomenon. But of late the trend has increased. The evil follows you because the lyrics of the song have the words Aaja aaja that invite the ghost," said Isamiya Master, a retired schoolteacher in Thakor Mohalla.
"Since the evil has 'infected' five to six people, we have decided that nobody here would play the song," he said.
read some more about it here.

censor XXL

State government of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh & one more north-eastern state have decided to ban the screening of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" in their respective state. In Gujrat, Fanaa saw a similar kind of fate (ruling party made sure that Fanaa was not released in multiplexes).

Are we living in a democratic country? Why do we still boast of something called "Freedom of speech"?

Lets consider the case of "The Da Vinci Code". It is indeed a controversial movie. It faced protests all-over the world. In India also, same thing happened. So Government (I&B ministry) decided to have a special screening of the movie for some representative of churches. Mr. Dasmunsi himself watched the movie. He and other representatives decided that movie did not need any cut. They allowed it to release with Adult-only certificate and with two disclaimers attached. All this happened after CBFS had cleared the movie. Who gave I&B minister greater status over CBFS? Why did he need to see the movie and make the decision?
And after Center's decision of allowing the movie, why did state government take the decision to ban it? So now these state government can defy Central I&B minister's decision. We dont need to see the validity of decision of CBFS.
The states gave the reason that they had recieved complaints from various Christian groups about the movie. From where these group arise? Where were they when their representative cleared the movie?

In Gujrat, BJP workers took the decision of not allowing Fanaa to release in state. They have also banned the sale or renting of any Amir Khan movie in state. What kind of dictatorship is it?

Are we still living in a democratic country?