Hari · R

Airtel woes...

This week Airtel has taken an oath to trouble me and has succeeded in its objective. My hand-phone is down for the last two days and I’m helpless. The co-incidence is that Sumita’s mobile went down at the same time (again the “Shahrukh Khan” promoted network. I forgot to see the STOP sign, when I jumped into the network – RUK(H)=STOP).

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Preamble of the Constitution - The Republic of India

"We, the people of India,
having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the
individual and the unity and integrity of the Nations;"

Wish you all a very happy Republic day....

Now that we are celebrating our country's 60th republic day... and having already celebrated the 62nd independence day... isn't time to analyse, do you get all that is promised to us, as citizens, in our constitution...

One of our fundamental rights, the right to speech was made conditional... with the introduction of the 1st amendment, within the 1st year... from there on, we have already seen 94 amendments... in about 56 years... last 3 years being an exception with no amendments... I guess, more so because the government didn't had the mandate to do so.... that's more than 1.5 amendment every year... which clearly states the current state of the original document, which was introduced to our beloved nation...

Each amendment was introduced to score a political mileage rather than to uphold any provision laid down in the preamble....

This one is for my dear friends at NCST, Kharghar…

I went to our NCST campus today… it was an in-advertent visit…

The moment I entered the campus, everyone came & met me… I could see happiness and warmth in each one of those faces… it was a nostalgic moment for me…

Punyakutti sir took me to the canteen… and we had my fav black tea… he was telling me, how everyone misses me… those words meant more than any laurels or awards…

I met everyone… including our admin team, member staff from A & B wings, canteen staff, our security team & on my way back met our garden staff… missed meeting Sasi sir, as he was away in Chennai… it was a whirlwind trip… I was amazed at how people still remembered me… I’m deeply honored… Srishti still refers to NCST as my office and asks me why I don't go there these days :) I & Sumita are deeply indebted to each one of the NCST team members for their support to us, during the hospitalisation of Sumita last year... no words can describe the support provided to us by everyone...

At the end of the day, I’m feeling very satisfied & contented, with myself & my life, to have met and befriended a group of priceless gems… I’ll preserve this possession for ever… as part of my family... they are there in our good-n-bad times…

Thank you NCST and thanks to IBM for offering me to execute the OSSRC project!!

All three of us, (Me, Sumita & Srishti), were out on a two week long trip to Tamil Nadu.... end of Dec'2008... The trip was more of discovering, (& introducing the same to Sumita & Srishti), our culture, ancestral home, relatives, village life, rivers, the nature at its best, HUGE temples & its architecture, and ofcourse the beautiful idols which represent the Gods in different forms & names.... the best part about these centuries old temples is that they vibrate some sort of confidence within oneself. Most important reason was, I wanted to thank God for helping us come out of the troubled period and for every good thing that has come into our life... including great friends like you all... :)

Summary of our temple-show travel in Tamil Nadu....
13 days of relentless travel in a car (apart from flights to chennai & back to mumbai)
Covering 19 destinations (cities, towns, villages)
Set our foots on 18 major temples, 12 major tourist attractions including a waterfall & 3 beaches

The following is the list of cities/towns/villages which we covered.... Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Kanchipuram - Neiveli - Chidambaram - Tanjavour - Tiruchendur - Kutralam - Tirunelveli - Padmanabhapuram - Kanyakumari - Susindaram - Pattamadai (my home town) - Kalliraikurichhi - Tenkasi - Madurai - Thiruparankundram - Tiruchhi - Srirangam - Chennai :)

Title: Flower Power :)
Photographer: Hari R
Location: Taj Connemara, Chennai

I liked the way the rose petal's were placed over the vessel, filled with water... and in the center, the pink rose and the 5 green leaves, providing that contrast, which is soothing to the eyes...

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I'm a monster without the wheels... and I'm singing, "Loose Control"... Leave the road... give me way [:)]

Subject Title: Courtesy Rahul Upakare sahaj 
Pic taken by: Hari R
Location: Hyderabad

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Gokulashtami marks the celebration of the birth of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. Lord Sri Krishna was born on the 'Rohini' nakshatram (star) on Ashtami day. This festival is also known as Sri Krishna Jayanti and Janmashtami.

Celebration of Janmashtami, includes Dahi Handi ceremony, celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and glee. Dahi Handi is an enactment of Lord Krishna's efforts to steal butter from Matka (earthen pot) suspended from the ceiling.

However, lately I did not appreciate, the way it is being celebrated now, in most of the places... We could see each of the news channels, weighing with each other, to showcase the Dahi Handi celebrations in different parts of the city... and what they were concentrating, was on 'page 3' stars who made a bee-line to these spots just to be part of the prime time news and get some light in the process.

The organisers in order to please the stars, were playing their bollywood hit numbers like, 'Beedi jalaile' & 'e ganpath chal dharu la'... the news channels showcasing the same song clips repeatedly... we could see people in the crowd demonstrating how best they can render the dance piece, the way it was picturised in the song sequence...

I do not understand if this is what one calls Janmashtami celebrations... I am unable to co-relate a beedi jalaile or a chal dharu la kind of songs, in a religious ceremony...

I also don't believe that such a thing would be allowed in any other religion. And surprisingly we had no one objecting to this tamasha, including the so called protectors and saviors of this religion.

People may argue that, I'm playing spoil-sport here and the crowd wants fast beats to dance and enjoy the celebration. I would tell them to go and take a look at the celebrations organised by the ISKCON temple. One can see everyone there, dancing, singing, enjoying the Krishna bajans... and yes they were playing the beats too... beats which can make anyone dance, sing & raise their hands to pray the God. I bet we have enough folk songs up our sleeves to get people on their feet.

I am appealing to the first set of community, not to spoil the spirit & essence of the festivities, celebrations and the religious feelings, by their innovations. It hurts.

I'm back to LJ after a long time... though I've been posting comments on other's posts on-and-off... however didn't do it on my own :)

Here is a picture taken by me, last month, while I was in Shanghai...

The expressions of the couple depict what love is... they are just immersed in their partner... the world around does not mean anything to them... what a feeling :) I just loved it!!

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