A mix of everything

The word Obey comes from the Latin word: oboedire. Which itself is made of two words ob "to" + audire "listen, hear" (similar to audience). And when we think of obedience training which is more related to dogs and pets the most common thing is walking the pets. See how these parents are adding a twist (a rather sick one) to the term.

You decide what to call it. I call it total laziness for starters and lack of feelings towards children. no offence but all normal loving parents usually carry their children in their arms or hold hands. And we wonder why there are so many wars and riots when parents are treating their children like animals.

871531200000.00
Thats Eighty Seven Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Three Crores and Twelve Lac. (Only!?)

This is the amount that has gone for a walk in the accounts of certain unscrupulous characters running our nation. This money comes from our taxes paid and was meant for the purposes like rural development, upgradation of rural training institutes, training of farmers etc. So much could have been achieved if this money was put for its intended use.

One example of how our money is being misused is understatement of the balances of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USO). USO came into effect on he 1st of April 2002, its purpose is to introduce access to basic telegraph facilities in rural and remote areas. I don't know how is basic defined in their dictionary. Cause they have marked 'basic' under quotes and bold text on their site. (http://www.dot.gov.in/uso/usoindex.htm) I'll give you statutory warning, this site is infected and has 5 instances of trojan infections. Please use a firewall and basic discretion.
The way these guys work is by collecting resources under the Universal Access Levy which is payable by all telecom service providers under various licenses. During the period of 2002-2003 to 2007-2008 the USO collected a total amount of Rs. 20404.44 crore and a total disbursement of Rs. 6371.44 crore. So the balance must naturally be 14033 crores. How about ZERO!?!? An amount as huge as Rs. 14033 crores cant just fallout of your wallet!! And it must be one heck of a feast for the ones (in DoT?) who gobbled it all up. Shocked!?! Read this report provided on the link below:
http://www.cag.gov.in/html/reports/civil/2007-08_CA13_civil/chap_2.pdf

It talks about how the entire sum of Rs. 871531200000.00 went missing. This issue was brought up in the parliament and nothing was done about it.

First thing that comes to my mind is to vote the current jokers out of the government. So go ahead and vote!! Vote responsibly after doing some research. Curb corruption going on around you. Dont take and offer bribes. If you are caught at a traffic light refrain from using the customary move 'kya saab mamla khatam karo na' (sir please finish this matter). A sizeable dent in your wallet will stop you making the mistake in the future. You can also do some good to your community by doing some voluntary service. Take the Art of Living course and then help organize more in your area.

Bawa's article on the same topic

Wanna save 20% on petrol?? Read this article for some tips and eye opening facts.

More coming up....
Jai Gurudev

-Jay

After having failed his exam in “Logistics and Organization”, a student goes and confronts his lecturer about it.

Student, “Sir, do you really understand anything about the subject?”

Professor, “Surely I must. Otherwise I would not be a professor!”

Student, “Great, well then I would like to ask you a question. If you can give me the correct answer, I will accept my mark as is and go. If you however do not know the answer, I want you give me an 'A' for the exam.”

Professor, “Okay, it's a deal. So what is the question?”

Student: “What is legal, but not logical, logical, but not legal, and neither logical, nor legal?”

Even after some long and hard consideration, the professor cannot give the student an answer, and therefore changes his exam mark into an 'A', as agreed.

Afterwards, the professor calls on his best student and asks him the same question.

He immediately answers, “Sir, you are 63 years old and married to a 35 year old woman, which is legal, but not logical. Your wife has a 25 year old lover, which is logical, but not legal. The fact that you have given your wife's lover an 'A', although he really should have failed, is neither legal, nor logical.”

For those of you who don't know this place: This is the choco lover's paradise in Mumbai. They call it Manish Market though some people use a different name. But its right beside Manish Market if you are travelling on Mohammed Ali Road. If you are a diabetic like me then stay away if you don't have a strong will (seriously) This place is crammed with chocolates and just looking at it can give the faint of the heart a sugar induced coma. Four lanes of shops each almost 100 meters long and all of them selling different varieties chocolates, candies, mints, jellies, marzipans, liquid chocolate fountains, marshmallows, mawa sweets, dry fruits and everything that can satisfy a sweet tooth at the lowest prices in Mumbai. One 350ml of Thousand Island Sauce that will cost Rs. 220 in Hypercity will cost you only Rs. 140-150 over here. This is where all the wholesalers buy their goods. And you don't need to buy enough to open a shop every time you come here. I always fetch Dark Chocolates, Mints and also a combination of the two. One such popular example is After Eight from Nestle, the Exotica brand available in Haiko's Powai, I dont know if they still stock it though. Or the ultimate Dark Chocolate + Mint chocs Whitaker's Dark Gold. However Exotica and Whitakers are specially imported by Haiko and Hypercity. You'll find many more varieties like a whole new range of Lindt which includes the plain classic Lindor, the mix flavoured Lindts or the premium dark chocolate Ghana range. Then there is Cote D' ur or something spelled like that etc.....

If you are a guy and your girlfriend loves chocolates then this place will earn you a million brownie points and you'll be able to save money too. I don't advise bringing your lady love along with you though. She might have you filing for bankruptcy before the day ends. This place is right after the Dava Bazaar gully when coming from Marine Lines station, try walking cause the traffic in this area is terrible and you'll waste a lot of time and money in a cab. Apart from just chocolates which are only a small part of this market You can also find travel bags, clothes, electronic and loads of other things over here. For sports goods you'll have to head to the Metro cinema lane. I usually come for chocolates here more than anything else. Don't worry I dont eat them, my girlfriend does.



Here's the latest purchase I made, contains mostly mints as she has already got many chocolates and as summer is approaching mints will become an endangered species.

Just got a new table-tennis bat for myself!
I have been playing with my almost ancient GKI-5star which I had bought 6 years back. I still like that bat cause the rubber sheets are still spinny after so much use but now I feel it is the time for more speed rather than spin. And I really like the feel of the Jonyer-H-AN, it has a Red Sriver-FX for the backhand and Black Sriver for the Forehand. Prefer a bit more looping power on my forehand rather than the all out speed of the Sriver-FX. Took a couple of days to get used to the speed. The best thing I love when facing a player for the first time is when they place a shot long on my backhand and the ball blurs past leaving them lunging in futile.
I will buy the Boll TriCarbon with Bryce Speed rubbers as soon as I outgrow this bat (I have seen a player using this combination to lethal effect, I know I know every player is different BLAH BLAH. Thats the reason I am waiting for sometime to buy this bat. And this blade is like a nuclear bomb among other blades.) Till then planning to practise against better players to improve my game. Here's a video of my favourite player Timo Boll for you to see. Have a look and enjoy.

Jai Gurudev to all, I am posting after an almost two month long sabbatical. Been fairly busy with the setup of a new venture that me and my family are taking in manufacture of Automotive, Industrial & Speciality Lubricants. Yes you heard (actually read) it right. Moving into the BIG BAD WORLD of lubricants manufacturing. The name of the company is Oiltech Lubricants Private Limited. The company is in its final phase of set-up and the inauguration will take place soon in Tarapur, Boisar. I am currently looking to build a strong network of distributors all over India. So if you are interested and have an expertise in marketing Automotive OR/AND Industrial Lubricants then I'll be happy to welcome you aboard. You can also join if you already are a dealer with another brand and are looking to explore better options. There are tonnes of USP in this brand which I'll be glad to discuss with you. And even if you are not selling my products, please do buy them.

I first offer my prayers to those innocents who were slain and to those braves who were martyred in the line of duty.

Mine is of the many voices that is being raised against this blatant form of brutality. From what I have seen happening from the 26th November, 2008 to the last of the attackers being dropped dead on national television has definitely shaken me. I was at Crawford Market that day and was supposed to go to Dockyard for work. Now sitting at home I wonder how closely I have managed to escape death without knowing it. Both of these locations were hit by the attackers and they surely could have spared a bullet for me if I had crossed them. That night I was frantically calling my friends, family and employees for their safety. Over a hundred people dead and lots more injured. Businessmen, families, train commuters, CEOs, foreigners and maybe some of the hotel too. All of them who have been killed have not yet been recognized by the authorities. We Indians and especially Mumbaites been living under the so called Unshakeable tag for too long now. And its time that others realize that we are resilient by force and not by choice.

Then who is to blame, The Government? But infiltraring the attackers network and preventing these attacks is also no mean feat. And the group that claims responsibility for this is supposedly a new group. Then who do WE, people like YOU & ME that get killed the most can do. Whom do we turn to? Do we keep faith in the system or do we take it to the streets and ask the government to defend us. The first thing that comes to my mind is that I will make sure that I vote for the most elidgible candidate this year in the elections. Because once in five years we get the power to shape our nation and henceforth I'll make sure that I give my stamp of approval after some thought. And we Mumbaites now realize that we are not the invincible breed some of us think we are. I am specially referring to those who are throwing people out of Maharashtra calling them OUTSIDERS. In these dire consequences we can reflect on some topics that wouldn't have come to light.

Firstly did the Thackerays realize that the 200 plus NSG commandos that flew in from New-Delhi to save our lives while they went without a thought to face death were OUTSIDERS too?? Why didn't they bring forward the Marathi Manoos or face the flak themselves as they call themselves soldiers of the soil. DUH? And where are Mr. Balasaheb, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray right now? Are the helping the centre in formulating new security policies? If they have a conscience they wouldn't utter another word regarding this territory rubbish again. And anyone who creates seperatist theories and conflicts within different groups of the nation is a TERRORIST, yes I said TERRORIST himelf. This is not the time to play politics for our national leaders and try and topple this government using these attacks as a spearhead. And neither am I being soft on the ruling side. If they cannot run this country then we will find someone better to do the job. And if you wish to stay in power then we the people of this country want to see some results. We do not wish to step out of our houses not knowing that we will return or not. WHO AM I KIDDING!?!? We are not safe inside our houses too if things keep going this way!!!

And if any one of our leaders are reading this then consider this as a wake-up call (read: wakeup kick in the @**.) And be kind to pass it on to your brethren :)

An awesome post I saw on Bawa's blog couldn't resist from posting it here.....


An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.





A representative from India began: ‘Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.
When Rishi Kashyap struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath.’
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.
The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and in support of Pakistan , he shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren’t there then.‘
The Indian representative smiled and said, ‘And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’