Shilpa Shetty - Global Opportunist?

Shilpa Shetty seems to have hit good times like never before. First her popularity soared after she won the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother and now the BJP is wooing her to join the party. Some new channels say that she has already got offers from Hollywood - WOW!

Most Indians who have spent time living in London will have a personal story to tell you about Racial Discrimination. It might not be a big one like Shilpa's...it will still be true. So, I refuse to believe that Shilpa was naive enough to think she'll have a good time in London doing the show. She is a smart woman who has got on the top of the heap in Bollywood (which is probably worse than Celebrity Big Brother). She would have done her research. My take is that she fully knew what she was getting into. It probably got blown out of proportions...so what the heck...Three weeks of grueling effort and the results are for all of us to see.

Way to go Shilpa...In a largely opportunist world, i see no wrong in what you have done...Go get the world.

One too many scams...

CNN-IBN exposed a scam today..."pay goons, get votes" for the local polls in Mumbai. The Election commissioner of Maharashtra immediately retorted that any such irregularities should be reported to the Mumbai Police and stern action would be immediately taken against the erring parties.

One obvious question comes to mind - Are the election commissioners and the police officers not aware of such incidents during elections??? Or is it that they wait with folded hands for a widely followed news channel to expose and some other party to report this to them before they decide to move into action? If so, my belief is that this too is a scam!!!

Hogwarts House Sorting Quiz Results

At least someone believes that i am intelligent, witty and capable :) So what if it is a computer programmed quiz...wait till my wife sees this...she'll die laughing :))

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

18 year olds kidnap and kill a child in Chennai

Three boys kidnapped and subsequently killed a 11 year old boy in Chennai yesterday. The reason - they wanted to collect a ransom of 5 lacs and use the same for buying cell-phones and having a lavish new year party. Read the story here.

The cops have apprehended the CRIMINALS (i hate to call 18 year olds criminals, but pray give me another term for these boys), but are not sure how to proceed with the case. It is evident from the fact that they have not yet released the names of the apprehended. I guess the age of perpetrators is proving to be a problem.

One of the fundamental principles of our upbringing in India is "Always live within your means".
Another one (made very famous by Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munna Bhai - Gandhigiri) is to follow a philosophy of "tolerance towards fellow humans".

In a society that abides by these principles at large, this crime is least to say shocking!!! What also makes it outrageous and unacceptable is the age of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

Some questions that immediately come to mind:

1. Is materialism so deep-rooted in our society that boys of such an age committed this crime for what seems to me a TRIVIAL reason?
2. Was killing the child the only way of failure to beget the ransom?
3. What kind of upbringing have these boys had, that made these boys act with no mortal fear of retribution?
4. Should the parents of these boys also be held responsible for the crime?
5. How can we protect our children from these "DESPERATE WANNABEs"
6. How do we put the fear of god in people who would even consider committing such a crime?
7. Lastly, how do we weave the moral fabric of our society to minimize such instances?

We need to find these answers, if not for ourselves at least for the sake of our future generation.

In an address delivered at the Center for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, on November 9, 2006, Singapore’s distinguished diplomat and author, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore, makes three predictions about India:

1. First, Indians, unlike the Japanese, are going to wear less rather than more Western clothing as they emerge as a great power.
2. Second, India will continue with some of the finest political traditions it has inherited from the West: democracy, a respect for human rights, and respect for the rule of law. But, increasingly, Indians will start to claim these traditions as their own. A rediscovery of the ideas of Ashoka and Akbar in India could lead to an understanding that some of the best practices of Indian political culture predated the arrival of the West in India.
3. Third, with the growing detachment between the West and the East, India will once again resume its natural role as the meeting point for the great civilizations. At a time when many in the West are convinced that the West cannot co-exist in peace with the Islamic world, they should study how India has been able to accommodate so many civilizations -- including the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian civilizations -- and how most of them have lived in peace with each other for most of the time. There is something unique about Indian political and social culture. There is a spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance that pervades the Indian spirit. Hence, while the West often tries to discuss the world in black and white terms, distinguishing itself from either the evil empire or the axis of evil, the Indian mind is able to see the world in many different colors.

He concludes:

"The Indian capacity for engaging other cultures and civilizations may well define India’s role in the relations between the West and the East. Certainly it can play an important bridging role but it could play an even bigger role. It could help to remove the sharp distinctions that seem to be growing between the West and the East. It could perhaps help to convince the leading minds in the West that they should stop seeing themselves as guardians and custodians of one leading civilization, the Western civilization. Instead, they should see themselves as guardians and custodians of ’human civilization’ . Convincing the West to adopt this new mindset will not be easy. A great crusade will be needed to convince the West that it is essentially no different from the East. India may well play a leading role in this crusade".

Help me make money and you can make lots too!

This is the promise traditionally reserved for Multi-Level-Marketing Companies. For the uninitiated these are companies that hire people you know to sell products to you and get you to sell products to others with the promise that everybody in the chain makes money.

But now there is a new company based out of the bay area that wants to extend this hugely successful (but equally irritating) concept to internet surfing. Yeah, you got it right – INTERNET SURFING. agloco.com (short of A Global Community) set up in Stanford.

What happens is very simple.

1. You sign-up by giving some basic information that most website anyways ask for. They anyways claim to have a stringent Privacy policy
2. You get a reference number
3. You pass on the reference number thru emails, your blog etc. to your friends
4. Every time someone uses your link to access agloco and becomes a member you supposedly get paid for it.
5. As the traffic to the site increases, so does the advertising value of the site.

I went and registered and this is my reference link. http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBG0754

But there are some obvious issues currently;

1. The viewbar is not available yet
2. I don’t understand how they will reach the money to me becos they did not ask me for my full address to mail a check or bank details to credit the monies.

This works pretty much like the controversial alladvantage.com, which was a pyramid scheme setup in 1999 and within 8 months went on to be the largest visited website in the world. Agloco is credited with inventing the viral phenomena on the net. In fact most of the original promoters of alladvantage.com are now involved with agloco.com. Alladvantage.com was also one of the most spectacular dot com busts having paid $120 million to consumers at the time they shut operations.

If you get rich passing this on, just remember to say a prayer for me.

This is a story that came to me by mail. The mail hit my in-box when a friend was talking to me about - negative energy caused by negative minded people around us and how he believes that this can have serious impact on us.

I interact with a lot of people at work, social circles, the gym, club etc. This set me thinking if any of these people would be targeting negative thoughts at me and even if they are can i do something about it? Guess there is one way, to be good to people whenever possible. The story below is a good example of that.

THE CAB RIDE

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One night I took a fare at 2:30 am, when I arrived to collect, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away.

But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself.

So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated".

"Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice".

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

"What route would you like me to take?" I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now"

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.

"Nothing," I said

"You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said.

"Thank you."

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.