caretakers of hindu culture - do you know the hindu culture or history?

just posted a comment on Times of India website about the malegaon blasts and muthalik's statements.


these are the same people who say that they consider women as their mother, and expect their mothers to kill (muthalik praising women who helped in blasts) or to beat their own mothers (the women in the pub who got beaten)? what culture are they trying to preserve and protect? hindu culture has never banned celebration. they have advised on the result of your actions - good or bad.

even manu has said in manusmirti that meat eating and drinking are not unnatural to humans as a result of being born (having a body), but one should know the effects of ether. lets not become the caretakers of the society with violence, that is exactly they had set out to fight to begin with. e.g. the church and mosque has had iron grip on their societies for a long time (some still do).

instead of vandalizing on valentine day, the caretakers of hindu morality should organise their own grand "vasant utsav", the celebration of spring, for that is what our culture and tradition says. no one can curb the energy of the youth and hormones, if the 'elders' don't know how to channelize this energy of the youth, they should stop being the 'leaders' of the society and simply go to mountain tops seeking their own moksha.

be it mrichhkatika, kaadambari, kamasutra or meghadoot, it is full of social festivals that everyone relished.

there are ways to protect or protest against degradation of morality or increase of wantonness, but that is not through violence. even if one doesn't know alternative, they could protest peacefully like gandhiji would have - just do a dharana and don't let anyone get inside, request them politely to not encourage such behaviour. it is amazing what shame and guilt can do as well, without resorting to violence.

but those who have raised their kids only by scolding and yelling at them, may not know there are other ways to motivate and influence a child. similarly, the caretakers of hindu culture should learn a few things in motivation and influencing,or in culture and politics, or in human decency.


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Sony Ericsson phone synch software - MyPhoneBrowser

ever since i got the sony ericsson W810i i found i could not save the SMS messages.
i could not change the location where to store the SMS.
so even though i have a 2GB memory card, the SMSes are stored in the SIM card and started to fill it up.

the SE PC Suite was of no help, it could only synch/save contacts, calendar, todo and notes.

but here is a wonderful software MyPhoneBrowser that worked like a charm and could do a lot more. very simple to use.



just install the software, plug the phone in USB and click other->profile or view->other->profile and it looks up the phone.
saving the SMS? go to Messages->Inbox , select all messages, then go to Extras->CurrentList->Open with and viola!


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why are children so photogenic

while taking picture of pranjal, and browsing the net and seeing some other baby pics, the thought came to mind, that why are kids so photogenic. rarely you will find a normal kid, baby who is not photogenic? what happens when we grow up?

i think we are all born happy and beautiful, and we just grow up to learn to deny both beauty and happiness in the pursuit of 'happiness' of material kind, learning to 'move around the career ladders' or whatever the name maybe.

we forget our own true nature, and hence are no more 'natural', unlike a baby who never forgets ts true carefree, trust in mommy nature and a big smile or a bigger laugh!

so, for a change, just be. be yourself, above all judgments, all pressures, above your sofa, car, house, bank balance, and just be.


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meeting with aamir khan

so this january bollywood bigwig is here in IIM bangalore for almost a month.
times of india bangalore edition has been abuzz with this news. and then guy himself openly invited people to visit him.

so we landed up at the shooting site, and met the 'taraa zameen par' (सितारा ज़मीन पर)। on friday 24th jan, the shoot was in hostel C. it was indeed a very down to earth star. in between takes, he met his fans with disarming pleasantness. gave enough time for all the fans to not feel neglected.

then today 27th jan, pragya and pranav went along with shalini and were more lucky. after the long wait, pragya as usual got tired and ended up writing her emotions on paper -

To Dear Aamir Uncle

It has been a long wait
Since we entered IIM gate
We would like to meet you
Want to give a gift and greet you

I hope the movie 'Three Idiots'
Is a hit
Because you're the best
So smile a bit!

and here are the results. the star is so caring of all his fans, that he interrupted his conversation with his director and gave full attention to these three fans -






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solar ecplise of jan 26 2009

here is the NASA link to get an idea how the moon's shadow will travel on earth, on the first solar eclipse of 2009.

what also hits, even after all technical knowledge, is how a small animal called human (smaller than an ant in comparison, can develop system of computation to measure the path, size, timing of the shadow of one heavenly body on another, when no one can have a measuring ruler that large.

that is power of the mind, system of notation, and logical development of science (maths), that one can with certainty predict the path of one almost spherical rotating and revolving orb (moon), around another rotating and revolving orb (earth) which is yet again going around another rotating and revolving orb (sun). just thinking of all this can make the mind start revolving!

hence also is the power of conceptualization. not all things in life can be measured directly. they can be verified later.


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a closer look at the inaugural ceremony and US presidency

here is a fantastic closer look at the inaugural ceremony of US president barak obama.

click on the link below. when you see the photo, double click and zoom in, move mouse over and see the names of important people.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/20/us/politics/2009-inauguration-zoom-photo.html

and for all the inaugural speeches till now check this out, a very useful site indeed:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html

you can read the entire speeches of all past and present presidents.

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join my SMS channel - if you are in india

i have started a SMS channel to keep in touch with friends, family and acquaintances.
this currently works only for INDIA.

if you know me and would like to keep in touch, please join my SMS channel in one of the two ways:

1. if you are a gmail user, go to http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/ShashiSMS and follow the instructions.

2. OR send an SMS to +919870807070 with message as "ON ShashiSMS" (without the quotations)

this is purely for my personal use and only i can send messages to this, so you need not worry about anything. this is a one way communication channel so i can keep in touch with you.

if you have ANY problems, just type your name and mobile number in the chat window below (in the right side bar, 2nd from top). i directly get the chat message.

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KA/bangalore traffic violation charges - find out online!

try this link. enter your vehicle license plate and find out if you owe anything to the traffic police!

http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/public/BPSFineDetails.aspx

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Contact Me

If you want to contact me, please leave a comment with your contact info. i will respond directly to your email as soon as i can.

you can also ping me (live chat) or leave your contact info in the chat window on the right side-bar (2nd from top). the message reaches me only and is NOT stored in the website. it is a pingbox from yahoo messenger - a neat way to integrate web and messenger! try it.




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