Saturday, August 18, 2007

Age Old Indian Cartoons .....

Few days back I received the forward from a friend. After a long time it was a different mail than what usually ends up in the mailboxes as forwards. It was the images of the Old Indian Cartoons, those belongs to the Print era, pre-Dilbert and Calvin & Hobbes. It recalled me of my school days. Those days, a local daily called Lokmat had started their own comics for kids called “Lokmat Comics”, which used to depict the stories of Indian as well as foreign characters along with lots of puzzles. All the characters in that comics were drawn by the cartoonist called “Khalil Khan”, who used to sign in a very stylish manner on last page of the cartoon and besides the picture of small puppy. If I can manage to get some of those images and his signature, I will definitely post it here.

Then came the days of reading Special Diwali editions of different Marathi Magazines, and my favorite one was/is Mauj, its famous for their page long cartoon images which sometimes used to span to next page as well. I think they are one who brought the trend of Two Page Comic Pictures, not sure though. Images which I received in the mail resembles to them. Enjoy the pictures of 80’s Indian Dilbert……










Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A Tryst With Destiny .....


Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of Inida and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.

The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!

We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrowstricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.
On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation [Gandhi], who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.

Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death.

We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom
that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy.

And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.

JAI-HIND

DARKNESS AHEAD....................


Early morning I woke after having one of the worst nightmares. It was about this thing, basically a turn on the life, for which I am not yet ready, not ready to reach the next level of life cycle. I am not mentally prepare for it. For the next one hour, I was sitting in a corner and went completely blank, the silence shattered with sound of noisy door bell.

The front page of today’s Times of India, is catchy. Asking everyone to start initiating the actions from Self rather than waiting for others to DO. Usually such messages, mails, songs or for that matter TV ads make me feel fresh, energizes me, but today nothing is working out yet.

I thought of calling my sister, but then it must be 1PM @ other side of the world. Bhau is coming to India on 16th, so I wasn’t sure whether to talk with him on phone or have a face to face conversation. Even in that confusion I placed the call, to hear the typical answering machine reply L. I was wondering what to do and then connected to internet to read something which can inspire me and keep my moral high. I saw a friend online, even before I could buzz her and talk, my ISP decided to F*** me again.

There was nothing I can do about it, so decided to leave early for work & my bike was waiting for me. Believe me friends; I never had such bad start of a day in my entire life. Yesterday I forgot to turn of the petrol cock & now petrol was overflowing in carburetor. After struggling with it for more than 20 mins, finally it started. As soon as I reached office, workload was waiting for me. All these were looking like bad omens to me.

Then suddenly my cellphone rang and my parents were on the other end. The fear started gripping my mind while talking with him. I did try to prove my point and situation, but it seems that they are not in the mood to listen, for me it’s a big question. I don’t want to hurt their feelings but then How can I let the society to decide my faith? After all it’s the question of next 40 years of life (let’s hope that I will survive that long :-| )

I have to fight this battle on my own….

( All my post on this blog was about the funny/happiest/cherish moments and memories of my life. And how unlucky I am, my 50th post is all about the wrong things :( , and please do ignore all the grammatical/spelling or any other damn mistake. I am not in mood to re-read this post )

Saturday, August 11, 2007

A Story of 3 Rs……..

Today I will share with you A Story of 3 rs… Before going to that, lets talk about how happening day it was.

Promit is moving out of this city, out of this country to pursue higher education in London and that too @ London School Of Economics, Yes the Prestigious University of Europe. I met him @ Pune Eat Outs meet and soon we became good friends. Before flying he decided to treat to some of his friends in town and My name was there on the invitation card :) . When he asked me for the place in KP Area, there was no option other than Masala Mélange . Earlier I had decided not visit the place at least for next one year without my perfect company. But when he asked about the location, I wasn’t aware that, he will invite me as well :) Only thing which I managed is not to sit on the upper deck :). Anyways, I was talking about Promit’s party. So we had a wonderful lunch and got a chance to meet some real nice people too. Then for the first time in my life, I stepped in side those Cane Doors of German Bakery, it was a long due and that cause lack of 3 Cs – Chance, Courage and Company. This time everything was set and then I had a day of my life. I tried out their Chocolate pudding, A Choco Truffle Cake, Few Cookies and believe me all of them were yummy and not too heavy on pocket as well. Ohh…. How can I forget to mention that funny incident, As most of you know, German Bakery is for all kinds people (provided you have money in pocket, and that’s quite reasonable) right from normal foodies like me and my friends , those Osho followers, lots of tourists, love birds and gays too :P, apparently Paresh saw one over there and then rest of the time he was mimicking him and his actions, that was a real funny part of it.

Even before I can say Good-Bye to Promit, Yogesh called up and reminded the appointment with the Future J Now this is something I can’t share with you people right now. It’s a long way to go for that. Once me, Yogesh, Manisha and Vikram completed the formalities for future plans and Mocha was waiting for us on the next door step. As it was Saturday, the place was overcrowded and as Adil, the ex-manager of Mocha and fellow PEOmate was no longer there, We had to stand in a queue. :- But what follows it was the Casablanca Hookah & a Strawberry Shake. Last time when I visited Mocha, we were sitting in the balcony sipping the Chocolate shake full of cream and that too after having a heavy dinner @ Masala Mélange.

On our way back to home, Manisha asked Yogesh about the Long drive plan. This entire week was too hectic on me, I really wanted to smell fresh air, so I joined them and later Vikram and Chaavi also agreed to come. So here we 5, clock ticking to 7.30 PM and we headed towards the plush roads of Pirngut and Mulshi. It was an action pack drive, switching off the headlights and driving in the dark, O’ you could actually feel the thrill…. By the time I reached back to Home, England was trailing behind by 350 runs and had to score 180 runs more with 3 wickets in hand to save the Follow on.

Once again I ditched the Chetan’s call for a game of pool. Next week I have to find out some time for Pool Game.

Its 3.50AM now. Feeling too sleepy to write anything further. I know that, Story of 3Rs is yet unsaid, but I will definitely bring it to this blog, tomorrow or day after tomorrow… Just a hint to that story is, “Whenever I have such a great day full of fun, the memories of that day comes back to my mind, the cost which I paid for that Wada-Pav. I had a lessoned for my life on that day……”

Fundoo Solutions Series


Today morning while driving to the other end of the city, as usual I got stuck in the traffic jam near Le Meridian. It’s expected to get stuck in that area, but what exasperated me most was The sound of Horns . I failed to understand why people need to blow the horns when there is a traffic jam or it’s a Red Signal. What are they expecting others to do? I mean, even if I am driving a bike, that doesn’t me that It can jump over 10 next cars which are also stuck there. The whole concept of using Horns, especially during traffic jams is beyond my understandings. At that time, one funny solution pop-uped in my mind to crab this increasing habit of using Horns. Actually, we Indian like to suck out the freebies, on the other hand when one has to pay anything for a service, feature and for that matter even love, we easily back off. There lies the secret of solving this problem.

People use horn, because they don’t have to pay for it. So let’s make them to pay for it. Instead of running the horns on battery, let’s convert the way they function, Start Running Them On Fuel & That Too On Extra Drops Of Fuel. :) That will definitely reduce the overall percentage of Sound Pollution in the town, provided people will be smart enough not to waste their money and fuel on something silly stuff like a Horn.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Friendship Day Special .....

Wish You All A Happy Friendship Day!!!


Chasing Cars is one of my favourite song and close to my heart as well. There are quite a few songs which actually touches your heart and this one is one of them. Enjoy....



We'll do it all
Everything On our own
We don't need Anything Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words,
are said too much
they're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars

Around our heads
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes

They're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well

Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?