Is this SILENCE is forever??

Sometimes, the choices are not that easy, but still decisions have to be made... This is for a friend of mine..

As I sat in my balcony

A tear trickled down my cheeks,

I looked up and asked him "Why me?"

I felt hapless, hopeless, scared and forlorn

For the pain was too much to bear

More than a cut or a wound would have caused

That night, I slept with tears in my eyes

Remembering the sentences you spoke, my friend

Each and every word chilled me to my bones, tearing me apart

For I knew-

You are not returning back,

I am talking to you no more,

I have lost my friend forever.

I couldn't help, I couldn't tell you-why, why i did,

For sometimes its hard to make others understand one's actions

For sometimes the circumstances around compel one to make a decision

I did the same, just that it wasn't easy for me, choosing between my priorities

And I chose to let you go for a better good in my sense

I chose to remain silent to avoid the scream

And as I look back, I don't regret but just wonder

Wonder-

Will you ever come to know the reason?

Will you ever come back?

Will this silence between us ever be broken?

Morning Raga

I have always listened people talking about how they love staring at starry night, full moon.. but i always noticed that i get more joy, a sense of satisfaction and experience a moment of purity when i stand in my balcony in early wee hours.. Experiencing the silence, and every breathe of fresh air i take in, fills me with energy, i feel myself living completely in a different world, away from busy, hustle and bustle urban life. Hardly any movement, only the movements of birds and their chirping you listen and at some distant temple, chanting of hymns and bells ringing for morning AARTI and the mellifluous call of muezzin to prayer at mosque, and when all these sounds fall on your ears at the same time, its all different, all magical and sounds all spiritual..
I feel so light, so free. My best moments of the day. And i wish to live these moments everyday!

What a day to start with.. when i woke up early morning,after a good night sleep, there was silence around me and an urge to go about and get absorbed in it . And what better way to let my body and mind sync together than to go on a walk..my continuous footsteps on a dark street, guided by early dawn light ,with the full moon still out there in the sky,cold winter winds lashing against my face and the music comforting me...peace within, peace outside!! the gently rising blood pressure within and the cold winds freezing me outside- a deadly combination of opposites synchronous with the moment of fading night and rising day- a moment to relish, to witness how beautifully two opposites complement each other and make it a perfect moment..this is what makes life so strange yet wonderful!

P.S.: Mind you, nothing comes for free, you got to pay for it to experience it- whether it’s your early morning sleep or something else..

Taking a Quantum Leap

Competition. Have a bet, even a 5 year old child today knows what it means. Because from the starting, we are a part of the race, never ending race.

Remember, the line from 3 idiots- “life is a race. Agar tej nahi bhaagoge toh khuchal diye jaoge.. Compete or die.”

It’s so apt on the present scenario, where competition prevails everywhere. Whether you talk about studies, sports, markets, products or any other field, cut throat competition exists. It is because, everybody wants to be first, everybody wants to be recognized, and everybody wants to fulfill dreams. Blame it on our society norms or anything else, the truth is that every second, we compete, figuring out different ways to survive in this competitive world.

Now imagine, what if competition dies? Of course there can be many ways to judge this situation. One of the dimensions I present is – what if competition never exists!!!

Must be thinking is it possible..?? Well, why not.

What if we become so good that competition itself dies for us. What if we raise the bar of excellence and efforts above all that no one could match us… think!!!We’ll have our own league and we’ll be the (only) player. A different feeling to be outstanding in our work that no one else can do as ‘well’ as we do. So here, we are, in a zero competition world, a world of our own, where we define rules for our own self.

Does all this seems to you happen in fairy tales, movies? If yes, then think again. It’s not impossible. The only thing it requires from us is to come out of our cocoon, welcome life with open arms and strike for excellence and not just success.

And remember what baba ranchod das said-

“bachha, kabil bano, success toh jhak marke tumhare peeche bhagge gi.”

So what are you waiting for?? Get up, go and strike for excellence, make your own brand, and redefine success. Go! Kiss the world!!

(Call it 3 Idiots fever or something else, I don’t mind. Wish you all a very happy new year!!! )

The Green Deal

With a week or two to go for Copenhagen Summit 2009, I am skeptical about the outcome of this crucial summit. The recent failure of Barcelona meeting indicates the indifference in the international community regarding the action plan to be included in the upcoming summit. The summit, seen as a successor to Kyoto protocol will decide the future course of action in our fight against climate change. But at this moment, I can see the looming crossroads at the Copenhagen with no final agreement.
The growing discontent between the developed and developing countries is a matter of concern. It’s agonizing to watch the blame game being played. On one hand, the developing countries charge against the developed ones for not stepping up to the challenge, the promise they made to protect climate change. On the contrary, the developed countries want the leading developing countries including China and India to be included in the fixed emission cut agreement. With no side willing to lose their respective stand, it will be interesting to watch whether this summit will be concluded successfully or will the Kyoto protocol be extended beyond 2012.

But what’s more important to know is that whether our industries are ready to take up GREEN BUSINESS? Can they ensure technical support to the global decision makers? In my view, the aspiring global business leaders are well aware of the potential of the green deal. With so much efforts being already put in exploring the other forms of energy- such as wind, tidal and solar etc on a large scale, I am no less confident that the innovative human brain will come up with some life saving ideas. The only major blockade I see is the expenditure that will be incurred on the research and development. As the majority of the economies ease out of the serious recession, can they afford the costs of managing the climate change, is one big question? Even though the organization is willing to spend trillions of dollars, the governments round the globe are concerned about incurring more debt. The only solution that lies before us is the growth of global economy. Even the finance ministers of various countries have acknowledged the fact that economic growth will enable them to address the mounting deficits. The cost of this green deal may be considered too high but the decision to remain blind-folded can cost our very survival.
We are left with no choice, rather it has become imperative to reconsider our decisions, come over pity issues and address the global issue seriously. No doubt, we’ll encounter many severe challenges in finance and resources, but managing the climate change demands a commitment and a long term involvement from all governments. The developed countries can take up the leadership role. It’s the time when we, the inhabitants of this planet, open our eyes and take bold steps, be a part of this earth saving campaign and contribute in whatever small way we can. If we don’t rise up to the occasion now, we’ll be digging the graves for our future generation.

Unending Debate on Indira

In last few days I came across as many as 15 articles on late Mrs. Indira Gandhi. And was bewildered to see the ongoing debate about her legacy even after twenty-five years of her assassination. To be specific the debate between her DEVI AVATAR and her DEMON face.

To many of her well-wishers and admirers, she was an avatar of MA DURGA who liberated BANGLADESH from Pakistan’s stronghold. The charismatic leader who raised the slogan “Garibi hatao” and abolished privy purses, something, we have recently witnessed being implemented by present UPA government too. To her credit is the nationalization of banks, which helped India to withstand the effect of recession recently much better than the other countries. One cannot take away the credit from this legend of keeping the nation united in the most intense moments of South Asia when there were predictions about India’s break-up in west .

True, she did impose the infamous Emergency, one of the shameful chapters of India’s history; during which democratic rights were suspended, many were jailed and media too was not spared. Or the ‘license raj’ that was seen as savior of aam admi but turned out to be a pernicious and led the corruption creep into the administration machinery. Her own insecure feelings tempted her to declare her inexperience son, as her effective second-in-command. But the Bluestar operation, seen as the most heinous crime by her critics, in which the army stormed into Golden temple, Amritsar, stirred the emotions of many Sikhs. And that ultimately led to her assassination at the hands of her own security guard.

In this ‘Gandhi vs. Gandhi’, I don’t know who is right or who is wrong? Her decisions were not always right. But no one can deny the fact that despite of the flaws, she came back with a thumping victory in 1980 elections, which showed the faith people had in her and they saw her as their only hope. While the blots of Emergency, legitimizing dynasty in politics will always remain, one must give her the credit for introducing a vibrant electoral process, keeping India intact and her foreign policies. The flaws would not take away the appreciation for the good work she did and vice versa.

And so I guess this debate will go on… In my view, it would be solely wrong to restrict her character to any one of the above mentioned avatars as I feel there was a transition from devi to the authoritarian figure. One can witness the different forms of her from a charismatic leader to an autocrat and perhaps the most powerful and strongest prime minister, India ever had!!!

CLOUD COMPUTING : The Power of ONE

With my growing love for new technologies these days,i decided to follow my friend's footsteps and share the news about the technologies which will mark an impact in near future.

CLOUD COMPUTING
In their quest to find answers, experts have demonstrated that the future of medical discoveries, environmental challenges, energy deficit, all lie in collaborating through Cloud Computing.

With Cloud Computing, users have been able to access data, share expertise and high-end infrastructure from around the world, and vice-versa. The resources are shared through a public platform like the internet. Several companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, etc have invested heavily as they reach out to users.

Cloud Computing companies have customers of three kinds -

* Infrastructure-as-a-service: Option of renting and utilizing computing power and storage capacity of vendor's quality.

* Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Vendors license particular services to subscribers on-demand and once the contract expires, the services are disabled.

* Platform-as-a-Service: Here a developer is given the opportunity to utilize various web-tools to build and host applications.

The Cloud (other computers in the network) does have its pros and cons in this formative stage. Its advantages include,

* Better performance by PCs in the cloud network, as fewer processing will be loading in each individual PC, the rest on the Cloud.

* No more spending on computer upgrades, instead services of another high-power PC can be made use of.

* Lesser hardware and software required, so costs of maintenance are tremendously lowered.

* Permanence of data, as all information stays in the cloud, even if you experience a hard-disk crash.

* Sync with experts worldwide on multiple projects and avail optimum results through the Cloud.

* Work from any PC and on the move, with the availability of internet access.

Cloud Computing also has some drawbacks like,

* The over-dependence on the providers.

* The reliability of the vendors.

* Protection laws in different countries vary. For eg, according to EU data protection regulation, personal information cannot be transferred outside the European Economic Area.

* Threat of unauthorized access to confidential data.

* Requires internet throughout and near-impossible to work with dial-up connections.

The concept isn't entirely new and is evolving even today. In the recent past, several variations have been introduced through 'Grid' and 'Utility Computing'.

- Grid Computing is a virtual super-computer formed by a cluster of computers in concert, each performing complex tasks.

- Utility Computing is a format in which subscribers are charged based on their usage, similar to the way in electricity is charged.

As new developments take place with increasing frequency, the world is on the brink of transition.

(Source:Yahoo)