memorable quotes from Between the Assassinations by Arvind Adiga

Bring children-into what future? That was the most baboon like thing the other coolies did: procreate, as if to say they were satisfied with their fate, they were happy to replenish the world that had consigned them to this task.

You have to attain a certain level of richness before you can complain about being poor, he thought. When you are this poor, you are not given the right to complain.

Because we let them. Because we do not dare run away with that wad of fifty thousand rupees-because we know other poor people will catch us and drag us back before the rich man. We poor have built a prison around ourselves.


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Donna the deer crossing lady.

Finally the video is out of the radio conversation of Donna the deer-crossing lady with the RJ.
The most surprising part is that she believes strongly in her belief :) without having any inkling of doubt that it's completely stupid.

http://www.y94.com/y94-blog-details.php?ID=4122

memorable quotes from : Between the assassinations, by Arvind Adiga

When it comes to three things"- he counted them off- "black marketing, counterfeiting, and corruption, we are the world champions. If they were included in the olympic games, india would win gold, silver and bronze in those three."

Corruption Abbasi said. "Corruption. it's like a demon sitting on my brain and eating it with fork and a knife."

"We need one man to stand up to them."

He looked out of the window at the Bunder: this violent, rotten, garbage-strewn port, crawling with pickpockets and knife-carrying thugs-it seemed the only place where a man was safe from the corruption of Kittur.

A ship was slowly leaving the Bunder, edging to where the blue waters of the sea changed color and turned a deeper hue. It was about to hit a large patch of brilliant sunshine, an oasis of pure light.

It is her own fault if she feels wretched in their presence.

They viewed him as the product of a buccaneering adventure on the part of his father; they associated him(he was sure) with an entire range of corruptions. Mix one part premarital sex and one part caste violation in a block pot and what do you get? This cute little Satan: Shankara.

Fellows like his father belonged to no cast or religion or race; they lived for themselves. They were the only real men in this world.

is it just a fable for old men like him? If you just said to yourself,"Caste is a fiction," would it vanish like smoke; if you said,"I am free," would you realize you had always been free?

He was an overweight man entering the final phase of middle age, he breathed through his mouse, and a thicket of hair poked out of his nose. The centerpiece of his body was a massive potbelly, a hard knot of flesh pregnant with a dozen cardiac arrests.

Once India had been ruled by three foreigners: England, France and Portugal. Now their place was taken by three native-born thugs: Betrayal, Bungling and Backstabbing.


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Fasalon ko Takalluf hein - Naat Lyrics and Translation

This is a very beautiful naat in shaan(glory) of Prophet Mohammed SA and the intense desire of a muslim to go to Medina (the burial place of Prophet Mohammed). Below is the translation of the naat in English from Urdu



Fasalon ko takalluf hein humsey agar
hum bhi bebas nahin be-sahara nahin
khud unhi ko pukareengey hum door-se
raaste mein agar paao thak jaayengey

if the long distance have created hesitation
tell them we are neither helpless nor needy
we will seek help from Rasulallah SA from far
if our feets give up on the way

hum mediney mein tanha nikal jaayengey
aur galiyon mein kasdam bhatak jaayengey
hum waha jaa key waapis nahin aayengey
dhoondtey dhoondtey log thak jaayengey

We will roam alone in Medina
we will purposely get lost in its alleys
once we reach there, we wont come back
people will try their best, but wont find us 

jaisey hi subz gumbat nazar aayega
bandagi ka kareena badal jaayega
sir jhooka ney ki fursat milegey kisey
khud hi palko sey sajdey tapak jaayengey

as soon as we see the green-colored minaret 
the mode of prayers will change 
we wont have time to prostrate 
instead tears will drop from our eyes 

naam-e-aqa (SA) jahaan bhi liya jaayega
zikar unka jahaa bhi kiya jaayega
noor hi noor seeno mein bhar jaayega
saari mehfil mein jalwey lapak jaayengey

wherever there will be mention of Rasuallah SA 
our hearts will be filled with the blessed light 
and the entire surrounding will be filled with the holy light

ae madiney key zaaeir khuda key liye
daastan-ne-safar mujhko yoon mat suna
baat baad jaayegi dil tadap jaayega
mere mohtaat aansoon jhalak jaayengey

hey you fortunate visitor to Medina 
dont mention to me the story of your trip 
it will fill my heart with grief 
and my desperate tears will start flowing again

unki chasm-e-karam hein iski khabar 
kis musafir ko hein kitna shauk-e-safar
humko ek baar jub bhi ijazaat mili
hum bhi aqa key darbaar tak jaayengey

Prophet Mohammed's benevolent eyes knows
which visitor is desperately waiting to come to Medina
and once we get that change 
we will visit the holy place of the Prophet Mohammed SA

fasalon ko takalluf hein humsey agar
hum bhi be-bas nahin be-sahara nahin
khud unhi ko pukareyengey hum door sey
raaste mein agar paao thuk jaayengey

Noble Prize winners from India

Read an article on Slashdot today about a Noble Prize laureate - Abdus Salam from Pakistan. He was given the Noble Prize for his work on the Higgs Bosom particle, which was discovered recently.

Abdus Salam has passed away, and unlike any other Noble Peace Prize laureate, he has not enjoyed the fame and respect in his country - Pakistan. The reason being he belongs to the Ahmadiyyah sect of Islam. His name is shunned from books, literature and speaking words of  fame for him is akin to blasphemy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/08/higgs-boson-pakistan-scientist

This intrigued me to find out how many Noble Prize laureates were from India. And here is the list from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_laureates_of_India

1902	Ronald Ross	Medicine	Foreign citizens born in India
1907	Rudyard Kipling	Literature	Foreign citizens born in India
1913	Rabindranath Tagore	Literature	Citizen of British India
1930	C.V. Raman	Physics	Citizen of British India
1968	Har Gobind Khorana	Medicine	Foreign citizens of Indian origin
1979	Mother Teresa	Peace	Citizen of India
1983	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar	Physics	Foreign citizens of Indian origin
1998	Amartya Sen	Economic Sciences	Citizen of India
2009	Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	Chemistry	Foreign citizens of Indian origin

Jame Anwar, Cairo, Egypt

Pics from my recent trip to the land of the Fatimi Cairo. These are the pics of Al Masjid Jame ul Anwar taken during night and early morning.

The drama called Indian Olympics Tennis Contingent

So right when the whole world is ready to get its adrenaline pumping with the upcoming olympics, to support their respective countries for this once in 4 year bonanza, Indian people are enjoying the drama been enacted by the AITA ( All India Tennis Association) and of course the players.

Here goes it:
AITA decided to pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for Men's double, but they didnt know that they werent talking with each other and had issues. Issues that couldnt be solved, issues that came before the country. They just couldnt overcome their bloated egos. So finally they decided to not to play together.

Now it gets interesting. The AITA decided to be a little biased with Bhupathi and paired him up with India's number three player - Rohan Bopanna. Bopanna has some grand-slam experience is a much better players than the #4 playes - Vishnu Vardhan, who was paired with Leander Paes. Now they made Bhupathi happy but the other stalwart of Indian Tennis - Leander Paes wasnt.

Even more interesting, so what do they do now, they used Sania Mirza ( India's #1 Female Tennis Player) as a bait to satisfy the disgruntled Paes. So the drama gets more spicier. Sania wrote a scathing letter to the AITA describing how she felt - discriminated, dis-respected blah blah. She was write !!

So yes, when every one is busy prepping for the olympics, trying to win Golds for their countries we are enjoying this pot-purri that our stars are cooking :)

Last rites of my Mitsu ....

Words from the River of Smoke

1. Paunchy - a man/woman with a big belly
2. Chivvy - repeatedly tell someone to do something
3. phalanx - a group of people moving in a formation
4. daguerrotypes - first of its kind of photographic method

Venus' Transit across the Sun

Venus's transit across the Sun was observed on June 5th'2012. NASA compiled an video from the various photographs it took for this event.

Aqa Moula TUS's historic visit to Taherabad (Galiyakot)