Earth Hour brings Dramatic Changes to the Environment

The earth hour celebrated on the 27th of this month has been successful in cleansing the atmosphere of all toxins, dust, and pollution. This correspondent has seen for himself the great good done by switching off the lights for an hour. The rivers are clean again, the forests have grown back, and a number of endangered species have a dramatic increase in number, all thanks to the switching off of lights for one hour. There are reports coming from all big cities of clean starlit skies - which the citizens have seen for the first time in ages.

Meanwhile a political battle erupted in the capital city with various political parties clamoring to take credit of this positive development. While Bahen Mayawati, the CM of UP, claimed that she should get the credit as UP has been celebrating "Earth half day" for the past many years of her rule, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the ex-CM of Bihar, poo poohed her claim by saying that his contribution was bigger as he did that in his state for close to two decades. He also expressed hope that the people of India would realize how great his contributions are and hoped to form the next government at the center with his allies of the fifth front. He also promised to increase powercuts so that India soon goes back to the time of the Indus Valley civilization.

Mamta Bannerjee was quick to point out that all this happened because she did not allow the Tata Nano plant to come up at Singur. She promised more such protests in future across India, and has vowed to convert India into West Bengal.

There are reports that experts from US and Europe are very excited with the dramatic change that has happened in India and are planning to send a joint committee to analyse the causes that brought about this turnaround. This correspondent wishes them all the luck and hopes that they too can achieve the spectacular results that India has achieved through the Earth Hour.

Why I re-read books and other quirks of mine

I am a very eccentric person, and have quite a few quirks. Following are a few of them -

1. I re-read all novels that I have. My reading speed is kind of fast, and I tend to skip through lines at times. So, everytime I read a book again, I find something new. Also, did not have a lot of options when I was a kid as I grew up in a small city with no proper library, and the school library did not have a huge collection as well. So, I had to always repeat books. I also usually read the last chapter of a novel first.

2. I hate very clean places. I find them kind of unnatural. Does not mean that I like garbage piles n stuff, but if everything is sparkling clean then I feel as if I do not belong there.

3. I hate wearing sandals. This arises from the fact that my Dad prefers them, and was always telling me to wear them as well. And I have always been a rebel when it comes to obeying him on how to dress, behave, and the likes.

4. I do not like to sleep unless my eyes are drooling and closing with exhaustation.

5. I am a night owl, again because my father wanted me to do the reverse. College only solidified this behaviour pattern.

6. I am very openionated about certain things.

7. I dislike the fact that my face shows what is going through my mind.

8. I do not know what I want from life, but am pretty sure that this is not it. This uncertainity and undeciveness is what is killing me.

9. I believe in first impressions, though I do not judge a person by his/her clothes, manners, or any other “expected” criteria. My judgement of a person is on very vague terms, and I usually try to sense whether the person infront of me is likeable or not. The perspective is always mine, and I can never define what I look for.

10. Usually I prefer to keep to myself, specially when in the company of new people. But once I get to know a person, I am the exact opposite.

11. I used to beat my younger sister and brother a lot when a kid. Then one day, I stopped. I don’t think I can ever hit them again. I love them too much to do so.

12. I always missed the presense of an elder brother in my life, and still do. I just hope my siblings never say the same.

13. I have this habit of fast viewing a movie. I keep forwarding the movie and finish it in 10-15 minutes. Then I sit back and watch it in full.

14. I love history and historical places, specially ruins. Where other people see broken walls, I see the past granduer of the place infront of me. I once the whole day in Lucknow Residency building (which was destroyed during the 1857 war of independence) just reading the tomb stones and imagining the war there.

15. There was a time when I had an immovalbe belief in numerology. But gradually I realized that I was becoming a slave of that knowledge, and so I chose to ignore it.

16. I am an amatuer graphologist, and like to go through handwriting samples and doodles. I miss that in the HiTech world that I live in, though.

17. Off late I have come to realize that though all my life I tried to be as different from my father as I could, we are more alike deep down. There are a lot of his characteristics that I have inherited. Surprisingly enough, it makes me swell with pride. Though I have a difference of openion with him on a lot of things, he is one of the most admirable and genuine person I have ever met

Think this is enough for now.

This is Hashir, signing off,

Over and Out.

P.S. – Did you hear that youtube will be allowing download of 3 Idiots 12 weeks after its release. This will ofcourse be for a small price. Think the producers are trying to curb Piracy by this means, though am not sure if it will work. It also marks the entry of Google into the “Pay per View” Video business.

The Vande Matram Controversy and an appeal

A few weeks ago the papers were filled (again) with the Vande Matram controversy, with the various madarsas claiming that it is against Islam, and the Sangh pariwar (again) questioning the "Indianness" and patriotism of Indian muslims.

I find this to be stupid and irrelevant on both parts. On one side, I can't think how can singing or not singing a song determine your patriotism? And, on the other hand, I find the reaction of the Maulvi's to be a bit too orthodox and bookish. I am no expert in Bengali or Sanskrit, but from what I know and have read, the literal translation of Vande Matram is "I bow to thee, mother!!". Now, bowing in itself can refer to a lot of actions. For example, it can refer to anything from the action one does in front of the audience when he "takes a bow", to the "rukuh" or "sajdah" of Muslims, to the bowing and touching of the feet of elders in Hinduism. I believe it is this diversity of actions and meanings that is the base of the controversy.

For the Muslims, Sajdah is something that is reserved only for God Almighty. We do not perform the sajdah to anyone else, not even to Prophet Mohammed (may peace be upon him). So, to ask us to so Sajdah to the motherland amounts to shirk. (Mind you, in the words of Moulana Mufti Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri Aljeelani, the then president of All India Sunni Ulema Board, "If you bow at the feet of your mother with respect, it is not shirk but only respect."). Thus, the main bone of contention is the actual meaning of the word "Vande" and how a person takes it.

Another reason for the hooplah is the actual poem written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, which depicts the country as Maa DUrga, which obviously does not go well with religions like Islam, Christianity, Sikhs, and others who do not believe in idol worship. However, this is not of much importance as the text taken for the National Song is from the first two stanzas of the whole song - which is an unexceptional evocation of the beauty of motherland.

For most people, Vande Matram just means "Praise to thee, O' Motherland". If you ask me, I have no problem in bowing before my country, but my bow will be similar to how I bow before my Parents, my elders, and those I respect. For me, it is similar to how I refer to Allah when I say Bhagwan or Ishwar, and I know that God Almighty does not go looking into the words or the language in which he was referred to or called. It is for this reason that I do not find myself agreeing to the fatwa against Vande Matram, as long as one refers to the National Song and not the whole text.

Another angle to this nonsense bawaal was added by those who want us Muslims to pay reverence to the idols of the motherland. This is against what I believe. If one wants to depict the motherland in some way, I am fine by it. If someone wants to pray to her - go ahead. But, please, for the sake of God! do not force others to do what you are doing, do not question the patriotism of others who fail to toe the line. Do not throw us out. Do not shun us. And, above all, do not try to tell us how to love our country.

This land belongs as much to us as to you. We both have lived here for centuries, have shared the same sorrow, the same happiness, the same turbulent times, the same low and highs. Please do not forget this. Do not Nazify this country in the name of religion, appearence, states, status, languages, or cultures.

We have enough trouble with our neighbours, one of whom is hellbent on destroying itself in the fire it started to burn us down, and the other who speaks one thing and does the other, to have time to fight within.

Please give it a thought.

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

Senseless banter

I am sorry for the senseless banter that is about to follow, but I have to put this down. I know that by the time this is actually posted it will be more than a week since my sister's marriage, but I promise to myself that there will be no changes in the original version. This will be posted as it is being written now.

It feels kind of wierd after your sister's marriage. On one hand, you are happy that she is beginning a new life together with some one she loves, someone who cares about her and will love her for the rest of his life, and on the other hand you are sad to see a part of you leave for ever. I know it is not that she will stop being your sister, but you will obviously never have the kind of time to spend together that you had before, nor will you come first in her life.

The strange thing is, while we all talk about the feeling of the girl's parents, there is little or no thought given to those of her siblings, specially her brothers. It seems that we brothers are assumed to be detatched from our sisters, but believe me, it is not the case.

We may not get a chance to express our anguish or to mourne our loss, but the feeling is still there - may be not for all to see. I know, because I have felt that way twice.

And still, I am happy because my sister is, and because she is stepping into a new dimension with the man she loves. I just hope and pray that their ride is a happy one :).

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

My shifting story

So, I am back. Have shifted my place, sorted and kept everything properly (That means that each item is in a different jumbled stack), bought or arranged for the necessary items I had to - like a mirror, an iron, water, some stuff for the daily midnight snaks, and so on and so forth. And, most important of all, finally got the internet connection up and running (though I am sure the guy who delivered the modem is still cursing me for making him come all the way to my office to deliver it to me).

The shifting was actually fun, as my friends dropped by and lent a hand in moving all the stuff that i had (which by the way, was neatly packed). And, since it was my friend's birthday that day, we all went out for dinner. The landlord had given me a set of keys for the lock to my place and that of the main gate, but since I replaced his lock with mine, I forgot to take the key of the main gate when I went out. And since we got real late in coming back, I did not come back that day.

The next day I woke up at 2, partly because I had not slept well for the past 3 days. After having a quick cup of tea, my friend dropped me home and I started to unpack my stuff. Now here's the thing - I am a very disorganized person. So, instead of opening one bag at a time and keeping things properly, I emptied all bags and cartons at one place, set up my laptop and newly acquired speakers, loaded my favourite playlist, and went to work.

By the time I was done, it was nearing 7, and I still had a lot of stuff to get. So, i had a bath and picked up my cycle and went for a trip to the near by market. The first time I went, I bought almost all necessary items except for an iron. So, I decided to go out again, get some dinner, and see if I can get an electrician's shop which has a decent steam iron that I wanted. So, I again rode out and found this great joint that serves really great Shawarma (if you are a vegetarian - don't ask about it. If you are a non vegetarian and live in NCR, I'd suggest you go to the community centre in New friend's colony and find out for your self, else you are welcome to drop by here and i will treat you to this great Lebanise dish). I then rode further in search for an electrician's shop (it being Sunday, most of the shops were closed). I rode uptill Tirumalgiri but to no avail, and finally decided to turn back.

While coming back, I spotted a Super store that I had somehow missed, and decided to check it out. And since the space in front of the store was all filled with cars and bikes, i parked my cycle in front of another shop that was still open and locked it woth the padlock. And when I came back after 15 minutes, i found to my utter bewilderement that the shop was closed and someone had stolen my beloved cycle :(.

I hadd no other option but to walk back home, ruing for my loss and angry with myself for loosing my trusted companion. But my bad luck had not left me alone. After reaching home, I hung the quarter length mirror on the wall with the help of one of those stick on wall hooks that you get. Sadly, the weight of the mirror was too much for the poor hook, and it fell down with a crash after 5 minutes. Cursing myself under my breath, i picked up the broken shreds of glass and called it a night.

The rest of the week was spent in mundane office work, and got the guys from the ISP to come on Saturday and draw the cable for internet. However, they did not bring the modem, and since Sunday was closed, got the internet working only tonight. Also, had a whole lot of clothes to wash, so I was kept busy and did not miss the internet that much.

So, this is my shifting story. Hope I did not bore you much. BTW, this is a pic of my place that I took from the webcam of my laptop -

This is Hashir, signing off (and planning to buy a new cycle soon)

Over and out.

A new place to call home

Because of the fact that me and my roommates finally decided to shift out of the place we currently stay at and the approaching month end looming over my head, I have been forced (for the first time in Hyderabad) to look for a place to stay. And since our offices are in different areas and also because I wanted to stay alone, I decided to look for a single room accomodation for myself.

Since the rents at Sindhi colony (where I stay right now) are sky high and because it is difficult to find a livable single room here, I decided to shift to Karkhana. It is a good locality, about 2 kilometers from my office, kind of laid back (the way I prefer), and has all shops in the near vicinity.

So, spent Saturday looking for a room to stay. The first place I went had a single room on the third floor (pent house they call it) with a big enough roof to satisfy a small city boy like me who misses that and more in the apartments. The only problem was the rent - he quoted 3K while I wanted a place in the range of 2.5K.

The second place had 3 rooms on the top floor with common washroom and toilet. That guy also had like 8-10 dogs who were all locked on the top floor itslef. On top of that, the ceiling was asbestous. Now, anyone who has stayed in Hyderabad knows that the summers are too hot to risk living in such a room. The only saving grace was that the rent he quoted was 2K.

The third and fourth places with a "To Let" board were locked, and the fifth room I checked was too damp and stuffy for my liking. Here too the rent was 2K.

I decided to call up the first guy and ask if he was ready to give the room for 2.5K. Sadly, he refused. I then discussed with a few friends and with my parents and sisters. Their advise was the same - take a room which you like, even if it is a bit expensive. After all - that is why you are earning, right?

So, finally decided to take the first room on rent. Will be shifting on the first of August - which means I will be offline for some time till I get the internet connection transferred. Right now, all I am worried about is how to pack all my stuff in the bags I have. Seems to me that it has grown exponentially - what with all the CDs, DVDs, and books I have bought by the dozen.

Any how, have started packing and all. Will be giving an update on how that went as soon as I get the internet connection transferred. Also, will be writing about my experiences staying alone - as this is going to be the first time. But somehow I feel that this is what I really need - some time alone. Till then,

This is Hashir, signing off (to continue packing)

Over and out

Quarter life crisis : A Guest Post

As a part of 5th 20SB Blog Swap, me and Daniela have guest written a post on each other's blog. Following is her post.

I have days where I believe that at 22 (going on 23, augh), I am well on my way into a full-blown quarterlife crisis. Other days, I don’t care. And other days I just completely hate the phrase. What does it even mean? Who came up with it? Why is it discussed like it’s some kind of incurable disease? Who decided that by the time that most of us are in our mid-20s, we’ll be having an existential crisis?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned that I hate, it’s my lack of direction. It’s frustrating and annoying and sometimes even depressing. I thought that I had at least a general idea of what I want to do with my life, but one year after graduating college, I’m still as lost as I was the minute they handed me my diploma.

There’s a reason people say the first year after college is the hardest. The majority of us are still settling into this thing everyone calls the real world. June 21st marked the one year anniversary of my college graduation. It’s been a little hard to take that in, because it doesn’t feel like a year. If anything, I still feel as overwhelmed as I did back in August, when I first attempted to become an adult by moving to Austin, Texas.

But what good does it do me to complain yet sit around and do nothing about it? Nothing. I can whine all I want; it isn’t going to change the situation. I have to make the change happen. I guess sometimes I’m at a loss for how to actually make that happen. That’s not to say I’m not trying though.

Life is what you make of it. I can read all the books and articles in the world that go into an in-depth analysis of what a quarterlife crisis may or may not be, but at the end of the day, we are victims of our own apathy and lack of motivation. If I have a quarterlife crisis, it will be because I did nothing to prevent it. I like to think everyone wants to have a purpose, a sense of direction, a general goal in life. So maybe it’s time to pick something and stick with it. Sounds easy enough, right? Probably not, but it’s nice to think it might be.

We don’t have to discover who we are right away, but we should attempt to find out who we can be and what we’re capable of.

Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.

It's up to you to make it happen.

Random ramblings

Before Alok comes all the way to Hyderabad and flogs me for not fulfilling my promise of writing a post, let me just do it.

As for the post, it is going to be very random, so please do not try to find any connection in the writeups.

As they say, it is not possible for anybody to find friendship over the internet. But, I beg to disagree with all the sceptics. The reasson I say this is because I for one have found really great friends and people, specially in the blogging world.

Take Alok for example - we only know each other through his and his daughter's blogs and through some chats on gtalk, but he has become the missing elder brother to me - someone I always missed in my life. He has been there to guide me when I get stuck, and his suggestions - both personal and professional - have been invaluable.

Or take Corinne - she has helped me rediscover myself in a way. We had a real long chat today - and by the end of it I felt as if all my troubles are too small to be worried about. I am really looking forward to meet them soon :).

Or take my friends from the Satyam blogging world - and now from the Manor. We all have been interacting with each other through our Intranet blogs, and later started on our individual blogs as well. And when the Satyam blog went down for a couple of weeks, we found that we were missing our interactions and friendly banter. To not miss out on all that, we all put our heads together and started our own collaborative blog on the Internet. Though we did meet in person later (although not all of us have met each other yet:(), but we will never forget where our friendship started.

Enough of this yapping. As usual, I failed to fulfill my promise of going to the early morning ride of Hussain Sagar. I dutifully shutdown my laptop at 12 AM yesterday night, but sleep evaded me. After all, it is not easy to change old habits in one night. Finally slept at 6 only to wake up at 8:30, as I had to appear for the SAIL Management Trainee (Tech) exam at 9:30 at Hindu Public School, Sanath Nagar and I did not know where it was or how long it would take to reach there.

My plan was to leave early and cycle to the centre, but because of my laziness and lack of sleep I had to ditch it in favour of reaching the centre on time :D.

As far as the exam itself, I am pretty sure that I am going to make the cutoff (in my mind that is). The sections on verbal, quant, reasoning, and general awareness all wet fine - but the Section on Computer Science went kaput. Out of the 100 questions, the majority were on either probability or Automata. Now, Automata was my favourite subject in engineering, but it has been like 4 years since I actually read the book - let alone design a machine. So, all i had was a deja Vu sensation of knowing the answer and yet not knowing it for sure. And for the sake of negative marking I left those questions alone. Probability is a different story all together. I never understood its concepts - so there was no use of even looking at the questions. So simply put, no scorer for me :P.

Things at the home front are also looking up finally (Thank God for that), so am a bit relieved.

We had a team meeting with our PM on Friday and we asked him why is it that technical guys are not being pushed for onsite roles and what are his expectations from us. And his answer is as follows -

Any person who is 6 months old in the project should

1. Know all technologies we work on (That includes Oracle SQL, PL/SQL, Forms 6i, Reports 6i, Discoverer reports, Optio reports, Java, Unix, and also server administrations of Zylab and Planet Press);
2. Know the functionality of each and every module (both standard and customized); and
3. Know all customizations we have in our project.

Politely speaking, the answer is a big NO ;).

He also issued a veiled threat saying that in the current scenario we should be happy with what we have got. As if....

After the meeting, we were (as usual) making fun of the management approach, and we have figured a way of answering any question by contineously speaking for atleast 15-20 minutes. For example - if someone asks you, "How are you", here is how you should answer if you want to rise - "This is a relative question. It depends upon the individual perspective of the person. For example - the person in front of me may think that I am feeling sleepy, while the truth is that I am perfectly well slept and alert as a bull. So, the correct way to put this across is to include the perspective also......(Keep blabbering on so that next time the person does not dare ask you anything)"

But then, as they always say, "Chalta hai".... n apne bhi din ainge chote, so tension nai lene ka.

Hope I did not bore you so much that you do not visit this space the next time.....

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out

Am going mad

Am going mad guys. No work to do, no improvement in the kind of work I have been getting for the last couple of years, no challenges to look forward to, in short - life right now S**KS man.

For the past couple of days have nothing to do. Also, slowly the realization is sinking in that I am kind of loosing my technical skills. My aptitude is still good, and so is QA - but I am somehow getting the feeling that I am forgetting a lot of things I used to know. Seems to me that I am gradually turning into my own worst nightmare.

Things at the home front have been kind of bad for the last couple of weeks or so - and there is not even a silver lining in sight.

Have been quite far from my cheery self - which is troubling my friends here. The worst part is - I can not tell them the real reason behind my disposition. So, all thoughts are going around in my mind and there is no outlet in sight. God! I want to just leave everything behind and run away from all this maddening stuff. But then another part of me tells me to stand up and fight like a man, but am tired of doing so day in and day out. All I need is that silver lining, that hint of sunlight in the fog I am ingulfed in - and I will find my will to fight back - and fight back with a vengance. Am still searching.....

This is Hashir, signning off

Over and out

The more I sweat, the more I shine

I'm not a star.

There is no halo over my head.

Fate doesn't like the colour of my eyes.

Struggle and srtife are old friends of mine.

Who am I?

I'm survival, I'm guts, I'm pride.

I like odds.

Specially when they are stacked against me.

Because there will come a time when I'll stare them in the eye

And smile the smile of one who's pulled it off.

I'm the guy who'll have deep lines on his face some day

And it'll make me look good when I laugh

Because that is the day I'll have no fear

And taste the sweat that is sweet

And look back for the very first time and say,

I did it my way

The long hard way.

Disclaimer - The above poem was a part of the print campaign for Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber (You can read the first one here). I took permission from them to reproduce this on my blog, and all copyrights belong to them or the poet as the case may be.

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out