ShashiTharoor twitting avout VISA !

http://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor .. "Hey there! ShashiTharoor is using Twitter !" .. I admire & respect this new age politician. He is the real Gen 'X' or 'Y' representative.

But I do not agree with his latest feed about the VISA regulations. Can he go & ask the USA Govt. to redice the BODY fresking or the latest (1 day old) additional regulations ? I guess he will find those justifying.

Same lines, I find the new VISA rules for India justifying. After all we have to take care of our problems & it is to be done our way.

Does UK or USA care if we ask them to reduce the sever checks that they do for granting VISA + the stringent regulations that they have ? I guess no, they would not bother.

Same way, if a person has to come to India for abusiness purpose & has to do multiple entries, he / she should obtain the correct VISA & not mis-use the "tourist" VISA. I guess that is all, no more discussions.

If this makes us "un-welcoming", yes, so be it & if tourists fell that they get a better experience in India, they will take the pain & gett he VISA. Same for business flyers, they do not come to India for charity, they come for business & for making money, then they should ask for correct Business VISA.

Google Maps showing Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir outside INDIA ?

This is totally unacceptable & bizzare. Google should not do politics. Arunachal Pradesh is very much part of independent INDIA. There is no dispute.

- English version in my browser is showing it as "not" in INDIA or "desputed" area
- Same for Jammu & Kashmir
- In Chinese version Arunachal Pradesh is shown as part of China

This is sad & not acceptabel at all.

MLAs in Karnataka should be ashamed !

It is really shameful that during the tough times of flood, the MLAs are giving more importance to "money" & "power" then to help their own voters by co-ordinating the relief work.

For last 2 weeks now, there is a BAD drama being played between Bangalore - Delhi - Bellari.

1. Couldn't the Reddy brothers wait till atleast the relief work is done & the affected voters are settled ?
2. Should one be always opportunistic ?
3. It is known that all the miners are just minting money by illegal enchroments on forest land. When they are earning lakhs with every over-loaded iron ore lorry, what is the issue of paying Rs. 1000/- that will go in re-building houses for the flood affected voters ?
4. Have our MLAs not evolved not to tolerate a women colleague in the ministry ?

Concept of mid-term-elections at this point is too -much to think of. This is clear case of an "insult" of the mandate that Karnatak population has given to BJP & a back-door possibility for the JD (S) to come to power & start making hawak :-(

It is just frustrating to see all what is happening.

Easy Cabe (43434343) are really easy !

This is my recent experience.

We (family: 2 Male + 2 Female + 1 kid) wanted to reach Yashantpur railway station from NGEF, Old Madras Road. Of-course with 6 - 7 luggage items. Take an auto & reach your destination. Sounds simple !

Not in Bangalore & definately not with the "auto" at all.

There are two auto stands near our complex, JalVayu Towers. Every auto was ready to come to Yashantpur but at his own cost which was Rs. 190/-. The distance is 17 KM max & by meter it costs Rs. 120/-. So a demand of Rs. 20/- extra is justified but not Rs. 70/-. At-least I do not understand for what reason they demand more. We wanted to 2 autos & tried a bargain of Rs. 350/- for 2 but no, they saw a chance to make money & were not bugging at all :-(. We had no choice, we hired them & did the journey from home to railway station in all noise & pollution & paid Rs. 380/-.

Now, the return journey, & the scene changes all-together:

• We are on our way back to Bangalore & train will terminate at Yahsvantpur.
• But we have learned our lession 7 days back. So 1 hr before approaching Yashvantpur, I call Easy Cabs (080-43434343).
• They take my request & tell me that they will confirm in 5 min if the arrangement is possible by SMS.
• In 5 min I get an SMS with cab no. & driver cell no.
• After reaching Yashvantpur railway station, I call the cab driver & patchup with him. Go out of the railway station & board the cab with 4 of us & our luggage.
• We have a comfortable & smooth journey from Yashvantpur Railway Station back to NGEF, Old Madras Road, in an AC cab, no noise, no pollution.
• Upon reaching the destination, the cab meter shows Rs. 250/- & the driver is happy to take his money & leave.
• No unpleasent talk of "saaar, give Rs. 20/- more then meter, you make lots of money".

So one way we paid Rs. 380/- & were exposed to noise & pollution + the unpleasent bargain. On way back, it was nice & smooth at the cost of Rs. 250/-.

I'm sure this should be the experience of every IT guy in Bangalore, some or other time. Why do auto drivers in Bangalore see "bakra" in every customer ? Are we IT guys making money without any work ? Are we making money at their cost ?

Imagine this happens to a guy / girl who is starting for a good work like interview or to see his girlfriend or to see his prospective bride or to go to a temple ? His / her event gets spoiled :-(.

I'm now a happy customer of Easy Cabs !

Sripuram, modern day temple ? New age Business ?

Sripuram (Golden Temple South, Vellore) appears to be a money making machine. A modern day business of faith. This is how it came across to me:

- Had herd about this form my friends & though of making a 1 day trip with family there. I was told to be there in the evening.
- Started at 8 AM, via old-madras-road, pass K R Puram. The road is good (managable) & small compared to the Hosur-Krishnagiri stretch. And reached Vellore by 1 PM. Had our lunch & headed towards Sripuram. On the way we spent about 1 hr at the Vellore fort.
- As we reached Sripuram, it appeared to be a fortress. Parked my car & this is where the encounter with the business machine started:

1. No mobile phones allowed inside.
2. Foot-ware stand is just a big hall & visitors (I' not sure if all were devotees) have to buy a plastic bag for Rs. 2/- to keep foot-ware of all the family together.
3. When I tried to reason this with the Public Relation (PR) officer, he appeared very very arrogent.
4. He told me that the temple is some 1 & 1/2 yrs. old & a foot-ware stand may take another 1 & 1/2 yr.
5. He was quick to identify that the plastic bag that I purchased is biodegradable.
6. Upon persisting more, he asked me to get lost if I'm not intereasted to get in & I'm free not to visit.
7. At 2 PM the crowd was not so huge but still the temple volunteers were discouraging visitors to buy Rs. 100/- entry ticket sighting the reason that free darshan will take 2 hrs waiting.
8. We bought into the idea & got tickets for 5 of us. Even though it is a clear entrance ticket, it says "seva" & "entry is free". Whom do they want to fool here ?
9. On our way in, visitors from free queue also got mixed with us & they told the waiting was about 30 min. So I paid my Rs. 500/- for no reason :-(
10. As expected the -in (& later way-out) passes through their shopping mall seling silk saree, agarbatti, small momentos, & many more articles.

Once you get into the actual temple premises, you feel better & surroundings resemble to any resort. Then you are made to walk the START shaped path, about 1+ KM.

1. Along this path also, you see more counters selling water then taps with free water.
2. Many boards boasting about the place. 1 was very intereasting, justifying that spending money for a tourist spot is more important then spending it for building school :-(
3. The central temple is nice & attractive with gold plating all over. I herd some 300 KG (or tons) of gold is used. I felt sad, that such a huge money can be used for so many more causes :-( Even if it is somebody's BLACK money, can be used for a better cause.
4. This golden temple is surrounded by water & the pond has 1,000s of Indian currency coins & notes dropped by devotees (?). Again a waste of money & the basic cost of printing these notes. RBI shoudl take a note of this.
5. I think it is easy to have a small net covering the pond to catch the offerings, but again like the foot-ware stand, I think, they do not have money. Or they want it to be like this for more devotees (?) to see & drop more money there.
6. A BIG difference that I observed is: depending upon the money shelling capacity of the visitors, they are divided into 3 groups: free, Rs. 100/- & Rs. 250/-. The more you spend the closer you get to the god.

Unlike Tirupati where everybody gets to see the god from same place, & money helps you to spend less or more time in the queue. Here the free queue is all the time kept at a distance from god :-(

Obama equates India with Pakistan & N Korea

Article in esakal -- http://beta.esakal.com/Article/ArticlePage.aspx?Id=B2615F61-FE5C-4CCB-B3EF-020C1E5E7E0F

And Obama's speech does not refer to Isrial :-(

This shows the double standards that USA has for Isrial & rest of the world. It is a clear indication that Obama is also not a different person & he is also working under Isrial lobby in the USA.

Should L K Advani be more careful ?

Meet the leady of the house (DNA, Bangalore, 04-Jun-09, page - 9)

This article carrys reactions from: Meira Kumar, LK Advani & Manmohan Singh. Advani's comments are really striking & look out of place "I read that your voters are disappointed with your election as speaker but I feel you will be able to serve people better in this position then as a minister". What does this mean ? Does this mean she is better to be a speaker then a minister ?

Celebrating 31st DEc vs Chaitra Shukla Pratipada !

http://www.sanghparivar.org/welcome-the-new-year-by-celebrating-samvatsararambh-chaitra-shukla-pratipada

I believe in trying to protect Hindu culture, we are bashing events like 25th Dec (x'mas Day), 31st Dec (new yr eve) & 14th Jan (Valentine Day) too much. This will back fire. We should understand that now a days all the days & events & festivals are governed by a strong market force & electronic media. They want to sell things & they sell it on each & every ocassion. They hardly distinguish if its a Hindu, Muslim or Christian event.

Moreover everybody is having a party, drinks, etc on 31st Dec & this shows that at least the Hindus have not started treating it as any Brahma muhurta. Where as many observe Brahma Muhurta on the ocassions of Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, Diwali & many other regional events.

Does the author thinks that if I party on 31st Dec, I have dis-respect for Chaitra Shukla Pratipada ? This way of thinking & writing is not going to be accepted by normal janata, this will surely back fire. if you have observed, these kind of tactics have back0fired during recent Delhi elections.

BJP, ShivSena, VHP, BajrangDal & to a large extent Sangh Parivhar should start thinking a on the improved lines now. We cannot create fear psychosis anymore.

One thought -- instead of bashing others we should try & propagate our culture the way Christians are doing. Get market & media to support Hindu culture, festivals, events, etc the same way they support 25th Dec, 1st JAN, 14th JAN, etc. This will not happen easily. We have to give market & media what 25th Dec, 1st JAN, 14th JAN, etc gives, that is spending. When Hindus spend during Diwali, the markets & media push it. They will do the same for each & every Hindu festival if we give them what they need.

Rebuild Hotel Taj Mahal in Mumbai !

Dear Mr. Ratan Tata,

I'm very shocked with the recent attack that started on 26-NOV-08 at many places in South Mumbai. Loss of 200+ innocent citizens is the saddest part :-(

I feel deeply hurt for my fellow citizens who lost their near & dear ones. Equally frustrated towards our political system who ignored the hints from the intelligence agencies for a proactive action.

Hoisting the TRI-COLOUR at Hotel Taj Mahal is a very solid statement to the terrorists out there. I strongly wish we should creat a trust that will work for re-building 100+ yrs. old Indian heritage. I feel strongly obliged to participate in re-constructing of Hotel Taj Mahal. We as Indian citizens should re-build this Indian identity that TATA's have given to India.

Not a doubt that Hotel Taj Mahal & Tata Group has enough money to re-build the structure to its full glory. But we should show it to the whole world & to the terrorists & their bosses that we stand united in re-building the national ICON.

I would not want to go to media immediately with this as they will see this as a chance to increase theit TRP.

Please guide me in understanding as to how this should be taken forward ?

BIG roads being mis-used by transport lobby :-(

All the major roads in WhiteField are big enough to handle normal traffic. For example road leading to ITPL or the road opposite SaiBaba Hospital. These roads are really huge. BUT, as seen in the below images all the time 1/2 the roads are occupied by so called CABS. And looks like there is no solution to this :-(

There is a HUGE vacant plot adjacent to the BMTC Depo in Whitefield. In 1 corner it has a BIG water tank, so it should be a BWSSB plot, I assume. Why can't this plot be used to park all the stray CABS / BUSES & keep the road empty for normal use + BWSSB (or who ever is the owner) will also make some money. The authorities (BBMP I guess) should make it compulsary for all the CAB owners to park in this designated space & charge a min of say Rs. 2/- per day.

What measures should the BBMP take to attend to bad roads?

I travel on Old Madras road every day to ITPL area. I have noticed many small bottle-neck along the way. If BBMP works on these small things, the same road can be de-conjusted very easily & used effectively. My small suggestions:

1 - intersection of the fly-over coming from Hebbal direction & other flyover starting for Hoskote. There is a bus stop on either side of the road here. It will help if the road divider is blocked completely, say by a concrete wall, so nobody can sneak in + build a road over bridge for pedestrians to cross.

2 - Tin Factory bus stop near HP petrol bunk is s BIG BIG mess. BBMP should ask BMTC to make it compulsory for the city bus drivers to use the designated bus stop only, that actually have good space on left side of the road. If we enforce this, all city bus users will get habituated sooner or later & the area just opp to the HP petrol bunk can be used more effectively.

3 - KR Puran Rly station, we need an underpass here. There is no other alternative. I guess some corporates will be happy to finance this project under PPP use the space for advertisement.

4 - recently there is a new HUMP that has come up just after K R Puram Rly station, opposite Lowry Memorial High School. This is working as 1 more extra obstacle to the traffic. I understand that it is needed for the school's children to cross at school time but the solid speed-breaker is there creating traffic problem during all non-school timings as well. I have also noticed that the school vans stop on the other side & kids cross the entire road. The school vans should be asked compulsorily to get inside the school's compound to alight the kids. This will release some more pressure.

Many more such small adjustments can be done along the road till ITP to ease the traffic pressure.

Ultimate solution will be either Metro / Mono rail along this route or a Road-over-Bridge on the lines of Hosur Road.

Women power on full display in J&K

Amarnath row: Women power on full display in J&K

So strange ! If Kashmiris get pleasure by stamping land below their feet considering they are stamping India as their enemy then why are they in Kashmir ? They should be in Pakistan.

These Kashmiris are a real confused lot. Its pity :-(

Their leadership like the Abdullas & Huriyet are making money from both sides & enjoying & keeping the things hanging. If the issue is resolved they have no stand.

• Kashmiris should try & visualise the stability that they have experienced for last few yrs. as they had an elected state govt.
• Kashmiris should realise India has Millions of potential tourists for Kashmir against a few thousands from Pakistan.
• Kashmiris should realise that just because of Article 370, they are protected & rest of Indians are feeding them with their Tax money.
• Kashmiris should realise that there is no scope of big time farming of big time mining or big time industries in Kashmir like UP, Bihar, Jaharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, etc

Kashmiris should realise that they have no prosperity, no future if they merge with Pakistan just on emotional basis.

I strongly believe that this is a known thing for Kashmiri leadership & that is why they are keeping the issue burning & hanging to keep on making money using their own dead brothers & sisters.

Amarnath land row: pathetic reaction sitting in USA

09-AUG-08, TOI has a NEWS -- Amarnath land row: Talks fail, stir to continue. 3 replies / comments / reader openion to this & of-course approved by TOI's editor from: Bangalore, Delhi & USA.

The response from USA has an Indian sounding name to it (VKBurman) & this reader is asking "Irrespective of merits of the issue the Sangharsh samiti must suspend the agitation immediately so that talks can be held in peaceful atmosphere" & more.

It is so easy to sit miles away & comment asking to stop the agitation ? Why nobody asks the Kashmiri Muslims to stop their's. Actually that is the place where all this drama started. While all over India, acers of land is being donated / given / transfreerd for many Muslim cause / reasons, why should the Muslim brothers (so called) from Kashmir vally bother so much for a small land being handed over for a Hindu cause.

How can somebody fail to see the across-border agenda behind this ? Is this gentalman one of the CPI / CMP caders ? Burman sound like that ! Again & again asking Hindus to keep quiet :-((

J&K leaders have proved that they have no brains

It is real sad story about the Amarnath. All over India the govt has donated / transferred acers of land for all kind of Muslim causes / reasone. When it comes to allocating land to a Hindu temple, everybody is worried about forest & environment. Center Govt. so far followed wait-and-watch policy. It was expected that the Kashmiri Muslims who have driven out Karhmiri pandits should utilise this chance to show their support to the cause & create a friendly atmosphere for patching up the differences with the Hindu community. But the Muslim leaders from the vally have lost a big chance & are following the setarist agenda from their masters across the border. Time & again the Muslim leadership from Kashmir vally proves that they have no brains of their own & are puppets of ISI. A very sad affair.

Bangalore Traffic Police Looting ?

On 14/06/08, I was stopped by traffic police on JC Road for jumping RED light. The inspector collected Rs. 400/- for this. But the fine is Rs. 100/- Item #13 (190 class 119). The inspector did not charge me with any other offence.

I 100% agree that I was rushing & did jump RED signal but does this mean the traffric police should ask for any money ?

I cannot understand & talk Kannada, is it wrong ? There were 2 constable + 1 officer. They stopped a Taxi & the driver was allowed to go by paying Rs. 200/- as he could bargain in Kannada.

The chalan no is 541791 & Sub-inspector is Shanmukha B. R.

As I was with my wife + all the 3 traffic police were talking only Kannada (or at least showing like that), I had no choice but to pay him what he asked.

I'm not a casual offender & I accept my mistake & am ready to pay the requied fine as per the law. But me not knowing Kannada is my mistake :-(

Exhibition on Aurangzeb closed by Police ?

Is it not well known that Aurangzeb was one of the most cruel rules in Inidan history ?

What is wrong in displaying the facts that he raised countless Hindu temples to ground. He burned 100s of villages create fear. He looted every place that he travelled to.

Forget what he did to Hindus: re-imposing the humiliating jiziya tax, forbidding them from riding horses, elephants or palaquins and ordering all temples destroyed (Among them the Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujrat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta – ka – Thakur temple in Ayodhya), he was also a monster to his own family, having his father poisoned, his two brothers killed, and imprisoning his own son.

News from Times of India & Rediff.com

Why should some Muslim citizens of INDIA object to displaying facts about a cruel Muslim ruler ? Just because they are Muslim ? Are they not connected to Indian history ? Are they not equally Indian ?

Why cann't our police & govt. be equally proactive in case of exhibition of paintings by M F Hussain ? Paintaings of Hindu gods & goddess in nude ? Why does the govt. not feel that it will hurt Hindus ?

A detailed account + reasons can be found at HinduJagruti

Is India religiously intolerent ?

As usual so called secular media has started asking this question after the unrest in Orissa. NDTV is conducting one such poll -- http://ndtv.com/mb/messagethread.asp?topicid=10114&tablename=NEWS

We should 1st answer following questions:
- Do we have 2 Christian groups killing each other in India: catholic & protestent ?
- Do we have 2 Muslim groups killing each other in India: shia & sunni ?
- In last 300+ yrs. of Indian history do we have a single incident of mass killing self generated by Indians ? Killing Indian ?
- How else do we justify that Jwes & Parcies came to India settle & flurish ?
- Why do Christians want to increase their number on this earth ? Can they not just help the needy & not ask for conversion in return ? Does this not become asking a price for the so called social service ?
- The Pope comes to India & declears that the coming decade will be used to convert Asia to Christinity ?
- In USA, in certain schools you have to be a Christian to get admission. Where as in India we have special schools & colleges run by minority communities (Christian & Muslims) & they get land free form Govt. ?
- And we Indians are religious intolerent ?
Instead of telling the whole world how Indians are religiously intolerent, should we not spend our energies to find the root cause behind this unrest The real caues ?

RSS IT Milans in Bangalore !

http://www.rediff. com/news/ 2007/nov/ 12vicky.htm this link from Rediff is an able recognition of how Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS www.rss.org) is changing with time & has found complete acceptance even the busy (I think so) IT community.

Suresh Nayak, referred as co-ordinator of IT Shakhas, is more a guide then a co-ordinator, with non-stop energy & 200% dedication to the cause. A highly educated electronic engg. himself, he has created a batch of co-ordinators (Karyakartas) who take the cause forward.

I remember we started this as a small gathering of like minded friends at a guest house run for an IT company back in 1999. We used to meet every THU evening for an hr. As the number grew, we got help from Sureshji to shift to a temple nearby & it started as a regular SUN morning Shakha.

I got to introduced to a lots of new friends from various IT companies across Bangalore. It has developed a nice bond among ourselves. As many friends started attending it from other corners of the city + a few friends changed their homes, it was natural to start more such shakhas in other parts. Today there are 34 milans (as we refer to it) in Bangalore, divided into 11 zones (valays).

The group has a place on yahoogroups (rssbangalore) to communicate with Swayamsevaks & Sureshji + other Karyakartas keep on feeding a lot of information for us.

After the 2004 Tsunami, a few IT swayamsevaks, took a week long leave from their office & attended the Tsunami affected on the Tamil Nadu coast. They literally cleared dead bodies along with the local authorities. An IT guy with a fat pay package & habituated to spend the entire day in air-condition office doing this is a RSS effect. We also collected money, cloths & other things from our IT friends for this cause.

Sureshji is such a good gyu, he managed to inspire all IT swayamsevaks to contribute to social service (seva) activities. The IT effect is also evident here, there is a web link for this group as well .. www.youthforseva.org

Many more such things to write. IT Milans .. I would simply call .. a great place to be for INDIAN IT janata

Nandigram .. are Communists Pakistani or Bangadeshi ?

If you see what Nandigram today is you will understand what kind of nationalism/patriotism Communists like or advocate.

It is absurd & illogical to create a WAR ZONE within an Indipendent INDIA :-(. WAR with weapons ? To capture back some teritory ? Are these ppl Pakistani or Bangladeshi ? Nandigram is very much part of an independent INDIAN nation. Can you make out what is happening ?

Communists are intereasted in opposing just for sake of it. They will oppose anything bad as well as good.

It is like they started as an idology to revoult for the supressed but today there are hardly any supressed (thanks to media's reach to every corner) & these fools have no job & no chance to use the weapons that they got from Bangaladesh. So what they do ? They start using it against their own ppl ?

The killed & raped ppl from Nandigram are they not Bengali ? Not Indian ?

It is frustrating & I'm sure every INDIAN must be crying :-( Unfortunately the central govt. cannot dis-miss the state govt. & impose central rule there. They themselves will collapse :-( Otherwise why was the police force from nandigram removed ?

Congress (I) say NO to existence RAMA .. a bigger controversy ?

There must be a bigger issue at the background that Congress (I) is trying to avoid attention of Indian public at large. How else can such an old party with so many stalwards like Shivraj Paril, Pranab Mukharjee, etc miss the point that BJP & its sister organisation will not miss the opportunity to corner Congress (I) when they say NO to existence of RAMA ?

These kind of affidavits where Central Govt. (& may be President of India) are party, do not come out of air. This has to be a calculated move. It is not that straight forward, as being projected as a simple mistake.

One motive can be to elevate madam Sonia. So the Govt. does a mistake & by grace of the great madam Sonia Lord Rama is pardoned. Govt. has taken back the contents of the affidavit only because Sonia intervened. Thus madam becomes great !

Another motive can be some big controversy that was about to be brought in front of the nation & this issue is being used to divert attention.

Dr. Manmohan Singh we know you are not such a BIG fool not to make out the obvious fall-out of this kind of issues. You are the only person we respect & we trust in running this nation. You should make Congress (I) & also Sonia to introspect.