I am not sure how many NCR dwellers are aware of the Okhla Bird sanctuary, situated on the banks of Yamuna on the NOIDA bank. Those who do would also be aware of the murderous attempt by the UP Governemnt (lead my Mayawati), to convert most of it into another Ambedkar park. Those who don't, may never as the attempt to kill is in full swing. So wake up!

Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar's name has been really abused by Mayawati throughout her state and her tainted career, so much so that people have started hating and equating both personalities.

Anyway, this post is an attempt to spread awareness among the educated and responsible people of the country, to protect the natural habitat of thousands of migrant birds, that has flourised for centuries. Mayawati is all out to destroy it. That's why its important to elect educated people to govern our country (side moral of this post)

Birds have a pattern of migration from colder regions to warmer regions of the world during winters and move across countries on a set pattern. Its still a matter of research about how birds keep sense of direction and places to migrate too. In a nutshell, there is always a series of spots that birds hop on in a direction to reach the final leg of their migratory journey, and return when season changes. Okhla Bird Sanctuary is such a spot in the way of birda arriving from Siberia, Central Asia, North China etc, and has the distinction of have the second largest number of species seen across the year. Home to over 400 species of birds and several thousand migratory birds, the Okhla Bird Sanctuary is an internationally recognized important bird area, and definately the largest in Indian sub-continent.The importance of this location can be gauged from the fact that such a large number of species is found in such a small area, representing more than 30% of the 1200-1300 species recorded in the Indian Sub-continent.

Some enthusiasts have been trying their best to save the sanctuary, but their numbers are quite limited. I know of a group called Delhi Bird Group raising their voice to fight it. Remember, its not a fight against natural extinction, but against murder!

The park is going to replace 3.5 square km of the sanctuary with concrete. Most of that is already done. The machines round the clock disturb birds, especially their mating, and thus have more detrimental effects. The UP government has broken many laws to reach here. 6003 trees were felled to create space of the park, without the requisite permission of the ministry of environment & forest.

Now, should we also remain mute spectators of the carnage? Unfortunately, in our country, we entrust power to those who are not capable of using it well. The ministry of environment & forest does nothing to enfore the law. Someone needs to do something fast. There is an online petetion that we can add our weight to, to help the few enthusiasts fight this battle.

http://www.petitiononline.c
om/OBPWLS09/petition.html

Read this article too:

http://timesofindia.indiati
mes.com/Earth/Protect-Okhla-bir
d-sanctuary/articleshow/4256876
.cms

If the link is disabled , you can paste in your browser to reach there.

Personally speaking, I am no great bird lover or an expert in ornithology.I can never wake up so early to be in time for watching birds, like my better half does. However, I realise that this is an attempt to save the eco system we are a part of, hence woke up this time around (look at the time this post was posted). I hope you think so too.

(some of the pictures in my album have been clicked in Okhla Bird Sanctuary)

A few months ago, I saw a mouthshut-Google partnership link on MS, that uses Google SMS services. I thought of it to be a cool idea and subscribed to one of the services - "Restaurant Review - Mouthshut".

Being a foodie, I thought this to be a good idea.

I started getting SMSes regularly from the service. However, the SMSes were of no use.
An SMS of this kind was just an alert that an SMS review about some restaurant has just been posted on MS. It gave no information about the restaurant that was referred. Besides, SMSes don't know when to arrive. They often disturbed me at work (That's entirely my mistake).

Now when I wanted to un-subscribe, I had a tough time finding the source from where I had subscribed it earlier. Logically, it should have some place on MS, but it wasn't. It had to be on Google Services. It sucked!

Thankfully, I am out of it now and some peace of mind has returned.

So all those who haven't been there - DON'T!
Thanks for reading more crap from me.....

This is a continuation of my post – “Another day’s drive to office….. - I”.

Him: I am asking you something (seeming more irritated)
Me : Oh yes! I am here because I am still in love with this profession. I always was. Its not “just” money. And I don’t compare or think like that.
Him: Ok. Where do you belong too? Delhi?
Me: Well, I have been here for 12 years now, and that’s my work ex, but was born and brought up at Kanpur, UP.
Him: oh UP! I should have guessed. People from there are the most ignorant, and you are another example. So 12 years of experience you said?
Me (Still unable to corner him): Yes.
Him: Ok, so what have you learnt in those 12 years? Come on tell me (as if he is all set to hit me back)
Me: Well, cant cover 12 years in 12 minutes, but I have grown in my profession , my overall approach to life…..
Him: No tell me about your profession. What do you do?
Me: I work as a Project Manager.
Him : What are your responsibilities?
Me (Running low on patience now): I manage projects, people, cost, schedules, etc.
Him: Do you get promoted after every 2-3 years?
Me: No, its performance based.
Him: How do you measure performance?
Me: we start by setting goals for individuals, in sync with the project deliverables and organizational goals.
Him: How does your organization set goals?
Me: I am not there today, but I promise you that when I pick you up 4-5 years later on your way back, I could answer.
Him ( I forgot, grumpy people have no sense of humor): So you don’t know…..and you say you have 12 years of experience! Well, you have not impressed me. You know nothing.
Me( expecting him to tell me that his destination has arrived): well yes, I am still learning. I am still better than those who know nothing and still have the guts to preach (Tongue in cheek ….ouch! – I bit myself).
Him: Young man, think again. You don’t seem to know anything. You don’t follow any news. I don’t know if every company has managers like you. And by the way, please drive straight to the next traffic light. I need to get down there.

That was ½ a km out of my way, but I thought I better not talk anymore.

As his stop arrived, he sat preaching more “gyan” to me for 2 idle minutes, got down and reminded me that we guys in IT think that we are the best in the world. I reality , we are just a bunch of greedy idiots. He thumped the door and walked away. Expecting a “Thank You” never happened.

…..so that was my moral less story.

My learning (Unfortunately) - Never to give a ride to an unknown person in future.

I drive about 48 Kms one way to my office in NOIDA from my home in Gurgaon every weekday. Hence I start from Haryana, traverse through parts of Delhi and end up in UP. It takes me anything from 75 minutes to 2.5 hours depending on time of the day. I get to see, feel and think many things that I may not otherwise.

I often give rides to strangers on the way, who seem to be struggling to find a suitable means of transport, generally the elders. I keep meeting people from different walks of life and sometimes that's change for me as I hardly deal with anyone who's not an IT professional otherwise (including family).

Today, while giving a free ride to a middle aged gentleman, I had a disgusting (for lack of a more appropriate word) experience that I would like to share. There's no moral behind the story, hence don't evaluate it that way.....Just read.....

I met an educated looking gentleman , about 55-60 years of age at the Sheikh Sarai crossing traffic light. He asked if I could drop him a few km ahead, en-route to NOIDA and I agreed.

He saw the parking sticker of my employer (An IT company) and asked if I worked for it. Well, that was obvious unless my company sold those stickers at the local stationary shop. The discussion has just started…..

Next question: So what’s your Qualification:
Myself: B.Tech (Chemical engineering) + MBA (Marketing)
Him(sounding somewhat offended) : So you did your graduation in Chemical engineering? Then what are you doing in IT? You people have just been after money.
Me: Well, that’s not entirely true. I was always interested in IT, but…..
Him (cutting me short): Then why did you not opt of Computer Engineering? You should have worked harded to get a better rank and did that.
Myself: I chose Chemical over Computers.
Him: Then, why did you reverse your choice later? I tell you, you guys have nothing to offer that world. You suck!
Me (not understanding where this discussion is going: Well, I was just 17 and wanted to join a branch where the chances of me finding a job are best. My dad had retired and mom had 4 years to go, a younger sister to get married etc. At least I would relieve everyone of my responsibilities, I thought then.
Him: So what changed?
Me : My level of maturity
Him: Ok so you think you are making more money than your classmates who did not switch?
Me : I don’t know. I don’t think so.
Him: Then, why are you here?

At this moment I felt like kicking this guy, overlooking his age, out of my speeding car. I speed up when I get irritated.

Do read the second part of this post – “Another day’s drive to office….. - II”

I understand that there is a review category about the best advertisements, however, I personally believe that there is nothing to review there. Thus I am typing all this crap about the universal crapbox in this small diary space.

I have a very limited choice of what I watch on Television (crap box as referred earlier). I watch Discovery, Nat Geo, Fox Entertainment, Times Now (at times) and Cricket( whenever it happens). With 100’s of channels available and 1000’s of programmes telecast on all, there is a plethora of crap floating around. Curse me if you must, but for me, all that does not fall in the above buckets is crap…..

However, I do find some of the advertisements floating around to be more interesting than the actual programs. Few of the best I that feel are as follows:

1. Jazz – Why so serious : The feel of the ad is good. It uses the older film camera and gives it the 80’s touch. The music or jingle as we may call it is quite catchy. It better than 99.9% of what Bollywood churns out nowadays.
2. ZooZoos – I’ll have decent company when I say that these unique characters are quite cute. You can read the history and the making of this series of ads over the internet.
3. Ek Limca chura lo na….. : This one again has a very catchy jingle. The rest may be quite ordinary. I definitely feel thirsty after listening to this jingle.
4. Samsung – Thodi zindagi chakh lo….: Again, a catchy tune and Aamir Khan’s umpteen isomers make it memorable (I’ll write a separate post on him someday).

Some of the worst Ads though force me to keep switching between channels:

1. Walk when you talk – All ads’ for IDEA have been stupid, and with Abhishek Bachchan as its brand ambassador (The infamous Sir Jee), it can not get worse.
2. Harpic – The lesser said the better…..you know why by now.
3. Appy Fizz – I keep thinking what is worse – the Ad or the product.
4. Rajnigandha – It shows that you can conquer the world if you chew their paan masala. They still live in the East india company era, and have an unkempt wolverine like lead artist, who’s supposed to be a genius. Probably the person who conceptualized their series was a victim of their paan masala.

Any way, that was my choice. It will be interesting to hear from others too on these lines…..

Its common knowledge that targetting shoes at leaders / policicians is becoming a fashion especially for the scribes' community, starting with Bush and then our own Chidambram. In both instances, the missile missed the target ( I am glad for the second miss, as I like him), but this brought a thought into my mind..... Who would be the one that I would like to pelt a shoe at (and hope it would not miss)?????

Well, I am having a tough time thinking ( no, not that I have no one in mind.....inj fact I have many.....none on MS so relax!!!). For those of you who have already wasted your time reading this crap, would you mind putting the name of the person you would want your shoe to leave a mark on?

I will give 5 such names in a couple of days.....

So start shooting.....

We have been blaming the government, the intelligence, the navy etc for all that happened recently. I still feel that changes in those areas can not eradicate terrorism from the country. The change has to come in us. We need to be more aware, more responsible and take necessary action to use the existing system for our safety.The following was circulated over an email recently, I thought of sharing it with you all. It may not have a strong logical basis, but worth a thought:

Look at the terror pattern below:

13 May-------------------- JAIPUR
June -------------------
26 July--------------------- AHMEDABAD
August -----------------
13 September-------------- DELHI
October ---------------
26 November-------------- MUMBAI
December -------------
13 January ----------------- What Next?

LOOK AROUND AND BE VERY CAREFUL & CAUTIOUS

In case you come across any suspicious activity, any suspicious movement or have any information to tell to the Anti-Terror Squad, please take a Note of the new ALL INDIA TOLL-FREE Terror Help-line "1090". Your city's Police or Anti-Terror squad will take action as quickly as possible. Remember that this single number 1090 is valid all over India. This is a toll free number and can be dialed from mobile phones also. Moreover, the identity of the caller will be kept a secret by the authorities concerned.

The Delhi Metro is well on its way to spread its tentacles into Gurgaon. That's good. However, till it is operational, the distances within the city have increased by an average of 30-35%. The diversions and the resulting narrow lanes have made traffic a challenge. What irritates me more is the fact that I have to listen to one of the nauseating RJ's mindless and senseless blabberings for 30% longer.(I cant' switch it off as someone else listens the songs hat come as a break in between).

Well, last evening , on one of the trips across the labrynth of roads in my town, I heard an RJ telling us about the most expensive perfume in the world. It costs USD 215,000 per piece. One bottle carries 16.9 fl oz, has a 22 carat gold cap with a 16 carat diamond fixed on it. The manufacturer produces just 5 pieces per annum as demand (obviously) is not high. They still manage to sell them.

Convert that amount to INR at present rates and it works out to INR 1,07,50,000. I do not understand what , other than snob value, can be derived by the ultra rich buyers of that perfume. I could however think of at least a 100 places where we could use this money better.

This was just one example, but there are millions where, as per me, we waste money and resources for things lesser in importance than those that lay waiting for want of the same resources. There are millions who do not get proper food, shelter, medicine, education etc across the world. Are their lives less important than the 16.9 fl oz of the perfume? Well, for once the RJ gave me something worth thinking (although that was never her wildest intent).


Think.....

Some people would argue that this should have been a review, but since I did not have much to write about a product here, but just an unforgettable experience, I chose to post it as a diary. Wifey dear had her last exam of her management course this Sunday. We were waiting for months for this course to get over so that our weekends could be ours once again. She managed to get a couple of free movie tickets, so that we may start enjoying our weekends (and sort of freedom) once again. I was thrilled to see that, and who doesn't like free tickets? We reached DT mega Mall Gurgaon after 15 minutes of drive from our home just in time for the movie to begin. We took our seats in the front row( yet again!) and started watching the movie. Never before had the screen looked so big with vibrant colours changing all the while as yesterday. The movie had a overdose of special effects, more than real characters, that made us wonder if a graphic designer had directed it and placed actual people where he could not manage with computer graphics. Never before had the sound system appeared so loud that our seats vibrated most of the time (as if someone was drilling under them). Oh, yes, how much did we wait for the intermission to get a breather and our favorite over priced and undersized popcorns and coke. One we had them in our hands, both of us decided to sit outside the theatre for a while so that life may appear normal again. The movie inside had no sense,no story, no plot, no logic, no acting etc. But since it was a free ticket movie for us, we decided to walk in once again, still enjoying the popcorn, the coke and our company. The thunderous background scores continued and so did the vibrations in out seats. The actors were as lost about their roles as we were about the entire movie. The torture ended in about 2.5 hours and we were free birds once again. But yes, I am not fond of the "Free" word that much now. I think I should use it with responsibility and caution. Oh yes, Did I tell you which movie did we suffer for free? And, that's one of the reasons for not posting this a a review, since the popcorn , the coke and the intermission were far far better than the movie. I would never want to watch such a movie for free or even if I am paid to watch it. By the way, the movie was Drona.

It was Sunday the 6th of December 1992. I was a II year engineering student at HBTI Kanpur, waiting to appear for my 1st semester exams to begin from the next day and continue through the week to end on 11th of December. I had worked very had throughout the semester, perhaps for the first time in my life. Working that hard was not my habit, just like running a 400 m relay every morning for a couch potato. You can imagine, how much was I longing for the exams to come to an end, and me breathing free and fresh air for a couple of weeks before my next semester began.

I was a day-scholar, staying in the cosy comfort of my home, and did practically nothing other than study (no TV, no movies and few friends, all like myself).

It was about 7 in the evening of that fateful day, that something happened, that changed my thought process for ever and dumped millions of questions in my mind, answers to the same are still hazy.

I heard the news that the Babri Masjid had been demolished by the supporters of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. It was insane to every sane person. I am sure that most of the readers here remember that.

We had no Cable TV at our home, and our responsible DD did not air that news till it was stale. In a way it was to prevent communal voilence from breaking out thoughtout the nation. BBC however did the damage and telecasted the images of the shameful event. The next news items cobered nothing else but the chronicle of rios across the nation and curfew being imposed in all sensitive areas. My hometown was no exception. Curfew was declared for indefinate period.

My dreams of getting through with my exams within the week were shattered. I had been shaky in the 1st year of engineering by my standards, and was determined to mend my ways this this around. I did not have words to express my disgust on those who are so shortsighted that they fight on such petty issues. It was a personal anguish for other reasons, but it made me think really hard as to how such events are triggered and how can they be eliminated.

The space here is too little to pen dowm all that went through my teenaged mind, but it disgusted me no ends to belong to a country that is led by such irresponsible leaders like LK Advani , Ashok Singhal, Uma Bharti etc.They targetted the illiterate polulace of the country , them being majority everywhere, and used them in numbers for their personal gains. People did not even understand that no religion talks of intolerance towards others. Well, people do not understand religion in general.

The situation took 20 days to be controllable again, and we had our exams starting from 28th December, including 1st January as well. We ended up having just 1 Sunday betweem semesters and were back to our classes..... Quite frustrated with us being victims of something not of our making.

As time went by, I realised that the ones who have been losing their lives, their loved ones etc have obviously been more unfortunate. Not all, as many participated in the riots and lost something or someone in bargain. Why are people so blind? Why can they not see what is good for them?

16 years have passed since then, but my questions have found no answers. People still fight over communal issues and kill or injure each other. What do they gain? Crafty leaders still take hordes of countrymen for a ride, use their numbers and baffle progress. It was Advani & co then, its Mamta Banerjee now. And, what's the outcome? Some people lose thier lives, some their loved oned, some gain an injury or two, but none gain something they really fought for. How many of the communal rioteers are destined to go to heaven ? None I would say. How many farmers would get their land back and earn something better out of it in Singur? We are yet to see, but the figure would be dismal.

We talk about our country progressing in leaps and bounds. It has recently been recognised as a global power in nuclear energy. We have won a Gold meadl at the Olympics and the T20 world cup last year. On the economic front, we are more liberalised than what we were 16 years ago. The living standards of select few metriotes have shot up. But that's the end of it.

We are still ill-prepared to fight any clalmity, or a terrorist campaign (attack would not be correct now) or to understand what our politicians wnat to use us for. This covers every part of the country. Hence, the larger chunk of our country is still where we were when the Babri Masjid was defaced. That's as far as my memory goes.

Why don't we spend money in constructing schools and hospitals instead of temples or mosques? Will the Almighty love us less?

This was one of the questions that came in my mind then, on the 6th December 1992. Today is 18th September 2008, and I am no wiser.

BTW, I completed my Engineering as the university gold medalist later, but could never forget that time!!!