And the reason is love!

 

 

Thomas Hobbes is said to be a pioneer amongst the proponents of the social contract theory. In his philosophical masterpiece, “Leviathan” (literally, twisted/coiled) Hobbes explains the social contract theory as a mutual consent between man and society. He says that man was brutish and asocial when he was without a political authority. But gradually in order to further his self interest and reap the benefits of ordered living he decided to give up a part of his natural freedom in the hands of a sovereign.

Implicit in this theory is his concept of “Subjectivism” which says that man is principally and solely governed by self interest. He would only do things for his benefit. He goes on to say that an adult will care for a child for his own interests. So that tomorrow when the child grows up and expresses a deep sense of obligation towards his curator; that would give the latter his much needed ego bolstering. He further explains that ‘love’ and ‘hate’ are just words used to describe or rather to hide our own self interests.

Love. A four lettered word. Try speaking it once. Does it evoke any emotion? Does it remind you of that pair of eyes you were once enchanted by? Does it bring back the comfort of your lover’s arms? Does it refresh memories of your mother’s caresses? That first crush? That broken heart? That excruciating pain when he left you for her? Love.

Hobbes might have dwarfed “The God of emotions” by labelling it as just a word. These two syllables are the very reason why mankind has existed till now. Before he could learn to settle down and enter into contracts, he learnt to love.

Love is a natural human emotion. Whoever created us has entwined us so deeply with it that the more we wiggle out of it, the more we get into it. Hobbes however would say that man needed companionship and hence to further this interest he sought the same. But then why does a man need companionship? Is it just another physiological need trying to find its place in the Maslow’s pyramid? Or does it stem from something deeper, something beyond the obvious, something that creates an insatiable yearn in him for a partner; so much so that he is willing to share his happiness his life with someone else? Something that stems from love?

Hobbes says that man will give up his freedom only if he benefits from it. Then why would a man tie himself with that certain somebody when he could live his life satiating his physiological needs of sex, food, shelter etc. Stability? Companionship?  Someone to grow old with? Love. He isn’t tying himself down; with love he is setting himself free.

Why does a mother still care for her child even when he grows up and does not feel obliged? Why does she still wish of his happiness and well being wherever she is? What self interest is she pursing? Love. A feeling of giving and loving, of seeing your loved one happy; of becoming one with your loved one so much so, that his happiness is your happiness and his sadness yours. Love

I love this word. It literally spells love. The feeling that it generates makes you forget yourself. And once the ‘You’ in you is gone, love takes over. You no more have self interests to pursue, because the self in you is him; your lover. Love makes you lose yourself and find yourself anew.

We were born out of love and like it or not, will die in it. No matter how many rationalisations we give and theories we propound, this simple yet vast pantheon of emotions called love will always stay a feeling indescribable in words.

Love is all pervasive. Everything emanates from two things; the presence of love and the absence of it. While the former takes you to a joyous fun filled ride to emotions like happiness, bliss, beauty; the latter takes you to a roughshod ride of sadness, jealousy, anger. Look around you. All the problems can be defined as being a cause of absence of love. Terrorism- absence of love for fellow human beings; global warming- absence of love for nature. Love can only give and give more. It’s like a never ending reservoir, the more you give, the more it grows.

I might appear unintelligent to learned individuals who accord a thousand scientific, political, social and economic causes to the problems around us. But for someone like me struck by love forever, blinded by its beauty; only that seems to be a plausible reason. If calling love omnipresent and omnipotent makes me appear stupid, then so be it. I’m far too fond of love to care about that.

I cannot define love; for I fear I will bind that reservoir of emotions with my words and I dare not do that. Love is anything but cliché. It is a rebel, a counter-emotion and an antidote. A God of emotions. A Man of virtue. It is like this wave; wherever it goes to it fills that place with life and wherever it goes from it sucks all the life out of it. It is like this enchantress; who everybody is drawn to for different reasons but once with her forget everything else. Love is a charmer. The precursor of dreams. The giver of life. In it a man reaches divinity, where he lets go of all his desires and hopes, his ego and pride, his rationales, his wits and surrenders to this undying feeling of being united with his loved one. It is a state of constant bliss where your heart is filled with so much love that it can burst out any moment and drown the world in it. It is like a sea in which you drown and come afloat instantly. It is like a thought in which you immerse yourself so deep that you become the thought. It is a yearn so bad that you become the one you love.

It will take a thousand more Hobbes to explain this in words and it’ll still be an exercise in futility.

Apple would have been just a fruit without you. RIP Steve Jobs

iCry today whilst typing this post about the sudden demise of the visionary Steve Jobs. For now, let’s relive his life with his quotes and pictures. I will share my memories and experience later during the day.

Quotes:

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“We’ve gone through the operating system and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and make it more powerful at the same time.”

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

“I want to put a ding in the universe.”

“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”

“The Japanese have hit the shores like dead fish. They’re just like dead fish washing up on the shores.”

“Unfortunately, people are not rebelling against Microsoft. They don’t know any better.”

“Bill Gates‘d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.”

“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”

“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”

“Click. Boom. Amazing!”

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”

“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

“Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview.
So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data.”

“We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place – the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.”

“I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple.
My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.”

“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.
We just want to make great products. (I think he means “insanely great products!“)”

“So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.”

“When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of “ubiquitous evangelism” in companies)”

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

“Our DNA is as a consumer company – for that inpidual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.”

“That happens more than you think, because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.

I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.”

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.

Life is brief, and then you die, you know?

And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.”

“The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”

“I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.”

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.”

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

“Insanely Great!”

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

“It’s rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing.”

“I feel like somebody just punched me in the stomach and knocked all my wind out. I’m only 30 years old and I want to have a chance to continue creating things. I know I’ve got at least one more great computer in me. And Apple is not going to give me a chance to do that.”

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

“The products suck! There’s no sex in them anymore!”

“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”

“If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.”

“You know, I’ve got a plan that could rescue Apple. I can’t say any more than that it’s the perfect product and the perfect strategy for Apple. But nobody there will listen to me.”

“Apple has some tremendous assets, but I believe without some attention, the company could, could, could — I’m searching for the right word — could, could die.”

Finally the background of my iPhone which everyone wants:

If you want to avoid the cumbersome process of saving, transferring, copy-paste from your computer to iPhone. Then leave your email in the comment section and I’ll mail it you. Thank you, its the least I can do for Steve Jobs.

TenTen 1010

‘TenTen’ now what’s that? A new form of cricket game where each side plays for 10 overs? No! Not really ‘TenTen’ is about Top ‘Ten’ things of Twenty ‘Ten’ (2010) that I have compiled.

Top 10 Personal Accomplishments:

1) Transition from MS to MW to MR (Microsoft – Maintenance Wala – Media Redefined)

2) Back to Pro-Photography

3) My moment of fame ‘Big Picture’

4) Social Media Enthusiast to Social Media Evangelist (Thanks to @MediaRedefined – @praval @honeytech @gmishra)

5) Nailed the ‘Delhi Half Marathon’ yet again.

6) My business trip to ‘The Great Wall of China‘

7) Quiet a few escapades in my car to Agra and Jaipur.

8) iSinned with iPhone4, iPodTouch and the iPad.

9) Went 3g the Nokia Booklet 3g way.

10) Switched from Symbian (Nokia N97) to Blackberry (Bold 9000). RIP s60.

Top 10 World News Stories

1) Haiti Earthquake

2) WikiLeaks

3) Chilean Miners

4) Pakistan Floods

5) North Korea’s Year of Bad Behavior

6) South Africa’s World Cup

7) Yemen: New Front in the War on Terrorism

8) European Austerity Measures

9) Mexico’s Drug War

10) Thailand’s Red Shirts

Top 10 Bollywood Movies

1) Dabangg

2) Golmaal 3

3) Raajneeti

4) Housefull

5) My Name Is Khan

6) Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

7) I Hate Luv Storys

8) Peepli [Live]

9) Ishqiya

10) Badmash Company

Top 10 Hollywood Movies

1) Toy Story 3 Disney/Pixar $1,063,171,911

2) Alice in Wonderland Disney $1,024,299,904

3) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Warner Bros. $952,183,653

4) Inception Warner Bros $825,531,030

5) Shrek Forever After DreamWorks $750,164,311

6) Eclipse $698,491,347

7) Iron Man2 $622,056,974

8) Tangled $590,721,936

9) Despicable Me $543,113,985

10) How to train your dragon $494,878,759

Top 10 Songs

1) Cee Lo Green, “F___ You”

2) Janelle Monáe, “Tightrope”

3) Kanye West, “Power”

4) Arcade Fire, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

5) Eminem featuring Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie”

6) Yeasayer, “Ambling Alp”

7) Jónsi, “Animal Arithmetic”

8) Drake, “Find Your Love”

9) Elizabeth Cook, “All the Time”

10) Sleigh Bells, “Rill Rill”

Top 10 Albums

1) Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2) Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

3) LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening

4) The National, High Violet

5) Drake, Thank Me Later

6) Sufjan Stevens, Age of Adz

7) The Black Keys, Brothers

8) Yeasayer, Odd Blood

9) Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

10) Beach House, Teen Dream

Top 10 Biz Deals

1) United Unites with Continental

2) General Motors’ IPO

3) Sanofi-Aventis Makes Hostile Bid for Genzyme

4) MetLife Picks Up a Piece of AIG

5) Agriculture Bank of China Goes Public

6) Unilever Buys Alberto Culver

7) Warren Buffett Acquires a Successor

8) Private Equity Firm 3G Buys Burger King

9) Southwest Buys Airtran

10) IBM Sells 1% Bonds

Top 10 Buzzwords

1) Vuvuzela

2) Top Kill/Junk Shot/Static Kill/Top Hat

3) Bedbugs

4) Eyjafjallajokull

5) Austerity

6) Anchor Babies

7) Mama Grizzlies

8) Release the Kraken!

9) Double-dip

10) Bunga bunga

Top 10 Facebook Trends

1) The Facebook Movie: The Social Network

2) 500 Million Users

3) Facebook Places Introduced

4) Celebrity Doppelganger Week

5) Zuckerberg Gives Millions to Newark Public Schools

6) Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns

7) Queen Joins Facebook

8) Instant Messages Revealed

9) Privacy Snafus

10) Facebook E-mail

Top 10 Fashion Statements

1) Lady Gaga

2) M.I.A.

3) Venus Williams

4) Prince

5) Rihanna

6) Britney Spears

7) Rita Wilson

8) Taylor Momsen

9) Charo

10) Heidi Klum

Top 10 Gadgets

1) iPad

2) Samsung Galaxy S

3) 11-In. MacBook Air

4) Google TV Via Logitech Revue

5) Nexus One

6) iPhone 4

7) Apple TV

8) Toshiba Libretto Dual-Screen Laptop

9) Kinect

10) Nook Color

Top 10 iPhone Apps

1) Netflix

2) Groupon

3) iMovie

4) Springpad

5) Twitter

6) Dragon Dictation

7) Petfinder

8) Hulu Plus

9) iBooks

10) Nike + GPS

Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs

1) AIDS Drugs Lower the Risk of HIV Infection

2) Synthetic Cell

3) Blood Test for Alzheimer’s

4) FDA Approves Botox for Migraines

5) Taking the Resuscitation Out of CPR

6) The FDA Restricts Avandia

7) Blood Test for Heart Attack

8) Predicting IVF Success

9) Artificial Ovary

10) Creating iPS Cells Safer and Faster

Top 10 New Species

1) Beaked Toad

2) Darwin’s Bark Spider

3) High-Altitude Tree Ant

4) Mossula Katydid

5) Pea-Sized Pitcher Plant Frog

6) Ecuadorean Glass Frog

7) Giant Woolly Rat

8) Tube-Nosed Fruit Bat

9) Bluetooth Tarantula 1

0) Five-Foot Penguin

Top 10 Oddball News Stories

1) The $8 Million iPhone

2) The Mystery Missile That Wasn’t

3) The 2-Year-Old Smoker

4) Kobayashi: From Competitive-Eating Champion to Jailbird

5) King Tut’s Penis: Missing?

6) Is That a Time Traveler on the Charlie Chaplin DVD?

7) Fired for Excessive Beauty? 8) Life in the Time of Vuvuzelas

9) The Way of the Samurai Porn Star

10) The U.S. Wishes the Queen Happy Birthday — on the Wrong Day

Top 10 Scandals

1) Woman Returns Son to Sender

2) Sarah Ferguson Sells the Prince for a Price

3) Jesse James Cheats on Sandra Bullock with Tattooed Lady

4) Mel Gibson Loses His Cool — and Any Vestigial Public Goodwill

5) Small City, Big Pay Scandal

6) Flight Attendant Goes Awol

7) Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room

8) Katy Perry Barred From Sesame Street

9) Dora the Explorer Sues Nickelodeon

10)CEO Loses Job Because of Money and Sex

Top 10 Talented Web Videos

1) Happy Together/Paper Planes Lip Dub

2) Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

3) OK Go, “White Knuckles”

4) Up & Over it: We No Speak Americano

5) Last Minutes with ODEN

6) Carly Sakolove: Broadway Divas “Send in the Clowns”

7) The Johnny Cash Project

8) 35mm

9) Take Care

10) 2 Guys 600 Pillows (Backwards Music Video)

Top 10 TV Commercials

1) Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

2) Snickers: Betty White

3) Nike: Write the Future

4) Google: Parisian Love

5) Windows Phone: Really?

6) Nike: What Should I Do?

7) Subaru: Baby Driver

8) Coca-Cola: Hard Times

9) GEICO: This Little Piggy

10) Bridgestone: Bachelor Party

Top 10 Toys

1) Sing-a-ma-jigs

2) Morphology

3) LEGO Board Games

4) Toy Story Mania

5) Paper Jamz

6) Doodle Track Car

7) Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera

8) Razor Sole Skate

9) Computer Engineer Barbie

10) Disney Princess & Me Doll

Top 10 TV Series

1) Breaking Bad

2) Mad Men

3) Parks and Recreation

4) Louie

5) Boardwalk Empire

6) Party Down

7) The Pacific

8) The Good Wife

9) Rubicon

10) Terriers

Top 10 Twitter Moments

1) Kanye West Joins Twitter

2) Conan O’Brien’s Twitter Wit

3) Justin Bieber, Trending No More

4) Library of Congress Archives Tweets

5) New Twitter Design

6) From Twitter Feed to Hit Sitcom

7) Journalist Freed After Tweets

8) MTV Selects Twitter Jockey

9) Ivy Bean, Oldest User, Dies

10) @BPGlobalPR: Oil-Spill Satire

Happy New Year to all! Have an alcohol free year or Absolut Impotence :)

To all my readers, the blogger is back. Happy to new year to all. Hope you have an alcohol free year. The choice is your’s -> Hard-on or Hard-Drink.

You are the ‘Big Picture!’

I hardly share anything personal about myself on my blog as I live by its tagline – ‘It’s not about me….It’s about us….’

But if the news is so grande,  I can’t help but let it out to all my readers, friends and family. Before I share the news, I would like to express my gratitude towards Aviva PLC for such a big opportunity.

News is that my picture’s not the one’s that I have clicked as a photographer but the one’s that I have modelled in are being projected on one of the tallest building in Delhi, The Statesman House on 18/11/10 at 1800hrs. So, be there to cheer for me, its ok if you can’t make it as you can watch it as a webcast too

Have a look at the screenshot of the mail that I received from Aviva PLC for the same:

Following are the links to the pictures that would be showcased:

http://www.youarethebigpicture.com/#/gallery/person/1723029457E41F13677414

http://www.youarethebigpicture.com/#/gallery/person/1133881375E41F13677414

To get a better idea of how its going to be like, please have a look at the video:

PS: You are the Big Picture! Why and for what cause has Aviva taken this initiative:

Update:

Here are the projected images:

Image 1: The Guitar Tower

Image 2: Rock On!

Every post in my blog ends with a famous quote, but this time as the post is on me thus the quote is by me.

Quote of the Day:
I enjoy doing photo shoots and transforming myself into different looks for photo shoots.

-Nikhil Chawla

Six reasons why CWG is Anything but CommonWealth Games

CWG – Commonly known as the Commonwealth Games but for me the only thing correct about this abbreviation is the word ‘Wealth’ in it. I am not saying this out of frustration or anger but because of the facts.

Before you start reading this post, I would like to request you to keep any kind of prejudice away as this post has nothing against the selfless Indian athletes who have always brought pride to the nation, the brave Army men who built the foot-over bridge and kept us secure, the children, the volunteers or the policeman without whom this event wouldn’t have been possible.

I am only and only against the corruption that has taken place in the name of CWG. My plea to everyone who reads this post is – Let’s not the let the brilliant performances by our athletes or the spectacular Opening & Closing ceremonies overshadow what people like Suresh Kalmadi has done with our trust and money. Its time to bring the scoundrels to justice.

Here are the 6 abbreviation’s of CWG that I could come-up with. Please feel free to add more in the comments section.

1) Congress Wealth Games

As pressure mounts on Kalmadi to sack his aides, he finally said that Organising Committee Joint Director General T S Darbari will go. CWG treasurer Anil Khanna quit over allegations of corruption. Kalmadi himself says he’s ready for any kind “scrutiny“. Meanwhile the BJP stages a demonstration demanding his expulsion.

There were greater concerns dogging the Commonwealth Games. The progress of the construction work had taken a backseat while charges of corruption and politics are pushed to the forefront. As per reports say that late Sunday night (Aug 01, 2010), the Sports Ministry wrote to the CWG Organising Committee to sack joint director general T S Darbari and deputy director general Dr Sanjay Mohindroo. The letter says,

“They tarnish the image of the Games and adversely affect its credibility… I would strongly advise you that the above two officers should be immediately relieved of all their duties in the OC and the Government informed accordingly…”

With the controversy not showing signs of abating, IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi met External Affairs Minister SM Krishna earlier today to “clarify CWG’s stand on UK money trail“. Kalmadi still maintains that there is no corruption and that they’ve always been transparent with their work.

However, he does appoint a three-member panel to probe into this allegation of money laundering. Will this move make any difference? Or is it too little, too late?

2) Corruption with Guts

Is part of the 35,000 crore meant for the CWG going elsewhere? Reports indicate that there is a “major scam” with a huge amount of money being transferred to a UK-based company.

Television channels reported that over 4.50 lakh pounds were transferred through a British bank to the A M Films company, said to be a one man show, which was also receiving 25,000 pounds a month.

There has been a disquieting whiff of postcolonial satisfaction in the foreign reaction to rising India’s comeuppance. Yet a wholesale cancellation might just be the best thing for a nation that — while it can lay claim to tremendous promise — is still struggling to be great.

Many observers will be tempted to see this failure as a fable of false pride ending in just humiliation. But apathy, not hubris, is India’s fatal flaw, and a bracing dose of shame may be exactly what is needed to shake its incredibly capable, but politically inert, middle class into action.

The risk is that this shame will inject new life into the old argument that India suffers from too much democracy — a favorite hobby horse of this bunch. No, India is not China. But the Games fiasco was not the result of parliamentary gridlock or popular protest. The farce was scripted by cronyism, corruption and a complete lack of accountability — all aided by the Indian politician’s complete disregard for the voter’s disgust. Unfortunately, the most shameful are the most shameless.

3) Convenience will-be Gone

This is what our Games Village Mayor had to say when he was scrutinized by the Media.

• Dogs sleeping inside athlete rooms – The fault of the MCD. The dog catching team was asked for but yet to report. So the stray dogs can jump in and take an afternoon nap on the same beds where athletes are supposed to relax. For God’s sake run after anyone you like, but don’t poison these innocent dogs for your ego.
• Paan spits on the wall – The workers are all from UP & Bihar and fond of their Paan and Gutkha. So they might have done this artwork. Ask them instead of me, as I myself don’t consume them nor I have spit all around.
• Messy and filthy rooms – Even when you occupy your own flat for the first time, it generally is messy. So we citizens shouldn’t blow our ass for this small reason. Oh really? Then should we ask all the athletes to come here along with their Jhadu, bucket and pocha lagane ki kapda? That would pretty much settle the case and solve the problem.
• OC guys pissing all around in open air – Its nature’s call and one better be disposed to the nature directly.It is a matter of individual’s choice. You might like Western toilets but I might prefer visiting the nearest paddy field with a lota in my hand. You know it’s all about comfort levels. This is another theory of relativity in terms of shitting. And Albert Einstein turned violently again.
• Algae in water tanks - It was for sure a bad day and the best was reserved till the last. Out of nowhere a foot overbridge near the Jawaharlal Nehrustadium gave in. This eventuality made the queen of the opera to come to the stage with her polished Miranda house accent. How I can forget her flamboyant cotton Saree? When asked how each day a new bloody thing can happen to the CWG, this is what she has to say – The foot over bridge was for the aam admi (so shouldn’t be attached with CWG), not the players. So? Aam aadmi can die as long as you can save your back from the CWG ghost? Mam, can you imagine what would have happened – if few athletes were right below and the bridge crashed on their heads? Don’t bother how many of the aam addmi the bridge might take along while crashing on the poor athletes’ heads. As per her, the builder is black listed and some bloody enquiry would be carried out with reports expected in three weeks. So for next three weeks we shouldn’t bother her by showing our filthy and unhygienic faces. Let me admit – I am still in dilemma, whether to cry or laugh on these stupid statements. To top all this, a section of the roof in the wrestler’s arena of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed, and the Delhi CM, Ms. Sheila Dixit’s riposte was that small things keep happening.

4) Collaboration with Goons

• Ms. Sheila Dixit
• Suresh Kalmadi
• M.S. Gill
• Lalit Bhanot
• Maj (Retd) Dalbir Singh (Games village mayor)

Figure this out. One-stop luxury shop Harrods of London sells one of the world’s best treadmills for Rs 7 lakh. But the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) shelled out an astronomical Rs 9.75 lakh for each unit of the fitness equipment (not necessarily the same brand) – that too on rent. And this is just one of the products which cost the OC a bomb.

In fact chairman Suresh Kalmadi’s list of expenditure has left even the wealthiest of people startled, with a roll of tissue – that should cost a mere Rs 35 – being bought for Rs 4,138.

Each chair has been rented by the OC at a cost of Rs 8,378 and it has spent Rs 8.8 lakh for every cross-trainer. A 100-litre refrigerator has been hired for an astonishing price of Rs 42,202.

The OC had floated tenders for overlays (equipment that will be rented for a period of 45 days since it would not be required on a permanent basis) for the October 3-14 Games. But the beleaguered is now feeling the heat over the huge bills it has run up for the equipment.

Astoundingly, while the OC has paid little attention to the quality of infrastructure – which is described by most technical experts as lacking in quality – it has exceeded all conceivable limits in its expenditure on rented equipment.

The deals made on overlays – treadmills, cross-trainers, air-conditioners, umbrellas and chairs – have already been given the go-ahead by the OC. The overlays consist of around 1000 different items to be placed at 60 venues, 4,000 rooms and in external places to be used by athletes, security personnel, volunteers, Games officials, VIPs, workforce, etc.

Despite the glaring impressions of mismanagement and splurging patterns, the OC claims it has spent very conservatively.

“The contracts were allotted on a competitive bidding basis,” OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot said on Monday.

“The rates for some individual items were higher compared to those offered by other vendors for the same pieces, while some rates were comparatively lower. The overall price of the lowest bidder was lower than the price of the other vendors,” he claimed.

“The treadmill is of a high-end make and was used in the Beijing Olympic Games. The purchase price is Rs 29 lakh (approx). The rental is Rs 9 lakh, which is less than onethird of the cost price of a new machine. The rental includes operation and maintenance of the equipment. There is a major difference between the household treadmill and the ones used by professional athletes,” he added. But the reactions of athletes also bear testimony to the fact that the amount at which Kalmadi and his officials have hired equipment from abroad defies common sense.

Top athletes of the country have argued that India has the best of equipment and there is no need to spend so much on such trivial aspects.

“I think all this could have been spent on training the athletes. After all, they are the ones who will compete in the Games and win medals,” an ace shooter who did not want to be named said.

“There is so much of money to spend on everything other than on athletes themselves. When highquality gym equipment is available in the country, what prompts them to get treadmills for Rs 9.75 lakh from abroad?” another athlete asked.

A trainer at a high-end gymnasium of south Delhi said, “We run a multi- purpose gymnasium. We generally buy all such equipment time and again and it includes maintenance as well. Yet the costs are not so high.”

5) Can We Go (Away from this mess)

You might have heard of the Summer vacations, Winter vacations, Diwali holidays or Christmas vacations but this time we Delhites had the CWG Holidays.

According to tour operators, countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Mauritius are seeing an increased tourist inflow from Delhi for short-haul vacations to escape from the city during the Commonwealth Games.
“There has been a 40 to 50 per cent jump in the number of bookings for people going out of Delhi. Because of CWG, with all the educational institutes closed, people in Delhi are making plans to go out of the city,” Yatra.com Co-founder and Executive Vice President Sabina Chopra said.
Factors such as economical travel packages and visa on arrival make the region a favoured destination.
“A lot of hotels such as Banyan Tree and Amari in the South East Asian countries are offering packages starting Rs 20,000 per person designed specially for people looking to travel during the games,” TRAC Representations Associate Director (Operations) Rajeev Nangia said.
The company represents a host of international tourism boards and hospitality firms in India. He said countries such as Thailand and Mauritius also offer free Visa on arrival.
Expedia, a travel services provider that has designed special packages targeting such travelers, said it has witnessed increase in bookings for outbound travel from the Capital.
“There is an increase of around 30 per cent in the number of bookings for outbound travellers,” Expedia India Marketing Head Manmeet Ahluwalia said, adding South Asian countries are the favourite among the travellers.
Families are also looking to travel during the games as many educational institutes and offices will remain closed.
Besides foreign destinations, Yatra.com is also offering packages to Andaman and Nicobar islands with special chartered plane.
“This is the first time we have taken such an initiative,” Chopra said.
According to industry observers, usually in North India people do not travel out during this time of the year.
But this year due to the CWG the trend seems to have changed.
“On an average, a family of four is spending between USD 5,000-7,000 for a holiday. We have received around 500 bookings from people opting for leisure travel outside India,” Pearl International Tours and Travels Executive Director Arjun Seth said.
“Even corporates are organising dealership incentive programmes to places like Thailand and Malaysia,” he added.

6) Call-girls Whilst Games/ Common Whore Games

Delhi’s oldest red light area, GB road, is giving itself a more pleasing and friendly look. The paan-stained walls are being replaced by the glossy surface of the LCD TV while the fluent English of the sex workers will make the communication easier. Facilities like split air-conditioners and refrigerators are financed by the owners of the brothel houses to attract more customers.

Delhi based non-voluntary organizations are focused on the health and hygiene of the workers. A series of medical tests are being conducted to identify those who are HIV positive in order to ensure the safety of the sex workers as well as that of the prospective customers. There is bound to be a surge in the clients (largely tourists) in the brothels during the games, thus strict precautionary measures must be taken to avoid the spread of diseases.

NGO’s are counseling the workers about the preventive measures like, “No condom, no sex, as simple as that” as told by a sex worker from Andhra.

Americans and Europeans tourists have remained the much awaited and favorite clients of the Escort services as they pay well. These agencies are busy increasing the number of national and international call girls in order to meet the customer’s requirements. Making the girls look well groomed and fit so that they can work for extra hours has become the main focus of the escort agencies.

Tina Jaiswal who owns the No 1 Delhi Escort agency said, “We hope to make good money during the games. We will simply follow the demand and supply principle of economics. We will double our rates a month before the games begin and increase our workforce.”

 

I have a lot more to share but I think I’ve made my point here. I have snippets and pictures supporting all the above claims but I have avoided the use of them as its not a media gimmick for me. I am doing it for a cause and will stand by it like I did previously for ‘The Peace India Campaign’ where we assembled outside Jantar Mantar for a Peace Walk.

I am elated that this time we have celebrity power @GulPanag with us who is an activist and a humanitarian .  She not only takes care of www.colshamshersingh.org but also takes part actively on twitter for social causes.

If you also feel that we are fighting for the right cause then join us for the protest. For more info visit the @CWGcorruption page on Twitter or Facebook

Quote of the Day:
Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.

-Karl Kraus

What I’ve Learnt

I have been written off or declared dead many a times in the past. I had gone for too long this time, my readers sent me hate mails for not getting any updates, I was interviewed by IBA and was asked to return to blogging, blah blah blah. So, here I am with a list of 25 things that I’ve learnt since I was gone. Why the number 25?? 25 because I will be turning 25 in 10 days.

1. I’ve learnt that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

2. I’ve learnt that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

3. I’ve learnt that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better have a big dick or huge tits.

4. I’ve learnt that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others — they are more fucked up than you think.

5. I’ve learnt that I can look 15 with a clean shave and turn 30 with a grown beard.

6. I’ve learnt you should always leave loved ones with loving words. You may need to borrow money.

7. I’ve learnt that you can keep puking long after you think you’re finished.

8. I’ve learnt that a good time can be had by sitting on the beach and drinking with a bum.

9. I’ve learnt that heroes are the people who do whoever has to be done when they need to be done, regardless of the morning after.

10. I’ve learnt that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones who do.

11. I’ve learnt that maturity is a magazine for old people.

12. I’ve learnt that your family won’t always be there for you. Of course, if you win the lottery, the hag, the philanderer, the screw-up, the missing one, the asshole and the horse tooth girl will be and will also claim to be your best friend.

13. I’ve learnt that no matter how good a chick is, she’ll only contribute to your alcoholism.

14. I’ve learnt that two people can screw the exact same person and compare notes.

15. I’ve learnt that airport personnel don’t like you joking about bombs in your luggage. No matter how many times you state that you’re only joking.

16. I’ve learnt that overzealous customs agents can change your life in a matter of hours.

17. I’ve learnt to say, “Fuck them if they can’t take a joke” in 6 languages.

18. I’ve learnt that if you have a BlackBerry in your one hand and iPhone in the other, they will treat you like a king even if you are broke.

19. I’ve learnt that if your sibling is settled abroad and doing well, he would still want to exchange places with you no matter how fucked up your life is.

20. I’ve learnt you should never keep talking to your dog just because he is looking into your eyes.

21. I’ve learnt that you should always drink and drive as you end up being too cautious to not to bump into anyone.

22. I’ve learnt that the name of my companies are as weird as me -> 1)Soch….A Creative Thought. 2)techNYK Ctrl+Alt+Del your gizmo problems.

23. I’ve learnt that it doesn’t matter if I have the direct numbers of celebrities in my phone as I am never going to call them and neither are they going to [Ego-Hassles].

24. I’ve learnt that you are only valued when you are gone – That’s what happened with my hero Michael Jackson

25. In the end, I have learnt that I am turning 25 and all I do is I.T. Training, Modelling, Blogging, Photography and a 100 more things but still not happy with my job. Only if I knew which job to be happy with.

Quote of the Day:
I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.
–Duane Michals

Where did the blogger go?

There used to be a blogger named Nikhil Chawla, whose passion were blogging & photography. If that’s the case then why there hasn’t been any update from him. There is no reason to justify that but there are endless reason for his absence. Let’s first have a look at the reasons he has to give and then let the readers be the judge. We interviewed Nikhil Chawla to know why and where has he vanished. Here is the interview :

Ques: Hi Nikhil, how are you doing?

Ans: I am doing just fine, don’t get taken aback with my beard as its just there for no reason What about you, How you doing?

Ques: Do you know who we are and why we are here?

Ans: Yes, I think you are from the Independent Bloggers Alliance and you want to interview me about my blog.

Ques: Thats correct, I am Tina from IBA but I am not here to ask you about your blog, instead I am here to ask you – Why did you leave blogging?

Ans: To be very frank Tina, I didn’t really leave blogging but the circumstances were such that I never got an opportunity to blog. There were times, when I noticed or experienced something which I instantly wanted to blog and share it with my readers but could never really do it. I was invited to so many Blogger meets, people wrote mails to me asking me to start writing again, I was sent products from all over the World for reviews and my take on them but nothing really could motivate me enough to get back. Infact, I started to write a few times and all those entries are still in the draft section which I hope I publish them someday.

Ques: I wonder what could have changed you so much that you stopped doing what you loved?

Ans: It wasn’t just one thing or one incident that changed it for me. It was a set of unfortunate events that changed it all around for me. I wont be able to answer it publicly in detail but it was related to me quitting my job with Microsoft and then starting my own business which really didn’t do well and I had to shut it down too. My personal life was also in a turmoil after my breakup, I still haven’t overcome all of this, so once I do, I might make a comeback.

Ques: Do you have any idea how helpful your blog has been for the people who needed info about – Frozen Shoulder; GTN spray; Auto Expo; India Peace Campaign; etc.

Ans: I have a fair idea of it as I keep getting a lot of queries about Frozen shoulder asking me for therapy and other things. A lot of people thank me for the article ‘Quack Quack – The Doctor’ as they didnt end up repeating the same mistake as my friend Atul did. Infact just today I received a long mail from a gentleman from Gurgoan sharing with me his mother’s story and how this article saved his mother’s life.

Ques: I wanted to ask you this question offline but I will ask it live only – Will you please get back to blogging for me? As I represent the general public right now and I want you to bring more social issues to light and help spread awareness.

Ans: If thats the case then I would not say no and act like a prick. I still remember how my last article ‘It happens only in India – Mera Bharat Mahaan’ and how the police officials called me and asked me to take it off.

So Nikhil, I take it as a promise from your end that you will be back with a purpose sooner then we expect and help make this world a better place to live. Looking forward to read your next article in a day or two

Thanks for your valuable time and warm hospitality.

- Tina (IBA Network)

It happens only in India….Mera Bharat Mahaan….

I didn’t have an idea that a simple album on Facebook would turn out to be so big that people would ask me to post it on my blog and send it to the news channel. Before I share any more info about it, I would like every one of you to have a look at what exactly is causing such rage

 

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Now that you have seen it for yourself that how the Law & Order is put at stake for the sake of religious activities. I want to inform you when and where this video was shot.

Location: Kashmiri Gate

Time: 10:15 P.M.

What, I fail to understand is that how conveniently we are fined for crossing a Red signal on the Traffic Light but there is nobody to even intervene when a major Traffic Light went missing.Hopefully these pictures or the video will see the light of the day and come on the news to act as an eye opener for the Delhi Traffic Police.

If any one of you has witnessed something similar then please come forward and share your comments,pictures or videos.

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Final Goodbye to ‘The King of Pop’

As promised in my last post that I’ll be giving a tribute to MJ for his work & excellence, so here I am with my final post on Michael Jackson. MJ remembered by friends & family:

Quote of the Day:
In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
–Henry Ward Beecher