India Log book...

        With the deeper penetration of gadgets into our life, we surely started reading and watching a lot of stuff online. But in the chaos of being everything online, somewhere we are leaving good habits of substantial reading. A good book have the charisma to transcend  its reader into a different world. It can unearth the world of knowledge, imagination, passion and wisdom. It's always good to read and learn about great personalities. Their perspective of life is very much different from what an average person usually perceives.  Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs is extensive but one can enjoy every bit of it.  Jobs spent seven months in India roaming in Delhi, Haridwar, villages around nainital and in Manali. According to book, later he said about the trip to India as- "The people in the Indian countryside don't use their intellect like we do,  they use their intuition instead, and their intuition is far more developed than...

Its a power game and there is a constant need to always be in the news. There is a need to be always connected with the people who hold the power to cast the vote and elect. We have a population of over one billion and half of them are young. We have a strong work force to reckon with. These dynamic young people are the first ones to embrace new technology and they are very much active on social media. Anna Hazare's anti corruption movement is hugely dependent on the power of social media to pull people on streets. Just take a moment and think how many people knew Anna Hazare one years ago. He was a regional icon not a pan Indian one. There was a strong social media campaign behind him. Many political leaders are admitting this very fact that social media can take them to innumerable people instantly and they can directly interact with them  too. It is a direct and a huge public relation platform and every political leader wants a pie of it.  Shashi ...

Few days ago I wrote about deputy chairman planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia declaring tea as a national drink of India . It is time to take a look at some interesting facts about Indian tea. Readers of this post can include some more facts in the comment box. 1. The most common word for tea in India is 'Chai' (चाय) or 'Cha' (चा). Like many words in Indian dictionary Chai has too come from Persian language which is derived from Chinese Mandarin Language. So Many people who think Chai is an India word or never had payed attention about this fact that it is actually a Persian word where tea is known as 'Chay'. 2. Most commonly used spices for masala tea are ginger, cardamom, cloves, fennel and basil leafs. 3. Except southern India where coffee is very popular rest of India enjoys variety of spice tea. 4. India used to be largest producer of tea few years ago. Now China has taken number one position. China and India produce more than half of t...

When you move to   Delhi   roads you can easily notice many children begging with their parents. It is a bare fact we all come across everywhere in the country which is very sad too. These children do not go to school; they do not enjoy two meals a day like other children. Most of the public take a look at them once and move forward. But these children stays there and their hope for a better future too.   Though literacy rate in   India   improved significantly over the last one decade but we have a long way to go. Over the years after liberalization and privatization Indian economy has shown remarkable growth signs but at the same time it has been noticed that poor have become poorer and rich people have become richer. That means a great divide is building slowly in the country. To check this we need to improve some aspects at the grass root level and one of those things are inclusive education.  Every child has the right to study and gover...

Every day brings a new kind of experience and insight. Some days ago I met a man who left a deep impression on my mind. He was in his fifties with hollow eyes and cheeks. His structure was bony and reminded me one of the characters from great Hindi novelist Premchand's novels. Yes, he is a daily wages laborer working almost 12 hours a day and earns around Rs. 250-300 per day. But one thing differentiates him from other people is his positive will and conviction. He has four sons in his native village nearby Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. All his sons are studying and he is the sole bread earner of his family. In one hour conversation he kept saying that he has only one desire left and that is his children must study and fulfill their dreams. As long as I am alive I will make sure from whatever meager income I have I will support them, he said firmly. His conviction to provide the best of studies he can for his children is rare. He made a promise to hims...

Workers returning from a construction site. They made this huge road roller as their vehicle and everybody has taken a unique place.

It seems Christmas shopping is finally gripping people. Most of the shopping malls are brightly decorated for the occasion and trying every method to lure customers. In fact, this is the time for celebration. Folks forget everything and enjoy. Merry Christmas.

Do we live in the era of censorship? No. But communication minister Kapil Sibal's latest offensive to force social networking site facebook to prescreen content denotes just like that. Facebook or other social networking websites like Google plus, Orkut, Twitter etc. gives a great platform to people from all walk of life to express their feelings freely. People connect with each other and share their updates and views on many subjects personal or impersonal. We live in the era of internet revolution where everything is available 24 hours within a click of mouse. Anybody can access anything from anywhere. Content which were hidden is no longer veiled now. It is being shared freely and social networking sites are playing a major role in spreading awareness to the people. It seems Kapil Sibal represents a broader feudal mentality of political class which only wants to hear pleasing things and not comfortable with creative criticism.  We are in the middle of winter session of th...

We all have seen how our leaders are dependent for their work on assistants. Long time back Indian government provided personal computers to all member of parliament (MP). But till date only few have the knowledge of how they work. MPs are still dependent on assistants for computer related work. Lets say computers are not too user friendly for old fashioned leaders and many of them still find it cumbersome to use. Now Government of India is planning to provide Ipads to its MPs because they are more user friendly and easy to use and it will also limit the use of bundles of papers carried by them. Government will sanction Rs. 50,000 as allowance to 545 member of parliament to buy these tablet devices.  I am not old fashioned and neither I am against of our MPs using these hi tech gadgets. But the question is: Is it really going to help them in their work? Needless to say all parties are busy in devising the ways how parliament should not function properly? In this winter se...

This could be one of the most bizarre incident of recent times. We all know how this seasons's 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' or 'KBC' (Indian version of 'Who Wants to Be A Millionaire') has witnessed contestants from smaller towns and villages. Their humble background and knowledge has attracted a lot of attention in media. People were delighted when the saw common man winning million rupees by just answering few questions. This has given hope and courage to millions of Indian that they can also win and change their fate. It was like their dreams coming true finally. But today I read a news piece from Times of India newspaper which mentioned about a KBC contestant   Pushpa Udyeniya   from Madhya Pradesh who won Rs. 25, 00,000 on Hot Seat. When she returned from KBC she came to know that her school where she was teaching fired her. The reason given was she did not choose her senior during 'phone a friend'. Initially I felt numbed and did not figure out...

Akshitaa- Youngest Blogger Children’s day is celebrated on 14 th November in India. This year it is full of surprises. I come to know about two little genius and both are girls. One is a four year old blogger and other is a 7 year old student who won goodle 4 doodle India competition. This little blogger’s name is Akshitaa (nickname Paakhi meaning bird). She lives in Andman and runs a Hindi language blog ( Pakhi Ki Duniya- Meaning World of Pakhi ) with the help of her parents. Her blog is full of photographs, drawings and activities. She is probably the youngest blogger of the country. Like her age she loves drawing and painting.  Akshita is one of the 27 children who received Child Award for Exceptional Achievement on children day in New Delhi. Akshitaa's Blog Link:  Pakhi Ki Duniya Varsha Gupta Many people must have noticed a doodle image of Google on 14 th November. This image was created by Varsha Gupta a class III student of Ryan International School o...

What is striking in the recent bomb blast in national capital is people’s growing disbelief in government, authorities and agencies. They are now aware of the fact that blaming to each other's repeated failures are just the routine work and on the other hand agencies believe that after some days of excessive media criticism people will stop thinking about the incident and hence nobody will take note of it. Public are also in view that opposition parties will take this bomb blast as an opportunity to make some statements without taking any concrete step towards bashing government for its inefficiency to tackle such terror attacks in the future. And government as usual tries to defend her position by saying they had the information and already passed it to the state agencies to take further action. A classic example of passing the buck. Being a media professional I come across a lot of people daily from different walks of life and believe me they all are in view that govern...

Saw the royal wedding of the century... The William-Kate wedding. Many people splurged millions of dollors in their weddings, many weddings witnessed excellent press coverage but this wedding of the century is remarkable. For the first time, this has been witnessed and watched by amazing number of people both on television and on internet. Clearly media has played a great role in creating people's interest in this royal wedding worldwide. 

Victory of Nitish Kumar in Bihar Assembly elections this month marks starting of an era of developmental politics in the most backward state of India. This election was fought on two opposite issues. One was issue of development led by JDU leader and CM Nitish Kumar and other was issue of caste led by Lalu Prasad Yadav & Ram Vilas Paswan. Massive defeat of Lalu forces also signifies the demise of age old caste based politics system in the state. Those who are high on development and can deliver according to the aspirations of the Biharis are the clear winners. All praise for Nitish kumar and his highly motivated team, for them second term in power surely means more responsibility and challenges. Bihar is waiting to write a new chapter full of hope, development and opportunity.

UPA government's first year achievement in second inning: price rise, inflation, mishandling of naxal problem, disaster in sharm-el-sheikh, telecom controversy and many more. Common man think whenever congress returns in power inflation reaches higher level and continious rise in prices of essential goods makes living more burdensome. Why it is so? An't we a welfare state? Why in the age of liberalisation & privatisation rich are becoming more richer and poor are becoming even poorer? Perhaps answer lies inside the government.

Before mandate 2009 I used to think the days for national level political parties are over. The way regional parties have grown in terms of influence, charisma and putting regional interest and aspirations to forefront is a matter of great study. The rise of Bahujan Samaj party, Samajwadi Party, Rastriya Janta Dal, Lok Janshakti Party, Prajarajyam, AIADMK, RLD, BJD, Shiv Sena, JDU and the consequent downfall in the voting share of Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party made me think that the days are in fact over for single party rule in the centre. Yes after 2004 election UPA (United Progressive Alliance) had formed government with more than twenty other regional parties. Before that NDA (Nation Democratic Alliance) did the same with BJP being the largest party. Both UPA and NDA had the support of regional parties, which grew stronger after every assembly and general elections. Growth of these parties also denoted growing decrease in the vote shares of national par...