Commitment to God!

Some believe in God , some believe in things under their control. Keeping aside Atheists concept, I would like to share my thoughts on commitment to God.

I used to wake up at 4 AM every saturday morning, drive an hour & half in uphills for 6 AM Pooja (Religious Ritual) in Watsonville Hanuman Temple. When I go there, I dont like to go empty handed or buy something just from store, for the sake of doing it. Instead I used to prepare 100 vadas (Lord Hanuman's favorite dish, said to be :) ) on previous night to distribute as Prasad (Offerings) to every visitor. As much as I can, I want to give the BEST to God, who is the Creator, Controller & Destroyer of the Universe. So,  I also go in complete traditional attire, in best of me, trying to follow the vedic definitions, as much as I can.  This used to be my saturday morning  schedule,  until October.  I mark that as a commitment to God, a serious one, where I can see my self-control & dedication. This is also quite useful in  getting away from shallow companies on Friday nights.


While I was doing this, I felt very self content, positive and pure. The entire day/week was very pure, since I start my day , in a fresh morning at top of the mountain, in a pollute free region, with utmost devotion. I also happen to meet and greet  similar pure souls there. And when I come back, I do my hiking , saturday beach routine, visiting friends etc. This was going very well , till I met this one interesting human, who conveyed the layman's perspective on  this strict devotion.

He asked me if I have any major Vratha (Fasting to God), asking for God's grace. The way he put that across, gave me a crytal clear picture, that he views me as a mad person. Because, in his view, utmost devotion is practiced only , while you seek God's grace. I was super surprised!

But, if you analyze his question, the one viewpoint you may get is... Most people see devotion as a result of pain or suffering. Most people go to God for mere grace , not out of devotion. Most people dont find in happiness in doing vedic rituals, but make that as a merely a routine or duty. This applies to most people.

Why is it so? Why people miss to find the happiness, what they derive out of devotion? Is it not possible for anyone and everyone? Another million dollor mystery!!!

While winning is a struggle, keeping up the trophy is another struggle.. Worth it?

In this busy mundane life, how many of us have time to take a pause and understand where we are heading to? At times, we don’t really understand why we are running behind heart's desire. Isn’t it important to understand it’s price? Do we realize where we stand towards the success?  Is the whole race (could  be a ratrace) going to leave us with any energy , to deal  the remaining life’s free-for-all? Do we estimate, how are we going to plan the future once, this being accomplished? Do we want to take time to mitigate this? And do we really understand what it feels once you are possessed with what you chase for? Do we calculate the energy of Winning Vs Maintenance? What's the price of maintenance? I consider myself a practical person who loves to analyze a lot, Hence my thoughts are so… Is this the way everyone think? Aren’t we all different personalities with different thought processes, approaches, life’s lessons and belief systems?

Anyways, On one side, Motivational speeches or Self development books teach you how to win the game. On other side, religious gurus or philosophers make you realize that desire is the root cause for all our suffering. So what do we want in life? Heart’s desire OR The Suffering?

If you are a person who doesn’t want to run ratrace, forget the heart's desire and let that go. If you are an aggressive person, go for the challenge where results are not assured.

Now, while talking about Winning & Maintenance, there is another little villain named "decision making" popped in , and then followed by Mr. Confusion who steals your mental energy, who deroutes you for no reason, making you go nowhere.

Can you make a decision and go lifelong without revisiting/regretting about the made-decision? How many of us can really do that?

What do you at this kind of moments?

Different people have different styles. So, I never ask anyone for suggestions, which I am going to follow. I strongly believe in my innerself.  I talk to people, just to understand the high level perspective of the puzzle, which only a third person can give who is not in the same maze. If you change your style, looking at somebody's , that’s not going to stay with you forever. You are just yourself, with your own talents and weakness. You got to simple follow your style ,accepting that happily.

YOU, the ruler of your own life.. Agree? :)

Extra Marital Affairs - No big deal anymore????

I happened to read this article, couple of days back and find it so hard to absorb the fact, that  India standing second highest, in accepting extramarital affairs. India is one country where culture is so rich and everyone seeking high morale grounds. Adultery is still considered as illegal under Section 497. I have seen women going so mad, while husbands hook up with anybody else. It is not just about love or marriage standards, but also in the fear of loosing their future/life, while man being the sole bread winner of the family. I have seen pretty much every Indian , carrying "holier than thou" attitude till this day. Lot of old school people are still alive,  not letting go their own belief and ideology about love marriage (Yes, Still parents find girl/boy for marriage, and there is a huge population ready to get married to complete strangers, just because parents say so!!!) . India being in such a complicated cultural ups and downs, social pressure on moral grounds, strict Indian Penal Codes and  under 'holier than thou' blanket, where does this data come from??? I am so surprised. 

I just want to talk a bit about some hidden dirty truths in my country.

 There are enough open marriages today in India, but the same couple still showcasing "conservative" attitude in front of society. Why is it so? Why is that Indians, cant be just honest on what they do? Whats wrong about it? Why is that most Indians pretend ?

 I would respect people who honestly tell about anything, behind the shadow, rather than folks, who hide it. Because people who are honest do only one mistake, while the 2nd category are in to 2 mistakes , inclusive of their lies. This entire country has got lot of social pressure while everyone got enough dirt in their own back. Why not people just pinpoint others, before checking whats on their back?

Do I have to say more why  few 'special' folks can never earn my respect? :). Anyways i m afraid that writing more on this could lead to any controversy, So let me stop here!



Ref: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/04/21/survey-india-second-most-accepting-of-affairs/?mod=e2fb

Getting lost in love... divine or devilish?

Theoretically we can say so many beautiful stuff about love.. And I have read enough of them in books.. What s it in reality?

Love could be boon or curse...It may make you rejoice or could be just an energy sucker. It may make your days happy or may make you sick. So, people say we should be wise enough to put our heart in right place.. But Love is also spontaneous , right.. You ll never know when it happens  ..At times, we all get fooled by wrong things and get wiped with the flow too.. At times, in the blink of an eye, it happens too. So are we really in contrl of whats happening around us? Some call it as a wise game, some say it as fate. Since I have experienced the painful part of it, i ll say its fate. I believe real nice emotional humanbeings may go hand in hand  here...

Making a beautiful love story.... depends on you, your partner and the dynamics between you both.

All the 3 contributes to make a love beautiful, healthy and long lasting one...Even if one among 3 fails, Love wont be successful

I have seen lot of people, holding true real feelings, but still a failure in love.. I have seen people, who is really practical and materialistic about their partner, but successful in love.

Everyone would have read this at some point in time, in their life..Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Today, I want to honestly speak about my opinion about this and what happens to people who follow this... Typically love will have its own honeymoon days, usual routine days, and there's another phase called "dead lock phase of love" (which I dont want to happen even for my enemies), which will make you try so hard again and again if you are real emotional humanbeing with TRUE HONEST FEELINGS.

 

Worlds 85 richest individuals hold wealth equivalent to that owned by the bottom half of the world's population!!!!

The richest 85 individuals hold wealth equivalent to that owned by the bottom half of the world's population, a report says. Ref: worldwide development organisation Oxfam, titled 'Working For the Few', published ahead of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos.

"Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population," Oxfam claimed.

My view is ...
1) these people should be taxed 95%
2) These people's political power should own feeding all people under poverty line.
3) Government should make that mandatory that these people should own each poor country and help eradicate illeteracy in that country
4) Any money in Swiss bank should go to a TRUST which solves water problem thro out the world


Oxfam wants governments to take urgent action to reverse the trend. It is asking those attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) to make six-point personal pledge to tackle the problem.
"It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world's population own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage," Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said.
The report alleged that the richest individuals and companies in the world hide trillions of dollars away from the tax man in a web of tax havens around the world. "It is estimated that USD 21 trillion is held unrecorded and off-shore," it said.
The report further added that in India, the number of billionaires increased tenfold in the past decade, aided by a highly regressive tax structure and the wealthy exploiting their government connections, while spending on the poorest remains remarkably low.


God.. Are you the one who can make wonders????? :) Could you try solving this issue ? heheheh :)

Stay natural and be healthy - Ayurvedic, a holistic approach!

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food!

Every diet system has its own style, plus and minus. And many diets have received attention on health stand point from Atkins to skinny-bitch diet. My belief is to stick with natural way of living as much as you can! 

I have personally tried attest 5 or 6 different diet systems. Typically my day 1 would start with great determination but  wont be able to keep up my enthusiasm by day2. My day3 would be feast day :) That's Vidya's diet style always ! 

Anyways jokes aside, if you want be in healthy regimen consistently, I would say you should stick with your geographical based diet system, which your body attuned for.

In that matter I believe in ayurvedic and try to follow as much as I can. 

Ayurvedic is 5000 year old system, which is still effective & competing with modern science. It is person specific , not disease specific :) that's interesting.. Huh? Basically mindfulness is the key!

It believes your health is based on mind and body, classifies 3 different doshas (vada, pitta & kapha)  and recommends related health habits. I kinda noticed that these different Dosha people fall under rakchasha, manusya, deva gana characters :). Anyways let me talk about that theory later.

For all people, there are some simple rules

1. Raise before dawn ( statistics say that people who wake up early are happy people )

2. Eat only 3 times a day ( give enough rest to your digestive system!)

3. choose your food based on your body type and season! ( that's quiet simple, huh?) 

4. Live in peace ( have you read " heal your body by yourself" by Louise hay?... Exactly!   the same principle applies here too) 

Is it tough to follow? Not at all.. Right?

For any western no-no type of foods, Ayurvedic have remedies

Eg ..milk is not that good , it is inflammatory is western theory . Ayurvedic says to warm the milk ( to reduce lactose intolerance) and add a pinch of turmeric before drinking. 1 tspn of turmeric has anti inflammatory factor of ~1200 and a glass of milk is negative 62. Bingo! :)

If you have constipation problem, western theory says to eat lot of fiber. But Ayurvedic finds out root cause and asks you to treat your digestive system . Try rasam ( cumin seeds, pepper, garlic are main ingredients here,  improving  your digestion) while constipated. You 'll see results :) lol

Ulcerative colititis: western theory says, be gluten free. Ayurvedic has proven method of curing it

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202252/

I can give much more examples, but my idea is just to give little awareness on this. Have a try! Live happy, healthy! It is such a old system, but gold :).

Helping homeless in winter..

Statistics say that there are around 200000 homeless people in America. Feels little sad, to know , that number is on little higher side.

And 4 died last month in Bayarea out of cold. Not a good news :(

Anyways, if you get to see any homeless people in bay area, call 311. Because as per Hypothermia Hotline, all homeless are offered shelter , but  some refused. Those need to be handled by patrols/ professionals only.

Patrols provide them blankets, warm drinks and other clothing to them ,And check or monitor them periodically.
 

For other cities, please call the below number. If your city is not listed below, you can call 211 to find out hypothermia hotline.

• Atlanta: 404-447-3678 for the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless
• Baltimore: 311
• Birmingham, Ala.: 205-252-9571 for the Firehouse Shelter
• Boston: 617-534-2526 for Friends of Boston’s Homeless or dial 311
• Chicago: 311
• Denver: 720-944-1007 for Denver’s Road Home (during business hours)
• Detroit: 1-800-274-3583 and 1-800-343-4427
• Fort Collins, Colo.: 719-632-1822 for Springs Rescue Mission and 970-484-5010 for Catholic Charities-Larimer County
• Kansas City, Mo.: 816-474-4599
• Las Vegas: 702-369-4357 for HELP of Southern Nevada (from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday)
• Minneapolis: 612-879-7624 for St. Stephen’s street outreach team
• New York City: 311
• Philadelphia: 215-232-1984 for the Project HOME Homeless Outreach Hotline
• San Francisco: 311
• St. Louis: 314-802-5444 for the Housing Resource Center hotline (between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Mon-Friday)
• Thunder Bay, Ontario: 807-620-7678 for the SOS team (operates between 2 p.m. and 2 a.m.)
• Toronto: 311
• Washington, D.C.: 1-800-535-7252 for the Hypothermia Hotline

Apple a day keeps doctor in!

Apple a day keeps doctor away is a old saying. In this era, apple a day keeps doctor in!  Do you want reference .. http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9160/12-fruits-veggies-with-the-most-pesticides-2013-dirty-dozen.html


Yes, I was browsing high carcinogen causing foods and found apple is top in list, because of the pesticides, we use in USA. Statistics says that we use 22% of total pesticides, produced thro out world. Ref: http://www.sustainabletable.org/263/pesticides

This said behind aside, I was curious about organic produces, and Surprisingly the news is ... ORGANIC ARE NOT PESTICIDE-FREE or CHEMICAL -FREE, BUT JUST NON SYNTHETIC, WHICH ALSO CAUSES CANCER Ref: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html

Whoooahhhh... Now, what option is left out?  I can think of the vegetables and fruits in olden days which comes with worms .. lol.. Where you are responsible for what you eat :) A better choice.. huh ?

Anyways, joking apart, if you have a backyard, make best use of it! Thats what we can do!

You have more reasons to donate!

Before putting forth my thoughts about donation, I just would like to bring some facts about various income level , to make you understand that you propably might be in top 2 to 10% of the society where as people under poverty line is more than 15%.






BTW, I understand there are lot more real poor countries, I ll come to that point little later. Because my thought on that is.. every human will have his own society pressure and may be in a position to keep up that in order to keep up individual's mental health or happiness. Thats not the focus of this post.
Ok, Coming back to the point, in this country, 15% of the people under poverty line whose annual income is under ~11k with household size of 1 &  158k for size of 8.
Other side, more than 4% of people make more than 200k (with household avg size of 3). And there are quiet a lot of folks who make more than 200k with household size 1 too :-). Yes, many of you , reading this might have a smile on your face, knowing where you are.



Now, lets take a case who is making 11k with household size 1. How does he/she will pay rent, gas, insurance and other basic neccessities. Think about their quality of life.. Think about their future.. Think about their financial independence or cushion...

Why not we people lend a hand..Thats one among the most beautiful pleasure.. You may get satisfaction that you made somebody's day.

Be much more kind to the lower class people.. Tip more. Spend a weekend morning in a homeless shelter. If you dont have time for any, there are lot of online sites whom you can transfer funds via  paypal or google check our or something. Give a shot!  :)

Bored to google? I l help you :) http://shirdisaiparivaar.org/annadaanam/

All the best!

Ticketing system with SLA for political leaders in India...

Being a Systems Administrator, can’t help to get amused with my imagination how it will look like to implement ticketing system with SLAs for the Indian political leaders & getting that published to public :)

Somehow, in a commoner view,  Indian Politics is always seen as a horrible unethical show, though there are many interesting leaders sparkle now and then. But these good leaders face much of difficulties to stay as a odd man and may fade away eventually .
To be practical, the corruption can be completely eliminated within a decade in India, if politicians pass a bill on that and follow that effectively. But the higher officials and politicians are the decision makers to pass any bill. And no politician is willing to take that risk , so far.
 Though there could be "n" no of methods be devised to eliminate corruption,  every commoner have many wonderful ideas , methods to get rid of the corruption. There was popular movie named "Indian" (in tamil), which came up with an idea of every department having a compliant box, but where action (for those complaints) should be taken by some other department, in that way there wont be any hesitation to bring justice there. It is a beautiful concept, but never implemented.
 So now, here is one more idea :)
Thro’ out India, there should  be a ticketing tool for the services.

*  Every MLA, MP should have an account in the ticketing system.
* There should be defined SLA (Service level Agreement ) for each service, Say basic needs such as 'Water problem' should be solved within 24 hours. Similarly for other issues...
* All possible issues should be listed in the ticketing system
* Public can add more services to the system thro' voting system via facebook or twitter.
* Public can raise/send  their tickets to this Governing Dept   via telephonic call or mail or email or in person. The ticket can be raised online too
* Every issue should be immediately added to the ticketing system, categorizing as per constituency & Severity
*Resolved issues can be closed ; Time to work on the issue would be measured. Every best time to solve an issue should be appreciated and awarded.
* Ticketing system should be visible online for  public and upto date
* Every MLA/MP should be given enough access/facilities to perform their duty diligently. It is  state/central minister's duty to make sure  on that part.
* The results should be tracked periodically,  bi-weekly, monthly  quarterly,  and yearly.
* Top performing MLA /MPs should be awarded with huge lump sum reward money or a luxurious car or flat or plot. ( Thats the carrot to these bunnies!!!! )
* Worst performing MLA/MPs will have fear of loosing their positions, provided they fail to stick with SLA 3 consecutive times.
* MLA/MP should be dismissed if they fail to stick to the SLA more than 10 times.
* That position should be offered to second front or third front party candidates as per hierarchy.
 Similarly there should be a ticketing system to every state and central minister too. So do as for Chief Minister & Prime Minister!
 I hope there could be many other layman having this idea, wish this is taken into consideration and executed by professionals!
Jai Hind!!!!

I speak Oldest Living language.. Doesnt that make me million times sweeeettttttttttt :-)

One among my bragging points are, that I am from a Dravidan State which kept oldest living language (Ref :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language ) alive till this date , which is 15000 years old !!!!

But the unfortunate fact  is , this information is unknown to most Indians and they debate or expect  that every Indian should speak hindi. Since my childhood, I was reluctant to choose Hindi as my 3rd language, but preferred  to learn German or Sanskrit. Thanks to my roots, who gave me that confidence and influenced me strong!  I just love that aspect of mine and would  pass to my next generation!

I believe Indian Govt should help to keep this language live and encourage Indians to learn this language , which is official language in other countries like Srilanka, Singapore, Medium of education in Malaysia, And native to Phillipines, Mauritius, Andaman & Nicobar islands, Thailand, Indonesia, whereas the origin is TAMILNADU!

Some other interesting facts ...

Ther's only 7 language in world as classical out of 7000 languages

*Classical "Tamil" (Sangam literature ca. 2nd c. BC to 3th c. AD, defined by Tolkkappiyam)
*Classical Greek (Attic dialect of the 5th c. BC)
*Classical Pali (Buddhist Canon used this language from ca. 3rd or 2nd c. BC)
*Classical Latin (literary language of the 1st c. BC)
*Classical Mandaic (literary Aramaic of Mandaeism, 1st c. AD)
*Classical Syriac (literary Aramaic of the Syriac church, 3rd to 5th c.)
*Middle Persian (court language of the Sassanid Empire, 3rd to 7th c.)
*Classical Armenian (oldest attested form of Armenian from the 5th c. and literary language until the 18th c.)

SO  GREAT TAMIL IS MORE THAN 15,000 YEARS OLD IN ITS AGE!!!!!

Do you want proof ... Here you go !

1. MORE THAN 1000 KOREAN WORDS HAVE SAME NAME AND MEANINIG
Ref:   http://hallyuguru.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/kct-korean-connections-tamil/
2.AT ONE TIME WE ALL SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE AT THE PLANET . TOLD THE SCIENTIST ..ALEX COLLIER
Ref:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRghF1pQccA

Now, what a happy face is mine, after expressing it via this blog :) hehehhehe!!!!!

Ms.Khobragade seen from Hofbrahaus!!!!

Recently you would have read enough news about an Indian deputy consulate general posted in newyork, being charged with visa fraud and "strip-searched" & India's agitation on protecting this IFS officer, in name of diplomatic immunity ( which actually applies to embassy officer only, not to consulate officer ref: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25458531 )

My view as a humanbeing on this... ( that's why my I titled rhythmically to sound I neither support India nor USA, but viewed this as someone in the middle, say Germany.) 

Let's say this IFS officer were not  daughter of a powerful IAS officer and not wife of a newyork based American born Indian winery owner cum professor. Do you think ,  India would have raised voice or stood by this officer? If there were no existence of  IAS officer Mr. Uttam Khobragade, this issue wouldn’t have reached Delhi. Why go there? Ms.Khobragade would  have been posted in one of the African countries, instead of USA :). Anyways my idea is not to talk about,  what these high officials can influence in India , but to talk about something in a much simpler form.

The maid, who totally believed her employer and came to a foreign country, leaving  her family& beloved , to make some little money to get rid of her poverty in home country, is soooo pathetic & in need of help from India, I believe.  No human right organizations raised voice on her behalf yet, since India sings "diplomatic immunity" tune. 

It's quiet unfortunate when someone steals hard earned money. This poor lady is looted by the prominent Women-right Advocate... Sad.. Right? 

I would have respected this IFS officer, even if she was charged on a corruption, looting money from another wrongful fellow, but not definitely for a cheap act of stealing wages from her own maid. sorry that I am using a word "stealing" here. But that's what it technically sounds like. How is it ethical to cut down wages for an employee, against the agreement or rule. What kind of life can someone lead in newyork with 3$/hour wages. How pathetic it is???? This is heights of slavery!!!