1) Are Gujarat and Maharashtra rival companies cause of which they can’t invite Brand Ambassadors of each other? Where is national integrity then? Why is it that two states ruled by opposite parties are considered to be opposition or rival states? Is the ruling party only identity of the state?

2) In many countries, especially European countries, Amitabh Bacchan is seen as face of India. Unofficially he is one of the Brand Ambassadors of India. Or for that matter, every Indian is a brand ambassador for India cause every Indian represents India. So can Congress decline this fact?

3) Mr Bacchan was earlier Brand Ambassador of UP. Later he became Brand Ambassador of Gujarat and there are news that he will soon accept to be the Brand Ambassador of Kerala. So where does Mr Bacchan exactly belong? Or is it just the money where he belongs? Pay me and I can be brand Ambassador for your state.. Wondering if he would have accepted offer to be brand Ambassador of Taliban ruled Afghanistan..

4) Mr Bacchan has lived in Mumbai for 41 years, can speak Marathi and is an international icon. So what prevents him from being part of a ceremony taking place in Mumbai?

5) Isn’t congress indirectly agreeing to “Gujarat = Narendra Modi” and also accepting that their presence is wiped out in Gujarat by Mr Modi when it says Amitabh is Brand Ambassador for Mr Modi and not Gujarat Sate?

6) Talking of Brand Ambassadors, Why does Gujarat have a brand ambassador who does not live in Gujrat and is not even a Gujrati? Isn’t a brand ambassador supposed to represent Gujarat in some way? Gujarat can have a better Brand Ambassador in the face of Ambanis.. What does Amitabh do anyways being a Brand Ambassador other than reading out lines scripted by the rulers? Remember the “UP me dum hai kyunki jurm yaha kam hai” campaign?

7) Is the fuss about Amitabh being Brand Ambassador of Gujarat or is it about the differences between Gandhi family and Bacchan family? Mr Bacchan was a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi and was also Member of Parliament once upon a time. Later he parted away from the friendship and got attached to Amar Singh. Is this the reason Congress has issues with Amitabh?

The recent Mumbai attacks have once again highlighted the need for individuals with a high level of personal integrity to provide effective leadership for our country. It is well known that across party lines, a number of individuals with criminal antecedents are given tickets to contest elections. There is little public pressure on political parties to not give tickets to such individuals. In 2004, about 20% of those who were elected to Parliament had criminal antecedents. This problem is prevalent across most political parties. This tears into the moral fabric of the country and has an impact on governance.

The ‘No Criminals’ Campaign Idea

The upcoming general elections offer citizens an opportunity to make an appeal to political parties not to give tickets to persons with criminal antecedents. The core idea therefore is to launch a nationwide campaign to enable citizens to express their opinion on this issue in a visible way.

The Campaign

The campaign will cover the whole of India. It will build on the public mood in the country to appeal to all political parties. A series of efforts, including widespread use of audio-visual media, print, internet, mobile phones, etc., will be made to reach out to a large number of people across the country. Efforts will also be made to leverage the strengths of existing groups that have done work in the area of not having people with criminal antecedents contest in elections such as the Association for Democratic Reforms, the National Election Watch, etc.

The Timeline

It is expected that general elections will be held in phases beginning in April 2009. This gives us a short window to reach out to citizens across the country.

The Desired Outcome

No political party to give tickets to people with criminal antecedents in the 2009 general elections.

For more information, kindly visit the website of No Criminal Campaign.

I remember of having mailed them about the issue of Misuse of name bigadda but that doesn’t imply me being interested in their lousy social networking site. Specially not this way.

Bigadda Team? Listening?

1. Both were direct attacks. No planting of bombs, no hidden blasts. Just face to face. As if the terrorists are giving a message. We will hit you right on your face. What will you do?

2. Both India and Pakistan had faced many bomb blasts in the past. But hardly any was discussed at the Global level. The terrorists had to make it Global and they did it. In India by attacking the world famous hotel, and in Pakistan by attacking a foreign sports team.

3. Both attempts were aimed at making the places feel unsecure. Notice the kind of Sandbags and police behind it in Mumbai at every corner of city. Same will be situation in Lahore after the attack. The local people fear of another attack and so they don’t want to take chances. Terrorists are successful in spreading their terror.

4. Not just local. Even foreign tourists will think twice before visiting these places now. And I’m sure thats one aim th terrorists must be having in their minds.

5. Mumbai is India’s financial capital and Lahore second biggest city of Pakistan. An attempt to attack on financial importance places to disturb the economy?

6. Attacks in Mumbai took place when England team was playing in India and in Pakistan, attacks were directly on the team itself. Are they trying to prove that playing in Indian subcontinent is not safe? A way to disturb the micro-economy built around the sport?

7. India had been major destination for foreign investments. Pakistan was also slowly taking a lead in achieving foreign investments. Both the attacks have disturbed the foreign investment movement. Was it one of the purposes behind the attacks?

8. Mumbai attack received lot of blog posts, tweets, media hype dedicated to them. And people forgot about it within weaks and life got back to normal. Except for the sandbags and policemen with guns. Will Lahore people also forget within weaks?

Mumbai’s politics is basically controlled by two groups. 1st group is people who live in slums. More than 10 lakh people stay in Dharavi and other slums in Mumbai. And they are major chunk who decide next MP by their heavy vote force and easy influencibility..

And the second group is millionaires who provide chunks of money to the politicians during elections. The money that is used to influence the 1st group.

And what about the rest of Mumbai? Well, rest Mumbai is the middle part of “Slumdog Millionaire”. The Dogs. Thats how the rest of the chunk in Mumbai is considered.

Just think.. Whose problems get solved in first priority by the leaders here? Firstly its Millionaire group and then the slum group. What about the problems of remaining chunk? No.. They won’t get solved unless you upgrade yourself to the Millionaire group or degrade yourself and start living in slums.

So, that’s Mumbai for you and thats “SlumDog Millionaire” for you.. The award winning combination of Slums, Dogs and Millionaires.

Whatever might be the reason, We are proud of you.

Mumbai is made up of Slums, Dogs and Millionaires. The mixture of the three is always an award winning combination. Just like Mumbai..

Just a random thought..

Here are just couple of snaps of the group…

Update: Snaps are uploaded at Picasa.

The video says it all. I don’t need to add up anything..

आई तुळजाभवानीच्या मूर्तीवर घण बसले, तेव्हा भाल्याच्या टोकावर अफझलचं मुंडकं नाचेपर्यंत या महाराष्ट्रात कोणी स्वस्थ बसले नव्हते. संभाजी महाराजांच्या देहाचे तुकडे तुकडे झाले, तेव्हा घराघरातून तलवार उठली. औरंग्याला इथेच गाडेपर्यंत शांतता नव्हती. लालाजींच्या अंगावर यमदूतांच्या लाठया बरसल्या, तेव्हा इंग्रज साम्राज्याच्या शवपेटीवर खिळे ठोकणारे कैक मर्द निपजले… मग आत्ताच का सगळं शांत शांत? आमच्या श्रध्दास्थानांवर आघात होतात, आणि आम्हालाच सगळे म्हणतात ‘शांत रहा, शांत रहा’. जाहीरपणे आम्हाला बांगडयाच भरायला सांगितले जाते. का?

आम्ही काय नेभळट आहोत का? की आम्ही दूधखुळे आहोत – उगी उगी हं बाळा, तुला नाय कोनी माल्लं, गप गप… असं म्हटलं की आम्ही गप्प! हाताची घडी तोंडावर बोट?

आम्ही जवान आहोत, मर्द आहोत… रक्तात शिवाजी सळसळतो आमच्या, ‘शिका, संघटीत व्हा, संघर्ष करा’ म्हणणारा भीम सळसळतो! आमच्या हातात भवानी आहे, पण डोळयावर पट्टी आहे. आम्हाला शत्रू कोण, हेच कळत नाही. गनिम कावा साधून जातो, आणि मग आम्ही मेणबत्त्या घेऊन मूक मोर्चे काढतो. असल्या भेदरट मेणबत्त्यांच्या उजेडात दुष्मन दिसत नाही. त्यासाठी डोक्यात उजेड पडावा लागतो आणि छाती निधडी असावी लागते. आमच्यात आणखी एक प्रकार आहे. राग आला की, आम्ही शेजार पाजारच्यांना ठोकून काढतो, दंगे करतो. खूप भुई थोपटतो पण साप मरत नाही.

मीडिया काहीही सांगतो, आणि आपण ऐकतो? कोणी म्हणतं इस्लामी अतिरेकी, तर कोणी म्हणतं दहशतवाद्याला धर्म नसतो… सुटका झालेल्या दोन तुर्की नागरिकांनी सांगितलं, की आम्हाला अतिरेक्यांनी आमचा धर्म विचारला, आम्ही मुसलमान म्हणून आम्हाला सोडले, सोबतच्या तीन आर्मेनियन ख्रिस्ती महिलांना ठार मारले. पकडलेला अतिरेकी सांगतो की, मी मदरशात शिकलो. आमचे गृहमंत्रालय म्हणते, की उत्तर सीमेवर मदरसे वेगाने वाढतायत… हे सगळं काय आहे? आम्हाला उत्तरं मिळालीच पाहिजेत. माझे मुसलमान मित्र-मैत्रिणी आहेत, ते अतिरेकी नाहीत. आमचे लाडके माजी राष्ट्रपती, आमचे गायक, संगीतकार, खेळाडू, परमवीरचक्र मिळवलेले शहीद सैनिक – हेही मुसलमान आहेत. पण ते जिहादी नाहीत… मग हा जिहाद काय आहे, मदरसे काय आहेत, या विषवल्लीचं मूळ कुठे आहे? आम्हाला उत्तरं मिळालीच पाहिजेत.

उत्तरं मागण्याचा अधिकार हे लोकशाहीतले पहिले हत्यार आहे. आहे ना खुमखुमी? मग उचला हे हत्यार!

तीस-पस्तीस वर्षांपूर्वी इस्राएलच्या खेळाडूंची ऑलिंपिक मध्ये हत्या झाली होती. पुढच्या दोन वर्षात ही हत्या करणाऱ्या प्रत्येक अतिरेक्याला जगाच्या कानाकोपऱ्यातून शोधून काढून इस्राएलच्या कमांडोंनी ठार मारले. दुसऱ्या महायुध्दात हजारो ज्यूंची हत्या करणाऱ्या ऍडोल्फ आइकमनला इस्राएलच्या हेरांनी परदेशातून शोधून उचलून आपल्या देशात आणला, त्याच्यावर खटला चालवला, आणि त्याला देहदंड दिला. टीचभर देश आहे इस्राएल. पण त्यांचा राष्ट्रीय स्वाभिमान जागा आहे. कोण आहेत त्यांचे नेते? आणि मग आमचेच असे कसे?

आम्ही मतदानाच्या दिवशी पिकनिकला जातो, किंवा आमची मतं विकतो, किंवा १८ पूर्ण झाली तर नावच नोंदवत नाही… मत देताना रस्ते आणि पाणी एवढेच मुद्दे दिसतात आम्हाला, मग निवडणूक पंचायतीची असो नाही तर लोकसभेची! लोकशाहीत प्रजेच्या लायकीवर किंवा नालायकीवर राजा ठरतो. आम्हाला स्वाभिमानी निडर नेतृत्त्व हवे असेल, तर जागरूक राहिले पाहिजे. आत्ताच्या नेत्यांमध्ये सगळेच बुणगे दिसत असतील, तर स्वत:च राजकारणात उतरले पाहिजे.

शांत रहा, शांत रहा… असं कोणीही सांगितलं तरी गप्प बसण्याची वेळ नाही आता. लोकशाहीतली हत्यारं उचलून लढलं पाहिजे. सूडाच्या अग्निकुंडात आपल्या अभिमानाची आहुती पडली आहे. संसदेवर हल्ला झाला आहे, ताजची राख झाली आहे… इतक्या आहुती देऊनही जर स्वाभिमानाची भवानी जागी होणार नसेल, तर आमचे राष्ट्र नष्टच होणार असेल.

शंभर शिशुपालांचे हजार अपराध भरलेत, जनतेतल्या जनार्दना – उठ!

Is baar nahin
Is baar jab woh choti si bachchi mere paas apni kharonch le kar aayegi
Main usey phoo phoo kar nahin behlaoonga
Panapney doonga uski tees ko
Is baar nahin

(This time when that little girl comes to me with her bruises, I will not blow gently at her wound, nor distract her, I will let her pain grow.
Not this time.)

Is baar jab main chehron par dard likha dekhoonga
Nahin gaoonga geet peeda bhula dene wale
Dard ko risney doonga,utarney doonga andar gehrey
Is baar nahin

(This time when I see pain on faces
I will not sing the song that eases pain
I will let the pain seep in, deep.
Not this time.)

Is baar main na marham lagaoonga
Na hi uthaoonga rui ke phahey
Aur na hi kahoonga ki tum aankein band karlo,gardan udhar kar lo main dawa lagata hoon
Dekhney doonga sabko hum sabko khuley nangey ghaav
Is baar nahin

(This time I won’t apply any balm
Nor will I ask you to shut your eyes
and turn your head
While I gingerly apply medicine
I will let everyone see the open, naked wounds
Not this time.)

Is baar jab uljhaney dekhoonga,chatpatahat dekhoonga
Nahin daudoonga uljhee door lapetney
Uljhaney doonga jab tak ulajh sake
Is baar nahin

(This time when I see difficulty, uneasiness
I will not run to solve the problems
I will let them become complicated
Not this time.)

Is baar karm ka hawala de kar nahin uthaoonga auzaar
Nahin karoonga phir se ek nayee shuruaat
Nahin banoonga misaal ek karmyogi ki
Nahin aaney doonga zindagi ko aasani se patri par
Utarney doonga usey keechad main,tedhey medhey raston pe
Nahin sookhney doonga deewaron par laga khoon
Halka nahin padney doonga uska rang
Is baar nahin banney doonga usey itna laachaar
Ki paan ki peek aur khoon ka fark hi khatm ho jaye
Is baar nahin

(This time I won’t pick up my tools as a matter of duty
I will not make a new beginning
Nor will I stand as an example of one dedicated to my job
I will not let life easily return to normalcy
I will let it descend into muck, on the twisting paths
I will not let the blood on the walls dry out
Nor will I let its colour fade away
This time I won’t let it become so helpless
That you can’t tell blood from paan-spit
Not this time.)

Is baar ghawon ko dekhna hai
Gaur se
Thoda lambe wakt tak
Kuch faisley
Aur uskey baad hausley
Kahin toh shuruat karni hi hogi
Is baar yahi tay kiya hai

(This time the wounds need to be watched
Carefully
For a long time
Some decisions are needed
And then some brave moves to be made
We have to begin somewhere
This time this is what I have resolved)

… Prasoon Joshi

(via Rediff  and Jai Hind Blog)

PS: Those guys should pay me some bucks for branding them for free..

Partly inspired by This post

Raj Thakare arrested

The day started with the big news. Even before I woke up from sleep, there was SMS on my mobile saying “Institute will remain closed. Don’t even think to come near college”. Having no clue of what happened, we switched on TV to find out that Mr. Raj Thakare has been arrested. Very brave move by Govt I must say..!! Arresting Raj Thakare within 2 days of the event has to be considered as a big move.

The right and wrong part of his actions is a all together different story. I won’t even gonna pass judgement on his actions. But one thing is very clear by now. The way Balasaheb used to be called as “Hindu-Hriday-Samrat”, Raj will now be called as “Marathi-Hriday-Samrat”. He has made a complete picture in the minds of Marathi people that Raj is the only leader in Maharashtra who has the care for the “Son of the Soil”.

Last time when a FIR as fired against Raj, it took almost a week to Mumbai Police to arrest him. So why are they arresting him on second day this time? Maybe the Home dept is trying to create a picture tat Police is not afraid of Raj and they won’t think twice before arresting him. Well, Aba, you have taken a risky step here. I hope you have enough backup to handle the circumstances. And if you don’t have, God Bless Maharashtra.

I’ve been looking at Mr Raj ever since he formed MNS. His ways of protesting used to be very novice and innovative in the start. I remember in Nilanga {Dist: Latur}, there was a government officer who used to come 2 hours late to work everyday. Te local MNS activists one day went to his office 1 hour after the standard time, they took the officer’s chair and put it on auction outside his office. The officer in full shame anticipated his mistake and asked for opology to the public.

Then suddenly MNS understood that these Gandhigiri ways do not work all the time. So they had no other option but end up using the violent ways. And then MNS went the same way ShivSena used to have earlier. The differenciating line between MNS and Shivsena got thinner and thinner. Today we look at Raj as Balsaheb Thakare of 60′s. Same aggression, same dedication and same love for the soil.

Its not that I’m an activist of MNS or I’ve been given something to write in favor of MNS. But I really adore their principles {though I don’t adore the ways used to express those principles}. And there is one more thing which I’ve observed *uniquely* in Raj. He is always ready to take responsibility of anything that MNS activists will do. He says “If my men did it, I did it. If they have done right, credit is to them. If they did wrong, blame is to me. I will go to jail for their wrong deeds if any”. These words of support and involvement is something that makes him a great leader.

As of today, he has an appearing in Bandra court in another 45 minutes. Let’s keep fingers crossed and hope that their won’t be any violences. God Bless Maharashtra.. God Bless Mumbai..!!!

The Blood Marks

And what can we think? How to avoid the accidents? How to create better roads? Or how to teach the Mumbaikars to follow the traffic sense so that they don’t crush other people below their vehicles? Or what strict punishment to be given to the ruthless drivers?

Until someone close of ours will meet with accident, we won’t think of these incidents. But anyways, even if we think of these thing, what difference will it make? Well, I don’t know. And I really don’t want to know.

You can register your sessions or register yourself as volunteer. You will have to do either of these if you wanna be at the barcamp.

See you all at the barcamp..

Barcamp Mumbai 4 poster

Off for d barcamp venue. Wil b meetin @skyn3t at andheri stn.. 

Met @delltechie at d camp.. The camp is takin some time to start. Very delayed..

Also met @manan. He is plannin sum twitter meet here.. 

The camp here is kinda borin so far.. Hopin tht it gets interestin wid time passing by..

#Campicarus Shashank talkin abt visual advertisin..

#Campicarus demo on adobe photoshop by rahul..

#Campicarus expectin @preshit here..

#Campicarus good session for those who don’t know photoshop..

#Campicarus second session goin on. About fundin d startups..

#Campicarus this guy talkin very nice about d management stuff..

#Campicarus the guy who talked abt d finance thing is alumni of my own coll.. Feels gr8..

#campicarcus unofficial discussion goin on about indian porn industry.. 

#campicarcus the audiance strength has reduced significantly aft lunch break. Juz 10 guys..

#campicarcus am still thinkin to give d session or not.. D audience no is definitely not motivatin..

#campicarcus @manan @preshit and @skyn3t still around..

#campicarcus finally started wid d session of “meri bhi ek website hogi”

#campicarus session paused in between coz many ppl comin in..

#campicarus am sure tht d session is goin borin 4 these engg kids.. Saumil is talkin abt settin up wordpress n all.. 

#campicarus and @manan takes over where previous person left..

#campicarus am done wid d session on podcastin.. Now @skyn3t is havin d interaction session..

#campicarus I call this session as “the useless talk by @skyn3t“. And this session is gettin far more useful.

#campicarus final session. About use of technology 4 mass publicity..

#campicarus nitin showin his software. Sounds really interestin..

#campicarus only 12 ppl now in d room. @manan, @preshit n @skyn3t still hangin on..

Liked the video? Want to spread awareness among your orkut friends?

Instructions :

Copy the Code given below.
Go to orkut Friend’s scrapbook.
Paste the Code There.
Click on Submit
Enjoy !!

Copy This Code: (Click to Select ,then Ctrl+C to copy)
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M3XdubHG2V4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M3XdubHG2V4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://dineshsoni.blogspot.com/2008/09/time-to-use-eco-friendly-idols.html"><b>Get This | Send to Friend</b></a>

The application is completely use centered. It makes sure that any info needed will be available with minimum key strokes and within seconds. The usability factor for the user is surely the prime factor considered while designing the application.

The auto search and radio buttons make the task of searching the bus stops very easy. And the result page has very clear and simple interface, which makes the result display soothing.

Best part of the app is it works on mobile without having to send any SMS or having GPRS. So there is no money matter involved. And you can use this app with any Java enabled handset {which are available in market for as low as 2500 bucks and 80% people in Mumbai today own Java enabled handsets}.

If you want to be among the early testers of this app, you can Drop a line at pb@m4mum.com.

PS: Raxit also has another website MyKavita.com

Venue: Pinstorm Café, Santacruz.

No of people attended: 13

Things discussed during the meet:
• Need for a site for bloggers from Mumbai
–> As a platform to discuss issues related to blogging
–> As a platform to arrange online and offline blogger meets
• Agenda and contents for the site
• How can we inspire people to start blogging?
• The celeb status achieved by blogging: with Aamir, Amitabh and Salman coming into blogging
• The power of blogging and twitter as a medium of information exchange

Take away from the meet:
• The existing site mumbaibloggers.net is to be redesigned n restructured.
• Promotion of the site so as to develop this community and create awareness about the word Blogging.
• Involve famous bloggers and internet marketers (blogcamp gang) so as to have a better coverage.
• Use services of colleges and few startups around to create awareness at the ground level.
• Get maximum inputs from blogosphere to promote this community.
• Bloggers should meet atleast twice a month for discussions

PS: Expect the review of the event by tomorrow