Avada Kedavra: The Other Side Of Me!

64 years of Indian Independence!

2011-08-14T20:16:00.000+01:00

64 years of Independence from British and 64 years of captivity and domination by corruption! As I wish my fellow Indians a happy Independence day, I also urge them to join the next war of Indian Independence under Anna Hazare. Its time to throw corruption out of one of the greatest civilizations of the world. Together we can!

JAI HIND!

Here are a few facts that you might not have known about India!

India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The name ‘India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name ‘Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’ were developed in India in 100 B.C.
The World’s First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called ‘Mokshapat’. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world’s highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
The world’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India’s wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 1053 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 1012(10 to the power of 12).
Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world. (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
India exports software to 90 countries.
The four religions born in India – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world’s population.
Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
Islam is India’s and the world’s second largest religion.
There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world’s largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called “the Ancient City” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

2011-08-07T15:45:00.000+01:00

A person to remember - Mr. Anand (Obituary)

“After your death you will be what you were before your birth.”

I woke up this morning to the news of death of a good friend’s dad. I had known him for few years now and he was one of the interesting people I have met. He was not a typical Indian man you would expect to meet. He was different. He had an air of ‘I don’t care’ attitude around him. He wasn’t bothered with most things a common Indian man would be bothered with. He seemed to live by his own rules. He was intelligent and had a lovely family. Not exactly everyone seemed to be happy about the way he moved on with his life, but it did not seem to matter to him.

I still remember my first meeting with him. It was during my vacation back to India in 2009. I had then recently quit my job and I was confused if I was making the right decision. That is when all my friends in India decided to have a get together to meet up after 4 years. The venue was Mr. Anand’s home. It was one of the best days of that summer and a day that I would fondly remember for the rest of my life.

On that day, I had an opportunity to have a nice conversation with him. His attitude to life and his nature of not being bothered with what others think did have an influence on me. His philosophy in general was that whatever happens happens for a reason. That gave me the confidence about what I was doing with my life and career then.

We had discussed about visiting Himalayas, Africa and what not. We also had a nice conversation about life and what it means. After that awesome get together, I went back to London.

The second time I met him was in 2010. He had been unwell that winter. So, my friends and I decided to meet him as a courtesy and show of support to our friend. I did not know what to buy him so I bought him some books which I thought he would enjoy. He had recently had a cardiac arrest and he survived it. His whole family was worried about his health but he did not seem to bother much about it. He was cool about things happening in his own way. He refused to undergo surgery. He was confident that it will all be fine. That I believe is what made him a happy man. He was not worried about the future. He had a quiet confidence that whatever happens, happens for the greater good. He was certain that the future will take care of itself.

The last I met him was in April 2011. It was a sort of get together with my friend before I left to US and it happened at his home. He seemed very fragile and week. He was not interested in what was happening around him. But he still had that aura of confidence around him. It was as if he knew his destiny and he was aware of the future. It was as if his knowledge of the future allowed him to rest in peace. I did not say a good bye when I left, because he was sleeping in his room.

It was recently that his daughter (my friend) got engaged. He seemed so happy in those photos. He was fragile, but happy. He now seemed to be even more relaxed about life as there was someone whom he can trust to take care of his family.

It was this morning that woke up to this unfortunate news of his demise. Knowing him, he would have accepted death happily. And I am sure, that in that last moment when this whole life flashed in front of his eyes, he would not have wanted it to be one bit different. He would have died a happy man.

Knowing my friend she is a brave girl and she will handle this unfortunate incident with all her maturity and calm. I am sure she will take it in its flow. It is going to be very hard for her but I am sure with all our prayers she will be fine. At this time, the only person I am worried about is Mrs. Anand. She is a hardworking woman, who has sacrificed a lot in her life for her family. If there is anyone who is going to be terribly affected by this loss, it has to be Mrs. Anand. I pray the almighty that he gives the Anand family all the courage to overcome this loss.

I know that he was a great husband, for his wife was happy. I know he was a great dad, for his daughter seemed to be proud of him. I know he was a great person. He was friendly, caring, accepting and by all means very jovial. I cannot say if he wanted things to be different. I cannot say if he would have loved to live a few more months to see his daughter’s wedding. I cannot say if he wanted to live to take care of his wife. It will all be unanswered questions. But what I can really say is that, he would not have bothered much with what would happen in his absence. He would definitely have walked hand in hand with Lord Yema (Indian god of death). He would not have been scared. He would have walked a happy man to heaven knowing whatever happens, happens for the greater good.

His loss also makes me want to remember how fickle life is. What exists today may not exists tomorrow. It only tells me that there is no meaning is being a worried soul in life. One has to love everyone around him and especially his parents. You never know when they will cease to exist.

Mr. Anand, it was a pleasure knowing you. May your soul rest in peace and happiness. I know that all your loved ones will be fine and it will be alright. After all, as you say, whatever happens, happens for the greater good.!

One night on a double-decker bus

2011-07-27T23:40:00.000+01:00

It was a cold rainy day in London. She had never been so happy in the last few years. Ever since she broke up with her high school boyfriend, she has never met someone as exciting and entertaining as John. She had known John for almost 6 months now. They first met in a bar near London Bridge. She was attracted to him on the first sight. John was crazy, in his mid-twenties, well employed, handsome gentleman. Unlike other men who always flirted with her with intentions to sleep with her, John was truly different. He seemed to be sincerely interested in what she does for a living, loved talking to her about her work, liked partying hard, was a great dancer and was a very good listener. She was a very open minded and a sociable girl and she liked him straight after their first meeting. It wasn’t definitely love at first sight, but she could tell that she liked him and there was something attractive about him.

It was another month before they met for the second time. This time around it was a party near the banks of river Thames. It was a crazy night and she ended up having a crush on John. Since then, she had been on a few dates with John. They had been out together for lunches, dinners, house parties and barbecues. She was truly into John and she realized that she was enjoying every moment that she spent with John. She did not know if John liked her as much as she liked him. John was equally caring and friendly with other girls too. But she did not bother much about it. He was a very funny person and he made her laugh all the time. She felt so comfortable around him. She started opening up to him on a lot of her personal insecurities. She has never been so honest with a man before. She was beginning to feel the love run deep within her. John was a great listener and a good empathizer. He was able to understand her innermost insecurities and always spoke in a very comforting and convincing manner. She felt as if nothing bad could happen to her when she was with John.

That day started much like other days. There wasn’t anything special about it. She wanted to get out of work and get into the party at her friends place. She was taking John with her. She would never have thought how special this day and the night would turn out to be. She had been to a friends’ place with John to take part in a Guy Fawkes Night celebration. After the wild partying, it was time to go back home. John stayed very close to her place and they had to take the night bus from Oxford Street. They walked around from the party center to Oxford Street. It was almost 03 AM in the morning. The moon was out in all its glory. It was a full moon night. The streets were well lit, yet the moon light was brighter than the street lights. Her face was glowing in the serendipity of the moment. She felt like a princess and John appeared to her like the prince from a faraway land.

The surroundings and the mild music that played on John’s iPod added to the occasion’s romantic beauty. The iPod was singing Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy reggae. Much like the song itself John was a happy go lucky person and that is what she liked the most about him. That night she felt the compulsion on her to talk her heart out. By then they had reached Oxford Street. They had got into night bus that would take them home. They climbed to the upper deck and took a seat in one of the middle rows. She sat by the window and John sat by the isle. As fate would have it, the upper deck was empty. It was as if she had the whole palace to herself with her prince by her side. The ride was going to be long. It would take at least an hour and a half for the night bus to reach their destination. She gazed at the moonlight through the window. John often talks about how he likes the moon. Love for the full moon on a dark night was one of the things they shared in common. They always talked about seeing each other in the moon and how they can never miss each other as long as they can share their care for each other using the moon as their ambassador of love.

That night was one of the best nights in her life. She talked to John about a lot of things. She told him about her teenage days when she slipped away from her home on nights to party with her friends. She told him about how she always wanted to adopt a child. She shared with him about the strange dream that she often has where her baby in the dream dies during childbirth. She told him about how she would like to leave the buzz of the metropolitan cities and go back to her village someday and lead a quiet and peaceful life. She told him that he was her best male friend. She did not tell him how she truly felt about him. But not telling him her feelings on that moment is something that she regrets all to date.

The time always seemed to fly when she was with John. She was getting tired on the bus too. She had been in the dance floor all night and she wanted to sleep. She was always surprised at how energetic John was. He can dance for hours together, party very hard and yet he had all the energy and patience in the world to be a great listener. In that very moment she felt like a rose petal in the hands of a divine angel. With that thought in mind she started to fall asleep. She laid her heads to rest on Johns broad shoulders. He put his arms around her. She felt the hug very comforting on that cold night. The last time she felt so safe and comfortable was when she was young and sleeping by her mom’s side.

The bus halted at a stop they had to get down. John woke her up from her dreams. They got down. They walked from the bus stop to her home. John dropped her at her place. They kissed good night. John continued to walk towards his home. There she stood, looking at the footsteps and the slowly disappearing figure of John at a distance. Once his figure disappeared, she went back to her bedroom and lay down on her bed looking at the ceiling. She was laughing to herself. Her heart was beating fast and she was feeling like a bird in the skies. She knew it. She was in love. She was in love again. The next time she met John she was going to tell him how much she loved him and why she wanted to be with him all the time.

That was the best night of her entire life. She went to sleep, and John was lingering in her dreams.

But little did she know then that it was the last time she will ever meet John.

Years had passed since that wonderful night. She was now a single mom living with her adopted child. She had moved back to her village and worked at a local business. There are days when she feels lonely. That is when she takes a walk by the riverside in moon light and thinks of John. More often than not she thinks of the best night of her life, the night on a double-decker bus in London. Fate played its game on her just like it usually does. She sometimes curses herself for not having told John how she feels about him. She sometimes thinks that god is a sadist who likes to watch people suffer in eternal pain. John had to leave London on a family emergency a week after their best night and he never came back to London. She did not even get to say him a proper good bye, except via emails. She never met John again. Through some mutual friends she has found out that John was married and was now father of 2 young children, a young boy and a beautiful girl. She wondered what it would have been like, if she and John were together. She wondered if John really loved her as much as she loved him. She wondered if John missed her like she missed him. She wondered if John still takes a look at the moon and thinks of her, like she thinks of him whenever she looks at the full moon. She will never know the answer. She will always be in the dark. She can only assume.

She will never know that John named her little girl, Irene, after her. The one night on the double-decker bus was John’s best night too.

NOTE TO READERS:

2011-06-22T02:44:00.000+01:00

Friends,

Owing to time constraint, I have stopped writing down my blogs. Rather, I have started posting video blogs on my youtube channel. I hope you enjoy watching them.

My video blog can be found in my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/vijayvnair123

I wish you all a great day ahead!

- Vijay

Perseverance - The H1B Story!!!

2011-05-17T16:18:00.000+01:00

It has been long since I have penned down (or in this case typed down) my stories. So I thought it will be nice to share the H1B story of mine with some new twists to the tale!!! I just want people who read this to remember what I always say: Perseverance, patience and persistence will get you anything you want! :-)

I did write this with all the technical details to benefit the H1B aspirants earlier. You can refer to that story at: danguboy.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-h1b-story.html. For the benefit of novice readers, H1B visa is a work permit to work in the United States.

Well, now I just wanted to frame it as a story as and when it happened!! :-) Not only to share my happiness with you, but also to share my experience with people who are going through difficult times. Only keep in mind that everything happens for the reason and it will always be happy in the end!!

As most of you know, I completed my B.Tech in Anna University, Coimbatore. After which I I started my career as a Business Intelligence Analyst with TCS in Mumbai, India in May 2006. It did not take me more than 3 months to realize that it was not the place for me. The work culture was very poor and people tend to get lost in the huge crowd despite being talented. The office politics was very bad and it was almost like a government organization – i.e. your talent or skill does not matter and people consider only your experience. I found out that a person sitting and doing nothing worthwhile will have more importance in TCS because of his experience and a fresher with new ideas and enthusiasm will not be give the due credit they deserve. Hence, I decided to pursue my dream in smaller organizations and in the country that could provide me with opportunities. Hence I chose the land of opportunities, i.e. America and decided to get my share of the American dream. It is ironical that my American dream has not yet come true, in all these five years. But, you will know more about it in the end.

So, in September 2006, just 3 months into my first job, being fed up of my work in the software major, I contacted a friend of mine in New York city. Through this friend whom I knew via Orkut (Social Network famous amongst Indians and Brazilians), I came in contact with a software consulting firm in New Jersey. This was a very small company with its offshore centre in Lucknow city and it had very big ambitions. They asked me to work on a pre sales brochure for their business intelligence service. At this point I was a Business Intelligence analyst working on Business Objects XI (now SAP BOXI) with TCS. They were obviously impressed with my work and they offered me a job in New Jersey as a BI Analyst. They decided to apply for my H1B petition on April 1, 2007. The petition was send out on time. One needs to remember, that unlike now, the situation in 2007 in US was different. The economy was booming and the job market was active. In that year more than 100,000 petitions were filed for the quota of 65,000 H1B non immigrant workers. Therefore, there was a lottery program. As fate may have it, I did not get selected in the lottery program. And thinking of it now it was a blessing in disguise.

You also, have to understand that during the same time, a friend of mine also applied for a H1B visa via a company that his sister worked for. He also had the same experience as I did at that point in time. His H1B visa was selected, petition was approved and subsequently his stamping went on without any issues in Kolkatta US Embassy.

The Indian consultancy manager I reported to was an amazing person and he did a lot of social service and is a role model in that aspect. But he was not a management material. In my opinion, he was a technical delivery manager and just like most Indian managers he chose the wrong path of getting into people and relationship management. However, I was enjoying working with my client managers and their associates. It thought me about the business, the job, professionalism and leadership. I still believe that my then CIO is one of the best leaders I have worked under. But, all good things must come to an end. There came a situation, where in my visa to work in the UK was expiring. And since, I did not have an ‘good’ relationship (if I may term that), with my consultancy managers, they did not want to extend my visa and they wanted me to move out of my client and into another customer.

For no apparent reasons, despite having excellent review and feedback from my IT clients and business clients, I was denied a promotion by my ‘friends’ from the consultancy. That is when I decided that as I thank the organization for giving me the opportunity, it was time to move on. It was mid 2009 and I got into discussions with my client. I asked them if they would like to hire me or employ me as a free lance consultant. Though, at the ground level management the feedback was positive, at the senior level they had to consider the relationship and the clauses signed with my consulting company. Therefore, that idea did not materialize. The reason, why I respect my then client CIO so much is because, unlike the managers from the consultancy I had, this CIO was upfront, straight forward and honest in telling me that he can’t hire me. It was a valid reason and I understood.

That is when a sister concern of my client company based out of Austria showed interest in hiring me. This was a legally viable solution. But it is a separate story on how my consultancy played backdoor politics to influence the client leadership team in US to avoid this from happening. Though I do not regret it at all, it only made my perseverance to do something that makes me happy, even stronger. Now the reason I elaborate this part is because, though I resigned from my concern on August 2009, I had been honest to my client to serve a 4 month notice period so that I can train my replacement. The clients did pay for me till the replacement was in place and allow me to continue till my visa expired. Therefore, it was only on December 2009 that I was released from my role.

Around November 2009, I had got in touch with the New Jersey based consultants again. All these years, I had been in touch with them and maintained my contact and network. In 2009, the world was affected by recession and US was the most affected. Therefore, in November 2009 when I had a talk with the New Jersey consultants, there were still around 2500 H1B visas left in the yearly quota. But, unfortunately as fate may have it, the day I completed my assignment with TCS, December 22, 2009, the USCIS had declared the quota as closed, sealed and complete.

Hence, we decided to apply for the H1B visa in the next quota which was in April 2010. In the mean time I had started taking short term assignments as independent consultant. I had joined a small time consulting firm in Bangalore to work for their major Music Publishing customers. This is when I went for my B1 stamping and got it without any major issues. I had the entire set of document required. I went to Chennai US consulate and the interview was very smooth. It was a two minute affair. I was dressed in my suits and the officer asked me what my purpose of the visit was? I told her that I was applying for the visa in lieu of business visits to the US required for meetings with my customers. She did see that I had multiple other stampings in my passport and she approved my visa immediately. She retained my passport and it was send back to me with the stamping four working days later. This happened in May 2010 and my visa is a b1/B2 visa valid until May 2020. This is when I thought getting a stamping was a cake walk. Boy oh Boy, how wrong was I!! :-)

At this point, my H1B visa was not yet filed. Finally after all the paperwork my H1B visa was only filed on 2010 July 6. My employers got an acknowledgement from the USCIS in a week’s time. They received the approved petition on October 15, 2010. But that is when they noticed a mistake was made in the name of the organization. Therefore, they had sent the petition for an Amendment.

If you thought this was a minor delay, then wait to read what happened later! The amended petition or what is called as the I797B notice of action was received on December 6, 2010. At this point I was on a contract with Intel in Malaysia. Therefore, I had to wait till I came back to India for getting my stamping.

I had come back to India in the first week of January. I got my documents from the employers only in the first week for February and I booked my appointments for the stamping on the second week of February.

Just like the last time (with my B1visa), I had gone to the US embassy at 09:00 AM. I had had some negative vibes the previous week with a couple of my friends getting their L1B visa rejected for various reasons. So, I tried to be as confident as I can and I ensured I was dressed best in my suits and also wore a smile always.

Coincidental as you may call it, I had to face the same lady who had approved my B1 visa in May 2010 and she was sitting in the same counter. I was excited. I greeted her and she greeted me back. She got all the documents from me that was inside the USCIS cover.

She flipped through my passport. She asked me what role I was going to perform in the US and what my salary was. I answered it short and sweet. She then asked me about my project and I explained it and said it was an internal development project. She took a minute to review my petition and then issued a 221 G blue form with a case number.

This form is something that requires you to submit further documents for processing. The documents requested are all employer related documents.

I then waited for those documents to arrive from my employers! Finally on April 8, 2011 I submitted the documents at the embassy’s courier agents in Kochin. I had waited for almost 30 days for an update.

It was on 10 May 2011, that I was issued another 221(g) document, asking me to submit my passport. Finally on May 17, 2011 the day I write this blog post, I received the confirmation from the US Consulate general that my visa is approved!! :-)

And trust me that it is one of the longest I have waited for anything. One thing that this 221(g) has thought me is that patience and perseverance always helps. If you really want something focus on it and pursue it with perseverance. It always will end in success!!!

I wanted to write this story, so that I can only stress again on what I keep on saying to every one! If you work hard on something, success may be delayed but never be denied! :-) Also, I want people reading this to believe that what ever happens happens for the greater good. The delay allowed me to go to 2 new countries. The delay helped me show who my real friends are. The delay helped me bond more with my family. The delay helped me learn yoga and loose some weight and get fit again. The delay helped me develop some very important professional network that I am sure will help me in future. The delay happened because it had too, and it was all for a reason!!!

So, all I want to tell you is, If its not happy its not the end!! Go, get it!!

விடாமுயற்சி விஸ்வரூப வெற்றி!! ஆண்டவன் நல்லவர்களை சோதிப்பான், ஆனால், கைவிடமாட்டான்!!!. ;-p

2011-05-04T17:02:00.002+01:00

An awesome poem in Tamil that I read a few days ago. I think this essentially captures what I would like to tell. Something for the records :-)

உன்னோடு கை கோர்த்து நடக்க பழக
ஆசை பட்டதிலிருந்து தெரிந்திருக்க வேண்டும்,
உனக்காக என் கோபங்களை விட்டு கொடுத்ததிலிருந்து
தெரிந்திருக்க வேண்டும்,
உன்னோடு உரையடுவதற்காக என் நொடிகளை
எண்ணி கொண்டு இருக்கும் போதாவது
தெரிந்திருக்க வேண்டும்,
இன்னொரு ஆனைப் பற்றி என்னிடம்
பேசும் போது எனக்கு வந்த கோபத்தில்லாவது
தெரிந்திருக்க வேண்டும்,
உனக்கு பிடித்த பாடல் என்பதால் அதே படலை
ஒன்றுக்கு பத்து முறை
நான் கேட்ட போதாவது தெரிந்திருக்க வேண்டும் ,
அப்பொழுதெல்லாம் தெரியாத
உன் மீதான என் காதல்
இதோ இப்பொழுது தெரிந்து விட்டது,
இனி நீயும் நானும் பார்க்கப் போவதில்லை
என்று தெரிந்து பிரியும் போது!
- என்றும் உன்னை மறவாமல் உன் நிழலென
தொடரும் உன் கண்ணன் காதலுடன்!

Courtesy: http://pirivaiumnesippaval.blogspot.com/

How I Want The World To Remember Me After My Death!

2011-03-29T08:22:00.000+01:00

I had a chance to attend the DSN program conducted by the Art of Living foundation last week end. DSN stands for Divya Samaj ka Nirmaan or Creation of a Divine Society. It was a spiritual program aimed at training your inner soul to find true happiness within yourselves.

My objective of the program was the Yoga knowledge and I believe I gained it. I do not agree with a few parts of the program, but I must admit, may be I am not yet mature enough spiritually to accept certain things taught in the course. Therefore, I won't criticize those that I don't understand but I will take away all the positives from the course. One of the activities that I did do as a part of the 3 day program was to list out all the things in the world I am thankful for, How I want the world to remember me after my death.

I believe, if at all I feel sad that I miss something on this planet, all I need to do is to read the list of things I am thankful to have and All I need to do to keep myself motivated is to read the list of things I want the world to remember me as and work towards achieving those goals!

I wanted to share those points here, not only as a electronic form of registering my thoughts, but also as a means of inspiring my friends to do the same. I believe that you should do this exercise too, and keep the list with you somewhere or the other. And whenever you feel sad, just go through the list! :-)

Things in my life that I am thankful for:

1. The best mom and the best dad one can have in the world.
2. The most amazing and patient brother.
3. The fortune of being smart, intelligent and possessing a good memory.
4. The ability to talk my way out of any difficult situation and the presentation skills that enable me to sell myself to anyone or any organization.
5. I think I have a skill to listen to others, make them feel comfortable in my presence, console them during their times of distress, energize them and be their devil's advocate when I need to be.
6. I am so thankful for all the opportunity to travel far and wide, meet people from different cultures and make some amazing friends in life.
7. I am thankful for having a very optimistic mind, excellent sense of positive energy and a body, mind and soul filled with positive, happy energy.
8. I am thankful for having healthy body without any defects. I have my eyes, my hands, my legs in place. I have a stable mind and a great smile!
9. I am thankful to have a group of friends who trust me and love me and whom I trust and love.
10. I am thankful that unlike billions of others, I have not had to struggle for material comfort in my life and I am thankful that I have been able to afford the material and physical comfort,

How I Want The World To Remember Me After My Death!

If I had a chance to read my own obituary note, I would like it to have the below points. These are the simple objectives in my life that I am committed to achieve. I want to do all the hard work to ensure that I become deserving of all the below that I desire. Whether it comes true or not, only time will tell us. but I know that this is how I want to remembered after my death.

I would like to remembered as,

1. An excellent son to my parents.
2. An amazing husband who treated his wife like an angel from heaven,
3. An excellent father who gave his children complete freedom and was an excellent mentor,
4. A great friend who was always trusted and who was dependable,
5. A very optimistic person, who always wore a beautiful smile and had abundant positive energy,
6. An ardent traveler who visited 100 countries during his life time and loved adventures and has a photograph taken in all the 100 countries he has visited,
7. A person who has donated 10% of his annual income to charity, friends, trusts and the people in need year in and year out throughout his life,
8. An amazing friend whom you can talk to whenever you feel down or negative and be assured that you will come back with complete optimism and positive energy,
9. A person who was healthy, wealthy and harmonious all though his life,
10. Above all a wonderful human being who made complete use of the gift called 'Life on Planet Earth'.

I know that I have a long way to go before I achieve my goals. I think the most difficult thing is completing the 100 country visit. But, something gives me the confidence that I will be able to do it. Now the count is at 14, 86 more to go, but I think it should be possible. I do always donate 10% of my income to charity and I am very sure, I will continue with it always. I don't know if I have been a good son to my parents. I would like to believe so. I did not mention about my career aspirations, because I think I want to treat career as a part of my life that enables me to make a living and not something that decides my life.

Now, I suggest that you go ahead and list these things too. You don't need to share it with all, but keep it with yourselves. When you feel sad, read the first list and when you need motivation read the second!

Life is a celebration of joy! Just do it!!

10 things I miss & don't miss about London!

2011-03-15T18:13:00.000Z

Its been almost 15 months since I moved out of London. London, being the first place I have stayed in other than India, it is natural that I miss London. But on this odd night, when I sit here at home, not very sure what future has in store me, and as I look at another assignment getting completed, I miss the place more than any other time. I thought I should record here what are the 10 things I miss about the city and what are the 10 things that I don't miss about London.

10 Things I miss about London:

10. The work culture
09. The green park and various park walks.
08. The quality of public transport.
07. My fitness trainers.
06. The monthly travel across Europe or UK.
05. The week end parties at friends' place.
04. The walk from golden square to Piccadilly circus tube station.
03. Visiting the Camden town market with friends.
02. People from work that I miss talking to (Joanna, Elisa, Andrew, Neena, Steve, John, Yogesh, Nikhil, Darren, Marie, Olga, Sidney)
01. My friends in London. (Aurelie Guillen, Vikram, Martin, Catheryn, Carlo, Inez, Antonella, Narendra, Sebastiano, Peppe, Salvatore).

10 Things I don't miss about London:

10: Racism at work
09: Pressure, politics and poor professional ethics and work culture from bosses at my old consultancy (The only reason I decided to quit my job, not having a visa or a new job and despite knowing very well that I will miss London)
08: Cost of living
07: Non availability of quality, affordable vegetarian food
06: Occasional ciders and the rare tequila shots (Actually I have not taken any form of alcohol since my leaving part on Dec 11, 2009 ;-))
05: The complete night life and being tired in the morning. (I like the calmness that I experience now :-))
04: Mom and dad calling me and asking me to visit them more frequently and my longing to meet the family once in a while (Now actually, I think my mom and dad will rather ask me to pack and get out for all the trouble I give them. But thats their mistake, they always made me feel like a prince at home :-p)
03: Uncertainty over my city of stay. (My consultancy never gave me a comfort about long term plans. Actually at that point, it was difficult to have that uncertainty. But since then I have lived in 5 different cities and not more than 5 months at one city. So now, I have gotten used to the uncertainty and in fact I have started to accept it as a part of my life style).
02: Crazy stress at work. (Actually I relished the stress, until the point I got fed up with my employers. But the Irony is since then I have always made more money per contract/ assignment and I have had very low stress assignments to handle. So, I definitely don't miss the stress at all. It is boring sometimes, but with all the stories I write and articles I write for magazines, I have found use for my time).
01: Lack of a comfortable home with all facilities and a personal gym. (With what the consultancy paid me in London, I was not able to afford a luxurious stay that I am used to back in India, especially since I had to spend a lot of money of my traveling. Therefore, one thing I don't miss about London is the quality of personal life. Though I miss the quality of the social life and infrastructure, I definitely don't miss London home :-)).

I don't know if I will ever see you again. At this point, my plans do not involve you. I don't know what fate has in store for me. After seeing you, I have seen 13 more countries and numerous cities. But, let me tell you that you will always be my first love. Well, not really, that place belongs to a special some one else. :-p So you will be my second love! London, I love you and I dedicate this song to you. I miss you and I wish I were with you.

Good bye my lover!

India Against Corruption: a mahatma announces fast unto death

2011-03-02T04:56:00.000Z

a mahatma announces fast unto death

Anna Hazare has given an ultimatum to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact stringent anti-corruption law – the peoples “Jan Lokpal Bill”! Jail to the corrupt must happen! We have been betrayed by those that are leading us!

When & Where?

From 5th April at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

Who is Anna Hazare?

A soldier, lone survivor in his unit in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Anna dedicated his life to the well-being of society. A bachelor, an ascetic, he has no possessions, no bank balance and lives in a temple. He is a living Mahatma Gandhi!

In Maharashtra, Anna has single handedly transformed barren and dry regions into green and food surplus areas. He has fasted unto death on several earlier occasions. He forced the Maharashtra government to dismiss the corrupt - 6 ministers and 400 officers. Due to his fast, the govt enacted the Maharashtra RTI Act. In 2006, when government of India tried to amend the Central RTI Act, he again went on an indefinite fast and forced the Indian government not to amend RTI Act.

Leaders, organizations and the common man from across India will be with him. This is a do or die moment – let us make it happen!

Across India, join Swami Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Agnivesh, Arch Bishop Vincent Concessao, Mahmood A Madani, Kiran Bedi, J M Lyngdoh, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Mufti Shamoom Qasmi, Mallika Sarabhai, Arun Bhatia, Sunita Godara, All India Bank Employees Federation, PAN IIT Alumni Association, Common Cause and many other prominent organizations and leaders, as India comes out on the streets! 100+ CITIES WILL RALLY BEHIND ANNA!

This is a defining moment for India that can give our children a better future! Let us unite and stand by him! Thousands will be there to support him. Will you be there?

Anna’s appeal to the people:

When I sit on fast from 5 April, I urge my fellow countrymen to

Join me in fasting for one, two, three or whatever number of days you can comfortably fast.
Along with fast, please pray to God (whoever you believe in) for better and corruption free India. Collective prayers from all the people of India would definitely have a huge impact.
Write an impassioned plea to our Prime Minister that we look upon him to pass “Jan Lokpal Bill”, else we will be compelled not to vote for his party in next elections.
Remain calm and peaceful and develop the courage to go to jail, if required, in this next freedom movement.

If possible, come and stay with Anna at Jantar Mantar for a few days from April 5th.

Would you like to stay updated about this movement? Let us know your contact details atindiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com

Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill

Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, this Bill has been refined on the basis of feedback received from public on website and after series of public consultations. It has also been vetted by and is supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare etc. It was sent to the PM and all CMs on 1st December. However, there is no response.

An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up
Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.
But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

JAN LOKPAL BILL will act as deterrent and instill fear against corruption

(This movement is neither affiliated nor aligned to any political party)

India Against Corruption: A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, UP | 09718500606

www.indiaagainstcorruption.org | indiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com | facebook.com/indiacor

Please circulate this mail as widely as possible

Executive Summary Of Indian Black Money Abroad In Secret Banks and Tax Havens

2011-02-23T18:35:00.002Z

Executive Summary Of Indian Black Money Abroad In Secret Banks and Tax Havens

Second Report Of The Task Force on the steps to be taken by India

Members
Shri Gurumurthy, Chartered Accountant, Chennai
Shri Ajit Doval, former Director Intelligence Bureau, Delhi
Prof R.Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, Senior Advocate, Mumbai

I. Developments since the First Interim Report

The first Interim Report of the Task Force appointed by the Bharatiya Janata Party was released to the public on 17-04-2009. Afterward different world governments, particularly those in the West, have increasingly begun targeting tax havens and intensely began pursuing black money. The US, and France particularly began a huge campaign against the evil of black money. The estimates black money lodged in tax havens by global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund reached as high as $18 trillion. The instability in the global financial order itself was traced to the evil money. So the issue has now acquired a totally different dimension. [Para I]

II. Now, it is a national commitment by all; and yet…

Thus almost the entire political spectrum without exception – from the ruling UPA to the opposition NDA and all other opposition parties – has committed to the people of India to bring back the black money illegally stashed away abroad by Indians. So it is no more an exclusive issue of one party or another. The media has begun highlighting and pursuing the issue of black money stashed by Indians abroad as never before. With the stench of 2G spectrum scam and Commonwealth Games scam dominating of the national scene, the wealth stashed abroad is being increasingly linked to bribery and kickbacks. Despite what appears to be a national commitment, there is as yet no action on the ground to tackle this evil of black money abroad. [Para II]

III. Recent and ongoing global developments

1. IMF estimates global black money excluding Switzerland, China, Taiwan and Oil Exporting economies at $18 trillion; that still an underestimate, says IMF!

2. The US Government as well its Congress are most concerned about these tax havens due to the severe economic crisis faced by the country and also due to pressure from sections of economists etc to “clean up” the global financial system. There are also concerns regarding the financing of terror groups by some of the tainted money from tax havens. While powerful countries like the USA have used their geo-political power to arm-twist the Swiss banks to part with the information and recover their lost wealth and even coerce them and extract penalties for abetting in the evasion of tax by their citizens, the less powerful ones have sought and aroused empathetic public opinion to force the Swiss banks to part with the information about the wealth illegitimately stashed away by their corrupt rulers and recover the same, as explained now. [Para III]

IV. Chasing black money – the success stories of other countries:

In the last few years many countries in Europe as well as USA have taken several steps that included geo-political coercion, financial penalties and bribes, to secure information and get back their illegal funds from abroad. The USA forced and got names of more than US 4000 clients of UBS bank from Switzerland by sheer geo-political force, after persuasion first, threat next and related legal actions later. Similar is the story of France and Germany. The latter even officially bribed the Lichtenstein Bank officials to get the secret names of Germans and others who had stashed away their black wealth in LGT bank of Lichtenstein. It has also been successfully demonstrated by countries, which are comparatively less powerful and less influential in geo-politics that monies illegally stashed abroad by their corrupt leaders and businessmen could be recovered. They had been able to accomplish it by exposing and prosecuting the corrupt leaders of their countries who had stashed and secreted away their national wealth in Swiss banks and making their judiciary to seek the cooperation of Swiss government and banks. They had also appealed to the conscience of the world generating the empathy of the world. Recently, private, but publicly motivated, citizens of Tunisia were able to freeze the ill-gotten wealth of its rulers and their fellow buccaneers in Swiss banks. [Para IV]

India Today - A democratic of the corrupt, by the corrupt, for the corrupt haunted by black money

V. The Indian scene – a contrast

In the background of how the world nations are pursuing the black wealth belonging to their nationals stashed away abroad, the Indian scene presents a depressing contrast. The leaders of the Congress which leads the UPA first denied the existence of such huge amount of illicit Indian wealth abroad; then they reluctantly accepted that fact which was becoming undeniable; then they promised that they would take efforts to recover the Indian wealth illegally stashed abroad; the President of India’s address to Parliament which in substance means the commitment of the UPA government to the people, in specific terms mentioned this commitment; but when it came to actually doing something to implement this commitment, there has been no action on the ground. In fact what is seen is an effort to prevaricate, procrastinate, and even bury the issue. The well-known and well-publicized instances of the existence of illegal Indian monies abroad – like the Hasan Ali case, Quattrocchi issue, the Lichtenstein Bank disclosures and the alleged secret Swiss banks accounts in the name of the family of the President of the Congress and the Chairperson of the UPA and National Advisory Council of the UPA government as detailed later in the Report -- have not only not been pursued, the government of the day is keen to bury them and is shamefully burying them to the view of the entire nation. More about these instances latter in this Report. [Para V]

VI. Indian black wealth abroad $500 billions, says Global Financial Integrity

The Global financial Integrity – a Non-profit research organization – working in the area of Tax Havens has estimated for India that the present value of illegal financial flows held abroad is $500 Billions. This means that almost three-quarters of the illicit assets comprising India's underground economy—which has been estimated to account for 50 percent of India's GDP (approximately $640 billion at the end of 2008)—ends up outside of the country. This seems to have settled the issue about the volume of the Indian black wealth abroad. [Para VI]

VII. “Bribes, corruption, kickbacks, criminal activities and tax evasion”

And what is the kind of money, which the GFI says has been hoarded abroad by Indians? This is what the GFI says about the character of the loot. “From 1948 through 2008, India lost a total of US $213 billion in illicit financial flows (or illegal capital flight)” through “tax evasion, corruption, bribery and kickbacks, and criminal activities”. Tax evasion is only one aspect of the illicit monies Indian nationals and corporates have hoarded abroad. There appears to be more intimate link between monies stashed away abroad and bribes, corruption, kickbacks and criminal activities. Still the government of India seems to be keen to treat the issue as a tax evasion issue only. [Para VII]

VIII. Not just tax evasion, but “theft” and “plunder” – says the Supreme Court

But on the 19th of January-2011 [Wednesday] the Supreme Court of India called the shameful phenomenon of Indian funds kept illegally abroad as “theft” and “plunder” and not treat it as merely tax avoidance. It also demanded an “action taken” report on all “faceless” Indians who had moved their ill-gotten money overseas. [Para VIII]

IX. Bribes as important source of Indian black monies stashed abroad

There are various categories of culprits. Some are traditional business leaders who have been accumulating money since the 50s; some are new rich entrepreneurs and politicians and bureaucrats who influence decision making for large global purchases. The third category is the money launderers for nefarious purposes including financing of terrorism. [Para IX]

X. The Indian government suppresses the basic facts about Indian black wealth abroad

First, the Indian government is keen to suppress the information relating to the issue of Illegal Indian monies abroad. The Enforcement Directorate is not inclined to reveal even the “total volume” of illegal Indian monies abroad to an applicant under the Right to Information Act. During the hearing at Chief Information Commissioner, Eneforcement Directorate stated that they could either confirm or deny media reports about the likely volume of black money stashed away in foreign banks illegally by Indian nationals. Regarding questions related to illegal investment by Indians in foreign countries and money stashed away in banks abroad, the RBI surprisingly said it had no information on the issue. [Para X]

XI. Presidential address – commitment to act against illegal monies – seems an empty promise

The commitment of the UPA II government in the address of the President of India to Parliament in June 2009 to vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned has been observed only in breach. [Para XI]

XII. Shockingly India has not ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption even now.

India and Switzerland are signatories to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Yet India has not ratified the UN Convention till today. This would have enabled India to seek the co-operation of world nations including Switzerland to tackle corruption at all levels. According to global anti-graft watchdog Transparency International, India should endorse the United Nations Convention Against Corruption for the recovery of India’s wealth, which has be hoarded in foreign banks.

The UN Convention helps the country, which seeks to recover the assets stashed away. This is the greatest achievement of the Convention. This single act shows that the Government of India is not keen on securing global co-operation to tackle corruption in India, which would mean tracking and bringing back corrupt funds stashed away abroad. [Para XII]

XIII. The Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty with Switzerland – an impotent instrument

The DTA Treaty is not an effective mechanism to tackle the problem of money laundering. The Swiss government for instance cannot ask the Swiss banks to disclose any name under the Swiss law. So the so-called Double Taxation Treaty with Switzerland is no more than a PR exercise. That will yield practically nothing. And India is only thinking of even the watered down treaty to “prospective” transactions, which means that the past frauds, crimes, kickbacks, bribes and corruption are to be glossed over! [XIII]

XIV. Terrorism and secret money

To recall, as early as 2007 the concern expressed by our own National Security Advisor -Mr. M.K Narayanan- regarding possibility of terror funds coming through financial markets [See his speech “Link between world of finance and terrorism”: at Munich Security Conference on 11.02.2007). [XIV]

XV. Why does India not act like other countries?

Why does India then not act like other countries? Why does it not partner the US, Germany, France and other countries, which are chasing their black wealth outside their territories? Why does it not follow the examples of such small countries like Philippines, Peru, Nigeria, and Tunisia, which have chased the corrupt wealth of their rulers? Why does it not use its increasing geo-political power to bring back the black monies stashed abroad by Indian nations? Why does the UPA government show obvious reluctance to handle this matter aggressively, contrary to its own commitment through the Presidential Speech to Parliament in June 2009? The answer is simple. The UPA government does not even pursue known cases of money laundering, like the Lichtenstein Bank case, Hasan Ali affair, Quattrocchi matter and the alleged Swiss bank accounts in the name of a former Prime Minister of India. [XV]

XVI. Lichtenstein Bank Affair

The Ministry of Finance [MoF] says it has names but will not reveal them. The reply affidavit by MoF suggests that the petitioners should seek the RTI route – may be to be rejected under the RTI. The government argues for the RTI route and then gets the application thrown out. These are not domestic tax evaders etc. for showing confidentiality. These are international crooks that have deprived our land of huge financial resources through capital flight. It is an unpatriotic act which can be equated to financial terrorism.

XVII. The $8 billion Hasan Ali Ali hawala – the smocking gun

The facts that have emerged in the Hasan Ali Ali case clearly lead to the disconcerting inferences that ruling party leaders were involved in Havala and stashing away national wealth illegally abroad; that there was undeniable nexus between politicians and criminal world; that the probe was derailed, stymied and rendered meaningless by delay and prevarication thanks to the involvement of the ruling party leaders; that the present government has no interest in recovering back the national wealth stashed abroad; that on the contrary, it is clearly interested in not exposing those who had stashed their wealth abroad.

a) Ali began to be involved in Havala business in billions in 1990s;

b) Ali was involved with Adnan Khassogi, the international arms dealer, who was found in the probe into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 to have supplied to arms to LTTE, in business and finance from 1982;

c) He was involved with politicians, particularly the ruling congress party leaders;

d) He had respectable local associates to front for him;

e) He, who had nothing twenty years back, had billions in his and his associates’ account by end 2006;

f) The probe into him was delayed and rendered directionless and almost purposeless, which indicated that the government was keen, even desperate, to bury the Ali case as detailed herein later;

g) The Solicitor General of India has in an extraordinary step written to the Government of India that the Ali case must be investigated from national security angle also, which he could not have done without some critical material that must have been brought to his attention;

h) Yet, the attitude of the government to Ali probe is a clear testimony to the fact that the government, far from pursuing and bringing out the national wealth stashed away abroad, is aiding and collaborating with the buccaneers who have criminally misappropriated the national wealth.

The shocking details of the Ali probe tumbled into the public domain through the media obviously because as the officials, who were investigating the case found that the political establishment was not keen to pursue the case, began to leak out the details. Whatever information the public has today is not through any detail given out by the government to Parliament or to the public. The media reports, sourced in the details leaked out to the media by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department are the only information available to the people. Yet the details which have appeared in the last four years, when seen collectively, shows a shocking fraud on the people of India by the ruling establishment which has clearly subverted the Ali money laundering probe involving over $8 billions.

a. Hasan Ali’s bank balances grew from $1.5 million in 1982 to $8 billion in 2006

b. A more disturbing aspect is Ali’s deep involvement with transactions in billions with Adnan Khassogi, the infamous international arms dealer whose name figured in the assassination case of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 as an arms supplier to the LTTE, which masterminded the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.

c. Ali received $300 millions from Khassogi as “Funds from Weapons Sale”, which was frozen by the Swiss Government, but Ali managed the Swiss government later.

d. Ali associate had confessed to involvement of Congress leaders

e. ED regarded Ali’s illegimate funds as linked to terror, organized crime, gun-running and bribes; why anti-terror law was not invoked?The ED show cause notice has stated: “It is suspected that the accounts with such huge deposits of money originating from various international destinations are proceeds of heinous crimes such as terrorism, arms trade, gun-running, corruption and organized forgery, fraud and others”. These are grounds fit for action under the anti terror law of India in force then, the Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act 2004 [which had replaced the Prevention Of Terrorism Act]. Under that law, the Ali funds could have been frozen as “proceeds of terrorism” and confiscated under section 24 of the law and pending the due legal process, by registering an FIR under the law, the Swiss government could have been requested to freeze the Ali accounts.

f. Investigate Ali from National Security angle, tells Additional Solicitor General to Finance Minister;

g. The way Ali case was handled showed that ruling party bigwigs were involved with him;

h. An inevitable question has arisen as to whether Ali fronting for a leading politician? The media has recently reported, “Investigators are also trying to ascertain the real beneficiary behind Hasan Ali's spectacular wealth. Investigators say funds might have been amassed from defence deals and Hasan Ali could be a front for a politician;

i. ED had proposed to arrest Ali in December 2008; no arrest till now

j. The government had made a Collusive request to the Swiss authorities for assistance, which has bounced back

k. The Hasan Ali’s case – the smoking gun

An irrefutable proof of a secret meeting of the Maharashtra Government and the Political Adviser to the President of the Congress Party Smt Sonia Gandhi with Hasan Ali has been revealed by one of the members of the Task Force, Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, on 25 January 2011 in the debate in the Times Now TV Channel moderated by Shri Arnab Goswami on Black Monies stashed overseas. In his sensational revelation Shri Mahesh Jethmalani said that that the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police in Mumbai has a video recording of the secret meeting between Hasan Ali, who was absconding in the Enforcement Case of $8 billion against him, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh and the Political Advisor to the Congress Party President Shri Ahmed Patel, and Shri Ghafoor Ahmed Khan, who was later appointed as the Police Commissioner of Mumbai at Hotel Centaur [now known as Tulip] in Mumbai on 8.11.2008 Shri Mahesh Jethmalani has made available a copy of the CD of this audio-video with the transcript of the conversation among the four persons [in which the decision to appoint Shri Gaffoor as the Commissioner of Mumbai Police] to the Task Force. The transcript of the answers given by Hasan Ali to the Police, taken from the Video available with Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, one of the members of the Task Force:

In fact, this information and the video recording was first placed in the public domain by Shri Ram Jethmalani, the well-known senior lawyer [who has filed the Writ in the Supreme Court on the issue of black money abroad] on 15.4.2010 at a press conference addressed by him in Mumbai. While Ali tells the Police that he met Shri Ahmed Patel in Centaur Hotel, Shri Patel has however denied having been present at any meeting with Ali or ever met him; Vilasrao Deshmukh ordered an inquiry into the affair, but till now nothing contrary has been found out. The Home Minister Maharashtra has denied the meeting. But the video exists and is in the possession of Shri Mahesh Jethmalani one of the members of the Task Force. [Para XVII]

XVIII. Bofors pay off to Quattrocchi and his links with the family of the President of the Congress Party

Despite all the efforts to bury the Bofors pay off case, it refuses to die. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal decision on Win Chaddha’s tax issues has brought the issue alive back to the public domain. Shockingly the Tribunal decision came the very day the CBI had moved the CBI court for closing the case against Ottavio Quattrocchi. Some recall of the Quattrocchi part of the Bofors pay off case is necessary to know how its continuation impacts on the attitude of the government of India to the illegal monies of Indians stashed away abroad. [Para XVIII]

XIX. The alleged secret Swiss accounts of the family of a former Prime minister of India

It is a matter of concern that there have been serious and persistent allegations in the media in and outside India about alleged secret Swiss accounts held by the family of a former Prime Minister of, which have not been even formally denied by any one from the family. Because of that, there is an increasing apprehension in the public mind that it is due to the involvement of leaders close to the UPA and its component ruling parties that the UPA government and therefore India remain the only exception to the global pursuit of illegal monies abroad. The apprehension is that the Indian government is not taking the aggressive measures in that direction unlike the other countries as explained here in this report. [Para XIX]

XX. The government suffers from utter lack of credibility

The UPA government suffers from serious loss of credibility because of the Lichtenstein Bank affair, the Hasan Ali and Quattrocchi cases and the serious allegations that billions of dollars are lying in secret Swiss bank accounts in the name of a former Prime Minister of India belonging to the Congress Party. [Para XX]

XXI. How can the UPA government reacquire its lost credibility?

The issue is how the UPA government can reacquire credibility? It is not trust deficit but defunct trust. If the government’s credibility is to be restored within and outside the country, the government must act on the four cases – namely the Lichtenstein Bank names, Quattrocchi pay offs Hasan Ali case and respond to the alleged secret bank accounts of the family of the former Prime Minister of India belonging to the Congress Party – in a credible manner. The government action so far is explicitly to suppress the truth and to bury the cases. Unless these steps are forthwith initiated, not only the UPA government’s credibility will be questioned, it will also lead to the inevitable inference that the UPA government is hand-in-glove with the buccaneers who have stashed away billions of dollars of Indian people’s money abroad. [XXI]

XXII. The need to restore credibility of the political parties and the political system as a condition precedent

The people of India view with suspicion and apprehension the entire political class, which is supposed to act to recover the Indian monies stashed away abroad. In fact the political class is suspect today in the eyes of the people. There has to be a morally and ethically sound response to restore the trust and confidence of the people of India. [XXII]

XXIII. Moral and ethical response needed from the political class

The Task Force therefore suggests that the political class must set an example. Leaders and office bearers of political parties, ministers and Members of Parliament must declare that they or their families have either no wealth abroad, or if they have they must explain how they had acquired it. In addition they must give letters to the government stating that they authorize the government to ask from any government or bank in the world the details of any money held by them or by their sons and daughters. [Para XXIII]

XXIV. Constitutional, legal, geo-political, moral and ethical measures needed to recover the Indian wealth illegally stashed away abroad

1. First, the Government of India can enact a law, recognizing reports of the IMF and GFI etc saying that huge Indian capital has been illegally stashed away from India, declaring that the government of India is the beneficiary of all monies, assets and bank accounts held abroad by or the benefit of Indian nationals without declaring the same to the Indian authorities.

2. Second, on the basis of the said law, the Government of India can ask the world governments and the different banks committed to secrecy like the Swiss Banks, to recognize Indian government as the beneficiary of the undeclared wealth, bank account and other assets of the Indian nationals till the owner of the wealth, bank accounts and other assets is able to prove that he had acquired it by fair means and from legally valid sources

3. Third, the National Investigative Agency [NIA] must register an FIR like the investigative agency did in the case of Punjab terrorism and Nagaland insurgency against unknown accused persons who had stashed away monies abroad under the money laundering and anti-terror laws and proceed to investigate by inquiry, interrogation and even arrest. This omnibus FIR will be facilitate a continuous investigation and continuous progress. This will, as the investigations proceeds, facilitate many, may be hundreds and thousands of specific FIRs and prosecutions, but still continue as the umbrella FIR which will facilitate the continuance of the campaign against black money.

4. India as a major emerging power should play an important role in enunciating New Global financial Architecture altering the architecture evolved in the twentieth century by Anglo-Saxon laws which facilitated development of these secretive jurisdictions. We need to evolve a new architecture suiting Asian value systems for the twenty first century based on transparency and integrity. Since the economic power is shifting to Asia we need new financial architecture for the coming decades. As indicated above we should stress on Geographical disclosure of sources and uses of Funds by Global banks and based on that “automatic information sharing” should be done by the recipient nations. In other words closing down of the secretive tax jurisdictions should be one of the objectives of India for a non-conflicting civilizational future. As a responsible member of G-20 and FATF, UNSC etc we should take the lead for all emerging markets.

The Task Force has suggested in details many other measures to combat the menace of black money abroad. [Para XXIV]

XXV Conclusion

Our Republic is under siege. Our polity is in shambles. We are at cross roads. Wiki leaks mocks at us in terms of revealing the names of our current icons as men who plundered. It is possible that foreign spy agencies know the names. Our leadership may be under blackmail and our policy formulations may have been compromised. We are in an extraordinary time. This ancient nation rebuilt by Mahatma Gandhi; Sardar Patel; Pundit Nehru; Babasaheb Ambedkar; Netaji Bose; Rajaji and many other eminent men who towered over our mother land is in crisis because of these plunderers. As a nation, we owe it to the deprived and ordinary people of India and its future citizens to perform the sacred duty of unearthing these vast national resources hidden abroad which has the potential to transform the country into a developed nation much sooner than we can otherwise do. India is not only a country, but, also a great civilization, which has from time immemorial propagated non conflicting ideas and practiced non-conflicting methods. As a rising nation, we need to set proper standards for ourselves so that we become the alternative model for the world of conflict in search of peace and harmony. Being viewed as a corrupt and dishonest nation, and being seen as a nation of buccaneers who bolt away with hundreds and thousands of billions of Dollars when a vast section of the ordinary people of this country are in penury, will hardly give us the moral and ethical authority to be of example to the world. The time is propitious. The entire world opinion is converging against tax havens, secret banking and evil monies. The issue spills beyond economic stability; it has the potential to dynamite the economic system itself; it has potential to destroy the global security itself as the terrorists are funded by secret and not open financial system. The Task Force is of the view that the information and the ideas contained in this and in its earlier report must be taken to the people of India at various levels. The Task Force hopes that the BJP will dedicate itself to the cause and associate as many critical forces, in and outside politics, in the sacred agenda. [Para XXV]

Dated 31 January 2011

S. Gurumurthy Ajit Doval
R. Vaidyanathan Mahesh Jethmalani

The Dream - A short story by Vijay

2011-02-22T16:52:00.001Z

Time was 02:00 AM. Adam couldn't sleep. He tried desperately but in vain. His mind was agitated. The recurring dream had been haunting him for a few weeks now. He was feeling weak. He has never been so indecisive all his life. His confidence was at a low and he was beginning to doubt himself. Was Ayisha the right girl? Is everything Okay with Abdul? Will the dream come true? These questions haunted him all night every day.

Abdul used to be Adam’s best friend. However, things haven’t been smooth in the last few months. Abdul was not himself. He was embroiled in an emotional battle. He did not know what he has to do, given his situation was unique. Abdul, who was born and bought up in the traditional and orthodox Muslim brotherhood in Indonesia, was now living in France working as a truck driver. Ayisha was the girl he was madly in love with. Back home in Aceh, in Sumatra islands of Indonesia Ayisha and Abdul grew up as neighbours. Both were from a lower middle class family background. Their parents had to struggle hard to make ends meet. Abdul used to stay hungry almost every afternoon at the local school where he studied. Ayisha, who was his classmate too, was often the saving grace. She shared whatever little food she had with Abdul. They were playmates, best of friends and happy souls. However, as they started to grow up, things started to change. Ayisha started falling in love with Abdul. Abdul, who was reserved and an introvert by was taken aback when Ayisha first professed her deep love for him. It took him time to understand her true love, but when he understood it, he was deep in love with her too.

Things were heavenly until Adam and Sheela entered their lives at various times. Adam and Abdul met each other at the drivers training institute in Jakarta. They were not the best of mates but remained friends. Eventually they found employment with the same distribution company and started living as housemates in Marsielle, France. That is where they developed a unique bond which can be described as pure as the one between Sughreeva, the king of apes and Lord Ram, the ruler of Ayodhya from the ancient Hindu mythological epic ‘The Ramayana’.

But thinking of it now, Adam feels that this friendship was not as true as he had conceived it to be. Adam feels cheated, used and his heart was filled with anger. The turn of events had made him think so. It was only a year ago that Abdul got the sad news. Ayisha had been married off forcefully to a Dubai based Sheik while Abdul was away from her working to feed his family. It would only be ideal to say that Ayisha was sold off to the rich sheik by her family. Since Abdul and Adam were away in France they did not know about this until after Ayisha was found dead in an alley way just 3 days after she reached Dubai. Her family were informed about her death and they were struck with grieve.

It was Ayisha’s sister, who managed to pass the information on to Abdul’s friend who then sent a message via an acquaintance to Abdul. Abdul was away from home when the news reached Marseille and Adam was the one who informed Abdul when he came back. Abdul was shell shocked and Adam thought that Abdul couldn’t get away from his misery for months. It would be an understatement to say that without Adam, Abdul would have further gone into his shell. Things were improving for Abdul in the last few months, after he met Sheela.

Sheela was a middle aged Indian woman who was working as a bar dancer in Marsielle. She was single and had 2 children. She came to France twenty years ago, hoping to make a living with her husband. Her husband was also a truck driver from Gujarat, India. They were having a peaceful life, until one fine day her husband disappeared along with his truck on his way driving a fuel tanker to Saudi Arabia. No one knew why and what happened to him. Since then Sheela had to work as a bar dancer to make a living. Abdul started visiting the bar last year and it was Adam who had introduced him to Sheela. Despite the difference in their age, Abdul and Sheela developed a strange bond of affection. It was platonic, but they were emotionally involved. The relationship with Sheela had helped Abdul become cheerful again but it had created a strange sense of awkwardness in his relationship with Adam. Adam had this feeling that Sheela was using Abdul to take care of her insecurity and that Abdul was falling prey to a sociopath in the form of Sheela.

Adam had expressed his concerns to Abdul but he did not heed to Adam’s words. It was unfair of Adam to get involved in his friend’s private matters and therefore he stayed away from it. But it was not until a few days ago that Adam found out that Abdul was not only moving away from him, but he was also hiding a big truth. Adam had taken an oil tanker to the Gulf state of Dubai as a part of his job, where he met Patel. Patel was an old man in his early fifties. He went to a local food stall to have a dinner with his new found friend, whom he met in a gas station, where Adam’s tanker was serviced for a gearbox failure. In the local food stall he saw sketches of what looked like Abdul’s face and some words in Arabic language written beneath it. He found out from Patel that the Dubai police were looking for that person and his head was given a price of 1 Million USD. The person in the photo was wanted by the Dubai police for the murder of an Arabic aristocrat and his young wife of 3 days. He was caught on a CCTV camera near the place where the crime had taken place.

Adam was shocked. For the rest of his journey back to France he did not talk much to anyone. He had shared to Patel his fears. He had grown to trust in the old man and he told him that the wanted person looked like his best friend Abdul. It was only then that Adam recollected that Abdul had been late from his usual trip to Saudi Arabia when the actual murder was supposed to have taken place. Abdul had informed his company that there was a problem with his truck and he was delayed because of repair work that had to be done to his truck.

On hearing about Adam’s story and how Abdul was now addicted to a woman called Sheela in Marseille, Patel was shocked. What Adam heard from Patel in the next two hours stunned him. Patel was none other than Sheela’s missing husband. He was hiding away from Sheela afraid that she will kill him. Sheela was a psychopath. She had actually murdered her first husband in India after she came to know about his adultery. She then met Patel and eloped away with him to France. When Patel found out about Sheela’s past, she had tried to murder him and Patel being a illegal immigrant in France and a coward, ran away to Saudi and lived in exile. Since then Sheela had been wooing younger men and ended up murdering those adulterous men. So Patel suspected that Abdul’s life was in danger.

Adam rushed back to Marseille to warn Abdul. When he reached his home, he rushed in and found Abdul sitting in his usual chair. He started explaining him about his encounter with Patel and he told him about Sheela and warned him to stay safe and away from her. He also questioned him about what happened in Dubai and if it was he who murdered Ayisha. Abdul was quiet. And then out of nowhere, Adam heard a huge cry of laughter in the room. It was that of a lady. And from behind the doors emerged Sheela with a pistol in her hand. Sheela then told him that she had known Abdul even before Adam had introduced her to him. She planned to kill him like all her other preys only to know that Abdul was a victim of cheating by a loved one like herself. Adam was also shocked, when Abdul told him that it was Sheela who had planned the perfect way to execute Ayisha and her new husband so as to teach her a lesson about a girl friend who was not truthful towards him. Abdul had met Sheela during his stay in Saudi Arabia to repair his truck. He came to know about Aysiha’s marriage from a friend in Saudi. When he was weak, Sheela had convinced him that murdering Ayisha and her new husband was the perfect way to teach the world a lesson. Brainwashed by Sheela, It was Abdul who killed his true love Ayisha.

And now, Sheela was ready to fire the bullet on Adam, since he now knew all the truth. Adam was scared. He was about to die.

Adam woke up shouting in agony. The time was 02:00 AM. This recurring dream had been haunting him for a few weeks now. Adam couldn't sleep. He tried desperately but in vain. His mind was agitated. He was feeling weak. He has never been so indecisive all his life. His confidence was at a low and he was beginning to doubt himself. Was Ayisha the right girl for Abdul? Is everything Okay with Abdul? Will the dream come true? These questions haunted him all night every day. While his newly married neighbours Ayisha and Abdul were sleeping peacefully in their new home!

- - - Vijay

Letters from a gal to her dad

2011-02-21T08:49:00.000Z

Posted by: Ashok Jeev on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 2:19pm on Facebook.

I read this on a facebook note and thought it was a very interesting letter. It’s a story of a Brahmin gal who fell in love with a non-Brahmin boy, but due to her father’s compulsion ended up married to a Brahmin guy. She is lleading a perfect life, but with little happiness!! Hmm.. a lesson to learn before it gets too late?

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Dearest Appa,

27th Jan’1965

Hope this letter finds you, Amma, Raji and Seenu in good health. The weather here in New York City is icy cold. But Avar sollraar- I have missed this winter’s biting cold. I still wish I had seen the snow… But then, I still wish I had not left Trichy at all. I do miss Trichy, Appa. You, Amma, Raji, Seenu, pakkatthaathu Rama, Vikatan,Ucchi Pillaiyaar Koil, filter coffee, Holy Cross College, the Maths Department and of course Sakthi. I know you wish I hadn’t brought his name in this letter.But not to worry Appa, I understand that you got me married to Visu because you thought it was best for your daughter.

I still remember Amma wiping her silent tears with her madisaar thalappu and you shouting at me the day I told you about Sakthi.Later, when the initial shock wore off you patiently listed umpteen reasons why I should not marry Sakthi. I agree Appa, that 20 is too young to decide, that Raji and Seenu would have been affected greatly by my ‘mistake’, the Agrahaaram would have scoffed at you… a meat eater was not a good match for someone who had never even tasted onion and garlic. The reasons were innumerous. I knew you’d still have objected and offered other reasons even if he had become a Dhigambara monk.

Visu on the other hand, wore a poonal, he is the son of Neelakanta Sastri, an Engineer and he researched about computers which is what made you jump for this alliance. Am not complaining Appa, Visu is a nice man. Tell Amma that I could not try her kozhakkattai recipe this Pongal because coconuts were too expensive and Avar nenacchar that it was ridiculous.

Anyway, we went out on Sankaranthi day and dined out. He thought it would be a good idea to invite the Chatterjees also. But I didn’t speak Bengali and Mrs.Chatterjee spoke English in an accent that comes with living years in America. Hence I made myself busy with the menu card. They ordered various species of fish,shrimp and a lot more of items I had never seen in my life. I ordered orange juice and a sandwich. The other diners thought it was queer coming to a seafood restaurant and settling for a sandwich. That day, I learnt that Avar prefer pannradhu beef, pork, bacon and seafood.

Do you know, Appa… Sakthi gave up meat because of me? I didn’t ask, he just did. But then, Sakthi is not Neelakanta Sastri’s son and that made it imposible for Subramania Iyer’s daughter Kalyani to marry him.I will keep you posted on what happens here. I don’t think I can make it to Seenu’s Upanayanam. Tell Amma not to get me a pattu podavai for the poonal, I don’t use them here. I wore it once and felt like a clown here.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

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Dearest Appa,

20th Oct’1968

We are fine here. Gautam is speaking his first words and I swear they sounded like ‘Dosai’. But Visu claims it’s just gibberish. From your previous letter, I gather that pakkathatthu Rama is married and

settled in Jamshedpur. Nice to know that. Please find out her address from Saarada maami and write it to me. I want to keep in touch with her. I hope Raji is happy with her husband in Madras. I spoke to her last month, great to know that she has a phone. Do tell Seenu to study well and prepare for his school final exams.

Raji also told me that Sakthi is married now. I wish him good luck, but I could not convey the message to him. Raji refused to be the messenger and I know you have severed ties with Sakthi’s father, your long term friend Sankaravel, thanks to me. I hear his wife is his cousin… He must have succumbed to his mother’s wishes.

How did Avani Avittam go? Visu’s mother gave me a bunch of new poonals for Avani Avittam but Visu was in Boston that day. He wouldn’t have used it anyway, I haven’t seen him wear one in the last three years. Gautam is now playing with the spool of thread- mere thread it is, what else can I call it? Gautam will not even know what it signifies, I guess.

Visu is making sure Gautam grows up listening to English only. He says it will make his life easier. But I do read out passages from Ponniyin Selvan and Bharathiyaar’s poetry when I am alone with him. It’s more of reading to myself, I guess. I actually got that poetry book as a present from Sakthi, it still has his scrawling signature in the first page.

By the way, Visu saw that book and asked me about Sakthi, I told him. Hold your breath Appa, he didn’t throw me out of the house. He is a good man, no question. He said it is okay and that he doesn’t mind. And then he told me of his American girlfriend whom he was once in love with, when he first reached America- Amy, a fellow Researcher who was in a brief relationship with Visu when she was in New York. They lived together for 3 months and decided against marriage, somehow. Amy once dropped home when she was in New York. Nice lady, she was.

Ask Amma to send me Sambar Podi for this whole year. My friend Sudha is coming to Madras next week. Ask Seenu to catch the Rockfort Express and give it to her. I will collect it from her here.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

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Dearest Appa,

3rd June’1974

We have arrived here safely. After two months in India, I find it hard to adjust back to normal life here. Gautam and Ranjana demand vadai,paayasam and vaazhai ilai here. Visu’s relieved to be back in

America. I left a set of my books there. If it’s not in Trichy it must be in Visu’s parents’ place. If you find them, safeguard them until my next trip. They mean a lot to me since they were gifts from Sakthi. By the way, Appa, I found out Sakthi’s present address in Madras from Rama and Saarada maami. I wrote to him. I am extremely proud to know that Dr.Sakthivel is a cardiologist much in demand there in Madras. He was thrilled to hear from me after so long. You know what he has named his daughters? Kalyani and Raagamaalika. He called me. You know what, he’s still a practising vegetarian, Appa. He didn’t revert back just because he lost me… He asked me if I still sang and whether Gautam and Ranjana could sing. I could see a proud father in him, when he claimed his daughters could sing upto Rara Venu Gopala. That’s when I remembered that I was once a good singer. I wonder why I stopped singing, wonder why I never exposed the kids to Music and Dance. But then, I realize that I had buried all that deep inside me when I left Trichy; after bidding farewell to my best Rasika, actually. Sakthi. After the call, I tried singing ’Kurai Onrum Illai’. I could not rquite reach Charanam, because of the lack of practice and more importantly because of the tears that filmed my eyes and the constriction in my throat. I sang to Visu and the kids one of these days. Though Gautam was impressed, father and daughter could not just wait for me to finish! By the way, next time some friend comes to India, send me a Sruthi Box. I would like to start singing again.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

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Dearest Appa,

14th Aug 1978

Just back after our tour to California. Find our photos, picture postcards attached herewith. After you are done with showing all family members,relatives, friends and neighbours, pass them to Visu’s parents. It was a welcome break for the four of us. But I missed my paattu class students all along and was happy to resume the classes again last evening. Did I mention in my previous letter, before we left on the tour - I finally got my driving license here. I sent a few photos to Sakthi too. He has sent me quite a few records and cassettes. I loved it! I’m reminded of AIR, almost! I’m circulating them among my friends too. And of course, playing them for my students too. They are picking up beautifully. Funny news is, I, a Tamilian, is teaching Telugu and Sanskrit kritis to a cross section of Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,Telugu, Marathi, Bengali students in an English speaking nation. The music sessions have resulted in a reborn Kalyani, Appa. Thanks to Sakthi, really. I would have never taken it up had it not been for his reminder. I am now thinking of what life would have been like if I had indeed married him. I would have of course lost you and Amma. But right now, with this life in America, Visu and these monthly letters to you, Rama, Raji and Seenu what have i gained? I don’t find an answer, Appa. Neither do I think I ever will. Again, as I have always reiterated, Visu is a good man, no complaints there. He is every bit the son in law you wanted. Researcher, American Post-Graduate Degree holder, a dutiful husband and father,earning a comfortable income. I know it is too much to ask for anything else. That is a fantasy I left midway in my life… Once upon a time in Trichy with someone else.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

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Dearest Appa,

14th Apr’1984

Met Dr.Sakthivel after 19 years… He had come to New York for business purposes and paid me a visit. Visu and the kids welcomed him home with great pleasure. And they liked him too. Infact, they did most of the talking initially. And of course, he got me a whole load of books, cassettes, Mysore Paak and lots more.

Your loving daughter,

Kalyani.

-----------------------------

Dearest Appa,

20th Jan’ 1990

I just went through all these letters lying in my closet draw for years together. These are letters I started writing to you and then decided not to post. For obvious reasons. I could not mention Sakthi to you even though I was itching to. Not because I was afraid to invite your wrath. I just did not have the heart to hurt you, I know these letters would have hurt you. Because deep inside, I know you were disturbed- you knew Sakthi was a good man, you knew he was a man of substance, yet you didn’t want to go further. Society, I know. ..Family… I know… And all these letters would have only wounded you more.Today, 2 years after your death, and 6 months after Dr.Sakthivel’s untimely death in a road accident, I somehow felt like re-reading all these letters. To me, all these unstamped, unposted letters mean a life that could have been.

Kalyani Viswanathan.

My H1B Story

2011-02-17T14:40:00.000Z

Dear H1B aspirants,

Hope you are all doing well. I wanted to write my experience so that you all can get an idea about how finding a H1B employer, filing of a H1B petition and subsequent visa stamping works. Before I get into the details, it is important for you to know my background. I have a university gold medal in B.Tech Information Technology from Anna University, Coimbatore. Subsequently I also have a certification in Business Analysis from London. I have around 5 years of experience as a Business Analyst, Systems Analyst and Business Intelligence Analyst with work experience in India, UK, Europe and Malaysia. I have travelled to around 14 countries so far and I have multiple stampings on my Indian passport. Education and professional background, plays a very vital role not only in finding an employer but also in getting your visa stamping done. Therefore, you have to read my H1B experience keeping in mind my background.

Background of the Applicant:

I started my career as a Business Intelligence Analyst with the largest software company in Asia in May 2006. It did not take me more than 3 months to realize that it was not the place for me. The work culture was very poor and people tend to get lost in the huge crowd despite being extremely talented. The office politics was very bad and it was almost like a government organization – i.e. your talent or skill does not matter and people consider only your experience. A person sitting and doing nothing worthwhile will have more importance in this organization because of his experience and a fresher with new ideas and enthusiasm will not be give the due credit they deserve. Hence, I decided to pursue my dream in smaller organizations and in the country that could provide me with opportunities. Hence I chose the land of opportunities, i.e. America and decided to get my share of the American dream. It is ironical that my American dream has not yet come true, in all these five years. But, you will know more about it in the end.

So, in September 2006, just 3 months into my first job, being fed up of my work in the software major, I contacted a friend of mine in New York city. Through this friend whom I knew via Orkut (Social Network famous amongst Indians and Brazilians), I came to contact with a software consulting firm in New Jersey run by Indians. This was a very small concern with its offshore centre in Lucknow city and it had very big ambitions. They asked me to work on a pre sales brochure for their business intelligence service. Please note that at this point I was a Business Intelligence analyst working on Business Objects XI (now SAP BOXI). They were obviously impressed with my work and they offered me a job in New Jersey as a BI Analyst. They decided to apply for my H1B petition on April 1, 2007. The petition was send out on time. One needs to remember, that unlike now, the situation in 2007 in US was different. The economy was booming and the job market was active. In that year more than 100,000 petitions were filed for the quota of 65,000 H1B temporary workers. Therefore, there was a lottery program. As fate may have it, I did not get selected in the lottery program. And thinking of it now it was a blessing in disguise.

You also, have to understand that during the same time, a friend of mine also applied for a H1B visa via a concern that his sister worked for. He also had the same experience as I did at that point in time. His H1B visa was selected, petition was approved and subsequently his stamping went on without any issues in Kolkatta US Embassy.

At this point, in the software services major I was working for, I came across a gem of a manager. He is to date the best manager I have worked for. He gave me opportunities to learn and grow. Under him, and his boss, who was also an excellent leader, I had an opportunity to train myself as a Business Analyst. Subsequently, I was deputed to London and I worked for a major entertainment company. I believe that working for this organization was the best experience I have ever had. I worked for them for a period of almost 2 years. This experience helped me evolve from a fresher into a seasoned professional. The good thing about working here was that I was away from the bad work culture of the Indian software major. Though I had to report from an operational perspective to an annoying and inefficient Indian sales manager. You need to understand that the Indian consultancy manager I reported to was a amazing person and he did a lot of social service and is a role model in that aspect. But he was not a sales material He was a technical delivery material and just like most Indian managers he chose the wrong path. However, I was enjoying working with my client managers and their associates. It thought me about the business, the job, professionalism and leadership. I still believe that my then client CIO is one of the best leaders I have worked under. But, all good things must come to an end. There came a situation, where in my visa to work in the UK was expiring. And since, I did not have an ‘ass-licking’ relationship (if I may term that), with my consultancy managers, they did not want to extend my visa and they wanted me to move out of my client and into another customer. For no apparent reasons, despite having excellent review and feedback from my IT clients and business clients, I was denied a promotion by my Indian manager friends from the consultancy. That is when I decided that as I thank the organization for giving me the opportunity, it was time to move on. It was mid 2009 and I got into discussions with my client. I asked them if they would like to hire me or employ me as a free consultant. Though, at the ground level management the feedback was positive, at the senior level they had to consider the relationship and the clauses signed with my consulting company. Therefore, that idea did not materialize. The reason, why I respect my then client CIO so much is because, unlike the Indian managers from the consultancy I had, this CIO was upfront, straight forward and honest in telling me that he can’t hire me. It was a valid reason and I understood. That is when a sister concern of my client company based out of Austria showed interest in hiring me. This was a legally viable solution. But it is a separate story on how my consultancy played backdoor politics to influence the client leadership team in US to avoid this from happening. Though I do not regret it at all, it only made my perseverance to do something that makes me happy, even stronger. Now the reason I elaborate this part is because, though I resigned from my concern on August 2009, I had been honest to my client to serve a 3 month notice period so that I can train my replacement. The clients were also kind enough to pay for me till the replacement was in place and allow me to continue till my visa expired. Therefore, it was only on December 2011 that I was released from my role. Around November 2009, I had got in touch with the New Jersey based consultants. We need to remember that all these years, I had been in touch with them and maintained my contact and network. We also need to remember that in 2009, the world was affected by recession and US was the most affected. Therefore, in November 2009 when I had a talk with the New Jersey consultants, there were still around 2500 H1B visas left in the yearly quota.

Getting the Business Visa:

But, unfortunately as fate may have it, the day I completed my assignment with the Indian consultancy major, December 22, 2009, the USCIS had declared the quota as closed, sealed and complete. Hence, we decided to apply for the H1B visa in the next quota which was in April 2010. In the mean time I had started taking short term assignments as independent consultant. I had joined a small time consulting firm in Bangalore to work for their major Music Publishing customers. This is when I went for my B1 stamping and got it without any major issues. I had the entire set of document required. I went to Chennai US consulate and the interview was very smooth. It was a two minute affair. I was dressed in my suits and the officer asked me what my purpose of the visit was? I told her that I was applying for the visa in lieu of business visits to the US required for meetings with my customers. She did see that I had multiple other stampings in my passport and she approved my visa immediately. She retained my passport and it was send back to me with the stamping four working days later. This happened in May 2010 and my visa is a b1/B2 visa valid until May 2020.

The H1B Experience:

At this point, my H1B visa was not yet filed. I would like the potential H1B aspirants to note that some consultancies will ask you to bear the fee for filing the h1b visa. You need to note that as per the American law, this is illegal. It is indeed a practice amongst Indian professionals to pay for the fee for H1B processing to these consultancies. This should be avoided and you should not do this unless you completely trust your employers.

Because of reasons, that I do not know or was not made aware of, my H1B visa was only filed on 2010 July 6. My employers got an acknowledgement from the USCIS in a week’s time. They received the approved petition on October 15, 2010. But that is when they noticed a mistake was made in the name of the organization. Therefore, they had sent the petition for an Amendment. The amended petition on what is called as the I797B notice of action was received on December 6, 2010. At this point I was on a contract with Intel in Malaysia. Therefore, I had to wait till I came back to India for getting my stamping.

Reading about the VFS and Stamping Procedure:

I did this as the first step. I recommend you all to read this page, before you start your stamping process.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/Index.html

Paying your H1B visa appointment fee:

My home town is Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. Though I am a Malayalee by birth I have spent all my schooling days in Coimbatore and Ooty in Tamilnadu. We need to understand that in order to book the visa, one needs to make a visa fee payment in the HDFC bank. In south India, this bank has branches that accept visa fee payment only in few cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Vizag, Hyderabad and Cochin. Please find below the list of all the HDFC bank branches. Please note that you should always refer to the latest VFS page for updated details.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/pdf/HDFC%20Locationsfeescenter.pdf

The visa fee was around Rs. 7000/- and there was a bank service charge of Rs. 380. The bank gave me 2 receipts. One was for me and the other had to be submitted in the US embassy. I had made my payment at the HDFC branch in Cochin, Kerala as it was closer to my place. Once you make the payment and they give you the receipt, it takes 48 working hours for the receipt to be activated in the VFS system. I had made my payment on 20 January 2011 (Thusrday). The receipt had become active on 24 Jan 2011 (Monday).

Keeping your photograph ready:

In order to proceed further you need to have a photograph ready. This should not be more than 6 months old. You can see the detailed specification of the photograph here.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/photospecsnew.html

Filling the D160:

Once you have paid the application fee or even before that you are expected to fill the D160 from online. This is like a application request for the visa. You need to realize that this application from session expires every twenty minutes. Therefore, it will be better for you to save the application every few minutes to your system. A detailed description on how to complete the D160 form is present in the below link.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/applicationformDS160.html

I found the below D160 Internet user guide to be very helpful and I would suggest you all to read this.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/pdf/DS160InternetGuide.pdf

The FAQ’s on the D160 form found in the below link is also very useful. Investing your time in going through these forms will help you fill the D160 well in advance. It will also give you an idea of what details you need to fill the D160. Please note that it is best to have all the details on your hand and then to start your application online.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/applds160_faq.html

Once you complete the D-160, please take the print out of a barcode confirmation sheet or please email it to yourself for reference.

Booking your appointment for the visa:

Go to the below link to make an appointment.

https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/visaappointment.html

You need the Barcode number from the HDFC bank receipts and the barcode number from your D160 completion from to make an appointment. I had got my appointment on 11 February at 09:15 AM. The appointment letter had asked me to be present there by 09:00 AM.

Travel and Stay arrangements for the Visa Stamping:

This part is to assist those who want to get their stamping in the US consulate in Chennai. I had booked my stay in a hotel called Crystal Residency. It’s a business class hotel. The minimum rent is Rs, 1600 per day. It is 2 minutes by walk from the US embassy and is located diagonally opposite to the embassy. It is around 4 KMS from the Chennai Central railway station. It will cost you around Rs. 50 by auto. In Chennai, autorickshaws will only try to cheat you and it’s up to you to be careful. Well, I paid Rs. 80 for the trip from airport to this hotel as it was early in the morning. I had reached the hotel at 05:30 AM on 11 February 2011. (11 02 2011 – A palindrome date).

This gave me enough time to prepare for my appointment with the US embassy at 09:00 AM. The other hotels in the location that you can try are listed below for your reference.

http://www.crystalresidency.com/

http://www.ballalgrouphotels.com/index.asp?name=palm

http://www.theparkhotels.com/chennai/the-park-chennai.html

Getting your documents in place:

I am normally someone who wants to be very organized. So, I had done my research and had the list of documents ready. These documents are required for your interview in the embassy. These are classified as must haves, necessary documents and nice to haves.

Must have documents:

§ Form I-797 (approval notice)

§ Passport

§ The original Notice of Action (Form I-797).

Necessary Documents that you may be asked to produce:

Principal Applicant

1. Current & old Passports, original green visa fee receipt issued by HDFC bank, CEAC Bar

code confirmation letter and VFS Interview appointment letter.

2. L1 Blanket Visa applicants are required to pay the $500 as FPD fee via demand draft

amounting to Rs.23500/-(at current rate of exchange) favouring “US Embassy, New Delhi”

or American Consulate General, Chennai or Kolkata or Hyderabad” as applicable. DDs

drawn on co-operative banks are not accepted.

3. Under Public Law 111-230 requires an additional fee of $2,250 for covered L-1A and L-1B petitions and $2, 000 for covered H-1B petitions. This fee is in addition to the base

processing fee and the existing Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee required for a Petition

Nonimmigrant Worker. For more information please visit http://www.uscis.gov/

4. The original Notice of Action (Form I-797).

5. If Form I-797 is a blanket petition, copy of Form I-797 and original Form I-129 as well as an original letter from employer that describes your proposed duties.

6. Original letters verifying your employment history and specific work skills.

7. Original degree certificates along with mark sheets.

8. Relevant diplomas or certificates, e.g. computer certification.

The complete set of documents you need and who will provide them:

EMPLOYER DOCUMENTS

§ The original Notice of Action (Form I-797).

§ Original Form I-129 and recent letter from employer that describes your proposed duties and intention to hire you.

§ Other supporting documents filed with USCIS

§ Employment contract letter signed by the H1B visa sponsor and the employee

§ H1B Sponsor’s Income tax returns of last two years and Financial statements

§ Notarized list of all the H1B Sponsor’s employees at the listed job site with specified information about each employee.

§ H1B sponsor’s State unemployment wage reports for wages paid to employees within the state

§ Prospectus, brochures, and annual report of company

§ Photographs of the inside and outside of our office

§ W-2 forms of all H1 employees of the petitioner

§ List of petitioned employees at the Chennai consulate in the last 2 years (If any).

§ List of petitioned employees in other Indian consulates in the last 2 years (If any).

§ Any known cases of H1/ wage violations? If so, Legal documents pertaining to the case.

§ Letter from employer that describes your proposed duties and intention to hire you. (Employment verification letter)

§ Copy of contract between H1B sponsor and the job site ( the location where you will work)

§ Letter from job site that there is a vacancy for you to work there

§ A detail report on the project that you will work on at client including the technical details, time line, current status, employees assigned, etc

The above 3 points mention the Letter from Client company regarding project and copy of contract between H1B sponsor and client with all the details of time of project, agreement, etc

EMPLOYEE DOCUMENTS

§ Your personal license to practice your profession in America

§ Old passport (if any)

§ Form DS 160 Original

§ Form I-797 (approval notice)

§ Passport

§ Resume covering current duties in detail

§ Originals of all educational transcripts and diplomas

§ Experience letters from previous employers

§ Pay statements for the current calendar year

§ Names/phone numbers of the personnel managers at the applicant's present and past jobs

§ Names and contact information of two co-workers from your current or most recent place of employment

§ Names and contact information of two co-workers from past jobs if you have them

§ Personal bank records for the last six months

§ Personal tax returns for all years

The day of the visa interview:

Step 1:

In front of the embassy, you will need to show your visa interview letter. They will then issue you a token. My number was N450.

Step 2:

You will then pass through a security check.

Step 3:

You will then be asked to wait in a hall till your token is called out. It’s a patient wait and the expected wait time is around 30 minutes on a good day.

Step 4:

Once your token number is called, you can go over to the counter. You will need to submit the following,

1. The green HDFC receipt

2. The passport

3. Your latest photograph as per specifications

4. Your H1B I797b notice of action.

5. Your D160 confirmation letter.

You will then be asked to make a ten-print. That is all the fingers of your hand will be finger printed. If you do not have the latest photograph, you will be asked to go to a photographer in the same hall. He will issue 4 copies of your passport photograph for Rs. 100.

The officer will staple this entire document and put it into a USCIS cover and hand it over to you.

Step 5:

You will then be asked to a separate hall where the interview happens. You will be made to sit until your number is called.

The actual visa interview.

Coincidental as you may call it, I had to face the same lady who had approved my B1 visa in May 2010 and she was sitting in the same counter. I greeted her and she greeted me back. She got all the documents from me that was inside the USCIS cover.

She asked flipped through my passport. She asked me what role I was going to perform in the US and what my salary was. I answered it short and sweet. She then asked me about my project and I explained it and said it was an internal development project. She took a minute to review my petition and then issued a 221 G blue form with a case number.

This form is something that requires you to submit further documents for processing. The documents requested are all employer related documents.

1. A copy of petition with all supporting documents.
2. Copy of employment contract or letter of agreement signed by myself and petitioner.
3. Petitioners Income Tax returns for the last 2 years and financial statements.

4. A notarized list of all the petitioner's employees. The list should show all employees' names, their specific job titles, start and end dates and their individual salaries and immigration status.
5. State unemployment wage reports, showing all wages paid to each employee in the state, for the past 3 quarters as filed to: All States.

6. A detailed and specific description of the internal development project.

I told her that I had these documents with me. However, she mentioned that she will not have enough time to review all these documents and that I should post them at the VFS drop boxes in a city near me. I thanked her and left the place. Though a little bit disappointed, I was seeing the bright side that the visa was not rejected outright.

Next Steps:

I expect to receive the documents from my employers in another couple of weeks. Especially the notarized list and the Unemployment wages report. I will then submit them at the drop box in Cochin.

As per what I read, from the day I submit my documents it may be processed within 15 days or it may take almost 3-4 months to get an update from the USCIS on the stamping status. I now am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best and in the mean time I will be looking forward to my next short term assignment in some other corner of the world J

I will keep you posted on what happens and I wish all the H1B aspirants all the very best with their endeavours.

Request:

1. To all Indians and people from across the world who read this, I believe it is our duty to give back to the society. We have all decided to stay away from India for various reasons including financial reasons. My reasons to stay away from India are nothing but better quality of life in the west, better work culture in the west and peaceful life away from the corrupt and scam ridden Indian republic headed by a weak, useless and inefficient prime minister. However, that does not let me not do my bit to improve India. I believe, India will be a improved and a developed nation only if we get rid of corruption. We can get rid of corruption only by education the poor and down trodden and thereby alleviating poverty. Hence, I request you all to donate as less as 120$ a year towards education of the impoverished in India. You don’t necessarily need to donate it to a society, but at least to a poor person in India you definitely know. 120$ is what you spend on a dinner for a day with all your friends. And please remember that this amount can make a huge difference to a child’s life. If you want to help and don’t know how to do it, please visit us at

www.aramtrust.org.

Every little helps!

2. Where ever you are kindly try to cast your vote in Indian elections. Please vote against the corrupt in India. We can definitely do that little bit to save our country from money hoarders and corrupt bastards.

I hope this has helped you all and I hope you at least enjoyed reading my H1B experience. I wish you all the very best. Please do stay connected to me on our powerful social networks.

ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் - மக்களுக்கு "வடை" போனது எப்படி?

2011-02-13T04:22:00.000Z

Article by - Sivakumar. M

நண்பர்களே!!!

தேசிய அவமானமான ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் பற்றி நாம் அறிவோம், அதில் ஒண்ணேமுக்கால் லட்சம் கோடி ரூபாய் அளவுக்கெல்லாம் ஊழல் செய்யப்படவேயில்லை என்றெல்லாம் மக்களே பேச ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டனர். ராஜா கைது தான் செய்யப்பட்டாரே தவிர குற்றம் நிரூபிக்கப்படவில்லை, அதுவரை நாங்கள் அவரை அரவணைத்துக் காப்போம் என்கிறார் முதல்வர். இது தினம் ஒரு அறிக்கை வரும் தேர்தல் நேரம்,மக்கள் சிந்திக்க வேண்டிய காலம், அப்படி ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் ஊழலில் மெய்யாகவே நடந்தது என்ன ?!!! என்பதை துபாயில் பணிபுரியும் சிவக்குமார் என்னும் பொறியாளர் அருமையாக ஆய்வு செய்து எழுதியுள்ளார், இது இப்போது இமெயிலில் வரத்துவங்கிவிட்டது, இனியேனும் நன்கு படித்தவர்கள் அவசியம் சிரமம் பாராமல் சிந்தித்து வாக்களித்து நாட்டைக்காக்கவேண்டும். அவசியம் இதைப்படித்துவிட்டு ஃபேஸ்புக், ஆர்குட், ட்விட்டர் தளங்களில் ஃபார்வர்டும் செய்யவும்.

மக்கள் அனைவரையும் இலவசங்களை மட்டுமே வாங்க தெரிந்த மாக்கான்கள் என்றே நினைத்து விட்டார் நம் முதல்வர். அதற்காகத்தான் தமிழ்நாட்டில் அனைவரும் குழந்தை பெற்றுகொள்கிறார்கள் என்று சொன்னாலும் ஆச்சரிய படுவதற்கு இல்லை. என்னது ஏழைகள் பயன்படுத்தும் அளவிற்கு குறைந்த விலையில் சேவையை கொண்டுவந்தது ராசாவா? மக்களே உண்மையை புரிந்து கொள்ளுங்கள். இந்த புளுகு மூட்டைகளின் பாவத்திற்கு ஆளாகாதீர்கள். விலை குறைந்ததிற்கான காரணத்தை இங்கு குறிப்பிடுகிறேன்.

1999 ஆண்டில் தான் தொலைதொடர்பு உரிமங்கள் வழங்க ஆரம்பிக்கபட்டது. அன்று வெறும் பணம் படைத்தவர்கள் மட்டுமே கைபேசியை பயன்படுத்தினர். எனவே நுகர்வோரின் எண்ணிக்கை மிக குறைவு. சில பல லட்சங்கள் மட்டுமே. தொழில் நுட்பவளமான 1G அல்லது 2G அலைக்கற்றைகள் மிக அதிக அளவில் அரசிடம் கையிருப்பு இருந்துள்ளது. ஆனால் உரிமம் வாங்க உலக அளவிலோ இந்திய அளவிலோ போட்டிகள் இல்லை. விலை கொடுத்து உரிமம் வாங்கியவர்கள் லாபம் பெற நுகர்வோரிடம் நிமிடத்திற்கு அதிக கட்டணம்(In coming and out going ) வசூல் செய்ய கட்டாயம் ஏற்பட்டது. இதில் கவனிக்க வேண்டிய இன்னொரு விஷயம் என்னவென்றால் நாம் தான் வசதி படைத்தவர்களாயிற்றே என்று இஷ்டத்திற்கு பேசி நேரத்தையோ பணத்தையோ அன்றைய வசதி படைத்தவர்கள் விரயம் செய்யவில்லை. குறைவான நேரத்துக்குதான் கைபேசியை பயன்படுத்தினர்.

நுகர்வோரின் எண்ணிக்கை குறைவாக இருந்ததால்தான் அன்று அலைகற்றை உரிமம் பெற அதிக நிறுவனங்கள் முன்வரவில்லை. இதை சரி செய்ய அன்றைய அரசு ஒரு தொலை தொடர்பு புரட்சியை உருவாக்க முயன்றது. விளைவு நாளுக்கு நாள் நுகர்வோரின் எண்ணிக்கை அதிகமானது. இன்றும் அதிகமாகி கொண்டே இருக்கிறது. 2010 நுகர்வோரின் எண்ணிக்கை சுமார் 60 கோடிக்கும் மேல். 2008 இல் 50 கோடிக்கும் மேல்.

இதற்கும் அதிகமான மக்கள் பயன்படுத்தும் அளவுக்கு போதிய அலைகற்றைகள் அரசிடம் இன்றும் உள்ளனர். ஆனால் பயன்படுத்துவோரின் எண்ணிக்கை வெறும் 60 கோடிதான். 122 தகுதி இல்லாத நிறுவனங்களுக்கு உரிமம் வழங்க பட்டுள்ளது. தகுதி என்றால் என்ன? போதிய அனுபவம், வங்கி காசோலை, வங்கி செக்யூரிட்டி டெபொசிட் அது மட்டும் இல்லை வாங்கியவுடன் குறிப்பிட்ட காலத்திற்குள் சேவையை தொடங்க வேண்டும். இந்த குறிப்பை நினைவில் வைத்து கொள்ளுங்கள். பின்னால் உதவும். டாட்டா, ரிலையன்ஸ் போன்ற பெரிய நிறுவனங்களும் உரிமம் வாங்கியுள்ளனர். இதோடு அந்த 122 தகுதி இல்லாத நிறுவனங்களையும் சேர்த்து கொள்ளுங்கள்.

நியாயக் கணக்கு:

இந்தியாவில் 60 கோடி மக்கள் கைபேசி சேவையை பயன்படுத்துவதாக உண்மை தகவல் உள்ளது. எல்லோருக்கும் தெரியும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன். ஒரு நபர் தனது கைபேசியை ஒரு நாளைக்கு சராசரியாக வெறும் 15 நிமிடங்கள் (LOCAL CALLS ONLY) பயன்படுத்துவதாக வைத்துக்கொள்வோம். ஒரு நிமிடத்திற்கு 40 பைசா கட்டணம்.

அப்போது 15x0.40 =6.0 ரூபாய் ஒரு கைபேசியின் மூலம் செலவாகிறது. 60 கோடி கைபேசிகள். 60x6.0 = 360 கோடிகள் ஒரு நாளைக்கு செலவாகிறது. ஒரு மாதத்திற்கு 30x360 = 10,800 கோடிகள். ஒரு வருடத்திற்கு 12x10,800 = 1,29,600 கோடிகள். 2008 இல் 2G ஏலம் விடப்பட்டது. இன்று வரை இரண்டு வருடங்கள் ஆகிறது. அப்போ து குறைந்தபட்ச வருமானம் இன்றுவரை2,59,200 கோடிகள். இது ஒரு நாளைக்கு வெறும் 15 நிமிடங்கள் கைபேசியை பயன்படுத்தினால் இரண்டு வருடத்திற்கு கிடைத்திருக்கும் வருமானம்.

இதோடு SMS, MMS, STD, ISD, சேவை கட்டணம், இணைப்பு கட்டணம்.......இன்னும் என்ன என்னவோ கட்டணங்கள் உள்ளது என்று சொல்கிறார்கள் மற்றும் 15 நிமிடத்திற்கு அதிகமாக பயன்படுத்துவோரின் செலவையும் சேர்த்தால் எத்தனை கோடி கோடிகள் வருமானமாக கிடைக்கும் என்பதை நீங்களே கணக்கிட்டு கொள்ளுங்கள். என்னால் கணக்கிடவே முடியவில்லை. என்னிடம் உள்ள கால்குலேட்டர் மற்றும் கணினி காண்பிப்பது "INFINITIVE". நான் தற்போது இந்தியாவில் இல்லை. இருந்திருந்தால் அனைத்தையும் அலசி ஆராய்ந்து இதைவிட இன்னும் துல்லியமாக நடந்த ஊழலின் அளவை குறிப்பிட்டு இருப்பேன். இந்த வருமானம் அனைத்தும் அரசுக்கு கிடைத்திருக்க வேண்டும். அது மக்களை சென்று அடைந்து இருக்கவேண்டும். கிடைத்ததா?

மக்களை சென்றடைந்ததா? நிச்சயம் இல்லை என்றுதான் ஒவ்வொரு மக்களும் கூறவேண்டும். அப்படி என்றால் இந்த மக்கள் பணம் சட்டத்திற்கு புறம்பாக யாரிடமோ சென்று அடைந்துள்ளது. இந்த ஊழல் பணம் அடுத்த சில ஆண்டுகளில் தனது சொந்தநாட்டு மக்களையே தாக்கப்போகிறது. விலைவாசி உயரும். பொருளாதாரம் நாசாகும். "Above middle Class" மக்கள் நடுத்தர மக்களாகவும், நடுத்தர மக்கள் ஏழைகளாகவும், ஏழை மக்கள் மேலும் பரம ஏழைகளாகவும் மாறுவார்கள்.

ஜனநாயகம் வேரோடு அழியும். மனிதாபிமானம், மனிதநேயம் மண்ணோடு மண்ணாகும். ரௌடிசம்,குற்றசம்பவங்கள் தலைவிரித்து ஆடும். கடந்த ஐந்தாண்டுகளாக ஆயுள் கைதியாக உள்ள நடுநிலை பத்திரிகைகள் இனி மரண தண்டனை கைதிகளாக மாற்றப்பட்டு தூக்கில் போடப்படும்.

துரோகம்-1: உரிமம் வாங்கிய அனைத்து நிறுவனங்களும் சுமார் 13000 கோடிக்கும் அதிகம் பொறுமானம் உள்ள(உதாரணம் S .TEL நிறுவனம்13000 கோடிக்கு வாங்க முன்வந்தது) அலைகற்றைகள் உரிமத்தை அடிமாட்டு விலைக்கு அதாவது 1200 , 1300 ,1650 கோடிகளுக்கு திட்டமிட்டு விற்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. அரசுக்கு சேரவேண்டிய, மக்களுக்கு சேர வேண்டிய வருவாய் சில சுய நலவாதிகளை சென்றடைந்துள்ளது.

துரோகம்-2: பெரும்பாலான நிறுவனங்கள் தங்கள் உரிமத்தின் பங்குகளை வெளி நாட்டு நிறுவனங்களுக்கு விற்று கொள்ளை லாபம் பார்த்துள்ளனர். இதனால் அரசுக்கு அதாவது பல கோடி மக்களுக்கு கிடைக்க வேண்டிய அரசின் வருவாய் சில சுய நல தனி மனிதர்களை சென்று அடைந்துள்ளது.

துரோகம்-3: தகுதி இல்லாமல் உரிமம் வாங்கிய 122 நிறுவங்களில் பெரும்பாலான நிறுவனங்கள் இன்னும் சேவையை தொடங்கவில்லை. இதில் "swan, Unitech" போன்ற லெட்டர் பேட் நிறுவனங்களும் அடங்கும். இந்த நிறுவனகள் ஏன் இன்னும் சேவையை தொடங்கவில்லை என்று உள்ளூர ஆராய்ந்தால் மிக தெளிவாக புரியும். பெரிய நிறுவனங்கள் போட்டி இல்லாமல் தொலைதொடர்பு துறையில் கொள்ளை லாபம் பார்க்க அதாவது கட்டணம் என்ற பெயரில் மக்களின் உழைப்பை சுரண்ட பெரும்பாலான தகுதி இல்லாத பினாமி லெட்டர் பேட் நிறுவனங்கள் இன்னும் சேவையை தொடங்கவில்லை.

இவைகள் சேவையை தொடங்கி இருந்தால் சந்தையில் போட்டி அதிகமாகி கைபேசியில் பேசும் கட்டணம் இப்போது இருப்பதை விட மேலும் குறைந்திருக்கும். ஒரு வேளை இதற்காகத்தான் திட்டமிட்டு "S.TEL போன்ற போட்டி நிறுவனங்களுக்கு உரிமம் வழங்கவில்லை என்ற சந்தேகம் தெளிவாக எழுகிறது.

துரோகம்-4: MTNL BSNL போன்ற அரசு நிறுவனங்களுக்கு அதிக அளவில் அலைகற்றைகளை ஒதுக்கி போதிய ஆப்பெரடர்களை நியமித்து இருந்தால் கைபேசியில் பேசும் கட்டணம் நிமிடத்திற்கு வெறும் ஒரு பைசாவுக்கு வந்திருக்கும். மக்கள் அரசினால் பயன் அடைந்து இருப்பார்கள்.

துரோகம்-5: தகுதி இல்லாமல் உரிமம் வாங்கிய லெட்டர் பேட் நிறுவனங்கள் தனது பங்குகளை பல வெளி நாட்டு நிறுவனங்களுக்கு விற்றுள்ளனர். அதில் பாகிஸ்தான் போன்ற நாடுகளும் அடங்கும். இந்தியாவின் தொலை தொடர்பு துறையை இந்த நாடுகளும் பயன்படுத்துகின்றனர். இது உள்நட்டு மக்களின் பாதுகாப்புக்கு மிக பெரிய அச்சுறுத்தல்.

துரோகம்-6: நீரா ராடியா தொலைபேசி உரையாடல்கள், CAG ,தொலைதொடர்பு சம்பந்தபட்ட, கைபற்றபட்ட ஆவணங்கள், சம்பந்தபட்ட பிரதமர் அலுவலக கடிதங்கள் புறகணிப்பு, சட்ட,நிதி துறை கடிதங்கள் புறகணிப்பு, TRAI பரிதுரைகள் புறகணிப்பு இப்படி கோடி கணக்கில் ஆதாரங்கள், சாட்சிகள். முதலில் வருபவருக்கே முன்னுரிமை என்று முந்தைய ஆட்சியாளர்கள் வகுத்த அடிப்படை கொள்கை கூட பின்பற்றப்படவில்லை. அதிலும் முறைகேடு.

துரோகம்-7: இவ்வளவு குற்றங்கள் செய்தும் சம்பந்தபட்ட குற்றவாளிகள் செய்த தவறை ஒப்பு கொள்ளாமல் நாங்கள் தவறு செய்யவில்லை என்று மக்களிடம் பொய் பிரச்சாரம் செய்வது மக்களுக்கு இழைக்கப்பட்ட ஏழாவது துரோகம். இதன் உச்சகட்டம்தான் 2G யில் ஊழலும் இல்லை நஷ்டமும் இல்லை என்று மத்திய அமைச்சரின் பத்திரிகை பேட்டி. இந்த உலகத்திலே தான் மட்டும்தான் புத்திசாலி வக்கீல் மற்ற அனைவரும் அடி முட்டாள்கள் என்ற ஆணவ நினைப்பு.

துரோகம்-8: நடந்த அனைத்து தேச துரோகங்களும், குற்றங்களும் பொருளாதார மேதை பிரதமருக்கு தெரிந்தே கண்முன்னே நடந்துள்ளது. இருந்தும் பிரதமர் வாய் மூடி மௌனியாக இருப்பது மக்களுக்கு இழைக்கபடும் மகா மகா துரோகம்.

துரோகம்-9: ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் விவகாரத்தில் முறைகேடாக பெறபட்ட பணங்கள் பெரும்பாலானவை இந்தியாவில் புழக்கத்தில் இல்லாமல் அந்நிய நாடுகளில்,வங்கிகளில் முதலீடு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளதாக தகவல். இந்த பணம் அரசுக்கு வருவாயாக கிடைத்து இருந்தால் ஏராளமான அரசு கல்லூரிகள், பள்ளிகள், பாலங்கள், மருத்துவமனைகள், தொழிற்சாலைகள் என்று உருவாக்கி அனைவருக்கும் கல்வி,வேலைவாய்ப்பு, அடிப்படை வசதிகள் என்று ஏற்படுத்தி ஏழைகளே இல்லாத நாட்டை உருவாக்கி இருக்கலாம். இலவசங்கள் பெறாத மக்களை கண்டிருக்கலாம்.

துரோகம்-10: ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் ஊழல் பணத்தை பயன்படுத்தி தலித் பற்றும் பிற இனத்தை சேர்ந்த ஏழை விவசாய மக்களிடம் மிரட்டி விளை நிலங்களை அடிமாட்டு விலைக்கு வாங்கப்பட்டதாக தகவல். இது மக்களுக்கு இழைக்கபட்ட துரோகம் பத்து. ஒரு முறைகேட்டை செய்து அதையே மூலதனமாக வைத்து இன்னொரு முறைகேடு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஊழல் செய்வதினால் மக்களுக்கு இழைக்கபடும் துன்பங்களுக்கு இதை விட சிறந்த உதாரணம் வேறென்ன வேண்டும். நண்டு கொழுத்தால் வலையில் தங்காது. இதுதான் ஊழலின் விளைவுகள். இவர்கள் ரத்தம் குடிக்கும் கொசுக்கள் மாதிரி. நம்மிடம் உள்ள ரத்தத்தை உறிஞ்சுவதோடு மட்டும் இல்லை அதோடு சேர்த்து நோய் கிருமிகளையும் நமது ரத்தத்தில் விட்டு செல்கின்றனர்.

இப்படி 2G ஊழலில் மக்களுக்கு இழைக்கபட்ட துரோகங்கள் எண்ணில் அடங்காதது. இந்த ஊழலின் தாக்கம் இதோடு நிற்காது. மக்களைத்தான் சுத்தி சுத்தி அடிக்கும். எப்படி? ஊழல் பணத்தை வைத்து ஏழைகளின் நிலங்கள் அடிமாட்டு விலைக்கு வாங்கப்பட்டு அதை பிளாட் போட்டு அதே மக்களிடம் அதிக விலை வைத்து விற்கப்படுகிறது.

ஒரு ஏக்கரை குறைந்த விலைக்கு விற்ற மக்கள் அந்த பணத்தை வைத்து அதே இடத்தில் அதாவது முந்தைய சொந்த இடத்தில ஒரு கிரௌண்ட் நிலம் கூட வாங்க முடியவில்லை. இதுதான் ஊழலின் விளைவு. இப்போது புரிந்து இருக்கும் ஏழைகள் எப்படி உருவாகிறார்கள் என்று. இது மட்டும் இல்லை ஊழல் பணத்தை வைத்து அனைத்து இடங்களையும் வளைத்து போட்டு ரியல் எஸ்டேட் நடத்தும் அனைத்து அரசியல்வாதிகளும் இப்படி ஊழல் பணத்தில்தான் செய்கின்றனர்.

அவர்கள் சொல்வதுதான் விலை. விலைவாசி உயர்வது இயற்கை அல்ல. அனைத்தும் மிக மிக செயற்கையே. இயற்கை என்று ஆளும் கட்சியினர் கூறுவது தவறு. உண்மையை மூடி மறைக்கும் செயல். இது ரியல் எஸ்டேட் மட்டும் இல்லை. அனைத்து பொருள்களுக்கும் பொருந்தும். குறைந்த விகிதத்தில் உள்ள பணக்காரர்கள் மேலும் பணக்காரர்கள் ஆவார்கள். அதிக விகித்தில் உள்ள நடுத்தர மக்கள், ஏழைகள் மேலும் ஏழைகளாக ஆவார்கள். இந்த ஏழை, பணக்காரன் இடை வெளியை குறைக்கத்தான் அரசாங்கம் ஒன்றை மக்கள் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கிறார்கள்.

இன்று ஆளும் வர்க்கத்தினரே அதற்கு முழு முதல் காரணமாக திகழ்கிறார்கள். சொல்லபோனால் அரசின் கடமைகளை அரசியல்வாதிகளும் மறந்துவிட்டனர். இவர்களை தேர்ந்தெடுக்கும் மக்களும் தங்கள் கடமைகளை மறந்து இலவசத்துக்கு பின் செல்கின்றனர். இலவசம் வாங்கும் மக்களே ஒன்றை நன்றாக தெரிந்து கொள்ளுங்கள்.

உங்கள் உழைப்பு என்னும் மூலதனத்தை மறந்து இலவசம் வாங்குவதால் எத்தனை தலைமுறைகள் கடந்தாலும் நீங்கள் ஏழைகளாகத்தான் இருக்க முடியும். உங்கள் வாழ்கை தரமும் உயரபோவதில்லை. இலவசம் கொடுக்க தேவையான வரிபணத்தை செலுத்தும் உழைக்கும் மக்களின் வாழ்கை தரமும் உயரபோவதில்லை. இது நிச்சயம். மாற்றம் ஒன்றே மாறாதது. இலவசம் மாறவில்லை என்றால் உங்கள் வாழ்கை தரமும் மாறபோவதில்லை.

எனது நோக்கமே இந்த 2G உலக மகா ஊழலால் மக்கள் எவ்வாறு வஞ்சிக்கபட்டார்கள் என்பதை ஒவ்வொரு இந்திய குடிமகனும் பத்திரிகை நிறுவனங்களில் பணிபுரியும் நண்பர்கள் உள்பட அனைவரும் தெரிந்து கொள்ளவேண்டும் என்பதுதான். எனவே தெரிந்துகொள்ளுங்கள், புரிந்துகொள்ளுங்கள். ஒவ்வொரு ஏழை மக்களுக்கும் தெரியபடுத்துங்கள். ரோட்டில் இறங்கிதான் போராடவேண்டும் என்று இல்லை.கொடி பிடிக்க அவசியமும் இல்லை. e -mail, FAX , Facebook , orkut என்று எவ்வளவோ தொழில் நுட்ப வசதி உள்ளது. தங்களுக்கு உகந்த ஏதேனும் ஒன்றை தேர்வு செய்து தங்களின் அன்றாட வேலைகள் பாதிக்காத வகையில் சுலபமாக இதை செய்யமுடியும். செய்வீர்கள் என்று நினைக்கிறேன். நன்றி.

Process Improvement Plan submitted to the RTO, Coimbatore South

2011-01-28T10:10:00.000Z

As you all know I visited the Regional Transport Office in Coimbatore to get my International Driving License yesterday. I was so pissed off with the lack of customer care and corruption on the ground that I decided to be a good citizen and I registered an official protest with the Regional Transport Office, Coimbatore South. The officer was a kind man. He not only heard my grievances but also asked me suggestions on how to improve the process.

He was also kind enough to explain his limitations as a government employee. Given that I am a business analyst and my job is to propose solutions for difficult business process issues, I decided to help him out. We had a one hour meeting. After understanding his requirements, I explain him a proposed process improvement plan. I have submitted the same to him today. I hope he reads through this simple process improvement plan and implements at least few of the easy to implement steps.

Well, I think this is mostly what I can to do to help the Government officials in India.

You can download the process improvement plan in the below location.
Process Improvement Plan submitted to RTO Coimbatore

I have also given the file below for you to read. Further suggestions to improve this process are welcome.

An open letter to the Prime Minister and future Prime Minister of India.

2011-01-27T13:24:00.000Z

Dear Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Rahul Gandhi,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. Being a common man and having worked as a Business Analyst, I know how difficult and stressful it can get managing a small team of 2 people. I can therefore only imagine how much stress and pressure there must be on you since you have to manage a country of a billion people. As I write this letter, I pray the almighty to give you a long life and plenty of health.

I wanted to write this letter to you, not at the hope that you will read and respond, but with sincere hope that I will make my voice heard to people who can bring about a change in the country I love so much. I only hope that this letter reaches you and is not withheld in the corridors and files of India’s inefficient and ineffective bureaucracy. There is often a complaint that smart Indian youth prefer to immigrate to western countries and do not serve India. I wanted to write to you to explain why they do so, to tell you what is forcing a staunch nationalist such as myself to do the same and what you should do to stop the so called brain drain.

First of all, it would only be apt for me to introduce myself. Before you know about my concerns it will help you to understand my background, where I come from and why I really take the time off my schedule to write this letter to you. My name is Vijay. I am 26 years old. I am an Engineering Graduate with a university gold medal in Information Technology. I belong to the growing category of upper middle class Indians, thanks to the advent of comparatively high income, moronic IT jobs that the Indian IT industry offers. My parents were not rich and affluent by birth. I did not have a silver spoon in my mouth when I was born like Mr. Rahul Gandhi was fortunate to have. My grandparents were very poor and they belonged to Kerala. My mom and dad had to struggle very hard in their early life. Thanks to their good luck and the good work of the leaders of the 50’s and 60’s, they found jobs with the Government of Tamilnadu and Government of India respectively. With their hard work, they educated me and my younger brother. I was fortunate enough to have smart brains and I did well in my academics. Albeit, like every other Indian kid, I did not understand what I was learning – but I ended up completing my high school with flying colours. The trend continued in my higher secondary as well. I had a centum in Maths and Chemistry (both of which I do not use today) and ended up receiving government scholarship to study information technology. I did my engineering from Government College of Technology, Anna University, Coimbatore at a government subsidised cost. Therefore, it would not be far off the mark, if I say that I owe my degree to the government of India and the tax payers of this culturally rich and historically great nation.

After I completed my degree with a University Gold Medal, I joined Tata Consultancy Services as a Business Analyst. I worked for a year in Mumbai. Subsequently I had an opportunity to travel and work in UK, Europe, Malaysia for major corporations. I also make it a point to spend 10% if my net income in Charity and I have been doing it for the last 3 years. All the money I spend on charity is spend in India. During this period, I have also been fortunate enough to travel to 14 different countries. Therefore, I believe I have a credential to consider myself a travelled, educated and informed youth in this country. Things were all fine, until I started travelling. Only after I saw the facilities the people of other countries enjoyed, did I realize that the Indian citizens are being deprived of their basic needs. Therefore, with the hope that you have an idea of the person writing you this letter, the rest of the email something that I want to ask to you to your face. Since it is not always easy for you to spare time for a face to face meeting, I am writing this open letter. I have made this an open letter, because, I want at least my friends to read this and also to channelize their thoughts on what they want to do with this country of theirs. I can only hope that this will at least make you think on how to make a change in the way our very own country is managed (or mismanaged).

I am actually in a fix over my decision to migrate out of India. When I left UK and came back to India almost 13 months ago, I came back with a conviction that I will want to marry a pretty Indian girl that I loved and I was even considering starting a family in India. But, in the last 13 months things have changed. Not only because I have been offered challenging job with a good salary, but also because of my personal experiences in India in the last few months. Now, I am almost again hoping to immigrate out of India into another western country. Getting a work visa to work in that country is a very difficult thing, but I am more than happy to go through all the pains of relocation and immigration, because I think now that it will be much better for me as an individual and for my would be family.

I write this on behalf of millions and millions of Indian youth like myself who wants to immigrate out of India. And please be aware that these are the creame–de-la- creame of the Indian society who are dumping India for the riches they get from other countries. When I say riches, please do not consider it as just money. It has many more things included.

Let me focus on my reasons as to why I want to leave this country and settle down abroad. Every time I am in India, I have the best of the personal fortune. I have a very comfortable home which I may not be able to afford anywhere outside India. I have all that is needed to make my personal life comfortable. But, the moment I step out of home – into the social environment, it pushes me away from my mother land. Whilst, I am very proud to call myself an Indian and I talk highly about Indian history to my numerous friends abroad, I must also confess that every minute I spend in my home country makes me wanting to leave the country as soon as possible.

The road facilities are the worst in any developing nation. I am almost always scared that I will get killed in a road accident when I travel in India. The social cleanliness is absolutely pathetic. India can never, ever be called a clean country. Please do not put the blame on the population or the people. The government has to take strict measures to improve the sanitation facilities in India. When I see a 4 year old child having to excrete his manual wastes on the road side – I will not blame the uneducated Indian for the problem, but the government that has been in power for most of the last 63 years of Independence. I am sure you know how Lee Kuan Yew converted Singapore to what it is today.

The next thing that often troubles me is the amount of pollution that exists in our country. When I am out of India, I am almost always healthy. But the moment I step foot into India, I am worried about mosquito bites, I need to be worried about dirty drinking water and invariably I fall ill in my first week back home.

When I need to get any documentation or any work done by the government or related offices, I always notice that all the government offices lack customer care and are extremely inefficient. Not to say that without having to shell money as a bribe, I will not be able to get anything done.

Every time, I use the public transport, I am afraid that I will be hit communicable skin diseases, because of the pathetic state of sanitation in my country. The work culture and the work laws in my country are so spoiled that even the educated Indians working in IT sector are treated as mere donkey labour. We are only treated as mere low cost service providers. And all this not by the foreigners, but by the materialistic and money minded Indian corporate bosses.

The hospitals and the medical system in the country have turned out to be a money churning business. I do not see many doctors around me who want to serve the society. I am afraid to take any medicines bought in an Indian shop, because I am afraid of the counterfeits that are so common in India. I am scared to even get myself treated by Indian doctors because I am afraid of their efficiency.

Every time I go to a petrol station to fill my gas, I end up having to doubt their measures. No, all this doubting and scare is not my mental state of mind. When I am outside India, I can walk into any store and be sure that I am not cheated. But, whilst I am in India, I always need to be on my heels to ensure that I am not cheated.

Apart from parents and my family and friend, I do not have any reason why I should stay back in this failed state. And when I think of what makes this nation what it is today, I invariably end up with one answer. – CORRUPTION.

Yes, Mr. Prime Minister- I apologize in advance, but I must call that this state ruled by you and your group of corrupt ministers is nothing but a failed state. And what you celebrated on the 26^th of January 2011 is the republic day of our great banana republic.

Every where I go, to every nook and corner I go in India – corruption is evident. People have come to accept the fact that there is always a hidden tax in every service we get. It is called the Corruption tax. And your government is considered as the most corrupt government in the history of independent India. You are considered to be a weak, spineless and a inefficient prime minister this country has ever seen. You are unable to control corruption amongst your own cabinet colleagues. You allow nearly $40 billion of Indian money to be laundered by one single member of your cabinet. You do not want to be honest with the nation on the issue of black money. You do not want to be honest with this nation and take actions against income tax evaders. You show no interest in all the directions of the Supreme Court. In my living memory, I have not seen any other government being criticized so much by the honourable Supreme Court of India.

You are so inefficient that you do not have the capability to make even the parliament of India function in a normal way. When I am the elder person in my family and if I know that my family is going to get into severe trouble, even if it is not warranted for, I give in to the requests from my family members. But, I do not understand, why you do not want to order for a JPC probe Raja’s corruption issue? Unless you wanted to protect someone and had an intention of safeguarding the interests of the criminals, what do you have to lose by ordering a JPC?

And I do not see any corrupt getting punished in this country under your rule. Almost 99% of the corrupt officers go scot free. The man who shamed India by running an inefficient CWG is still out in the streets. India’s biggest tax invader is having a free run in Pune and is betting on horses. What is your government doing to change all this?

On the contrary, your government is seen to be assisting and rewarding the corrupt. The CVC of India is a supposedly corrupt man. Even if he is not corrupt, why are you hell bent and insistent on appointing a man with a pending case against him as the head of India’s anti corruption unit? Is it not strange that it was during this man’s tenure as the secretary of the Telecom Ministry that India has seen its single largest scam?

I believe that if your rule and government (or that of BJP, who are inefficient to act against their corrupt chief minister in Karnataka) continues, India will continue to remain a poor country.

When I know that I can give my family a happy, comfortable life in a place where my skill and talent is respected, why would I want to stay in this failed state? Can you tell me one reason why I must not sell my brains to the foreigners? Can you give me one compelling reason why I should not move out of this country for good?

Please do not tell me that, youngsters like me should come in and change the country. Do you really think that I can enter into politics in the current scenario? Without having millions of dollars to back me, not even your party will make me contest in an election. The moment someone invests money to get a post, he/she will never want to server people. Politics has become a business in India. And your government that encourages corruption will only make things worse.

I do not expect a reply from either of you for this letter. But, my conscience often questions my loyalty to mother India. And this letter is not only to let you know why millions of Indians like me prefer to leave India, but also to convince my conscience that next generation of my family does not deserve to live in this failed and corrupt banana republic headed by spineless and corrupt politicians.

Thank you,

Vijay Vasu.

http://about.me/vijay.vasu.nair

Truth about the famous Sabari Mala Magara Jyothi.

2011-01-14T13:22:00.000Z

As I wish all my fellow Indians a very happy harvest festival (Pongal in Tamlnadu, Magara Jyothi in Kerala and Shankaranthi in rest of India), I also wanted to point to you all those who are not aware, the truth about Magara Jyothi.

To know what is Magara Jyothi, please read this article from Wikipedia.:

Wikipedia's explanation on Magara Jyothi.

Makara Jyothi is a beacon that appears at dusk on the day of Makara Sankaranthi (14 January) on the Kantamala hills facing (north-eastern side) the Sabarimala temple, a popular Hindu pilgrim center in Kerala, India. It is widely believed by the devotees (especially those coming from outside the state of Kerala) that this Jyothi appears miraculously at Ponnambalamedu (believed to be the abode of Swami Ayyappan, the presiding deity of Sabarimala temple) and is the celestial manifestation of the god Ayyappan himself. Some others believe that the Jyothi is the Arati performed by the rishis and devas residing in the Kantamala hills. The Makara Jyothi marks the climax of the Makaravilakku season of Sabarimala pilgrimage lasting 41 days.

The Truth

Makara Jyothi in fact is a clandestinely made artificial fire (created by burning a large quantity of camphor cubes kept in a silver platter)lit by the officials of Kerala Forest Department, Kerala State Electricity Board, the authorities of Sabarimala temple and the Travancore Devaswam Board in connivance with the Police Department of Kerala State and the Government of Kerala.

Ponnambalamedu where the camphor-fire is lighted is situated on the hills facing the Sabarimala temple and is in the control of the Forest Department of Kerala State. On the evening of the Makara Sankaranthi day, the officials of the above referred departments assemble at Ponnambalamedu and enact a Puja. After the Srikovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the Sabarimala temple is opened at around 6.30 PM, a message is sent from Sabarimala to those performing the puja at Ponnambalamedu. (In 1981 when the activists of Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham witnessed the event, the message was sent by flashing a search light from Sabarimala; they must now be using a more advanced means of communication such as a mobile phone). Soon those stationed at Ponnambalamedu light the campher kept in the platter and lift it three times. (In 1981, the camphor was lit by one V.R.Gopinathan Nair, a driver with Kerala State Electricity Board).It is this flame that appears to the devotees as the divine Makara Jyothi. Since the Sabarimala temple itself is situtated on yet another hill opposite Ponnambalamedu and about hundreds feet beneath it, to a person witnessing the jyothi from the surroundings of the Sabarimala temple, it appears as celestial and miraculous. And, every effort is made by the authorities of Sabarimala temple and the Government of Kerala to perpetuate the belief that the Jyothi is indeed miraculous.

Here is a video of the Magara Jyothi festival:

Here is a video in Malayalam that explains the truth:

Note: I am not writing this hurt any Hindu sentiments. I would like to still say that I believe in Hinduism and the spiritual ways the Hindu way of living suggests to achieve happiness in human life. I do not believe in single or multiple forms of God. I believe in Universe and science and believe that god exists in every human being. I believe love and kindness are the most powerful tools in the world and I truly believe that Love is god. I wanted to share this with all so that we have a scientific explanation for what happens.

I still believe that seeing the beautiful statue of Lord Ayyappa on the hills of Sabarimala is one of the most divine and peaceful experiences I have had in my life. I have see it 10 times. Its not about religion. Its about divine love for abstraction, belief and art.

Having said all this, my only angst at today's Hindu religion is its lack of willingness to educate the people about the truth behind miracles. They want people to be dumb and follow the gurus blindly. I hope education changes that and people develop their true understanding of Hindu way of life to attain happiness.

I wish you a very happy Harvest festival.

இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்.!

A Tale of Two Cabbies! (Part I)

2011-01-09T15:34:00.001Z

If it’s not happy, it’s not the end!

I hope all my readers have been keeping well. I wish you all a happy new year. It has been some time since I wrote last. Now that, I am back at home and not working (yeah... not working again.... :-p), I have loads of time with me to write again :-)

On all my travels so far, all of which have been exciting, I have been fortunate to meet some interesting people. From scholarly people to totally crazy people, I have met them all. What always baffles me is how total strangers confide in me, within few minutes of getting acquainted with them. I don’t what is it that I have, but I think I have been a good listener and that is why people like telling me their stories. Today, I will be writing for you the story of two cabbies. The two people are from two different corners of the world. I have met them under similar circumstances. The meeting with both these cab drivers took place when I was leaving my resident town and heading back home for good. Both their stories were stories that give one hope, courage and belief. It was heartening to see them opening up to me and I am always glad that they feel more emotionally stable after they tell their stories to me. In both these stories, you see how people fight against an unfair life and how they successfully come out with flying colours. And in both these stories you will see that they are still incomplete but there is hope that it will all be fine in the end.

The first story is based out of London. The name of the person is Eric Ritchie and he is of Caribbean origin hailing from Jamaica. He has been living in London for more than 50 years now. He was barely 18 when he first landed in the then white man’s country. I met him briefly, when he helped me travel from my home in Willesden Green (Dollis Hill to be more precise) to the Heathrow Airport. I was on my trip to Italy and it was winter 2008. The next time I met him was again when he dropped me from my home to the Heathrow airport. This was in September 2009, when I was going through a tough time both emotionally and professionally. I was heading back home to India for a short vacation of 15 days. The last time met him was in December 2009. And this is when he left a lasting impression on me with his amazing story. If I ever had any doubt as to what will happen with my life after a hard few months, I think I became absolutely certain about it after I heard this man’s story. His story is something that helps me motivate myself even today and I tell this to all people who I think need motivation.

Eric, the hero of our first story, landed in England at a time when as he says in difference towards dark skinned people was at its peak. He remembers going into restaurants and bars only to come back seeing the board sign that read ‘Dogs, Irish and Blacks are not allowed’. He also recollected to me the days when he had to always carry a knife with him just so that he can protect himself from the attacks of locals. It was a chilling story of how he got a scar in his face after an altercation with the local racist thugs. Despite all the difficulties a man can imagine, Eric continued to live according to him what he thought was a cursed half life. He did not have a proper job. He could not go back home to Jamaica as the economy there was very weak. He had to make money for his family back in Jamaica. Whatever little he made he had to send it back home. He did not find a proper place to stay. He was not welcome in the society. He always had to live with a fear for his life. No wonder at that point he thought he had a cursed life. He was totally confused as to why these things happen to him. He was not able to connect the dots.

But, that is when the story began. He met this beautiful African girl in a local church. Of course, he did fall for her. But she was not for easy taking. Eric, though a man struggling to make ends meet had his way with the girls. He had a few girl friends before he met this wonderful woman. But none of them had made any impact on his life. But the moment he met this girl, he knew that he wanted to live with her for the rest of his life. Little did he know then that this girl was suffering from a rare form of breast cancer. A form of breast cancer that needs continuous treatment to keep her alive. She was struggling to make ends meet too. After lot of days, failing to understand why this girl was not interested in him, Eric finally found out about her cancer. And what he did after that was to me the greatest decision he has taken in his life. He proposed to her. They got engaged and later married. He was now working harder than ever before driving trucks across the English Channel to make money. His hard work combined with improving economy after the Second World War helped his cause. He and his wife were blessed with 2 daughters and a son. He worked almost 20 hours a day to feed his family back in Jamaica, feed his family here in London, to educate his children, to continue his wife’s cancer treatment. After 40 years of hard work, he had managed to educate all his children. They were now well off and were settled on their own. He was living a happy life with his wife. He had managed to buy a home in Yorkshire. His son had become a leading advocate. His life seemed to get better and things seem to fall in place. Little did he know then that fate will strike him again. I should remind you here that throughout all these years of struggle he had loved his children more than anything else in this world. Perhaps as much as he loved his wife. He especially had a special love for his son. His son was the first person in the world to make him feel like a responsible individual and want to work harder than ever before.

Such was his love for his son that he would work 12 hours a day for his family and whatever he earned in the remaining 8 hours of his working day he spent on his son. He was now well settled. However, he did not give up driving his car. That was because, he wanted to tell himself that it was his hard work that had helped him grow to what he was today. Also because of all that long hours of hard work, he was unable to sit idle at his new found comfort home. Hence, he does engage with customers and he drives them now and then. I was one of the fortunate few whom he had to drive because one of his drivers was unable to make it to pick me up at the planned time. I consider that to be my fortune.

One fine day, Eric woke up to the most shocking news he had ever heard. The son whom he had loved all his life had died in an accident. His son was unmarried and Eric never really understood the reason why his son did not find a girl of his dreams. However, the news that his son had died shocked him to no end. He was unable to talk. His heard was filled with misery. His son was only 40 years old and had half his life ahead of him.

For a moment, he thought that god was being cruel is all possible ways to him. He started cursing god. When he thought life in earth was begging to turn to heaven, he got a rude awakening that life is not easy. His son had died and all of a sudden life seemed to be cursed again.

It was the day of his son’s funeral. He was so filled with sadness that he was not able to stay inside the church. He had to cry out loud. He could not hear the recollection of all the people who had known his son. He was feeling as if his heart would burst in pain. He had to get some fresh air. So the man came out of his church. He held on to a tree in front of the church. He leant on it. He was trying to remember the days when he had played with his young son under the same tree. His heart was bulging with sadness and pain. He thought he had lost everything in his world.

Just then, a car came and stood in front of the church. A 30’s something lady got down from the car. She was followed by a young man in his early 20’s. Eric was shocked again. For a moment the handsome looking young man appeared to his eyes just like his dead son. He could not believe his eyes. He thought it was a dream. And at the same moment, he had a pain in his arms and chest and he fainted under the tree in front of the church.

People around him were shocked. He was rushed to the hospital. He was admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). He was unconscious for a couple of days. When he woke up again, he saw that young man again. He felt the young man’s arms holding his arms. He thought that his son had come back from death. And that is when a lot of unanswered questions in his life were answered. His son was 18 when he had gone to Jamaica to meet Eric’s parents. At that time, he had fallen in love with a girl. But he wanted to focus on his career and studies and hence decided not to stay back in Jamaica. He came back to London. But he had not known that his short lived relationship in Jamaica had a everlasting identity in this world. Yes, he had a son. The Jamaican girl had not informed him about their son as she wanted him to focus completely on his studies. Eric now also understood that his son did not marry any other girl because he was still in love with the girl he met in Jamaica. Now the handsome young man that was standing in front of Eric was none other than his own grandson. Eric was once again a happy man. He once again thought that life was beautiful. What more, Eric’s grandson is also studying to be a lawyer and represents Jamaica in the Olympics. He was so happy after this incident that he realized that everything that happens has a reason for it to happen.

Things may seem to be crazy when it happens. Things may seem miserable when noting seems to happen around you. But, Eric realized that everything that happens- happens for a reason. And when he narrated this to me, I was confident than ever before. I had always doubted if I was making the right decision by leaving London. London had people who had changed my life upside down. But listening to what Eric had to say, I knew then that all that happens - happens for the greater good!

I hope you enjoyed reading the story of Eric. Would you like to read the story of one more cab driver I met in Malaysia? Wait for it. Part 2 will be published tomorrow.. Both these stories taught me one thing.

If it’s not happy, it’s not the end!

The story of my favorite teacher!

2010-12-15T05:46:00.000Z

Last evening, I heard a very bad news. I came to know that one of my mathematics professor had died 14 months ago. I had actually met him during my 2009 September visit to India. He was very healthy and he wished me all the best. It was shocking to know that he had died a few days later. It was sad and a shame that I did not know about it till now. He was very famous in my home town of Coimbatore for his coaching classes in Mathematics. His principle was simple. He wanted everyone to believe that with practice one can become perfect. And trust me, it works.

I met him first when I was sixteen years old. In the cut throat competitive school life in India, it was necessary to have these coaching classes to ensure that a student secures marks good enough to get him or her entry into a professional degree. I was no different. I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Mathematics was in no way related to psychiatry but just like every Indian parent, my dada wanted me to have a back up. In case, I don’t get a seat in a medical college, I should be in a good position to get into Engineering. You may wonder. But in middle class India a kid from an upper middle class family did not have much say in what he wants to do or what he really likes. Your parents decide it all for you. From selecting which school you study, to what dresses you wear, to what food you eat and to which girl you marry, in India it’s all charted out J And when you become a parent you do the same thing to your child. I was no exception as a teenager.

So, in order for me to ensure good marks in Mathematics, I was subscribed to this coaching class run by my late professor. He along with my other Mathematics master Mr. Dharmarajan thought me two essential principles in life. Never give up and hard work will always bring you success. As I started studying with both these I slowly lost my interest in Biology and developed a keen interest in Mathematics. I understood that I love doing puzzles and dealing with numbers. Also, I realized that I was not a complete mathematician but I was a perfect fit to be into computers. These were the people who architected the Vijay of today. If it wasn’t for them, I would not have been into Information technology and I would not have traveled the world as I do now, enjoying every bit of it. I probably would have been a dentist in Coimbatore. Yes, after the exams, I did not manage to secure a seat to a medical college and I had only managed to secure seat for Dentistry and Engineering. And there I made a choice; I choose to study Information Technology. Thank to my late mathematics professor and Mr. Dharmarajan, my school master.

I still vividly remember how I became my professors’ favorite student. I was another normal student who was just intelligent, but not the outstanding type. My professor had the habit of conducting sharp tests on a surprise basis for the entire batch of around 400 students who studied with him. These were supposed to be the brightest students in my city from various schools. Every year, he uses these test results to determine his prediction for students whom he thinks will secure top ranks in the state level examinations. Now, I had a friend called Pamela from my school. She studied with me at the same school and also she was a part of the coaching classes. I was not the sexy, funny, rocky type in my school. Not the type you know me to be now. J I was the nerdy, queer and freaky type. So, when she somehow managed to get a copy of the question paper for the surprised test, she bought them to me. The deal was simple. I answer the questions for her in advance and she will use only enough answers from my list so that she can pass her test and avoid getting a verbal thrash. J In return, I could do my tests better. And of course, I found out answers to all the difficult questions. The test went on and the results came out. And n prizes to guess who got the top marks. J Since then, I became his favorite student. But, it also meant that I had to work extra hard to always live up to his expectations. Not always was it possible to get a question paper before the class tests. J It was true that I was suck up in school and in university and virtually ended up being almost all my professor’s favorite student. But, this person was always the special man who taught me valuable lessons in life that helps me even today and I am sure this will help for ages to come.

It shocks me today to know that he is no more alive. However, I am sure that his legacy will go on in the city of Coimbatore. I have never told him how I became his favorite student. I want to place this story as my dedication to this great man who has always inspired me. He may not be alive to read it, but he will always know that he was the most favorite teacher to his most favorite student.

Long live your memories Mr. Karuppuswamy.!

PS: It’s a shame that I do not have his photo with me. L

The Story of My Future - A Super Natural Experience (PART II)

2010-12-11T14:32:00.001Z

Please read part 1 of the story before you continue with this part. Part 1 can be found here:

The Story of My Future - A Super Natural Experience (PART I)

What do the palm leaf manuscripts tell about my future?

If you have read the first part of the story, you will realize that I was very excited to know what the future holds for me. Although, I did not want to believe it to be true, I was still excited. It’s like the excitement of a little kid who wants to play a new video game. He may or may not like it, but he is very excited to explore what is in store.

What you are going to listen below is the Nadi Astrologer reading the palm leaf manuscript written in ancient Tamil for me and translating it into Tamil that I understand. If you understand Tamil you are welcome to listen to the audio stream. For those who do not understand Tamil, I am translating the scripts into English. What I also venture to do, is to factually corroborate the statements made about my past.

We will listen to the tapes in 2 parts. The first part covers about my past, how this particular manuscript, identifies me as the right person, general future and career. The second part deals with my marriage, kids, grand children health and well being.

I do not know if I am allowed to share my future with the world. I do not know if all this will become false if it is shared with others. But, what I venture to do, apart from capturing my experience is to record these observations. And over a period of time, when I become old, I will know if all these observations are true.

You will need an audio stream to listen to the tapes. However, if you do not have audio streaming capabilities in your browser, you can download the tapes in the following location. Please note that whatever the Nadi Astrologer quotes, I have marked it in blue. Whatever my observations are, I have marked them in green.

Part 1: Download Part 1 of the Prophecy. (General Predictions)

Part 2: Download Part 2 of the Prophecy. (Predictions on married life, kids and grand children)

General Predictions:
Please wait for a few seconds before the audio streaming starts...

Nadi Astrologer: This is a recording of Mr. Vijay’s predicted future based on the palm leaf manuscripts written centuries ago. The recording was created on 21 September 2009. Our address for reference is Agathiyar Naadi Jyothida Nilayam, Astrologer Mr. S K Kumar, No. 61, Thiruvarur Main Road, Perur, Coimbatore 641010. Contact Number: (+91) 98422 40407.

The astrologer goes on to read an ancient Tamil phrase mean to praise the lord.

Nadi Astrologer: Praising the greatness of almighty, the ancient guru Agathiyar commences this description of the listener’s future. This entire astrological prediction covers the life and times of the listener in general. In order to establish that the listener is the intended person for whom this prediction was written several thousand years ago, Agathiyar puts forward certain evidence to substantiate his predictions. They are,

1. Based on the thumb print taken from the right hand of the listener, it is concluded that he has ‘Meda Rekha’ with 2 spirals and 3 interconnected points of references. Of these 3 points of references, 2 points are supposed to bring good results to the holder of this natal chart and 1 point is supposed to bring bad effects. Because of this, the listener will have a happy and a great life with a good wife, kids, nice job and with all the wealth he ever needs. However, because of the influence of the bad point of reference, he will face difficulties and delays in obtaining what he wants.

2. This person, because of his natal charts, will be born in a Brahmin or an Aristocratic family.

Fact: My family belongs to the clan of Nairs in ancient India. They are warriors and rulers of ancient Kerala and therefore the lineage is considered to be Aristocratic. There is also factual evidence that my mother’s lineage is Brahmin.

3. This person would have born on planet earth on a fine Saturday, the 27^th day of the Tamil month of ‘Thai’ in the Tamil year of Rathakshi. He would have also been born on the Astha Nakshatra, Kanni Raasi and Mesha Lagna.

Fact: Well as per the English calendar I was born on February 1985 and it corresponds to the Tamil month mentioned here. I have born with the same natal coordinates mentioned in this verse. I have given my natal chart that was recreated from the original charts that were written during my birth.

4. Born in such a natal chart, this person will have a good knowledge, will be talented and will take his decisions after thorough analysis of the situation. He will be a spiritual person and will respect others and will help others in their time of need.

5. He would have been born as the first child in his family and while he listens to these predictions both his parents will be alive. He will have one younger brother and no sisters. The younger brother would not have been married when the person listens to these predictions.

Fact: My parents did not have children for 7 years because of the trouble my mom had with thyroid secretion. After treatment and a thyroid surgery I was born as the first child in my family. Both my parents are alive and I have one younger brother who is not yet married. I do not have any sisters.

6. The person for whom this prediction is made would be a graduate and will have specialization in technological education.

Fact: I have a bachelor’s degree in Information technology.

7. When this person, listens to these predictions, he would be on a technology job with a private concern with a good salary and other benefits.

Fact: At this time, I was working in IT division of Tata Consultancy Services, deputed at Sony Pictures.

8. This person for whom the predictions are made will be working in a foreign land far away from his home. He will have good financial fortunes and will be living a contended life.

Fact: I was working in London at this point in time.

9. Both his parents will be employed by the kingdom and will be leading a comfortable life with standardised income from governmental sources.

Fact: Both my mom and dad are retired government servants and they receive government pension.

10. It is to be noted that this person will not have any maternal uncle.

Fact: My mom does not have any brothers.

11. This person will have properties like home, vehicles and other assets through his parents and will be living a comfortable life.

Fact: My mom and dad were well off and they had their own home and vehicles in Coimbatore, India. They live a very comfortable life. This is my home and my parents.

12. This person will have ‘Victory’ as his name. His father will be named Vasu Devan and his mother will be named Kamalam.

Fact: My name is Vijay and in all ancient Indian languages it means 'Victory' or 'Success'. My Father’s name is Vasu Devan Kaimalamkunnath and my Mother’s name is Kamalakshi Vasu.

13. The above mentioned details should be used as evidences to substantiate that this palm manuscript contains the future predictions of the person who is listening to it now. This person will be 25 years of age when he listens to this and it is the fate as written in the manuscripts that this person is supposed to listen to his future on this day.

I was 25 years of age when I listened to this. All this made sit up and take notice of what was being told. The remaining part of the prediction is something I believe and I hope will come true. But only time can answer me.

14. This person is going through a bad phase in his life. From 25^th September, he is facing a bad time. He will face issues with his work. During this phase his parents will face health issues. He would be in multiple relationships and will have trouble with women during this period.

Fact: I switched 2 jobs after this prophecy. I also had a break up. My mom was unwell (she is fine now).

15, This person will also have problems with health in the form of issues with persistent headaches, blood vessels and body fat and tends to get angry.

Fact: I have been an obese kid. I have struggled hard to keep my body weight under control and yes, I am known to be hyper.

16. This person will have a tough time from his age of 25 to 27. He has to be extremely careful during this period of time. During this period he has to be very careful with his friends and the women whom he may encounter.

17. However, during this period, he will have promotions at work and will be earning better than his past. He will grow to positions of higher management and authority in his line of career. However, it will only help him if he increases his professional qualifications. He is advised to study simultaneously as he works and that will help him.

Fact: Yes, in the last year, I have had two change in designations, with one better than the other both the jobs have paid me better than the previous job.

The Interesting Predictions:

This was the part I was very interested to listen to. Let me tell you that I was very happy with the prophecy. If this does come true I will be a very happy boy J However, I still haven’t met anyone with the description given below or I may not have realized it yet.

18. It is advised that he should be careful in these 2 years. However, during his age of 28, 29 or 30, he will get married to the girl of his dreams. This marriage will cause problems in his family. However, the person will be stubborn against his family and will get married to the girl of his choice.

19. His future wife will be from a location south or south east to where the person resides. The girl will not be very rich, but will be from a middle class family background with decent wealth. The girl will be beautiful, with an excellent character, fairly tall, with a well structured body and will have a mole or a mark in her right hands or right legs. The girl will have beautiful fish like eyes. She will be fair or white in appearance. She would be a graduate and will have interests in poetry and literature. In her Natal Chart Sun, Jupiter and Venus (Surya, Budha and Sukra) will all be aligned together. Bother her parents will be alive and she will either be the first child in the family or the middle child in the family. The marriage will happen in a grand fashion and the married life will start with all harmony and happiness. However, there may be some difficulties in having children and you may face troubles with unexpected natural abortion. However, because of the good will and blessings of almighty things will resolve itself and you will have 2 children. As per your wish, the first child will be a girl and the second will be a boy.

20. By the time you are 35, you will lead a very happy, wealthy and a prosperous life. You will venture into being an entrepreneur and you will enter into partnerships. However, you will eventually be working on your own.

21. By the time you are 40, you will face some issues within the family and will have problems with your wife. However, because of god’s blessings things will be resolved and you will live happily ever after.

22. By the time you are 45, you will live a luxurious life and your wife and children will support you in your endeavours. Your children will be mastering various performing art forms and will be source of your happiness.

23. By the time you are 50, you will venture into a relaxed life style and move into an entrepreneurial life that will mostly be academic centric or training oriented including running academic institutions. You will be involved in social service, helping others, running charities, and will have support from the elite members of the society like politicians, wealthy people and actors.

24. Both your children will live up to your dreams. One child will be an astronaut or aeronautical technician and the other will be a scientist. They both will get married to persons of their choice and you will have grandchildren.

25, You will live a very healthy, happy and prosperous life with your grand children until you age of 69. Your life will exist even after 69, but you may not be completely healthy and mobile.

Having said all this, Sage Agastya hereby concludes the general prediction for your life.

Post Script:

As I have mentioned earlier, I do not know if all this will happen. This is not an exercise to state all this will happen. Rather this is a note to share my experience with you all. This will be a recording of my experience and only time can tell you all if all this comes true.

As, I said in the beginning of the story, ‘To believe or Not to Believe is a Choice’ J. Seeing that this prophecy gives me only positive predictions, I will always choose to BELIEVE! J

I hope you enjoyed reading my experience! I will definitely keep on writing all my travel experiences in all 14 countries I have been to so far, in coming days. Until I meet you all again with another interesting experience, It’s yours truly signing off...

Note: If you enjoyed reading this, please leave behind your comments and feedback. It will only encourage me to write more. You can post your comments as anonymous user, if you don't have a google account - but do not forget to sign your name :-)

Also remember: " Sharing is SEXY" :-)

The Story of My Future - A Super Natural Experience (PART I)

2010-12-11T07:30:00.000Z

Foreword:

To believe or not believe is a choice. Super natural experiences are something that an individual thinks is beyond explanations and these experiences make one look for the truth beyond what is explicitly visible. This story is one such personal experience. In the next few paragraphs, I have tried to articulate my experience in a remote village in the southern part of India. I have also tried to correlate it with theories and explanations available in the World Wide Web. In order to present the reader with an insight into most of the facts discussed in my experience, I have also ventured to do some research on historical facts and figures. I have presented them in a way, I deem to be helpful for the readers to understand my experience from my point of view.

There is something I would like to clarify before you start reading this experience. I am not a religious person. Though I was born to an orthodox Hindu family in south India, over a period of time, I have begun to question the existence of god. However, there are certain instances that have made me feel the existence of a super natural power that is beyond explanations. I have felt them bring vibes within me and this had made me a spiritual person or a seeker of spiritual knowledge. I still do not believe in religions. I believe that there exists a super natural power beyond human diligence, but I do not give it the face of Lord Krishna or Allah the almighty or Jesus Christ the Saviour.

As I venture to write my experience, the readers are requested to view this from my point of view, but they are also welcome to pass their own judgements. I would also be interested in listening to conspiracy theories and possible explanations for the events that form this story from my readers. If you are a religious person and would like to believe this as proof of existence of your god, you are welcome to do so. If you are non religious and spiritual and if you think this story only adds to your belief of a supernatural power that controls the universe, I am with you on it. If you are a complete rational and an atheist, you are welcome to see this story as a mere coincidence and analyse from your perspective on what all these sequence of coincident mean. I would like to make it clear that I do not want to enforce any idea of mine on my readers and this story is only an exercise to express my experience.

I hope you enjoy reading my experience. It would be wise for my readers to understand that I am not an accomplished writer and neither am I a native speaker of English language. Therefore, I would be happy to receive critical response and will be willing to correct myself in my future literary work.

I end this foreword, the way I started it – To believe or not to believe is a choice!

How it all began?

The year was 2009. The month was August. It had been a bright summer day in London. However, typical of great city of London, it did rain late in the afternoon. I had had an argument with my boss at work that morning. I had not been happy with my work for a long time now. On that fateful night, I decided to quit my job. I would not like to analyse if my decision was right or wrong. I always believe that all decisions one takes are always right decisions. For, if we had not taken those decisions then we will not here today. I wrote my resignation mail to my bosses 5 minutes past mid night. I had a sense of relief creep into me. But, this also meant a sense of uncertainty. I would not divulge more into this, because I think this is a story in itself to be told later.

The following month was a period of high drama in my personal life. The stress levels were getting very high. I knew that I would be leaving London at the end of the year. Therefore, from a financial perspective it never made any sense to visit India for a few days in September. But, something was driving me to make that decision. To date, I do not know what made me take the decision to visit India for a break in September 2009. Perhaps it was the fact that I had not been to India for almost 2 years, or may be its just that I had not met my parents, family and friends in a long time. However, the decision was taken and I had booked my tickets to visit India. I remember that we had a few important deliverables at work that September and the whole office was working hard to get things completed. I had my back up in place and therefore, I took a 3 week break from work. It was also coincidental, that my best friend who was in US a few months ago, had come back to Kolkatta and was planning to visit me in Coimbatore. We then quickly drew a plan for a group of good friends from my university days in India to meet in Coimbatore during the last few days of my stay in India. All these decisions were taken in the last few days before I decided to leave London. And one fine day, there I was on the flight back home.

Then, I did not know that this visit to India will become the most unforgettable one in my living memory. I did not realise then, that I would come into contact with what my future has in store for me. I did not realize then that next few days would define the change of path my life has to offer for me. A theist would call the intervention a divine experience, a spiritualist will call this a super natural experience and an atheist may perhaps name this as a mere sequence of events. Whatever it is, I tend to believe it to be an important experience in my life.

However, before I get into the details of what happened on that fateful day, I would like to take you back in time to history to give you a context for what we are going to discuss here. I am going to present some historical facts for you to be aware of so that you can correlate yourself to this experience. I do not confess to be a master of ancient history, but with the advent of the internet, I believe that all the facts can be cross verified. I would have to thank Wikipedia and other sources of information that has helped me gather this data for my readers.

Fact No 1: The Universal Identifier.

I am sure many of your might have seen this video. This explains how each and every creation has something unique that identifies the creation. Every single thing in this universe has this unique patter than identifies its creator. Some call it god and others call it a super natural existence. The atheists call it the coincidence. One such unique feature of the human being is his finger print. There are 6.5 billion people in this world and no one has the same finger prints.

When you listen to this video you will realize the individuality. In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,... (to infinity) By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. Some sources omit the initial 0, instead beginning the sequence with two 1s. The Fibonacci sequence is named after Leonardo of Pisa, who was known as Fibonacci (a contraction of filius Bonacci, "son of Bonaccio"). Fibonacci's 1202 book Liber Abaci introduced the sequence to Western European mathematics, although the sequence was independently described in Indian mathematics and it is disputed which came first. Fibonacci sequences appear in biological settings, in two consecutive Fibonacci numbers, such as branching in trees; arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruit lets of a pineapple, the flowering of artichoke, an uncurling fern and the arrangement of a pine cone. In addition, numerous poorly substantiated claims of Fibonacci numbers or golden sections in nature are found in popular sources, e.g. relating to the breeding of rabbits, the spirals of shells, and the curve of waves. The Fibonacci numbers are also found in the family tree of honeybees.

A rectangle whose sides (length and breadth) are made up of fibonacci numbers is called as a Golden rectangle. The coordinates of these rectangles when connected forms a spiral. A spiral as seen in various objects in this universe as in the finger prints if a human being. Even the galaxy, that this earth belongs to is formed in the exact spiral like the human finger print. This video will help you visual understand what I have explained here.

This fact is given here to prove that the human finger print is unique and is related to the existence of every single thing in the universe, albeit in a supernatural and a yet to be explained manner.

This is important because my experience starts with my finger print.

The video is embedded below for your reference. In case you are not able to see this video, please copy the link given below into your browser window. I strongly recommend that you watch this video before you continue reading my experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ibc8sD5sgw

Fact No 2: Ancient Indian Sage Agastya.

Agastya (Sanskrit:अगस्त्य, Tamil:அகத்தியர் Akattiyar, Malay: Anggasta, Thai: Akkhot) was a Vedic Siddhar or sage. Agastya and his clan are also credited to have "authored" many mantras of the Rig Veda, the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture, in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Brahman (the creator). Agastya is also the author of Agastya Samhita. In some reckonings, Agastya is the greatest of the Seven Sages or Saptarshis. The word is also written as Agasti and Agathiyar. A-ga means a mountain, Asti, thrower. Agastya the Muni, was born of both Gods, Mitra and Varuna, from Urvashi from ancient Indian mythology.

Agastya is also the Indian astronomical name of the star of Canopus, is said to be the 'cleanser of waters', since its rising coincides with the calming of the waters of the Indian Ocean. Legends say Hindu sage Agastya, or Agathiyar in Tamil, lived 4,000 to 5,000 years ago in southern India. The squat, bearded holy man, hoping to help mankind, prayed to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god and jotted down the inspirations that struck him soon after on palm leaves. The divining sessions are said to have yielded predictions of the lives of people living in Agastya’s time, and of those destined to be born in coming centuries.Families belonging to the priestly caste say they have looked after the predictions, stored in neat bundles between two slabs of weathered wood since they were first written by Agastya.

Devout local Hindus and curious foreigners come in droves to Kanchipuram, a town in southern India, to seek their futures hidden in piles of browned leaves. They wait for hours, sometimes days, at a hut in Kanchipuram, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Madras, as Brahman priests hunt for the palm leaves with predictions etched on them in archaic Tamil. More often than not, the foreign visitors go back with an eerie sense of surprise after their futures are foretold. The leaves are written from the visions of ancient sage Agastya, an awesome Nostradamus-like figure in Hindu mythology. Visitors answer a barrage of yes-or-no, personal questions used by the pundits at Kanchipuram to zero in on the right leaf, once a set of possible profiles are found using only a thumb impression. “The past, present and future of a person is written on each leaf and they can also provide direction for specific problems regarding marriage, disputes and other matters,” says Srinivasan, who reads and translates the faded ancient Tamil script for visitors. A modern newspaper correspondent found her parents’ names correctly guessed from the leaves.

(Thanks to http://profiles.incredible-people.com/agastya/ for the profile)

If you are not able to see the above image please visit:

http://www.indianetzone.com/photos_gallery/34/SageAgastya_23550.jpg

Fact No. 3: The Nadi Astrology

Nadi Astrology ('நாடி ஜோதிடம்' in Tamil), (nāḍi jyotiṣa) is a form of Hindu astrology practiced in Tamil Nadu, India. It is based on the belief that the past, present and the future lives of all humans were foreseen by Hindu sages in ancient times and written down as Palm Leaf Manuscripts (nāḍi grantha).

The texts are mainly written in Vatteluttu, which is an ancient Tamil script. There are different schools of thought as to the author of these leaves. They were written by a Tamil sage called Agathiyar who is said to have had divine revelations. This doctrine of astrology was made famous by astrologers around theVaitheeswaran Temple in the state of Tamil Nadu and is still practiced around the temple by their descendants.

These Nadi leaves were initially stored in the premises of Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library of Tamil Nadu. The British rulers later showed interest in the Nadi leaves concerned with herbs and medicine, future prediction etc.; but ironically left most of the Nadi prediction leaves to their loyal people. Some leaves got destroyed and the remaining were auctioned during the British rule. These Nadi leaves were obtained and possessed by the families of astrologers in Vaitheeswaran Temple. This was passed down the years from one generation to the other.

In the ancient times, the Saints Agasthya Maharshi, Koushika Maharshi etc. had written the divine conversation of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvathi in the palm leaves in Sanskrit language. Later, Tamil Kings translated to Aadi Tamil language, called Nadi Palm Leaves, now stored at Vaitheeswarankovil, Tamilnadu, India. Although, the context of the "ancient times" is yet to be defined when in Indian history timeline.

The Maharishis who wrote the leaves in the last 2500 years declared in a leaf found in year 2009 they have an ambassador in the western world for the next 50 years: a Hungarian teacher Tamas Oszter who is dedicated to connect people with their leaves in Europe, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. The greatest number of leaves ever written are for the generations already alive and will be on the planet for the next 50 years. The leaves are available for one out of 62 of the total humans alive. Its claimed that there are great amount of reported cases of exact match in the past details and future predictions, though unproven. A carbon dating was performed in 1995 and yielded an age of some 350 years, placing the manuscript in the 17th century.

If you are interested in reading more on Nadi Astrology, I recommend you to visit this web site.

Nadi Astrology Website

The Indian Trip Begins:

Having read the above scientific and historical facts, I believe you can now relive my experience from my point of view. The trip started in its usual way. I bought loads of gifts and chocolates for all my friends and family. The days passed by without any major events. Though I was enjoying my time with my family, I was still having a weird feeling flowing through me. It was not until, the day of the get together with my friends did I realize what the strange feeling was all about.

The get together was awesome and we enjoyed every moment of it. It was a nice experience. I met my best friend after a period of 4 long years. Though we had been in contact all the time, we have not had a chance to meet each other. When we met, we discussed a lot of things. It will be important to say that my best friend comes from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family that believe in staunch Hindu rituals. Hence he had always believed in the Nadi Astrology that I have explained above. It had to be remembered that he and his girl friend had tried to get hold of their Nadi astrology predictions a few years ago. But, then they were unsuccessful. And this time, though I had completely no belief in what was being done, I wanted to accompany him for two reasons. One was to have some fun. And the second was the strange feeling that had been following me since August 2009. So after the get together was over, I and my best friend went to meet a Nadi astrologer near a 1000 year old ancient Hindu temple in the remote village of Perur in south of India. We were not asked for a name, neither were we asked for any personal details. The only thing the astrologer collected from us was our finger print details. He had got our contact numbers and had informed us that he will call us back in a day to let us know if he had our predictions in palm leaves written by sage Agastya with him. We did not think it will be present, because of my best friend’s previous experience.

However, we got a call the next day and we were asked to meet him in person. He had secured the palms leaves that depict our past and our future. We were about to know what was in store for us. I had not been so excited in ages. Though, I was a non believer, I still was curious to know what the predictions had in store for me.

The Nadi Predictions :

When we had reached him, he had asked us to be seated. The astrologer went inside his room and came back with a handful of palm leaf manuscripts. He started reading the identification part of the manuscripts to us. The identification part of the manuscript contains details of a person to identify him. I believe he had read around 45 manuscripts to me and none matched. I had come to a point where I was thinking of this whole exercise as a effort in vain, but I was happy that I had some fun with my friend. However, when the next manuscript was read to me I was shocked. In the ancient language of Tamil, the manuscript described in detail. It gave me the names of my parents, the date of my birth, the day of my birth, my astrological signs and the natal charts during the time of my birth. It is worth remembering that a since I was born in a Hindu family; I did have my Kundli or Natal charts written during the time of my birth by my parents. Though I did not believe in it, I was aware of the content of those natal charts as they are often discussed by my parents at home.

The palm manuscript that described my characteristics also gave my name. And when I confirmed the astrologer these details, what happened next was a super natural experience that I will share with you all in part 2 of this blog. What I heard was unbelievable. I will try to present with evidence the prediction for my future and the revelations from my past. It only ventures to show that there are certain things in this world that are beyond human understanding. I hope to publish part 2 in the next few hours. It has very interesting revelations including the girl that I will end up getting married to.

Interested in reading further? – Please wait for it....

Note: Please leave behind your comments and feedback. It will only encourage me to write more. You can post your comments as anonymous user, if you don't have a google account - but do not forget to sign your name :-)

Avada Kedavra: The Other Side Of Me!

64 years of Indian Independence!

One night on a double-decker bus

NOTE TO READERS:

Perseverance - The H1B Story!!!

How I Want The World To Remember Me After My Death!

10 things I miss & don't miss about London!

India Against Corruption: a mahatma announces fast unto death

a mahatma announces fast unto death

Anna Hazare has given an ultimatum to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact stringent anti-corruption law – the peoples “Jan Lokpal Bill”! Jail to the corrupt must happen! We have been betrayed by those that are leading us!

When & Where?

From 5th April at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

Who is Anna Hazare?

A soldier, lone survivor in his unit in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Anna dedicated his life to the well-being of society. A bachelor, an ascetic, he has no possessions, no bank balance and lives in a temple. He is a living Mahatma Gandhi!

Leaders, organizations and the common man from across India will be with him. This is a do or die moment – let us make it happen!

This is a defining moment for India that can give our children a better future! Let us unite and stand by him! Thousands will be there to support him. Will you be there?

Anna’s appeal to the people:

When I sit on fast from 5 April, I urge my fellow countrymen to

Join me in fasting for one, two, three or whatever number of days you can comfortably fast.

Along with fast, please pray to God (whoever you believe in) for better and corruption free India. Collective prayers from all the people of India would definitely have a huge impact.

Write an impassioned plea to our Prime Minister that we look upon him to pass “Jan Lokpal Bill”, else we will be compelled not to vote for his party in next elections.

Remain calm and peaceful and develop the courage to go to jail, if required, in this next freedom movement.

If possible, come and stay with Anna at Jantar Mantar for a few days from April 5th.

Would you like to stay updated about this movement? Let us know your contact details atindiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com

Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill

An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up

Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.

Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.

The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.

How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.

But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

JAN LOKPAL BILL will act as deterrent and instill fear against corruption

(This movement is neither affiliated nor aligned to any political party)

India Against Corruption: A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, UP | 09718500606

www.indiaagainstcorruption.org | indiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com | facebook.com/indiacor

Please circulate this mail as widely as possible

Executive Summary Of Indian Black Money Abroad In Secret Banks and Tax Havens

The Dream - A short story by Vijay

Letters from a gal to her dad

Posted by: Ashok Jeev on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 2:19pm on Facebook.

My H1B Story

ஸ்பெக்ட்ரம் - மக்களுக்கு "வடை" போனது எப்படி?

Article by - Sivakumar. M

Process Improvement Plan submitted to the RTO, Coimbatore South

An open letter to the Prime Minister and future Prime Minister of India.

Truth about the famous Sabari Mala Magara Jyothi.

A Tale of Two Cabbies! (Part I)

The story of my favorite teacher!

The Story of My Future - A Super Natural Experience (PART II)

The Story of My Future - A Super Natural Experience (PART I)