Diya Update!!

The New look Diya website is up. Check it out

For quick updates check out the Diya Blog!

Check out the previous edition of the Mylapore Times (Dec 9-15 '06) - Diya in the news. Front Page!

Sheesh.. Its been more than a couple of years and we're still going strong !!

Tree planting at Velachery for the New Year!!

Smile Please :)

after a mad dash from work to home and then to the airport, i was finally making my way to the lounge on the first floor. was very fidgety that night.. was making my way to singapore to present my paper the next morning and wasnt quite sure if i'd be able to get any sleep. had hardly prepared for it.. was thinking of all the profs and ap's who be there to pose questions and i wondered if i'd be able to answer even one.. god why did V have to back out late in the day, i thought.. lost in my own world, i made my way up to the first floor for the security check and the long wait for the flight. the fellow in front of my looked like the typical business traveller.. formal wear, laptop bag on one shoulder, another bag on the other.. glasses loose on the bridge of his nose.. he made his way to the top of the line and the security fellow asked him to step up for the check.. disinterested he might have been but the way he looked at the security person made me sick.. as if he was looking at some insect, was what came to my mind.. the kind of attitude some ppl show is enough for us sometimes to hate them.. this person was a perfect candidate. the securitywalah had noticed it too and i could see from his reaction that he wasnt too pleased.. i stepped up and gave him a big smile! his face brightened instantly.. he seemed to get better by that.. gave him a punch on the shoulder and kept moving.. he seemed pleased and so was i.. see, thats all it takes to perk somebody up.. so next time, you're in a line, dont frown.. have a big smile on your face.. if not your own, least you can do is make someone else's day better!

Elfchen - Herz

Rot,
Der Herz,
Mein Herz brennt,
Ich kann nicht leiden,
Leid!

Gimme Red!

its fun to be on prod support..... get up early.. fresh air.. you dont have to travel by the bus..rather stick out your head thru the window and feel the cool breeze on your face.. as i was lost in my dreams of doing this everyday, the voice of the driver startled me... 'Not very good drivers no, these pallavan bus drivers?'. 'Yeah, not too great'. 'i read about the accidents last evening at XXX place. Pathetic'. 'Yeah, well people dont care here.'.and then he went on about how people here take things very lightly and dont stand up, blah blah blah.. and then i got his fix-all idea. 'In our state kerala, we dont do things like this. if we have a problem, we STRIKE! nothing works on a day of strike. no car, no bus, not even cycles!' i was like ok, red kerala and wb are known for using strikes to put off doing work. 'You must also do such things you know? Go on a strike. dont work for a day or two. even for days together.then ppl will become allright.' to me it seemed like typical commie bullshit..

i'm not one of those people who says not everyone is equal and stuff but i do not understand why people have to strike at the drop of a hat. and this fellow was actually 'advising' us to take action. thanks but no thanks. he was pretty proud that it worked! well, one thing i dont want to do is strike. though i do admit, i'm not doing my bit to make my system work. me culpa. but no strikes damn it. i just hate the idea of people trying to not work and make others not to as well. enough evidence of this with two bank employees at home. 'why are you on a strike mom ?''huh, the union wants us to da. they say it'll help us in the long run' 'long run? but its a one day lop isnt it?'

'yeah it is' my tired father says. 'ok so you're able to afford it and you'll agree to the strike. but what about the poor sub-staff fellow who has to work everyday and needs everydays salary?'(me really affected by the commie bug!) father- 'listen, let me do my work in peace. and dont act like those damn union idiots. we cant talk against them. it'll be difficult if we go against them. we'll be caught in no mans land with noone to help us if i get transferred to say some rampur in bihar where dacoits will come to the bank and demand 'loans' from me! you want that to happen? it happened to my friend and he got shot at for having refused some thakur! now shut up and go' back to reality, all that striking bit seems absolute bullshit now.. it did sound that way back then too!

Have you ever............

Have you ever felt the need to .......
walk barefoot on grass early in the morning??
laze on the beach and watch the sun go down??
run through the meadows..
just get away from it all...

Idhu Nalla Combeny!

i sometimes wonder how some ppl can be so shallow... would you do anything for money? is money everything ? if you were given a suitcase full of money would you be ready to endorse any product.. and take the word of the company at face value.. without even trying to ascertain the truth.. the truth!! well.. not even top labs in the country are arguing as to whose results are genuine. if you're still wondering as to what i'm talking about, well the new ads by the cola company thats got me bugged.

the actors prance around in the factories and spilling out figures.. they might even be true.. but when the whole country and esp the scientific community is still undecided about the presence of impurities and pesticides in colas, what do these ppl do? go out and act out ads glorifying these drinks.. what would the common man whos illeterate do? he thinks the world of his fav actor/actress.. he'd go on and keep drinking those damn colas.. whatever happens to him, the actor/actress are absolutely unconcerned.. they've got their bags full..err suitcases full..

actors/press personnel, these ppl are very visible in society and no matter what they say, their words do have a say in people's minds.. esp ppl who cant really see the difference.. and going about endorsing or debunking products without being in the least capable of being able to judge the same, they should rather consider consider keeping their ........ shut!

It was a dark and stormy afternoon!

its raining outside... and so wonderfully cloudy..
makes me wanna go out and play..
but i'm stuck in an airconditioned room... staring at the tube...
i want to fly.. to be free..
i wish..

Newblog

hey all. put up some of my pics here. do check em out..

Highway Action!!!

'twas like any other morning, in the bus gazing at the IT highway. How different it appears now, from the way it was six years back when i accompanied my mother to her office. Green palms lining the narrow stretch of road. The entire stretch appeared bleak with barely any traffic. It was OMR then.....And now... As i look out from my bus, i see the chaos it has become. Traffic snarls and poor road condition.

These were the thoughts that were clouding my mind as i noticed a small girl standing on the median, in her blue and white school uniform laden with her schoolbag. Her lunch in one hand and the other waving freely in the air, she jumped down from the median. I looked up and saw a couple of fellows riding their Pulsar, barrelling down the road. It all happened in slow motion. The girl jumped right in front of the bike. The guy riding the bike was up to it. He turned the handlebar, swerved and braked. The bike skidded sideways just like in the movies with the bike and the rider on their sides. As the duo skidded across the tarmacadam, the rider lithly moved into position and jumped off the bike as it rammed into a stationary autorickshaw and stopped.

The rider was unhurt and he turned to look at the girl. She was crying now, being consoled by passersby. The rider thanked his stars and rode off. And my bus moved away from the scene.

Eternal Conflict

The ABVP raised a furore over the alleged session at some convent in Lucknow claiming that the school officials were trying to convert kids by doing all sorts of mumbo-jumbo.. whatever might have actually happened at the school, certain questions have arisen out of this incident.. Should schools really indulge in religious education?? Should they make/ask students to follow religious practices (of their own religion or that of the school)?
Considering the fact that we cant vote till we are aged 18, I wonder if nudging kids towards a specific religion in school is correct!! Of course, none of them would even come close to agreeing that they were doing anything wrong!

Now, i've known (hindu) friends who've developed a kind of aversion to sporting a Bindhi or flowers in their hair quite simply because their schools (christian mission schools) forbade them to do so.. This might seem trivial but in essence it does lead to changing the kids' mindset towards 'its own religion'more later.. apms acalling..

Pissing it all Away!!!

Anybody who has been in India for a stretch of time would have seen one striking feature of the ppl here! the propensity of ppl, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, age and sex, to enrich the street corners and dust bins with their... ahem.. holy water, shall we say.. From the time that i can remember, ppl here have been using the streets as if they were their personal lavatories! utter lack of public and personal hygiene... no wonder so many diseases spread so frequently and freely in our cities and towns.. and if it rains! god help us! we all know how effective our drains are in taking away rainwater.. and when everything mixes to form an effectively sewer substitute and enters households during heavy rains, well, obv ppl will succumb to diseases.
I wonder why neither the police nor the public raises any concerns regarding this... it is after all their own city/town and their own streets.. shouldnt they be the ones who tell ppl not to commit such nuisance!! even police personnel are guilty of such a 'crime'... wonder when ppl will grow up and start using streets for the purpose they're supposed to serve..
The only way these utterly deplorable practices can be stopped is by educating people about the hazards involved and basic hygiene.. will it be done?? or as almost every other matter of public interest, will it be continue to be ignored till it rears up in a big way one day and catches us unawares!

wandering thoughts

As i recline in my chair i ponder over many things in life. as my mind wanders about i think of the sea shore. waves fuelled by strong winds crashing into the huge boulders. i laugh at them. foolish things, these waves... but i pause. i ponder. are they really? i look about. at the smooth rock faces around me. and i realise that it is me who is unwise. these waves, crashing again and again onto the rocks. unrelenting in their effort. keep at it come rain or sunshine. and in the end wear down those big strong boulders. i cant help but look within myself and the question arises - am i as persevering as these waves??.. in whatever i do?? knowing fully well the answer that my mind will hurl in return i move on... but i pause again.. i laugh at myself.. not in a thousand years... these waves arent living things. they dont have anything else to think about.. they dont have a family. they dont even act on their own.. they are brought about only because of the strong winds.. but why do they seem to hold my thoughts then??i try to make some sense of these thoughts.. i give up... listen to some beethoven... beethoven has the answer to my confused state!!! HE tells me.. life isnt just about ones objective.... rather the manner in which one lives AND achieves his goal. one without the other makes it a total waste of time...ah one melts into his music.. to think he was deaf when he composed! he shows me the way... life is about realising what you want... what you dont.... and how you want to get it....stop confusing yourself.... you're doing great.... just keep at it.... if you like doing what you're doing then you wont even question the effort that you put in... because then it wont be an effort at all. rather fun. something you enjoy doing.. thats what life is all about..... look at the sea again... you dont see it churning.. you see the sun reflecting of the surface.. glistening and sparkling... a sense of peace... with onself..... thats when you realise that you have been yourself and got what you've wanted all your life!

Century!

it wasnt a great morning to start with...... it tasted bitter than my moms coffee on her off days....a hundred days they proclaimed! as if they'd won the bloody Hundred Days War. a mere hundred days in office and they claim that the states prospered in those hundred days. i cant believe this madness!! two famous newspapers that i hold in grt regard bring out entire supplements to their sunday editions on this.... occassion?? is this some film thats run for a hundred days? sheer stupidity.... these ppl are in power to serve the people. as far as i can see, there are ppl on the roads struggling to make something in their lives. and these ppl are holding meetings to rejoice a hundred days in power.. whats happening???

Fullto Tamasha!!!

Come election time in our country, one gets to see all sorts of exceptional performances from our politicians.. just take a look back at what some of the points on which election campaigns have been based on!

Lets take TN! rice at Rs 2/kg and free TV sets! the rice bit - yeah, to some extent i would love it if rice were to be that affordable.. there are scores of ppl for whom even that would be a stretch. but even so, its quite close to a pipe dream. coming to Free TV sets. well, what would one call that other than just another election time gimmick aimed to garner votes of the poor and uneducated!

I happened to overhear a conversation between my mother and a woman who does menial work in our area.. and she was asking my mom if it was indeed true that party X had promised to give free land and tv sets for the poor and my mom replied in the affirmative.. she seemed glad and replied that her vote for this election would be for this party! my mom tried to explain that it was just the one tv set or a piece of land but actually a lot more that she would get if she used her vote properly.. pat came the reply, "if we dont use this opportunity amma, we wont be able to get anything of this sort for the next five years! such is the situation for us" and that was the whole problem, wasn't it? Give them nothing for five years. And when the next round of elections comes up tell them you are my people, people from my caste, community etc and i will do anything for my people and promised them Palaru and Thenaru ( literally mean rivers of milk -pal and honey - then )..

Of course theres the usual freebies thrown in... free clothes and cycles and what not! the ppl who never get anything for five years would of course be satisfied with these "gifts" that they recieve and would gladly trade their votes for them. That is what the politicians play on. The sheer helplesness of such people!!!

One only hopes that the people who actually see through this charade can shake off their indifference and go out and vote! For people who are better suited to take on the reins of managing this country and taking it forward in the years to come.. But how would we vote for such people when you have to choose between the local don and the corrupt politician if they are the only people contesting???..well thats for another post i guess...

a humble beginning

After much pushing and prodding by a friend, that i should try my hand at writing a blog, here i am atlast.. my own very blog!! now whats the big deal.. there are probably a million other blogs and bloggers who sit at them everyday and write something new.. well, let me try my hand at that too. god knows what crazy things i might actually put down in words.. hmmmm...since i have a lot of free time anyways, theres no harm.....

DIYA "Illuminating Lives"

It has often been a flippant remark of the grey haired citizens of our country and for that matter, the whole world that the youth are not what they used to be during their times. Sadly, they do not realise that todays youth are though unremorseful in yielding to materialistic lifestyles, display a certain drive to make not only their own lives better, but rather that of other not-so-fortunate people too. In that regard, has developed a kind of a peer network that is based on the networking among students to try and bring about a change in the lives of the "forgotten" people of this country.
What started off as an idea in an idle mind in the middle of a Power System lecture now has found appreciation across nearly hundred plus students who are more than eager to help others who have not been gifted with some sort of an education or a family. Thus, was formed DIYA, the goal of which is, realistically,to uplift people and to illuminate the lives of as many possible. In order to avoid what normally befalls traditional kind of such organisations, DIYA has been developed as a strictly informal group that depends on students, their friends and friends of friends and the like. Within a short period of time, we as part of DIYA have managed to bring happiness into the lives of a few little kids who for one thing, do not need to be exposed to the harsh realities of life no sooner than they have to.
For this sole concern, do we request contributions from everyone however large or small they may be because it goes a long wa in helping an otherwise needy human being. All members of this group pitch in with their efforts not for any personal intentions other than to see the faces of the people who are helped light up in delight and thence warm our hearts. That shall be the force that drives us all.For more details, you can check out the website http://diyaorg.tripod.com/