What's in NEWS?

Reading a newspaper has always been an addiction,
But news nowadays is being published without conviction.

Personal lives of many is being used as a subject,
And i hope about these the editors become more circumspect.

Beckham's wifes growing bust size is being used as a vice,
And this is just being done to sell news with some spice.

Rape and murders are being addressed in a very cheap manner,
And i guess its time even these newspapers have a censor.

Newspapers nowadays contain more information about the people who go to party,
And if you compare every other day's newspaper you will hardly see any variety.

I have been really avoiding reading newspapers of late,
Becoz in selling news the newspapers have started showing their true trait.

Just felt like writing

I have not written a poem since a pretty long time,
And this is something i really missed as a pastime.

I guess one needs a topic that is really motivating,
Coz the best comes out when you associate with that thing.

Most of the poems i had written when i was really inspired by a girl,
And that was the time when thinking about her made my mind swirl.

I think poems are ones feeling that are felt by the heart,
And that is something i could not write with a broken heart.

But it's been a good time as i tried to come out of this situation,
And hopefully i'll get better topics to handle my emotion.



Note: Its important for the other person in ur life to love u as u love that person.

Windows of the World

This Sunday morning Sunil and his relative Joe decided to visit Shenzhen, the place where I and George were staying. We decided to meet at a place called Windows of the World which is a major tourist attraction here.

I and George went to visit them at the railway station. This place is known as Windows of the World because it has replicas of all the worlds’ famous monuments. At the entrance it self there was a replica of the Ashoka Chakra. As we entered this place, I did not realize it was so big, but at the end, even one complete day was not enough to watch all the monuments. We seen replicas of the White house, Twin towers, Sydney harbor, Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower, Egyptian pyramids, Buckingham palace, and so on.

There were restaurants inside this place. So we had lunch at one of these food joints. I and Joe did not enough the food that much. This was the second bad experience if I may say with the food here. We had ice-cream and then continued visiting all the monuments. We tried removing our snaps with all these replicas. In between a Chinese girl wanted to remove her snap with me, for which I willingly agreed. There was also this father who wanted to remove snaps of his kid with us.

A day’s visit to this place was really not enough. We were taking breaks between all these sightseeing. Sunil had brought a lot of biscuits and cakes, which was a welcome refreshment on this trip. The number of monuments that were created were breathtaking and it had taken a lot of investment and effort to achieve this final result. This place truly deserves the attention of visitors and native alike. In between we also saw an Indian arrow shooting place. Here we had to pay a fee for purchasing the bows and arrows. I for one only managed to hit the target once in my ten attempts and that to at my tenth attempt. It was a feeling like: Better late than never.

We decided to attend our day by attending one of the final programs for the day. It was a stage show and they were performing acts related to the history of different countries. It was a truly enjoyable day and was worth every Yuan we paid for this visit.

Hong Kong

I and George had to renew our visas and so we had to visit Hong Kong. So we decided to go on 29th July. Abdul also decided to accompany us as he knew this place better.

So we met at Shi Ji Juan station at about 10:20 A.M. I and George had taken a bus to reach this station. From Shi Ji Juan station we took a metro train for Luo Hu. This journey took us about 40 minutes. This place is the border between China and Hong Kong and one needs to go through the immigration formalities here. Once we finished with all the necessary formalities of immigration, we decided to see some shopping malls in HK. So we caught a train for East Tsim Sha Shui. This took us another 40 minutes or so.

As it was already lunch time, we decided to convert the currency in HK Dollars and visited an Indian restaurant. We had rice, dal and chicken tikka here. (I know your mouth would be watering now, what with me always updating you about the food I had.) After lunch we went to some shopping malls. George wanted to purchase a digital camera, so he got a pretty good one here. I realized that HK was a really expensive place for shopping. All international brands were sold here and there were no sales right now. I did not want to return empty handed so purchased some toys for my niece and nephew.

We then caught a ferry to go to the main HK Island. Some of the biggest apartments were in this place; it was an 88 storey building. This place really looked spectacular at night. We then went to McDonalds and after visiting some places nearby decided to return for home. In terms of shopping, this place was not fruitful as clothes out here were really very expensive. I think if I ever were to visit HK again, I should make it a point to be there when there are heavy sales or else only if I am a millionaire.

Relationship Problem

During the conversation in Sunil’s house, we happened to come across some topic which was a bit funny in nature. Because of the Chinese government’s one child policy, many problems will arise in the near future.

Out here as the son/daughter is the only kid in the house, relations such as brother or sister don’t exist. Because the kid’s parents do not have any brother or sister of their own, the kid has no cousins. After the kid becomes old enough to marry, and when he marries he has no brother-in-law or sister-in-law as his wife had no brothers or sisters. So other than the grandparents on either side the kid has no other relations. So effectively a family comprises about 7 people. (Grandfather (2), Grandmother (2), Husband, Wife, and Kid). People here don’t follow any religion and also no one is interested in politics.

People here are only concerned with their economy and development. (Actually the root of problems in India which if I may say, religion and politics actually doesn’t exist there.) Another problem is China’s aged population. Husband wife have to effectively support a family of 7. Rising costs are adding to their burden.

Even though I see many advantages I also see an equal number of disadvantages. The kids out here are a pampered lot. The one child policy may help keep the population in check, but with no religion and small families and no brother-sister love, the kids become very arrogant.

The kids have not heard of god and have never felt brother-sister love. Can we live this way?

ENGLISH KORNER (18/07/06)

Last week while having lunch in the office I and George met David. He asked us if we were from India and we had a good conversation. He asked us if we could join him and others for a discussion which they have once a week. We decided to accept his invitation for the following week. They have this meeting every Tuesday after office hours in one of the meeting rooms.

As the following week Abdul also joined us, we 3 went to attend this discussion. They welcomed us by giving a round of applause and said they were really happy to welcome their Indian brethren. There were about 15-20 people here. This group calls themselves the English Corner. We formally introduced ourselves to them and they did the same. During this discussion I came to know why the staff in this company had English names. The company’s policy is such that when a person joins the organization they provide them with an English name. It sounds very strange, coz who would like to be known by a name which he/she had no relation with till they completed their graduation. This policy was in place so that when foreigners would come to their company it would be easier for them to remember the English names rather than the Chinese one.

The people out here were very excited to know about India. Some of the questions might sound ridiculous, but these were really asked. I am just stating some of these here.

Q1) Does real life in India differ from reel life? (This was asked specifically because they had seen girls and boys singing and dancing in Indian movies.)
Q2) If a boy has more money can he marry more than one wife?
Q3) Why do Indian girls win so many beauty contests?
Q4) Does the husband pay money to the bride while getting married or vice-versa?
Q5) How many servants does an average indian have in the house?

Some of their questions had us in splits, while for some we just didn’t have any answer. Though most of these guys speak in broken English, it’s encouraging to see them learning a language even though they know that it would hardly be used in the market there. Some of these guys were just learning so that they could communicate with foreigners and understand them. I know it would be difficult for these guys to improve their language as they hardly have access to English media. But did someone say, Nothing in life comes easy.

A GOOD WEEK (23/07/06)

George’s college friend Sunil Philip was staying in a place called Guangzhou which was about 3 hours away from our apartment in Shenzhen. He happened to return to this place after a vacation in India. So we decided to meet him on the weekend of 22-23rd July.

(Picture left to right: George, Me and Sunil)

I and George left on Saturday morning at about 10:30 A.M and we reached Guangzhou at about 2 P.M. We needed a bus and 2 trains to reach this place. Sunil came to receive us at the station. We clicked some snaps near the station and then took a cab to his apartment. The flat which he stayed was on the 20th floor of a 30 floor apartment. His apartment was the best that I had ever seen. A Chinese maid had cooked chapattis, baigann ka bhartha and potato vegetable. After having a good meal Sunil took us to a place called Beijing Lu, this is a very good place for shopping. All international and local brands are sold out here. I was hardly able to control myself and I purchased many clothes. We were there here for about 3 hours, and then we went to a shopping mall. Most shopping malls here are at least 4- 6 floors. We spend an hour here and then went to a Muslim restaurant.

The food was good. I had beef kebabs, mutton kheema, chicken with cashew nuts and afghani bread. (Is your mouth watering?) The staff here were of the border areas and one could mistake them for Russians or Kashmiris. After having this heavy meal we returned home around midnight. We watched T.V and I slept at about 2 P.M after we had our gossip. However George and Sunil happened to sleep after 4 P.M.

The next day morning we all got up late, had a light breakfast and then went out to see some other shopping malls. We had lunch in a Hunan restaurant. The menu included beef mixed with some vegetables, rice and soya pannier and some mixed vegetables. After this we visited one of the biggest malls in Asia. After this we went to Sunil’s office. He was the manager of this office and so he had the keys. We then sat for an hour and then went to his apartment. We left at about 6:30 P.M. Sunil came to leave us to the station. We reached our apartment at about 10 P.M.

This was the best weekend I had in China, and I hope this is the first of many.

A Week in China (16/07/06)

It’s been a week since I landed in China, and I have really enjoyed my stay till now. At the start of this trip I knew that food was going to be a problem here. However one week has passed and I have not yet had an upset stomach. Every evening my colleague George cooks vegetables and rice for dinner. So this was like having home made food. In the afternoon at workplace we order meat curry and rice. This food is spicy just like our Indian food. So the food in fact has been very good.

(Picture top row left to right: George, Me, Allan, Abdul. Bottom row left to right: Carrol, Grace, Joline and Jessie)

My office timings here are 8:30 A.M to 5:45 P.M, Monday to Friday. There are some company buses that leave at 8 A.M, about 5 minutes from our apartment. So I wake up daily at 6:40 A.M and have bread and jam, bananas and a glass of vitamin C juice. Every evening when we return from work, we head straight to the supermarket, purchase some vegetables and some necessities and then return home. Because George takes care of the cooking, I only bother to fill my stomach.

The workplace is good. The first thing we do after entering the office is access the Internet. There is an Internet Café in the office, as we are not allowed to send mails from our work seat. Lunch is from 11:45 A.M to 1 P.M. The lights go off prior to lunch indicating that’s it’s a lunch break. People here finish their lunch in 15-20 minutes and take a nap. People here bring their sleeping stands to office. They just open these and go to sleep. Other than the 4-5 people we interact with, the others don’t really speak English. People here only speak the local language, so if we have to communicate with them, it’s definitely not possible.

Shopping at the supermarket is easy coz all products have their price tags displayed. It is better if one is able to locate the product he/she wants than to try asking for a product. Allan our project lead has provided us with 3 sheets of translation. It basically contains some information in English along with its Chinese translation. So if we want to know which bus goes from any place to our apartment we just show that paper to the people at the bus stop. Allan has been really very helpful. From the first day itself he has been helping us out in many ways.

The only scare I had this week was during the Mumbai blasts. Because of the time difference between India and China, (China is 2:30 hours ahead of India) I had already gone to sleep. George happened to watch the English news channel, so he woke me up o update about the same. I called up home soon after to find out about their safety. By next day evening I was able to confirm that all my friends were safe. It’s sad that about 200 or more innocent people lost their lives, but it was good to know that people continued with their lives as usual the very next day. Cheers to Mumbai’s never say die attitude. God is there to do justice to what is right and wrong. I know that he is watching all of this.

Just want to end this article as it starts to rain here. I think its going to be a wet weekend. But I don’t think it’s going to have an impact on us as we have to just eat, sleep and watch T.V. for the next 2 days. Bye for now.

First Two Days in China (09/07/06)

I was going to China via Bangkok and hence I knew in advance that the journey would be a bit hectic. George Abraham from the Bangalore division gave me company from Bangkok International Airport. After we finished with all the immigration formalities in HK and China, we finally stepped into China. We needed 2 flights, a bus and a car to reach our apartment in Shenzhen. As soon as we had stepped at the taxi stand after alighting from the bus, Allan from the client company was waiting for us with a placard displaying our names. He took us in a local taxi to the apartment we would be staying.

The apartment we were going to stay was a fully furnished house. It had a T.V, Fridge, Microwave, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Cooking Gas and a Geyser. There were 3 bedrooms, I and George decided on our rooms while in the mean time Allan went to get some drinking water for us. Allan was heading the international marketing division for the product they were developing. I took bath and then had Maggie noodles which George had cooked in the microwave. In the evening Allan took us to one of the employee’s house who stayed near our apartment. This females name was Grace and Allan was updating me that she was unmarried and was pulling my leg. Grace offered us coconut juice and we then went out for dinner. The people in China have their dinner by 6:30 – 7 P.M.

The hotel which they took us was only providing chopsticks, so Grace went out to a shop to purchase spoons and forks. Allan ordered mutton, beef, chicken and some vegetables. I just had mutton fry and rice, as I did not like the way the rest of the food was cooked. I felt bad in a way as I did not want them to feel that I was not enjoying their food. But being the first day I was trying to avoid having an upset stomach. We went to one of the supermarkets and then came back home to end what was our first day in China.

Sunday morning we both got up quite late. I had jam and bread for breakfast. George then gave me some cash and told me to purchase rice and cooking oil from the supermarket. I managed to purchase this after performing some actions as the people out here doing speak Chinese. After coming home George cooked some rice and added some cooking masala which he had brought from India. In the evening Allan came to our house and took us to some different supermarkets. We did some basic shopping and returned home. Think will have sausages tonight. That’s all for the first 2 days in China.

Ni hao (Hello)

A good opportunity has finally come my way,
And with this i hope my career will make headway.

For a project my company would be sending me to china,
And i hope i can execute my work with good stamina.

My boss says i was really destined to have this opportunity,
And this makes me feel that with this company i'll have a good affinity.

He says he would be banking on my commitment to this company,
And i hope the loyalty i show in years to this organization would be many.

I never had expected such an offer to come my way so fast,
And things are really looking much better than the past.

It's been only two months but i'd really like to admit,
That i am already thinking of making my life at Commit.

(Image Courtesy: http://www.chinasoft.com.au/images/nihao.jpg)

THANKS DAD

I am a person, who does not believe in specifically celebrating a certain day,
Hence am writing this poem after the occasion has already passed our way.

The occasion i am talking about is International Fathers Day,
And this is a topic that really concerns everyone anyway.

Fathers are generally really strict from the outside,
But the emotions that they have for us will never subside.

They face hardships all their life, so as to make our lives less stressful,
And when we achieve success in our lives, it really makes them blissful.

One thing they expect from us, is to be really very careful,
And that in no way , the family name is turned disgraceful.

Most of the things we asked them, they always tried to manage,
And now the only thing they expect from us, is to care for them in their old age.

Thinking about the times i've hurt him, makes me feel sad,
And such behavior from my side, is definitely very bad.

For everything you've been to me i am very glad,
And i just wanna say to you, thank you loving dad.

I GIVE A DAMN...

It's easy to identify when one is being avoided,
And this happens when people around u are a bit undecided.

This is what certain people have started making me feel,
And this can be spotted when people appear unreal.

Back stabbing is something i really dislike,
And this is something from me they are unlike.

I give a hell to this kind of behavior,
Coz with this one shows he/her is inferior.

There's a limit really to forgive and forget,
But i try my best to overcome this target.

I always thought i was a guy, who is jealous,
But with their behavior they really appear very callous.

This poem has been written in a fit of anger,
But don't get scared of me coz ur life is not in danger.

I as a person don't have a habit of talking behind peoples back, but have seen this behavior in many people. Why can't people tell what problems they have to the opposite person directly on the face than talking behind his/her back. It should not matter if the opposite person would get hurt. It is 10 times better than talking behind peoples back. What do u think?

TIME

What if each one of us is given 1440 rupees daily and all the money has to be spent on that day itself, because if you tried saving money for the next day, the money would disappear. You would then try to spend the money on things that could make your life comfortable or that could make you happy.

Similarly each one of us has 1440 minutes of time allotted to us daily. How much use do we make of this? Every minute that passes is lost, as one cannot hold time. However this time can be used to make people around us happy and to achieve things in life. Why do we hurt or try to create enmity between people, when the same time can be used for the betterment of people.

Why can't we spend our time as carefully as we do with money? Time is the most precious gift allotted to each one of us equally. One can achieve many things if time is well utilized. I really give a damn to what people talk behind my back, as i feel they are making a fool of themselves or are just showing how inferior they are. Instead it would be better for these people to utilize their time properly and see to it that what they deserve they get than to get something and not deserve it.

Do you agree?

A GOOD WEEKEND

Last weekend i and my college friends decided to meet at churchgate station and we had a good time catching up on those college days. We went about walking here and there, before finally watching Gateway of India, and having a good meal at Bade Miyan (Bade Miyan is in between Taj & Colaba Causeway, you can eat on the road or in your car and its open till the early hours of the morning.) That week turned out really well, so i decided in advance that even this weekend i would not stay at home.

Saturday morning the first thing i did was to attend a months mind mass at Holy Family Church Andheri, and i did happen to meet most of my relatives there. I then went to visit my school friends in Kalina whom i had lost touch in between when i shifted to Vasai. It really feels so good to stay in touch with friends with whom we definitely had a good time. I decided on saturday evening that on sunday morning i would leave for Vasai and meet my old building friends and relatives out there.

I did meet my relatives and i even had lunch at my cousin's place there. I met my friends in the morning and we decided to go to Suruchi Beach in the afternoon. So after lunch we around 10 guys wearing our shorts and with a football and bat and balls decided to leave for that spot. This place is around 15 minutes away from my earlier residence in Vasai. So we decided to catch hold of 2 autowalas and after some bargaining managed to convince them to accommodate 5 of us in each auto with a fare of Rs.10 per person.

Being a Sunday this place was very crowded. Parents with their children, boyfriends and girlfriends all seemed to be there. We located a spot at one end of the beach and decided to play football first. So we made two teams of 5 a side each and started with the game. Though i managed to score the first goal of this match, we eventually lost 3-2 when we decided to stop the game. We guys happened to be tired within the first fifteen minutes; i wonder how these footballers manage to play for 90 minutes.

Afterwards we just decided to clean ourselves by going in the water, though none of us was interested in swimming. My friends did manage to play a prank on me, though i was the one who had initially started with this when i lived there. We finally decided to leave for home at around 6 P.M. I then left for Kalina and promised to meet them again more often than i did this time. When i stayed for Vasai for 6 years, we hardly went for such outings.

It was definitely a good weekend and overall a good week. I did get an offer from my current company for a visit to China in early July. So the week ended with a bang for me as it had begun. Hope to have similar good weeks in my life.

ME: ENGINEER

I knew i was always a guy, who is serious,
But that doesn't in any way prove that i was studious.

Taking engineering as a career was a decision made by me in haste,
And that's one decision that almost made my career a waste.

Engineering definitely took me to very lows,
But ultimately i managed to clear it anyhow.

It's also true that one of the high points of my life was in engineering,
And whenever i'm down in life i think about this moment that turns me inspiring.

Engineering was something that seemed like a tough ride,
But it has definitely thought me to take things in my stride.

MEDIA: IDENTIFY YOUR ROLE PART 2

With sequels being in fashion, I thought why can't i also join the bandwagon. (For those who did not read my previous article: MEDIA: Identify your role) However the reason i am writing this article is to point out that the media seems to have lost it somewhere in terms of the news being covered. The television and print media share the blame equally in this regard.

What is the kind of news one sees when one watches T.V or reads the newspaper. Sex, Rape, Murder, Ghosts (Yes, you heard it right), etc. Instead of concentrating on issues that concern and benefit the common man, journalists seem to be broadcasting stories on fights between a husband and his wife over some family property.

A female artist (item girl as she is popularly known) has been in the new for all the wrong reasons since she entered the industry. With her dress sense and vulgar attitude she thinks she is a perfect role model for the aspiring item girls in the industry. Numerous cases have been filed against her for the way she presents herself. But for an entire 3 days, news on most channels and papers was concentrated on the way she was mistreated at a recent birthday party. News channels were giving her coverage, like she was some big celebrity and had never done anything wrong in her life. I'm not saying that this female deserved what she got. But it was clear that this female wanted some cheap publicity and she definitely managed to get that.

Another story involved some 2 lines about a uncle who was very concerned about his nephews life. He said he did not want his nephew's life to be destroyed. But the person showing concern in this case had actually killed his brother, the boy's father. Does this news really matter to the public? If the person was so concerned then why the hell did he kill the boy's father?

There's another artist whose songs are in the news right now. People seem to be crazy about his songs (Although all his songs sound alike.) There was some news being broadcast on T.V saying that in a certain village in India, people wanted a certain song of this artist to be banned, coz it was inviting ghosts. What rubbish is this, is it newsworthy?

What hurts even more, is the way certain news is presented without facts being verified properly. Concerns about a dead mans sexual preferences are being covered in newspapers, without proper verification. I don't know who is right and who is wrong. The person against whom allegations are being made is dead, he can't rise from the dead to prove this wrong. But what about the parents of that dead man, they have to live in society. Don't they have to answer and face people when they are enquired about all this? What do they do? Who is responsible for this, it's definitely the media.

With a big mockery being made on news channels, media seems to have lost it. Media is being used and abused by all the people who want to settle personal scores. Hope media is able to play a more responsible role in society.

Brainless Municipal Corporation (B.M.C)

Its been more than a fortnight, since the city was lashed by the first rain,
But lessons learnt by the B.M.C from this, seem to have gone down the drain.

They said that about the early first rain, even the meteorological dept. was unaware,
And there was no way, by which they could have updated the citizens to beware.

They said they had planned to deal with the dug up roads by June the fifth,
But since the last fortnight, the roads seem to have been filled with only filth.

People heading the B.M.C go about their duties as if they are brainless
Hence privatization of the B.M.C is the only alternative to avoid this mess.

Now as the B.M.C will not finish the roadwork even if they worked overtime,
Mumbaikars will have to be prepared again for another harrowing time.

UNCEASING FRIENDSHIP

As the last time time around, i was unsure about her feeling,
It was good of her to update, that our friendship would be unceasing.

Hey girl thanks for really clearing the air,
As i was actually in a state of despair.

Actually i was a bit confused by your actions,
Hence wanted to know what warranted your reactions.

I was feeling like, i was being avoided,
And i thought, about me you were still undecided.

Its good to know that as a friend, you are still concerned for me,
Coz u wanted me to stop thinking and writing poems on thee.

CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU GIRL

Hey girl you've been sounding very sweet of late,
And i don't know the reason behind this mate.

It feels good to hear such a pleasant voice,
And it definitely makes everyone feel nice.

There are many things about you that i miss,
And thinking about them makes me bliss.

But there's one thing that's still bothering me,
As i feel that you've still not forgiven me.

If that's the case then do let me know,
Coz i'll try to convince you anyhow.

And if you do feel i'm not worthy to be your friend,
Then do let me know, so that our relation can amicably end.

GOAL!!!!

Since a month or so there has been a gradual build-up,
For one of the biggest events on earth, the Football World Cup.

In our country where cricket is a game that is widely watched,
Love for Soccer as a sport is really not that far-fetched.

Youngsters and elders have been waiting, to watch their favourite stars,
As the love for this sport called Football, has no age bars.

Banning sex during the tournament, has been one of the coaches calls,
This is because they want their players to concentrate on the right balls.

The tournament started yesterday with a decent opening ceremony,
And it was good to see players from all countries in perfect harmony.

With goals being scored in the first match at a very high rate,
Fans like me would be hoping for similar results in every game.

(I'm supporting England, how about you.)