Recession…

Recession put our economy in tail-spin; risk has now become a routine aspect of life. As companies are forced to lay off their employees, people are struggling to withstand economic hardships.

With prices of daily-use commodities sky-rocketing, the common man is the worst hit and is forced to cut costs. Those who have taken loans are now under pressure to repay them back. With no proper money flow in the market, people are learning to become tougher and are spending carefully.

Vacations have become out of question and youngsters, who used to spend lavishly, are now cutting down on their partying ways and bringing a change in their lifestyle. Almost all the sectors have slowed down and stock markets are in a mess.

Recession is creating havoc in the society; the situation may get even worse as it continues. The question is that how long will it stay?

Celebrating India's 60th Republic Day...

Photo courtesy: Vande Mataram footage, BharatBala Productions

The Republic Day is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm all over the country on January 26th every year. The patriotic fervor of every citizen gets multiplied on this day, showing India’s strength as unity in diversity.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Indian constitution and the country is all set to celebrate its 60th Republic day tomorrow.

Our first woman President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, will take the salute.

Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh will miss the special occasion for undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft surgery. This is for the first time in the 60 odd years since Indian independence, a Prime Minister will be missing the Republic day parade.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on a four-day visit to India, will be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day parade.

The Grand Republic Day parade, held in New Delhi, is the main attraction of the day. Different regiments of the army, navy and air force march in all their fineries.

One should look out for the group dances, cultural programs by school children and the tableau display of beautifully decorated exhibits from different states of the country.

As we get ready to celebrate our 60th Republic Day, there is one question which people pause to think over every year, especially during these two occasions - the Republic Day and the Independence Day.

The big question - Is India really shining?

The Terror Strike...

I was awakened from a drowse by a sudden thunderous noise; loud enough to tear one’s ear drum apart. I ran to a nearby window to see what was happening. I was left completely shell-shocked.

Was it a bomb blast?

Yes, it is.

Rivers of blood flowed on roads, washing the streets below with human blood. Corpses with tattered pieces of clothing remained scattered, unloading all their bones into the arms of the soil. And warm-blood flowed out from the ghastly wounds of the injured.

Terrorism is swallowing this world and in process, started drenching Mother Earth with blood and tears of innocent people. The sharp nails of terrorism are piercing our flesh and digging deep into our hearts.

God, why are we innocent human souls being tortured in such a brutal manner? Is it our mistake to have taken human birth?

The dove of peace, which once flew high above in the sky, carrying the twig of love has been grounded and chained. It is now struggling to breathe the dust. Let us step forward to unchain it.

Today, fellow-creatures from our human race are dying; tomorrow it will be our turn, let us act before it is too late.

We should collectively fuel the war on terror by supporting the government in its counter-terrorism initiatives.

Let's team up together, form anti-terror groups and contribute our own strategies to combat terror strikes.

Post Script:

During July’08, i was in Bangalore. On July 25, 2008, a series of low intensity blasts rocked Bangalore city. One person was killed and seven other were injured in the eight explosions that created panic among residents and threw traffic out of gear on a rainy day.

The blast i mentioned in the post was the Madiwala Blast, which killed a woman on the spot.

The explosion occurred at a bus stop near the Madiwala check post, off the busy Hosur Road, on Friday, July 25, 2008 around 1.15 p.m. A woman, who was waiting for a bus with her husband, was killed on the spot and two others were injured.

Colours of Dawn...

Lush green leaves laden with dew, held a canopy and hid the rising sun. Yes, it’s the hour of dawn and here I am, ready for a pleasant morning walk.

As soon as I whispered into the ears of the wind, it blew right across showering on me the cool droplets of dew collected on the trees. As the icy dew droplets touched my body, I felt as if someone’s wet palm is caressing my back.

As I walked, dried yellow leaves got crushed under my shoes producing crisp sounds. It’s such a pleasurable experience when the gentle rays of the morning sun touches my cheeks.

I walked and walked until I finally crossed the concrete jungle. One can find my footprints almost everywhere; on wide city roads, narrow side streets, alleys and on highways. I have crossed them all because I wanted to reach the nature’s lap of wide green fields, cool river banks and stretch of dense forests.

Water lilies at the lake were still smiling; oh it’s such a long and pleasant dawn. The Sun is still rising in the sky as rafts of clouds sail by and spider webs are decorated with pearls of dew.

I walked along, keeping my scene-drinking thirsty eyes wide open to enjoy the everlasting beauty of nature. Now I could spot a cottage thatched with sun-dried coconut leaves. Look, the cottage is surrounded by orange groves, cherry trees and mango orchards. All of them heavily laden with ripe and delicious fruits.

The blossomed sunflower laughs as the slime-covered frogs dance to the koel’s tunes. Hens are busy collecting the spilled grain as the squirrels play with the nuts. I walked along the fields, watching young paddy shoots pushing through the rich soft soil by the river. This is the hour of dawn; the air is laden with pure oxygen, enough to flush our lungs clean.

A morning walk is such a rewarding experience; we get to view the true colours of dawn.

Simple thoughts on Egoism...

" There is one piece of bread and thousand mouths "

What made such a situation to arise in this World? One of the main reasons is due to the escalation of egoism in man.

Egoism, in simple words, is the tendency of enriching oneself with whatever one can get hold of and denying others of their own rights and possessions.

Two principal cravings of egoism are self-nourishment and self-propagation. These two when attended with strong egoism lead to gluttony, greediness, jealousy, hatred, envy and other evil thoughts.

There are three ranges of egoism in an individual. The first is his body and life, the second is his wealth and property, the third is his name and fame. These three-ranged ego territories of a person, when invaded by another person, leads to slavery, injury, quarrel, murder, theft, insult, etc.

When the thirst of enriching oneself grows more and more in a nation, that nation likes to take possession of all the land on this Earth. They begin to conquer the whole World by using the weapons of mass destruction and killing thousands of innocent people. Then follows the looting of the conquered nations, robbing their wealth and finally treat them as slaves.

Egoism originates from the sense of ' I '. The more we are attached to our egoism, the more miserable we become. Strong attachment with the ego leads to selfishness.

If there were no such a tendency called egoism in the human heart, this World would have been a heaven. There would have been no necessity of social laws, police regulations, government rules and law courts.

Let us pray for an " Ego-Free World ".