Slow Dance!

This is a sweet little poem forwarded to me by a good friend. It takes you back to the days when people had time to share their thoughts with each other in person, not the way I am doing at the moment, over the Internet... This is nostalgic..I like it.

You must have read it ..but then who said there was ever any harm in reading a good thing..twice, thrice, umpteen times!

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rainSlapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask

How are you?

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste, Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time

To call and say,"Hi"

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over

Metacafe and Youtube --- Tools for Advertising?

The video upload sites like Metacafe, youtube and Google video have, no doubt, revolutionized the way Internet works. People can now actually upload their home videos or anything else without any problem. It's as easy as 1-2-3: shoot video, upload it and share with the world.
However, the basic concern is whether these video sharing sites are not a part of spreading and sharing porn as well!!

The porn web site developers are using Youtube and like to increase traffic to their web sites by giving out their web site promos on these mediums. Well how does this operate:
The porn web site owners have their web site ready with all to dish out but they do not have traffic. So they put some of their stuff on video sharing portals and thereby advertise themselves without ever spending anything and thus in a way, these video sharing portals are becoming a medium to spreading porn activities!!

Anyone with a different view is welcome.

Social Networking - The truth behind

There is a lot of hullabaloo surrounding the social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook. This interest in them has of course sent the stock prices of these companies soaring North but how much is it really justified.

Let's look at the scenario: these sites were originally developed with the idea of bringing together people, either from the same society to share their thoughts, more specifically, people who were the part of an association or an education or a research group. It was conceived as a platform to give people an easy access to each other and their thoughts.

Over time, these sites left these puritan purposes behind them and instead starting looking at what the registrants to their web sites can do to their stock prices, and hence started the great social networking revolution.

What is the purpose behind all this? Why are the big players like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo madly running to get a slice of these social networking sites? Here are the simplest reasons:

Google, Yahoo and now Microsoft earn a large quantum of their revenue through their search engine and ultimately the online advertising. To provide users with the appropriate advertising, these search engines need to know the profile of their users. When I say profile, I mean everything from your gender, to your age, to your marital status, to the kind of friends you have, to your phone service provider to the music you like to everything else....sighhhhhh.
Once they get such a profile, the advertisements better target the users and hence are more effective. These companies are, thus, on a look out for their users demographic profile to be able to work up their revenues.

Now rather than convincing their users to register, and thus in turn provide interesting demographic data, these companies thought why not piggyback on one of the most viral fads going around: a social network site and thus came the Orkut revolution and it is for the same reason that Microsoft paid so much to acquire Facebook.

So while we thought that we are just enjoying these sites for free, we are actually providing ALL the data in the world to the very companies, that would in turn flood us with the advertising. So actually that is a symbiotic relationship.

So enjoy the social networking!

Absurd UK Laws--Funny

Here are a few obsolete and absurd UK laws:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament....wow
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down.
3. In Liverpool, its illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a fish store.
4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day.
5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter ....how nice

Om Shanti Om - Who Rules the masses?

Om Shanti Om - Same wine new bottle or do you call it vintage wine. Sharukh Khan has once again managed to use his charm on all his fans. The movie, as was obvious, opened to full houses all across India.
The theme of reincarnation worked its magic. So was it just Sharukh or the reincarnation thing that managed this?
I would say both. Sharukh is such a part of Indian cinema as reincarnation is of India's religious beliefs and mythology. It works!!
Farah Khan once more managed to use SRK to her advantage, though it does not mean to SRK's disadvantage. This is the way the friendship pays.

But then still it is Amitabh who rules the masses of this vast country. Every region has its own heroes but Amitabh is hero to the whole of India. Even down south where they treat Rajnikanth or Chiru no less than a God, Amitabh still is their hero.

Amitabh is still the oldest wine in The Bottle, that is, Bollywood.

The Dilemma

Have you ever faced a dilemma over whether to tell something to someone for their benefit but at the cost of your friendship with them?

Here's a short story, to which I do not have an answer at the moment:
Disclaimer: It can be false for all I know.

I - yes this story will be told in the first person as it was actually told to me - have a friend who lives in Australia as of now. We have been very good friends and still continue to be in touch via mails, however, as with every other thing in life, out of sight- out of mind, also applies to the case in question. My friend has been to Australia for over 3 years now, first for studies and now a permanent resident and well settled there. Now when you are good friends to someone, you actually get to know very many things about them. An year after she had left for Australia, just out of curiosity, I thought of hacking her email account. By all means, it was just meant to be a joke of sorts so that she could be surprised at a later time.

The email accounts, for all that they claim to be hack-proof, are actually easy to break if you know a person well. This also proved to be one heck of an easy job, with me getting into the account without much problem.

And once I was there, it was like opening a Pandora's box. People live half their lives out of emails, so once you get to someone's emails, you see them stark naked.

For all I knew, she was going around with a guy while in India however, I was kept off the name of that guy and I never met him. I was told that I will see him at an appropriate time. And was it the appropriate time now???

She loved a guy who is currently out on bail for the dowry-death of his wife. I know this as he lives in the same city as I. He got married while my friend was in Australia and she is not even aware of what conspired in India while she was away. Through the emails, I came to know that this guy has not told her anything about his marriage and then the death of his wife!! He was still pretending to be her lover and she has also sent money to him India and was planning to get him to Australia by sponsoring him.

The dilemma that I confront: to tell her about this or not.

Any comments and suggestions welcome.

Use Credit Cards--Let Power be mine

I have often seen people cribbing about having credit cards and what they do to your spending habits and how you get into the clutches of debts raised via credit ;-)

So is it the fault of the credit cards or that of the card holders? Is it the credit card that springs out itself at the mention of shopping or is it the card holder who goes out shopping just on the strength of the plastic money.

I have been using credit cards now for over seven years and am an ardent believer in the power of credit cards. I have 10 credit cards from different banks and to date I have never ever paid any interest charge, and have been successfully using my credit cards for all my needs, from the smallest to the expensive-most. And enjoying them thoroughly.

There is no secret to using credit cards, it is only the common sense that you need to apply for this. Listed below are a few points that can be of potential help to anybody using the power of the plastic money. Here are the "Let Power be mine" rules:

1. If you have more than one credit card, have them preferably from different banks.
2. Be very sure, how much disposable income you have every month.
3. Put that disposable income in a separate account.
4. Use your credit card for all your needs during the month, limited by your disposable income.
5. At the end of the month, put all the disposable income into the credit card account [Payments]
6. Perform step (5) before waiting for credit card bill to arrive.
7. If in a month, you have to definitely go above your disposable income, plan accordingly.
8. Be aware that you are spending more than what you have.
9. If you can make payment of the over-spent amount in the following month, it's fine as you will then only be paying interest for a month.
10. If you cannot make credit card payment the following month, ponder upon balance transfer to the other credit card you have, if applicable.

For all the above to work, you need to be aware of your billing cycle. Through the use of above, you will find yourself in a very healthy financial position, not to mention all the freebies that you get thorugh use of credit cards. Try getting a cash-back card or a card that suit your specific needs; there are too many out there in the market.

Let me know all your questions..I think myself to be a very good user of credit cards.

The Train to Pakistan

Someone once asked me, why in India, Hindus and Muslims can't live peacefully? I countered him with why in US there is still racism against the blacks. When I asked him the question, it was to thwart his question thrown to me. Although I did succeed in getting away at that time, but then this is the question that still haunts me?

Why in India, with cultures going back to the times of Harrappa and Mohenjodaro civilizations. India being the birth-place to the Indus Valley Civilization, we cannot live in peace? Why is it that we are always living in the constant fear of riots? Why is it that Godhra's still haunt us and their memories do not subside, rather threaten to ignite at a single flash of fire?

Is it the people who are against each other or is it really the politicians and the dirty game of politics that has the two religions pitted against each other?

Who wants the riots anyways? It is of course not the daily wage earner whose life, and that of his family, depends on what he is able to earn daily. No it is not the average person whose life only revolves around his family, to even think of riots. He cannot have his family in any danger.

If we leave the average man out of this, then who is into it? Of course, someone who is not that average, for whom it is not the daily routine but a much larger goal, the goal of running a country and having all the people under him. It is undoubtedly the politician. He, who to acheive his larger ends, does not even thinks once before putting others in the line of fire.

All the wars that have been fought have been fought at the behest of the emperors, not that of the soldiers. For the soldiers, it is just about earning the daily bread, for the emperors, it is a chance to enter the hallowed chambers of History as the greatest emperor.

Who suffers out of all this..It is indeed the common man; not the emperor and obviously not the politician but the simple common man.

What is the use of conquering the outer space, moon or the Mars, when we cannot or do not want to work towards, either the removal of racism or the intolerance towards people who are different from us, either in terms of religion or color or creed?

The politicians are not going to work towards this as their larger purpose will be sacrificed. It is the common man who has to work towards it.

All or any ideas of comments invited.

What a diary thinks?

I put all my thoughts in my diary but what if my diary wants to share its thoughts. What will the diary do? Will the diary get another diary to share its thoughts, or will the diary add up on my original thoughts? Or will the diary get a "second life" all of its own.
For a while now I have been thinking of giving my diary a virtual space all of its own and then 'Second life' comes my way. A place where you can give your diary a name and a life..all of its own. A place where even your diary can get to keep a diary of its own.
A nice thought..that I just jotted down in my diary..now what does my diary think of it??

Any ideas and comments on this idea are appreciated!