Obama rocks…….”Yes we can”

Obamania…has griped the whole world with his charisma. The best thing about Obama is the way he speaks. He is a true orator. He simply can grip your attention with his command over the language, with the clarity in his voice and the truth that you can feel when you listen to Obama.

Obama is a simple youthful guy, who plays basket ball, who wears his shirt half folded, who loves his daughters, who has a vision for America and the world at large, who values the lives of the Americans soldiers, who is humble and down to earth, who is intelligent, someone who values people from all faiths and cultures……and yes, I can go on and on about Obama ;-)

But I cannot leave out on mentioning one thing about Obama ;-)…that, he is the first President of the United States, who we have seen in shorts and wearing slippers at a beach. Wow……..so, like the common man!

Obama has shown the world that if you have the ambition and the aspiration to be the CEO of a company or the President of the United States, you can reach those positions (achieve your ambition) with your hard work and self motivation for sure.

You may face many roadblocks on your way (many people letting you down), but that will change, if you are firm with what you expect from your life and what you want to do for your society, your nation, your region, your country, your world and the planet as a whole.

Yes, we can!!!!

Offcourse, Obama has become a President of America, at a time when the whole world is going through a recession, a low tide, terrorism and violence. But, he has taken this as a challenge and he says to each one of us, that “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” So we need to believe in ourselves.

He says, “If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”

Wow…so inspirational……Obama, you actually rock!!!

Lastly, I would like to end with another Obama quote, which says it all, “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”

Thanks for visiting my blog! Do write to me with your feedback & comments or brickbats, at simplymearl@live.com or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!

A cowardly act!!!

Here, I am talking about myself and I call myself a coward.

It was early morning, just before dawn, a few days back, when I was witness to a senior citizen being hit and abused by a young boy. I feel guilty and am ashamed of myself, because I did not do anything about this incident that happened in front of my very own eyes.

They say, you should walk the talk and I believe I failed!!!!

I do not understand, what stopped me from helping this stranger from being beaten and abused. Was I scared that if I help this man, I would be attacked? Was I waiting for other people on the streets to save the senior citizen? Was I afraid, that if I made an official complaint, I would have to spend a lot of time in the aftermath interrogation?

If I made a mistake (which I do not want to repeat next time), I urge the people out there to take action when an incident like this takes place in front of you. I know, it is tough and it is easier said than done. But please do not just stand there and look at a tamasha because you will linger in guilt for the rest of your lives.

Probably, I can make people aware about the rights of senior citizens through radio and through my blog, but the remorse of not doing anything, will always remain throughout my life.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – as said by Elie Wiesel

Lastly, a message to the youth and the kids of today. Please respect the senior citizens of your society and the world. Do not let your anger and frustration wipe away the principles, ethics and values that you are brought up with.

Rights of Senior citizen in India
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l170-Rights-Of-Senior-Citizen.html

A website for senior citizens
http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/

If you have any feedback, comments or brickbats, do write to me at simplymearl@live.com.

You Take care and God Bless!

Our Indian National anthem gives me goose bumps

What better time than today, when we are just 1 week away to the Republic day of India on the 26th Jan 2009, to tell you how the national anthem makes each Indian feel? The tricolor will tell the Indian tale, when we celebrate our Republic day!

Even listening to the national anthem gives a proud Indian goose-bumps. And hence stimulates us to do something for our country. A contribution which could be big or small, an involvement for the society, whether recognized or non-creditable.

India is going through blood-shed, terrorist attacks and assaults at the moment. And we just need to tell the villains who are bringing in a disharmony and trying to disrupt the peace is our country that we have not given up. And we will not allow your plans succeed. We were united and we will remain united and fight evil for the rest of our lives for the betterment of the country and the world at large.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF INDIA
The national anthem of India (Jana Gana Mana) was composed by Shri Rabindranath Tagore and first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on December 27th, 1911. It was adopted as the National Anthem of India on 24th January, 1950 by the Constituent Assembly.

The Anthem

" Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata

Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha

Dravida Utkala Banga

Vindhya Himachal Yamuna Ganga

Ucchala Jaladhi Taranga

Tubh Shubha Name Jage

Tubh Shubha Ashisha Mange

Gahe Tubh Jaya Gata

Jan Gan Mangaldayak Jay He

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata

Jaye He ! Jaye He ! Jaye He !

Jaye,Jaye,Jaye,Jaye He "

Translation of The national anthem - Jana Gana Mana in English

Thou are the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India's destiny. The name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujurat and Maratha. Of the Dravid and Orissa and Bengal.

It Echoes in the hills of Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.

They pray for your blessing and sing thy praise. The salvation of all people in thy hand, thou dispenser of India's destiny. Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Do write to me with your feedback & comments or brickbats, at simplymearl@live.com

or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

JAI HIND!

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!

“Goa” – A place in India you cannot NOT visit

Like every year, this year too, I celebrated Christmas and New Year in Goa and I must proclaim it loud and clear that there is no better place than Goa, where you can usher in the New Year and you can actually experience Christmas.

Goa is famous for its beaches, its greenery, its landscapes, its lakes, its food (fish curry, rice and pork sausages), the Portuguese styled houses, its beautiful churches, the cashews nuts and the Kaju Feni (liquor made from cashews), the port wine, the kokum juice. And I make sure, I do it all when I visit Goa every year for that very short vacation period of 10 days.

The Goan’s in Goa love eating bread and if you are in Goa, you just cannot miss out on relishing the bread. A variety of bread is baked in Goa, like the poaye (big round sweet breads), butter bread, brown breads, to name a few. The Goans are hence nicknamed the “Pavwala’s” (the bread man) because of their liking for bread. And yes, I too am a pavwala ;-).

The locals in Goa speak Konkani which is the local language and which is my mother tongue too. But Goa is a place, where language is not a barrier, people speak English, Hindi and Marathi, so you can never feel or be out of place when it comes to communication.

This time though, the tourists visiting Goa was down by 50% because of the terror threat and the security was too tight with checks at all tourist landmarks. Yeah, it is a kind of an intrusion to privacy but one needs to comply with the additional security checks that the authorities think necessary for the security of its citizens, in this time when the country and the world is being terrorised.

In short Goa is all about fun, entertainment, food and drinks.

So all you folks out there, if you are planning a vacation in India, then I suggest you must visit Goa (atleast for a week) and believe me the best time to be there is during the Christmas week.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009. May all your dreams come true.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Do write to me with your feedback & comments or brickbats, at simplymearl@live.com or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!

Birthday celebrations are so embarrassing!!

Birthday is a day every year…. which I am sure is special to each one of us. A day on which we receive gifts and lots of hugs & kisses from our loved ones.

It is infact a special day, filled with celebrations with friends and family, but believe me, I kind of find birthday celebrations real embarrassing and accepting gifts even more uncomfortable.

On my birthdays, I like staying away from the rest of the world. No cutting the birthday cake, no gifts, no parties, for me please. I make it a point to take a casual off from office too, because it’s kind of a ritual in office to cut the birthday cake with colleagues.

People put you in the spotlight….just because it’s your birthday. No big deal…what say!!!

Life is beautiful…but I do not see birthdays as a day where you have achieved anything…….it’s just the day which comes the same day every year. Infact, it is worthier to be in the spotlight, if you have achieved your goal with your hardwork and commitment.

But yeah…..I love celebrating birthdays of my friends and family. So the reverse is applicable.

If you have any inputs or brickbats, please write to me at simplymearl@live.com or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!

If you think you have broken our spirits……then I think you need to get a reality check.

After the terrorist attack, the best thing that has happened to us here is India, is that each citizen of this multicultural country is strongly united and we have realized the power of being united even better.

If anybody or anyone thinks that they can divide and rule in our country, then you better get a reality check done. That’s never going to happen!!

We have seen this unity exhibited at the rally in Mumbai and other metros in India, where hundreds of people, including children and senior citizens, gathered on 3rd Dec 2008, to mourn the death of victims and martyrs and to demand security for the common man.

The common man like you and me, when united can bring about a change….a reform in the government, in the administrative system and take self ownership of our own security and the security of our brothers and sisters of this country.

This unity, undeniably tells the people who want to terrorise our country or the world, that IF YOU THINK WE ARE AFRAID THAT YOU’LL DESTROY US……..I THINK, YOU NEED TO THINK AGAIN.

WE ARE NOT TERRIFIED AND AFARID!!!!

Terrorism is spread by terrorists, who do not follow any religion, faith or any nationality. No religion, no holy book scriptures in the name of God, tells its believers, to kill people and terrorise the world….so that they get eternal life after death in heaven.

If the terrorists caught & found, follow a particular faith and if they belong to a particular nation, then I must say that this is a mere coincidence. They belong and follow a particular faith because they are simply born into it………probably they have never understood the word of God.

These are people, who run away from their homes to join the community or a group, who follow the RELIGION OF TERRORISM. We shouldn’t blame people who follow a particular religion and who belong to a particular country. But yes, if we have investigated that the terrorists are trained in certain hide-out locations of Pakistan, then we seek the co-operation of Pakistan to help India and the rest of the world combat the terrorists.

No democratic country can ever be involved in terrorist activity, and hence we are definite that the terrorist training camps that are taking place in Pakistan (which is a democratic country) is on a hide-out, and the training camps are being conducted without the knowledge of the government.

But, with the intervention of the government of Pakistan……………….it is easier for India and the rest of the world to combat terrorism right from its roots. WE NEED TO FINISH THEM UP COMPLETELY!!!

We are a world of billions and billions of people and this community which follows the religion of terrorism are a real small group. If each country along with their forces unite in co-operation, we can simply cease them and put each one to task by law.

India needs younger and educated team of people in the government, who are aggressive and will go to any extent to secure our country, in a positive way. Each citizen of India, should also take the onus to secure themselves and their families. And yes, the change is in process and it will happen.

We do not want anyone to sympathise with us but yes we need your support to fight our war on terrorism.

If you have your views and comments, you can write to me at simplymearl@live.com or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!

We have had enough…and can’t take this anymore..

We love our Mumbai…..We love the India we live in. India is the front runner in the global economy. Even with this economic downturn, India has managed to sustain its growth and from a developing country, India is not far from becoming a superpower developed country.

India is one of the largest democracies of the world and each citizen of this country has the right to talk and write about the people they put in power. Probably, I would have not had the guts to write this article in my blog, if India was a land of dictators.

Hence, here am I using my right to speak about matters that make me and the citizens of India watchful after the recent terrorists attack which took the whole of Mumbai and the whole of India under ransom.

We can’t take this lying down anymore…….we just CANNOT!!!.

Each citizen of India is just fed-up with the security of this country. Where on earth, are the citizens of India safe!!! We keep talking about “The Mumbai Spirit”, here in India. A serial bombing happens…..people seen mourning for a day and then we have bounced back the very next day to our normal day’s schedule. We do this because we want to keep this city alive. It is because of this attitude of the citizens of Mumbai, that our city Mumbai is a financial capital of India. Mumbai and the whole of India survives….because of its citizens….because of the common man.

I just need to tell you that we no longer can bounce back……..our spirits are in the state of coma and we just can’t take this anymore. We are afraid, to get out of our homes today. We are not sure, whether our family members would return home. We cannot see the innocent people of this country dying each day, loosing their property, money….that they have earned after a turmoil of their working years in this city.

We want a change in the system…..A change with aggressive and principled officers who will work towards making this land a safe place for locals and for foreigners.

Just a day after the terrorist attack, the government is getting a makeover. However, we need to tell you that this is not the right time for a makeover. We are bleeding at the moment and the government needs to wait before taking any such drastic steps.

We need to plan our strategy before making such hasty decisions, because this will paralyse our government, leading to more attacks.We need to put the people who attacked us to task. We need to work towards this FIRST HAND. WE NO LONGER CAN FORGIVE AND FORGET!!!

And yes, we can put the people and the countries who are supporting terrorists training and activities to task, by demanding that they better be vigilant and take action against these groups. We know the names and the so called underworld dons involved in these criminal activities……..so why not just kill them. We can do this only in collaboration with other powerful nations.

We do not want a War……we want Peace!!!

If you have your views/ comments/ queries, you can write to me at simplymearl@live.com or leave your inputs in the comments tab below.

Before I sign out, as I always say take very good care of yourself and God Bless!