Sunday, May 31, 2009

Old TV Days... DD Days

Remember the good old days of Doordarshan... the only channel you could get was DD and that's all you could watch. I think we would be the only bunch of people or the generation who grew up on those amazing & educational/inspirational sort of entertainment. Waking up early Sunday mornings to watch Rangoli (i hardly wake up before 10-12 now!!). And the next on list were:
- Ramayan remember Dara Singh speaking shudh hindi in Punjabi Accent, always felt like he would say "Satshriakaal Ramji" just any time. The streets & markets used to get empty & peopel used to worship thereTV before putting the show on. Ther used to be gathering of whole village or colonys on people's home who had TV.
- Mahabharat every charcter unique & etched in our memories, starting from Mukesh Khanna as Bheeshm to Puneet Issar as Duryodhan & all others. And the ultimate, "main, samay hoon".
- Chandrakanta taught us about 'Aiyyari' & 'Yakkooooo', Kroor Singh was actually cool singh with spikey hair at that time which has become fashion now. Heard there's a movie coming with Amitabh & Abhishek.
- and 'all that' (this comes from my recent reading of Inscrutable Americans).
Other kids-favorites were:
- Sigma (A sci-fi show which I don't remember now except that we used to imitate some guy Shakti in School & Games. I dont remember much except that)
- Jungle Book jungle-jungle baat chali hai pata chala hai, chaddhi pehen ke phool khila hai-phool khila hai; and ofcourse Nana Patekar's voice as Sher Khan
- Betaal Pachisi indian version of Phantom, I guess the first Indian superhero with underwear outside pants!!
- Shaktimaan The 1st and Best Indian Hero till now. Mukesh Khanna was the superhero Shaktimaan but was more aweosme as Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Onkarnath Shastri, i still remember it!!
- Captain Vyom Milind Somen as Captain Vyom was cool & the special-effects were quite flashy too.
- Disney shows including Duck Tales & Talespin who can forget Uncle Scrooge and his swimming pool of dollars. Launch Pad always crashing & saying Mr McD. And the sweet Baloo & Ritika Malaingam of Talespin...
Also were the afternoon usuals like HeMan, SuperMan, Samurai, Chhutti-Chhutti (hahahehe, ho gai chhutti) etc. Wednesday Evenings were exclusively for Chitrahaar ofcourse, being the only second song program on TV. Rest of the days had there own favorites of Nukkad, Fauji, Circus (Shahrukh Khan the TV star), Malgudi Days (Swami & his frineds, singing ta-nana-tana-nana-naa), Karamchand (Pankaj Kapur with Sushmita Mukherjee as witty Kitty), Chanakya, Byomkesh Bakshi (India's bengali take on Sherlock Holmes with Rajit Kapur), Tahqeeqat (another take on Sherlock Holmes starring Vijay Anand & Saurabh Shukla,'smoking is bad for health'), Dekh Bhai Dekh (Shekhar Suman & Waheeda Rehman with many others. have heard they are making a movie on this), Tenaliraman, Tipu Sultan (Sanjay Khan did a wonder with this) and many others. And remember Kille Ka Rahasya (all i remember is watching it hidden in rajai & being scared all the time), the only horror show on TV and Surabhi (I remember Renuka Shanhe, we sent answers to some of there contest questions but never got prize) was the most informative of the lot. The shows had there fixed timings without any repeat telecasts and so we had to be on time and if you miss some you didn't even get Recap or Forecap. I don't think there were many commercials either except those lovely message-ads like "Surajk ek, chanda ek" & "Miley sur mera tumhara", i just loved all those. Ofcourse there weren't any daily soaps nor was the channel a 24 hour show. And comparing to what comes on TV now, it was way better stuff. But still parents were so strict in letting us watch even these stuff and always had a NO-NO for most of them. "This is not good for you, TV watching is not good.. study, or better play outside". LOLzzzzzzzzzzz

We used to have a BIG wooden box kinda TV (i guess it could actually fit in all the people used to show). Needed 2 people to lift it, but I was so excited when it came to our house more than 20 yrs back. The regulator kinda channel selector would have been annoying but who cared with just one channel on air. Beat it on the sides when it doesnt work and I guessyou may even use it as a couch or table, LOL. Anyways, remember the cool stuff from old DD Days which are etched in our memories, here's some which I remember:
- Nritya Ka Akhil Bhartiya Program biggest hindi sentence on TV- "aap to woh mengi wali tikiya... leti thi, magar wohi safedi aur wohi jhaag agar kam daamo mein miley to - koi yeh kyun le, woh naa le!!" & "Lifeboy hai jahan, tandarusti hai wahan"- Namskar, aap dekh rahe hain Hindi Samachaar like I tuned in to watch Michael Jackson Dancing, thanks for the information.- Rukaawat Ke Liye Khed Hai just AWESOME, could show up anytime!!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

More than 1000 visit...

in less than 5 months!!!! awesome... isn't it???? or you think it's too bad, not good enough... everyone has right to his/her opinion, but i am feeling HAPPY (not as when Santa & Banta were feeling Happy; Happy felt disgusted & he left!!)

It has been more than a year since I have been blogging; 55 posts till now out of which 34 have been written in this year in less than 5 months. I had put the visitor map on Jan 09, 2009 and since then I have had more than 1000 visits from 47 countries (yeah, I just counted it now). More than half visits have been from my country (its India & not US) and more than 200 visits from US, rest from 45 other countries... WOW!! I am like super popular, LOL. In a world where bloggers are getting more than 1000 visits per day I am happy to get there in 5 months. I have done a lot to promote my blog too, because I think just making a good product is not good enough but marketing/selling it the right way is highly important (now you get free management gyan, should have been on TRM Blog). I have attached the blog link to my status at all my communicators, IMs, social networking sites & just anywhere also; I was actually even appreciated by few people for my ideas of promotion (just to get certain clicks/visits I do soooo much, ugh!!).

Here's link to my posts which have been highly popular (as I say). Read them & (you have to) enjoy them ...
I have asked you guys enough times to comment on my blog & all that, but most of you hardly do that (people call/msg me to tell me it was great but never comment. i have anonymous commenting enabled, so just comment people!!). I won't ask the same thing again this time but just want you guys to help me promote my blog too; spread it across & ask (force them... just go to there systems & open my blog, stand there until they read & save the link in fav too) others to read it too. Also read (& make other read as well) my other TRM blog too. So friends & foes... keep reading, commenting and promoting. This is RAHUL saying Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO!!!!!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Fight Against Max Hospital... just another chain-mail????

I just hate these spams, chain-mails/sms, & forwarded junks (like everybody else loves it, ugh!!). Everyday in our mailbox, we see tons of mails sent by who-knows-who making stupid claims & providing weird information. On top of that, some of them warn you that if you do not follow the chain something BAD will happen to you. Which world are you living in people... must not be the same as I live in, because bad doesn't happens by not spamming other's inbox. I never forward these mails/sms and delete most of them without reading (which is strictly prohibited as per those mails; maybe that's the reason I am not happy these days!!) or send a strict reply warning the sender to never repeat it again (or something BAD will happen to him, lol). Certain mails provide you with stunning information which are mostly hoax/rumors & we spread them by forwarding it further without validations and believing them too...

So I received another forward recently from one of my friends titled "Fight Against MAX Hospital" with an attached presentation too. It was from some Deepika Manchanda from Wipro saying that her sister Nitika Manchanda (who was a Genpact employee) was ill-treated carelessly by MAX
Healthcare, Pitampura (New Delhi, INDIA) which resulted in her death; and she wanted to spread this message across to fight against it. As usual I didn't just believe it; but I didn't delete the email either. I replied back to Deepika asking her about the facts; and she replied back confirming the story (it was on Hindustan Times too, click here). That's when I opened the presentation & had a look and read further details. Honestly, it was not surprising or shocking.. but highly disappointing, inappropriate, painful & shameful as well. This has not happened for the first time in India or the world, but its still very unfortunate...

Please have a look at the presentation/blog by clicking here for more details. It is the unfortunate story of Dr. Nitika Manchanda's death due to irresponsible behaviour & carelessness of Doctors/Hospital and seems Nitika died due to negligence of MAX hospital & its staff. As per latest update from Deepika; postmortem done at Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, does not conclusively say anything except Patechial rashes and hemorrhages all over her body. Final report would come after chemical analysis of blood and viscera examinations is what they are saying. After pressure from the Police Commissioner Delhi, DCP North West, Mr.Bundela is initiating the action for further enquiry ,after 20 days though. A dedicated blog "Fight-Against-MAX" has been created for this cause. Many of us have been victims to others carelessness & ignorance however we have mostly ignored it too. This is the time we should come up together and ignore the ignorance and fight for the cause. Medical professionals & any other people sitting at responsible positions should understand the importance of there role and should pay due attention to it. Someones stupid fault can make someones life faulty and bring it to an end; lets try to make sure this never happens again.

How about you, have you seen any similar cases? What do you think about this? Any other stories or views you might want to share... In the mean time, please keep blogging and keep reading & commenting on my blogs. This is RAHUL saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO!!!!
(read the comments below & click here to read further...)

After 2 years, I am not celebrating Memorial Day as I am in India today. Do I miss it?? Honestly, not the Memorial day but I do miss US. More than a year back I wrote my 1st blog when I was in India & then 2nd blog after I reached US... Yaadein!!!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

kya kahu, kya naa kahu... say what

I haven't written about myself lately, so some of you people might be waiting to hear that (or some of you might be even happy for it!!). But I am not sure of what to say, because it seems I have nothing. People ask me that why I seem strange, what happened; and I have to say nothing happened & that's the problem that nothing's happening. I have so much in my mind, so much I want, so much I need to do... but nothing's happeneing (lots of happenings but nothings happening). It's like those points of our lives when everything seemes to be halted (and the worst is other's seem to be moving). Seems I have no clue what's going on & what do I need to do for things to change. Am I happy? Definitely not. This is the 1st time I have started to hate being in Delhi/India. Looks like an overstatement but that's how I feel these days...

Someone told me that in every few years in our lives there comes a slump period where we feel lost & things don't move well (as it happens in our economies too & we have the slump period of recession going on). But that's not a big deal considering many years of success & growth. I understand it; however I still feel that we can't just accept it & let it happen. We need to feel bad first and get concerned (& take tension), because unless we get concerned (& take tension) we don't seem to act. I want to act & I am trying to act, let's just see how soon I can achieve it. Afterall I am responsible for myself; we are our own responsibilities & we have to atke care of it ourselves. I am still surprised that where's all the fun & humor of my blogs lost, it seems its lost in me. But still I keep posting some interesting & funny slides etc. I wrote an excellent post on my
TRM blog regarding "Stock Market is not a Zero Sum Game", read it. Alright friends & people, that's it for now. Please keep blogging and keep reading & commenting on my blogs. This is RAHUL saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO!!!!
And Enjoy this funny slideshow for some fun...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Rahul's magic worked for Congress/UPA... BJP/NDA pays for what they didn't do

If you do not know, this Rahul is not me but Rahul Gandhi. Election Results swere declared today and Congress registered one of its biggest wins in recent times by getting almost 206 seats and UPA getting a clear majority as well. The youth leader in Rahul has definitely clicked well with youngsters and the Gandhi in his surname clicked well with the poor & masses. He does seems like an efficient leader and a high potential candidate for future PM (Prime Minister) as well. Although I think Rahul should wait for sometime to be PM, he should take some ministry & prove his credentials as an efficient leader & administrator. For a PM he needs more experience as well, PM is a big job afterall. Manmohan Singh is a nice person but not a great PM, we need to get someone better. However, I have a problem with this family politics, Sonia has clicked well because she's Gandhi & same applies to Rahul as well (till now). New people should get opportunity too... there are good people.. but they are not in politics as they think its too dirty... but someone has to get in that dirty ditch to try to clean it.
With NDA, BJP is still the second largest party which would be sitting in opposition but nothing else. They haven't done anything or any ground work in last 5 years, atleast that's how it seems to common people like us. As the second largest party you should do something for the nation and play a constructive/efficient opposition but they have been good for nothing. Also it seems there ground workers didn't work much for the party or the nation. Narendra Modi does seems like some hope for the party & may be good for nation too (but still I say that he needs to improve his image as a nationally accepted leader). I am glad that the 3rd & 4th front and the others didn't get much as it was quite important for us as a nation to get clearer judgement. This is a verdict against there bad choice of leaders & also towards hope for a stable government.
One last this which I have realised that I and many of us are not in favor or against any party and we don't need to be either. I am in favor of our country and whoever does well or is ready to try to do well is right for us. All I would still like is the right to elect leader of the nation directly; in such a big democracy we should be able to select & elect our Head of the Nation. That person should be the one whom we can proudly call our leader. Hopefully whoever will become leader (most probably Manmohan again though) now will try to do some good for the nation & not do anything like last 5 years. This is not the time to just sit idle & wait for something bad to happen & then try to correct it or just do nothing as atleast no bad happens. This is the time to step ahead & try to do something for the nation even if their are risks involved or anything. We have to become more aggressive & progressive to grow & become the BEST!!!
So what do you people think about direct elections for the Head of Nation? And how do you feel about Rahul or Modi? Any other views you might want to share... In the mean time, please keep blogging and keep reading & commenting on my blogs. This is RAHUL saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO, JAI HIND!!!!!

Friday, May 08, 2009

Lets make India better... & Best!!!!

I have nothing to defend or to offend anyone, but its exciting to see that youth does thinks about voting and wants to talk about it. I did not vote this time, and I am not proud of it. I really wanted to vote but could not; I have an agenda behind not voting. Voting is our right & responsibility, with every big power comes big responsibilities and we should know how to use it in the right way. I am not sure if I can do it right, because I do not have an option to do right. I did my homework of collecting information & details about the parties & the candidates as well. You can check the candidate details on MYNETA & rest you can do by checking some first hand information; I did it & trust me the information you get is not very fruitful but mostly disappointing. And political parties have been trying to fool us always. Congress has a puppet PM & a ruling history of last 5 yrs or 60 yrs which is not very appreciable. There may be some hope in Rahul Gandhi but he still needs experience & should prove his worth first. BJP has been confused itself & confusing the voters too by not being sure what it wants to do & what party it is. Have you heard the stupid promises of increasing tax limits or paying lakh rupee to all girls and all that, you need to explain that how are you gonna do that?? I feel that Modi is a strong and efficient leader, however he needs to improve his image in nation's eyes. I don't think I need to say much about leaders like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Laloo Prasad, Paswan & others. These are the people who think of themselves as future PMs and we cant do much about it. Is it acceptable in a huge democracy that at the time of election we do not know who is gonna be the Leader of the nation & we do not even get to choose him. It all depends on coalitions & some greedy/shrewd politicians who'll decide the leader of our great nation. Due to all these VOTING campaigns and all that, voting has become a col phenomena but still we do not understand the importance & responsibility of our right to vote. You need to make sure that you vote for the right party & candidate, but where are the right party & candidates? And you don't get to select the leader of nation, I don't like it either. We already have election for Villages, Municipality, MLA, MP etc for local development & all that; however in a huge democracy like India, we should get the right to select the leader of our nation in national elections. And we should get the right to not vote & select no one. These things Will force the political parties and organisations to bring better leaders. And if they can't then we should come up & try to become better leaders for our nation.
I appreciate everyone's interest & concern for these issues and comments here, really excited to see it. It is definitely good to express your views and share opinions so we can think together and make right decisions. We know that our country needs improvement & needs a change. By voting or not voting, but we have to think of those ways and we have to bring that change as it is our right & responsibility. We can do it & we will do it. Thanks everyone & All the Best, to all of us & our nation... Jai Hind!!

Monday, May 04, 2009

Please VOTE... but I won't!!

You must have been hearing this a lot lately (the 1st part) by different ads/campaigns etc & promoted by many celebrities, so I had to chip-in too (I have responsibilities too as to-be-celebrity naa). Please do vote as it is very important for you to exercise your right of vote as a responsible citizen. That would be your small contribution towards the development of our nation by picking the right leaders who can lead our nation to growth & prosperity. It's a truth that every vote counts; specially when people are winning by a margin of few hundred votes or even less sometimes. So it's time to use your vote as weapon to fight against corruption, poverty, terrorism and everything else; your right vote will take the nation in the right direction... this is your chance to make the difference!! If you do not know about the candidate at your place or want to check any other then you can visit MY-NETA. For any queries about voting etc, you may visit JAAGO-RE.
However, I know you guys are more interested in listening to why I say 'I won't'... If you guys remember that I didn't vote last time in Delhi Elections (read here) and I am thinking about not voting this time as well. The motive behind voting is to make a difference & make things better... but it doesn't really seems that I have any option of making things any better. Most of the parties & candidates are corrupt, shrewd, uneducated, uncivilized & worthless, are they going to make things better for us & our nation? I can go & vote for the best of the worst, but are we incapable of getting few good people out of more than a billion population? We can't select 545 good people out of this billion+ population? Actually we can't, because we do not have option available to select. And we do not eve have an easy option to say that we don't want to select, there is Article 49-O/Form 17-A but doesn't do much. I might try to do this if it works, however have heard that electoral officer are not happy to do this as it causes too much paper work & all that (why don't they make a button for it on the EVM). Lets see what I'll do....
Anyways friends/foes/others... do try to go out & vote; if you are confused like me then go out & try to do the "not/cancelled vote", but do it. Sp, what do you think about this? And what are you planing to do? In the mean time, please keep blogging and keep reading & commenting on my blogs. This is RAHUL saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO, JAI HIND!!!!!