So much commotion over 'Dera Sacha Sauda'!

There has been so much commotion in the name of religion! Now take the case of 'Sacha Sauda'. This is not a name of any religion, caste, or any organization. The meaning of Sacha Sauda is to truly meditate on the names of Allah, Ram, God — all of which are different names given to the power of the soul by various religions, without interfering in anyone’s religion or caste. The aim of the Dera Sacha Sauda is to make people aware of the true presence of the Lord through the proper channel and guide humans towards the true love of the Lord. The Dera was originally set up in Sirsa in 1948 after it was displaced from Baluchistan in the wake of Partition They preach to meditate on the name of God all the time, abstain from consumption of alcohol, meat and eggs, observe truth in day-to-day life, shun evil social practices like dowry and extramarital relations and follow the path of truth. but now-a-days, it is in news for a different reason. Apparently,the Dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh offended the religious sentiments of the Sikhs. He was seen in an advertisement as appearing in public wearing robes akin to the ones that 'Guru Gobind Singh-ji' used to wear. The Sikh community is highly offended. they feel that he has hurt their religious sentiments by giving an advertisement attired in a dress similar to that of Guru Gobind Singh and also administering Amrit (nectar) to his followers in violation of Sikh traditions. This advertisement led to outbreak of sectarian violence in the state, claiming a life and causing much damage to government and private properties. (Whatever happened to peace and meditation!) Singh was charged by Punjab Police under pretext of deliberate malicious act intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or its religious belief, There has been uproar and the Dera has been asked to shut its doors.(I wonder if closing the Dera will solve their problems forever) The stand off between the Dera Sacha Sauda and the Sikhs show no signs of a resolution with the Akal Takht rejecting the Dera Head's regret, demanding the closure of all Deras in Punjab and calling for a state bandh.(More fuss) However, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh feels he has done nothing wrong. He feels that the entire thing has been misinterpreted. (I am sure it is) He says that whatever has triggered the controversy now has been a normal practice in the Dera ever since it came into existence. The serving of amrit that has become so controversial has been their practice since ages. They call it jaam-e-insaan, after partaking which a Dera follower becomes a true human being. where will this end? I wonder if they know it?

Whats wrong with old-age home? huh?

Imagine if you have an aging father, and you are unable to take care of him, For aged mother, it is not so difficult. Aged Mom can spent her time watching TV, attending various mandirs and tikaras, gossiping with friends in the park, she will be busy taking care of the house, searching for odds and ends to occupy her time, she will stitch the torn ends, cut the veggies, wash the plates and even make chappatis. or simply pass time taking panga with her daughter-in-law. She is never bored. But aging father? It is difficult. There are very few activities for him to do except to read newspaper, which he cannot read if he has poor eye-sight. We don’t expect him to help in the kitchen. At the most, he can go for walks or he can baby sit. But he needs/expects his tea/lunch/snack/dinner/attention/pampering, all at his convenience, and that is difficult nowadays, when there is so much of a work load. I don’t understand why old-age-home is a taboo in our Indian society. I was suggesting an old age home to my Indian friend who was worried about her aged father, and she looked shocked as if she had seen a ghost. Come on, be practical. If you look at these homes with open mind, they are no so bad, especially the ones where you can pay and stay comfortably. There are some good old age homes in India, where they take a deposit of five lakhs of rupees and you pay the rent of rupees ten thousand per month. They have an air conditioned private room plus they can have great number of professional to look to their mental/culinary/health needs. These homes ensure good health care, full services for a fee. These apartments which are equipped with 24 hour medical services, dining and recreational facilities, wheel chair facilities are available for a monthly maintenance charge plus the initial cost of the apartment. These independent living retirement arrangements enable the older people to enjoy life without being bothered about day-to-day maintenance. They can actively participate in the activities of the residents and also play games, swim, go out shopping and enjoy other cultural activities. Usually food is provided but the enterprising ones can cook their own meals. Such senior housing facilities are for those senior citizens who cannot take full responsibility but still want to be independent. Nothing however will take the place of staying at home with the family. Love and affection and the feeling of being wanted and needed can never be replaced by anything. Senior citizens staying in a family environment are the ideal scenario that they would want provided that is what the others want. But some times, certain things cannot be helped. Wise decision always helps.

A Joke sent to me by my friend...heheheehehee!

A woman comes home and tells her husband, "Remember those Headaches I've been having all these years? Well, they're gone." "No more headaches?" the husband asks, "What happened?" His wife replies, Margie referred me to a hypnotist. He told me To Stand in front of a mirror, stare at myself and repeat "I do not Have a Headache; I do not have a headache, I do not have a headache." It Worked! The headaches are all gone." The husband replies, "Well, that is wonderful." His wife then says, "You know, you haven't been exactly a ball Of Fire in the bedroom these last few years. Why don't you go see the Hypnotist and see if he can do anything for that?" The husband agrees to try it Following his appointment, the husband comes home, rips off his Clothes, picks up his wife and carries her into the bedroom. He Puts her on The bed and says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." He goes into The Bathroom and comes back. A few minutes later and jumps into bed And makes Passionate love to his wife like never before. His wife says, "Boy, that was wonderful!" The husband says, "Don't move! I will be right back." He goes Back Into the bathroom, comes back and round two was even better than The First time. The wife sits up and her head is spinning. Her husband again says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." With That, He goes back in the bathroom. This time, his wife quietly follows him and there, in the Bathroom, She sees him standing at the mirror and saying, "She's not my Wife. She's Not my wife. She's not my wife..." His funeral service will be held on Friday.

Funny kids nowadays! Studying on their mobile? How silly!

During our college days, the exam periods were the most interesting days. We would make plans to study at night. Some times we would have competitions on who studies the maximum hours. (some times, I would cheat by catching a small slumber with my light on, fooling my competitor that I was still studying) Then we would have friends stay over, to keep us awake so that we could chat/eat/make coffee in between our serious studies. Some times we would go out in the middle of the night to eat Paav Bhaji (Yes, pav bhaji and egg bhorji would be available during all night) and some times we would rush off during the early hours and eat the half-fry egg and drink Irani Chai. Our studying sessions were filled with laughter and thrill. But all that has changed! Nowadays, they spend too much time on internet or they are out all night, surfing discothèque of different suburbs and that leaves them with little time to actually prepare for their exams. And what should I say of this? In this new technological age, our future generation will just switch on their handset and answer the multiple choices available on it to prepare for their exams! And they are going to study material for competitive exams like the GRE, CET or CAT! This initiative will be called the ‘Prep Guide’ and this service will be available on phones through WAP/SMS/voice and multiple applications and would involve major operators to provide the service. All an aspiring student has to do is go to a particular study zone, type the code and avail of the services, just for Rs100. EnableM, a wireless application company, has come up with such a solution. It has tied-up with the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) to launch comprehensive MBA study material on phones within a month It is a comprehensive module catering to all the learning requirements for an MBA training program, which comprises of an English zone, Math zone, logic and reasoning and must-knows. Booo! How boring! Alas, the young kids of today may not understand nor enjoy our kind of pure fun. They can study in those crowded, smoky, ‘Kaffee’ zones.

Comics with bold messages like HIV/AIDS

During my growing up days, I found it easier to read comics because they had lot of pictures and it ended faster. I would enjoy comics like Tintin, Archies, Phantom, Batman and many more. Many of my friends discouraged me from reading those comics debating that it murdered the English grammar but since it was easier to understand, with everything left to imagination, and it worked for me. Comics are not merely for kids any more. There are new set of comics, in market nowadays, like - "Josh Mein Hosh" (Passion with Sense), "Khoon Ka Katra" (Just a drop of blood), "Savdhan Senior" (On your guard, senior) and "Pyar Ka Packet" (A packet of love) that are interwoven with messages on HIV/AIDS, and conveys the message that it is wrong to presume that "girlfriends must be meek and submissive and that a sexually aggressive woman is bad. The aim of these comics is to change social attitude and dispel the popular notion of masculinity that makes young men in urban slums indulge in violence against women and use condoms only when having a relationship with sex workers. There has been an urgency to bring out these educational comic books because in 2006, about 30 percent of HIV infections were reported in the 15 to 20 age group. Existing literature shows that young Indian men subscribe to norms of masculinity that lead to risky behavior and to change this, discussions were held with young men to understand their media habits, message retention from HIV campaigns, myths and misconceptions.. Participants were encouraged to relate real life incidents so that these comics echoed true stories. The draft stories were pre-tested in discussions with young men in urban slums and their feedback was incorporated in the final version The state and district AIDS control societies in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi have integrated elements of their campaign into the comic book series and have endorsed the products The Population Council and four other NGOS have brought out this set of comics, in four languages - Bengali, English, Hindi and Telugu. Several NGOs have been approached to integrate this package within existing outreach activities and to distribute these comics Will the illitrate population show any interest in such comics? Time will tell.