Based on real life incident, names and places
changed to protect privacy.

Long time before Munna Bhai series was
released, long before most of the ilanders were born and ages before the birth
of internet technology. There was a small Indian Air Force base located in a
sleepy town of undivided Uttar Pradesh.

This incident is of mid 1960’s when cycle was
the pride of urban Indians and buying this luxury was still out of reach for
many. To make the life of our airmen better in those days in Forces, big bosses
decided to provide interest free loan to buy the cycle. Once the loan was
sanctioned whole amount was paid to Cycle Company by defense government and
employee paid back its loan in easy installment of princely amount Rs.10 per
month. Nice n easy.

 But getting the loan sanctioned was a tedious
task. It means endless amount of paper work and rounds of accounts department
to know the fate of application. One young recruit named Mr.Sidhu applied for
loan four times. Every time he applied he was told to wait as either quota for
the month was over or budget wasn’t approved yet and so on. Mr Sidhu was
working in technical (read Engg) branch. He observed somewhere non-technical
branch people was favored, their applications were approved quickly where as
most of people from technical branch met nearly same fate.

 Next time when it was time to apply for another
loan application, he wrote to his senior officer to be granted permission to
keep a donkey to commute from his barracks to office and back. Reading this
unusual request of permission Mr.Rao seriously thought iss sardar ka dimag main jaroor koi problem hain.

 He called Mr.Sidhu in his office. “What is this
Sidhu”, asked Mr. Rao. This is application sir replied Sidhu.

 I know that, but what it is about. How can you
ask for permission for a donkey said Mr.Rao. 

 Wahi to bata raho hoon sir, it is difficult to commute sir,
kuch to chageye na. Aur phir wo office ke ass pass ka ghass kha ke peet bhar le
ga aur mera bhee kam chal jaye ga. Mali ka 
karcha bhe bach jayegaa.

 
(That is what I am trying to say, it is
difficult to commute sir, I need something to commute. And he will eat the
grass and I will have something to commute. Other benefit will be we don’t need
to pay for gardener. Mr Sidhu was in habit of saying sir with every word and
try reading Mr.Sidhu’s Hindi in Punjabi accent).

 But why don’t you buy the cycle asked Mr. Rao,
who was losing his patience with Sidhu now.

 Whai to bata rahan hoon sir, I am a poor person sir, I have
six sister an I am only son sir, old parents sir, very poor sir (everything he
said was a lie; he was only son of a landlord family). How can I buy a
cycle..sob..sob…..

 But why don’t you take the loan said Mr.Rao
trying to calm him down

 Wahi to bata rahan hoon sir, our poor government is getting
bank corrupt. Where is the money sir. I have to think about country as well
sir. We should find the ways to save money sir.

 Listen Sidhu, stop this nonsense and apply for
your cycle loan, right now. Write your application and I will sign it for
approval said Rao, who was by now thinking kya yeh sardar fit bhee hain forces
ke liye. 

 Whai to bata rahan hoon sir there is no budget
sir. I have applied so many times, said Sidhu.

 And this lead to through investigation of what
is happening with Mr.Sidhu’s loan application. As a result Mr.Rao passed the
orders till he is posted there all technical staff loan applications will be dealt
with paramount. Non-technical staff application for cycle loan will sanctioned
only after approval of all technical staff application. 

Needless to say Mr.Sidhu was the first to get
the beautiful, shinny, black bicycle. Though his application for donkey was
never approved.

I  don't like putting poems on rediffland, but I think is good one and worth sharing I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I am important. My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have. Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free. Today I can feel sad that I don"t have more money or I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.  Today I can grumble about my health or I can rejoice that I am alive. Today I can lament over all that my parents didn"t give me when I was growing up or I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born. Today I can cry because roses have thorns or I can celebrate that thorns have roses. Today I can mourn my lack of friends or I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships. Today I can whine because I have to go to work or I can shout for joy because I have a job to do. Today I can complain because I have to go to school or eagerly open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge. Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework or I can feel honored because the Lord has provided shelter for my mind, body and soul. Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor who gets to do the shaping. What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!  Author Unknown

Reading newspaper today I found an
article on movie Devdas. Was amazed to know that movie was made in 50 different
languages and have been made couple of times in Bollywood. I am not against the
movie or its presentation, but I could never understand why we celebrate losers.
Mr. Dev in my opinion was all time loser. Well educated, had best of everything
in life and he never valued life. He wasted all his life for a lady who was
married to someone else. Is it a good example of not moving on with life, not
accepting what is handed over to you.

 Or was it case of never letting
your self over grief of lost. Is it love to drown your self in alcohol and die.
I may be naïve or die hard optimistic to say that what ever comes we should
always look forward to achieve something. If we are blessed with all the
resources in life then let us do something worthwhile for those around us. And
if we are not as lucky to have all what we want then we should work hard to
achieve it. Last year I worked with people having Autism. It was sad to see how
come some humans are made so unequal by nature in terms of capabilities. But
what was interesting was their spirit to live. Their zeal to complete some
little tasks by the end of the day, and feel happy and proud of doing it. Their
sense of achievement and ability to restart again when they felt they failed.  

 When I first started working with
them I was frightened, how I will cope with them. But being a oversees student
I had no option but to do it, because it was most well paid part-time job, I could
get. My challenges was very different from what was portrayed on screen movie
Tare Zameen Per, but basics were very similar. Their ability to withdraw or
present themselves with challenging behaviours when hurt. Today I feel privileged
to be associated with them, helped them with what ever little I was able to do.
Real life experiences have taught me never to give up or spend too much time
over your loss. Maybe this is the reason I can’t understand how we can
celebrate the story of life of a young able bodied man for giving up his life
to alcohol.  

Last
week I went to France. I visited a small place in southern France called
Castres. I was staying in old castle converted into hotel, keeping the old
tradition of place as it is. I was excited as well as scared to go to France, as I
have heard many stories about French people being rude to English speakers and
make their lives miserable. Trust me it happens a lot in Paris, where most of the
tourists go.

The
place where I was staying had a tradition of no locks in there rooms. When I
came to know about it, my heart skipped a beat. What if I lost my passport (it
means going rounds of Indian embassy office). What if I lost my money, mobile
phone, camera, cloths etc. In panic I went to the manager and explained her my
fears. She laughed it saying in last twenty year, since we have converted this
little castle into hotel there hasn’t been a single theft. Not only in this
castle, but in their tiny village there hasn’t been a reported theft in past 10
years. Honestly I couldn’t believe her. How can that be possible? Later on I
came to know she was the countess daughter running the family business. Her
polite manners and warm nature is worth appreciation.

Another
thing I noticed there wasn’t any CCTV camera’s monitoring the main roads or
place around. I am so use to of CCTV camera’s on roads, supermarkets,
university campus etc, you name the place and it is there every where in UK. Still
theft, burglary and crime rate is pretty higher here. It was unbelievable.
Another shock was to find people buying fresh food from local market, all home
grown vegetables. Supermarkets didn’t look much in fashion. Canned food,
microwave food was missing form most of the local shops. Secret of people
living near Mediterranean, longer and healthy lives.

Living
in modern world where security and protection is most talked thing, Security
camera’s, secure schools, protection from terrorism, and god know what, I went
to another part of western world where life was relaxed and free from nity -
gritty  of today’s world. It was a
wonderful experience.

 I wish all ilanders happy holidays and hope
every one get a chance to explore the world around.

I am  trying to find out about number of cases and deaths due to dengue fever in Delhi in last three years. I am reseraching on Dengue in Delhi. In this process  I need this information and I banging my head sitting in front of my laptop tyring to load Indian ministry of health website  from last few days. Successfully unsuccessful !!!

I type the web address and then wait, pray and sing ek bar load hoja, hoja...............but nothing works 
 
I wish I would have been reseraching on some bollywood starlet I would have even come to know about what kind of toothpaste she uses by now. But I fall in love with mosquitos and now struck up, then though why not try rediffland. It may work. Guys if u know about any journal, government report or any vaild resource from where I can get figures of 2005 and 2006 dengues cases and deaths in New Delhi, please forward me.

In case ur forwarding me email id's, could u please try getting phone numbers too. Because I rarely get email response back when ever I am begging for data. Actually I have to bug people to extract data. And trust me data extraction is more painful then dental extraction.

Thanks.

Few months back I found a interesting web site on internet. I was very happy to log in that web site as I was able to listen to live gurbani (prayers) from Golden temple Amritsar. I was feeling very excited and happy to be able to listen to shabads(prayers) in my room on a foreign land. Another connection with home great .

One day while browsing through that site I found something very disturbing. That site showed temperature of Amritsar city in country called Khalistan. Now I was confused firstly I don't know any country with that name and second thing my geography knowldge said Amritsar town is located in India, in my homeland. I was wondering if state government has changed the name of Punjab state to something else and  if not then what is going on. I wrote to the gentleman managing the web-site, if he can clear what is wrong here.Why is he publishing information which is not right on net???

Imagine the answer. He never replied to my email, but I don't know how he banned me from using the site. The site no more get loaded on my laptop. Where as my friends can easily log on to that site and listen to the Gurbani. Now this is a USA  based web-site managed by bunch of ABCD-NRI (ABCD American born confused desi's). What is their problem, do they really had a bad geography teacher, from where they are learning about our past and why are they reacting in such a manner. I can't understand.

As a kid I lived in Amritsar during the times of 84. My family lost a family friend during those riots, who was a Army officer, on his way from Assam to Punjab to spend his annual leave. He was killed in Delhi, leaving behind a young widow and two sons. Both his sons have now joined Indian Army. When people affected by those times are ready to forgot and go on with life, and they understand well it was all a game of power and politics then why do some people who have never put their feet in India, make such a hue cry of our past.Today we live in harmony in Punjab, but we have passed through those time when stepping outside in evening was a scare. Many people lost their loved one, some are still fighting court cases to bring guilty to be punished.With time those scars are filling up.Today we are developing fast and Indian economy is booming. Then why use such language. What is the need of putting operation blue star videos on net. Can't we leran from other peoples mistakes eg Sept 11 in USA, UK bomb blasts etc, that communal hatered does not lead us anywhere.   

Instead of remembering it as a bad history lesson or learn from past mistakes and move on who are they demanding a seperate  land. I think there are more important issues like child labor, health, housing, nutrition, education etc that need to be sorted out instead of dwelling on past. 

This happened in last week of Feb 07, since then I couldn't log on. Dono if the website manager has done something or not. But the site address is www.proudtobesikh.com.

P.S # this is a personal experience and my views about the matter I wanted to share with ilanders, it is not meant to upset anyone. I am looking forward for your comments.

Make little things bother you. Don"t just let them, MAKE them.

Lose your perspective on things and keep it lost: don"t put first things first.

Get yourself a good worry, one about which you cannot do anything.

Be a perfectionist, which means not that you work hard to do your best, but that you condemn yourself and others for not achieving perfection.

Be right. Be always right. Be the only one who is always right, and be rigid in your rightness.

Don"t trust or believe people, or accept them at anything but their worst and weakest. Be suspicious. Insist that others always have hidden motives.

Always compare yourself unfavorably to others. This guarantees instant misery.

Take personally everything that happens to you.

Don"t give yourself wholeheartedly to anyone or anything.

Get rid of your sense of humor. Life is very serious and you should take yourself seriously.

Two words: self-pity and lots of it. The whole world is definitely against you.

Cultivate bad, addictive habits in yourself. Drink a lot. Smoke a lot. Eat a lot.

Go silent........ whenever someone sparks up a conversation that you don"t know about. Make sure to fidget, squirm, roll your eyes and bite your nails to the quick. Quickly change the subject at the first opportunity.

Always build yourself up at the expense of others. Say things like "I could"ve told you that."
You have the power to change other human beings.
All people other than yourself are broken and You can fix them since you have Godly power.
You can fix another person, but you can"t do squat about yourself.
Become irresistibly attracted to people who will never be there for you, on any level, ever....

Never say "I"m sorry."

Make sure you take things people say to you as an insult, and let them know it - especially if you know they didn"t mean it that way!

Remember every little wrong that has ever been done to you, real or imagined. Gather those bad feelings & put them in a bag - it will be a large and heavy package. Then drag that bag behind you everywhere you go for the rest of your life. It is your ticket to unhappiness and your proof of how right you are about everything!

What is the sell by date for the marriage of the Indian women? I was recently told by a well wisher that everything in life should be done before the expiry date. Now I am wondering what the shelf life of modern women is. Teenage, early twenties or late twenties, or possibly thirties…….or when she wants to get married.

Having children till late in age is possible in today’s world. So I believe this sell by date wasn’t referred to it. Then what is this sell by date for marriage is all about. Who have settled these parameter now gal has grown up, so called sayani ho gaye hain, she should be married. I believe marriage is a very important decision should be taken by individuals when they are ready to take the responsibility of living together and the package that comes with it. I may be wrong, this well wisher of mine may be right because I have just taken a step towards the expiry date by stepping in second year of my thirties.

I am looking forward for ur comments friends.