Body language messages are sent automatically and unconsciously. Women send approximately five times more body language messages and gestures than men in the same time period. Body language has proven to be our most reliable indicator of how others feel about us.

Know how unconsciously you are sending signals through your body language.

Resting Hands Behind the Head or on the Hips

Usually interpreted as a sign of superiority or bigheadedness.

Increasing Your Rate of Blinking

A clear sign of anxiety. Some people start blinking their eyes really fast (in conjunction with an increased heart rate) when they get nervous. Since most people try to make eye contact, it becomes immediately obvious to others.

Not Directly Facing the Person You’re Speaking To

This indicates a certain level of discomfort or a lack of interest. When we’re happily engaged in a conversation we face the person we’re speaking to with our feet and torso facing directly forward. When we’re unsure of the other person, or not completely committed to the conversation, we tend to angle our feet and torso to the side

Crossing Your Arms

A sign of defensive resistance. Some people may also interpret it as a sign of self-centeredness.

Displaying a Sluggish Posture

When you’re in an environment bustling with people your posture becomes an immediate telltale sign of your confidence and composure. Your stance literally makes a stand for you, delivering a clear message about how you should be treated. It can make a huge difference in the way strangers respond to you. Place your feet a comfortable distance apart, keep your shoulders pulled back, head up and greet people with direct eye contact and a firm handshake.

Scratching at the Backside of Your Head and Neck

A typical sign of doubt and uncertainty. It can also be interpreted as an indication of lying. Try to keep your hands away from your head when you’re communicating with others.

Messing With the Collar of Your Shirt

It screams: “I feel horribly uncomfortable and/or nervous!”

Slouching Your Shoulders

Indicates low self-esteem. People associate perked-up shoulders with strong self-confidence. Always pull your shoulders back. Not only will you look more confident, you’ll feel more confident as well.

Standing with Your Hands Crossed Over Your Genitals

This casual posture almost guarantees that you’ll lose a little respect before you even have the chance to speak a single word. People feeling nervous or unsure of themselves will unconsciously take this position. This stance pushes your shoulders forward and makes your entire body look smaller and weaker.

Propping Up Your Head With Your Hands

“I’m getting bored!” Never prop up your head with your elbows and hands during a conversation. Place your hands on the table in front of you and keep them at rest.

Image Credit: Bala Murugan

Popularity: 22%

In the Indian movie “Lage Raho Munnabhai” a young girl who calls Munna to seek advice on how she should judge a prospective husband, is advised to check out how the young man treats people who are socially inferior. The boy’s treatment of a waiter in a restaurant seals his fate. His body language towards the waiter revealed all of him and the girl dropped him.

About a decade back I studied materials on Body Language and observed people on this unconscious communication. The book said “after reading this the whole world will look different through your eyes”. I ventured to compile interesting facts on this subject. These may help you in your job interviews. Here they are.
It is found that only 7 percent of communication comes from spoken words, 38 percent is from the tone of the voice, and 55 percent comes from body language (non-verbal). Are you good at reading body language?

Body language messages are sent automatically and unconsciously. Women send approximately five times more body language messages and gestures than men in the same time period.

Body language has proven to be our most reliable indicator of how others feel about us. Know how unconsciously you are sending signals through your body language.

Holding Objects in Front of Your Body

A coffee cup, notebook, hand bag, etc. Holding objects in front of your body indicates shyness and resistance, such that you’re hiding behind the objects in an effort to separate yourself from others.

Checking the Time or Inspecting Your Fingernails

A strong sign of boredom. Never glance at the time when you’re speaking with someone. Likewise, completely avoid the act of inspecting your fingernails.

Picking Lint Off of Your Clothes

If you pick lint off of your clothes during a conversation, especially in conjunction with looking downwards, most people will assume that you disapprove of their ideas and/or feel uneasy about giving them an honest opinion

Stroking Your Chin While Looking at Someone

People frequently stroke their chin during the decision-making process. If you look at someone while you’re stroking your chin, they may assume that you’re making a judgmental decision about them.

Narrowing Your Eyes

If you want to give someone the impression that you don’t like them (or their ideas), you narrow your eyes while looking at them.

Standing Too Close

This just makes people feel uncomfortable. Most people consider the 4 square feet of space immediately surrounding their body to be personal space. Cross this invisible boundary with good friends and intimate mates only.

Looking Down While in the Presence of Others

Usually indicates disinterest. Sometimes it’s even interpreted as a casual sign of arrogance. Always look straight ahead and make eye contact when you see someone you know.

Touching Your Face During a Conversation

Face touching, especially on the nose, is commonly interpreted as an indication of deception. Also, covering up the mouth is a common gesture people make when they’re lying. Always keep your hands away from your face when you’re speaking.

Faking a Smile

Another sign of deception commonly seen on the face of a fraud. A genuine smile wrinkles the corners of the eyes and changes the expression of the entire face. Fake smiles only involve the mouth and lips. It’s easy to distinguish between the two

Leaning Away From Someone

This is especially true when they are sitting around a table. This is a sign of being bored and disinterested. People typically lean towards people they like and away from people they dislike.

Popularity: 30%

I was travelling recently and chanced upon a newspaper whose headline read “Designer Babies-Parents could soon choose their kids’ genes”.

Since the newspaper was not in my hand, I could hardly read the full content. Initially, my thought was that it was some fashion statement where “genes” was misspelled for “Jeans”…but later on I realized it could be very well beyond my imagination. I couldn’t stop my curiosity and wanted to find out more.

The same evening, I did a little bit more research on Designer Babies and guess what I found out ?…Just what I had feared when I found this interesting article in Time. It says

Until just a few years ago, making a baby boy or a baby girl was pretty much a hit-or-miss affair. Not anymore. Parents who have access to the latest genetic testing techniques can now predetermine their baby’s sex with great accuracy

It further goes on to say

Within a decade or two, it may be possible to screen kids almost before conception for an enormous range of attributes, such as how tall they’re likely to be, what body type they will have, their hair and eye color, what sorts of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, and even, conceivably, their IQ and personality type.

It sounded like a baby shopping experience, just like buying a car and then its accessories. How ridiculous is that?

Agreed science and technology has made our life simpler in many ways more than one. We can no longer live without them – they are part of an urban life, these days. But having to think that my grandchildren will be a combination of the traits picked and chosen by my children, brings butterflies to my stomach. At least that is a path that I would never want my kids to take.

It is a dangerous road that is being laid out in front of the world. I hope that India, even at a distant future, doesn’t encourage such innovations or technological advancement. It does seem unlikely that India will follow suit given that it is illegal even to determine the sex of the child, leave alone its genetic traits.

This, according to me, is totally against the nature and anything against the nature will have its own repercussions.

America –Are you listening?

Image Credit: Jenn Jenn

Popularity: 83%

11: 20 PM

Reese Witherspoon comes to present the Best Director Award. And guess who won the award ? It is Danny Boyle from Slumdog Millionaire. What a guy! In his speech he showed humility and apologized for not having given credit to his choreographer but gave his tribute to Mumbai and truly deservedly so.

Danny Boyle we love you.

11:27 PM

Halle Berry and Co comes on stage to present the Oscar for the Best Leading Lady. Anna Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie

Kate cries while she gets praised.

Meryl Streep got nominated for the fifteenth time. And Angelina Jolie was a stunner …But the Oscar went to Kate Winslet…She recollects her shampoo bottle from her bathroom when she was eight years old. Madhavan just told me that her acting in “The Reader” was stupendous.

And now comes the next best category of awards

11:37 PM

Sir Ben Kingsley, Michael Douglas, Robert DeNeiro, Anthony Hopkins and Anthony Roda to award the best Actor’s award.

Richard Jenkins, Sean Penn, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke gets nominated for the best actor’s award.

The Oscar Award for the Best Actor goes to Sean Penn. There was a standing ovation from the crowd. Sean Penn says “ You don’t know how difficult it is appreciate myself”. The words that followed after that was very impressive – a great speech. His humility was seen when he appreciated Mickey Rourke- the comeback kid.

11: 47 PM

Steven Spielberg comes on stage to present The Best Picture.

Frost/ Nixon, The Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader are the ones nominated in the Best Picture category.

And the Oscar Award for The Best Picture goes to Slumdog Millionaire. The Producer Christian Colson, along with the entourage reached the stage to collect the award.

What a moment for Slumdog Millionaire, Mumbai and India !

12:00 AM on 23rd Feb’09– Off to sleep. Good night, have to wake up early for office, tomorrow. Have a great week, everyone!

Jai Ho! Jai Ho!

Image Credit: MasterOrz

Popularity: 14%

10:42 PM

Eddie Murphy is on stage to present the Jean Hearscholt Humanitarian Award. And the award goes to legendary Jerry Lewis. Nostalgic, huh ?

10: 54 PM

AR Rahman wins two Oscars for India, two more to the Slumdog Millionaire kitty.

AR Rahman wins the best Original Score for Slumdog Millionaire. Proud of you, AR Rahman..What more – He gives a live performance from Slumdog Millionaire….O Saya and Jai Ho along with MIA.

This is probably the best night for A R Rahman.

He is also nominated for the best background score and he wins it hands down. The song is Jai Ho and the lyricist is Gulzar.

Arguably the best night for Slumdog Millionaire, AR Rahman and India.

11:05 PM

Guess what ? Freida Pinto, from Slumdog Millionaire is on stage with Liam Neeson for presenting the best Foreign Film. The Oscar goes to “Departures”

The Japanese director is Berry Berry Appy and Sankoos everyone. Did I say, Freida Pinto was lovely in that Blue dress.

I think this is the first time, an Indian has been called on stage to present an award. I may be wrong, though !

Popularity: 23%

Will Smith comes on stage to present the award for the best action movies. The Academy awards for best action movie goes to Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Eric Barba, Steve Preeg accepted the award. This one is the third one for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. I need to watch this movie now.

The award for Sound Editing goes to The Dark Night and the award is accepted by Richard King.

The award for best Sound Mixing goes to Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire. Resul says history is being handed to him. How true. We are proud of you, Resul Pookutty. India Special salutes you!

Another one..

The award for best Film Editing goes to Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire. What a night this is turning out to be for India. This is the 6^th award for India.

Slumdog Millionaire has definitely put India on the map. I hope the Indian public wakes up and gives the crew a rousing welcome like they did for the cricketers and Olympians.

Three cheers for Slumdog….Hip Hip Hurray! (3 times)

Am I too excited…I hope there is more!

Popularity: 21%

Time is 9:46 PM

I am back to my seat and three guys come to announce the best live action award. The category doesn’t sound familiar, but sounds important. Whatever !

The Oscar award for the best live action short film goes to will tell you later.

By the way, did I tell you – Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire are tied at two awards each. Lets see who wins the battle of the Oscars. My heart goes for Slumdog Millionaire but my brain for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I hope my heart wins.

9:52 PM

Hugh Jackman is back and is busy talking of “Change That Has Come”…..He is talking of Mamma Miah and the musical. He is now singing, dancing live “Mariah….” from Mamma Miah…along with guess who – Beyonce Knowles!.

Oh My God!

This is the first time I am seeing him on stage and Hugh Jackman is phenomenal.

A Musical Oscars indeed. All the performers from Mamma Miah look so beautiful including Beyonce Knowles

Time is 9:59 – Time for a break and some grub – Salads, bread crumbs, light mayonnaise and lots of water. Not so spicy, right ? So uncommon for an Indian like me. Isn’t it ?..anyways, time to move on

Five actors including Cuba Gooding Jr. comes onto present the Best Supporting Actor.

The Oscar goes to the Late Heath Ledger for The Dark Night and the family (his mom,  dad and sister) came to receive the Oscars. All three of them spoke and accepts the award. An emotional moment, indeed. May his soul Rest In Peace

Who will win the Best Actor award ? – Mickey Rourke ? Wait for some more time and you will get to know that…

10:13 PM -

The best documentary award goes to James Marsh, Simon Chinn for Men On Wire. The winner shows some magic on stage. Very creative!

10:17 PM

The best Oscar for the small documentary short film goes to Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki – Another Indian film. Wow! This probably is the best year for Indian cinema at the Oscars for a long, long time to come. Hey, this is Icing On Cake!

Popularity: 25%

Hugh Jackman is back to host the Academy Awards. He welcomes Daniel “Mr. Bond” Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker, from the “Sex & The City”. They announce the award for Art Direction.

And the award goes to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Donald Burt and Victor comes to collect it.

The award for best Costume Designer goes to Michael O Connor for The Duchess.

The award for best Make Up goes to Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Greg Cannom wins it. More than make up, he seems to be too fast at pronouncing names he wanted to thank in his 45 second speech.

Benjamin Button receives its second Oscar award.

Time is 9:27 PM EST

The vampire star from The Twilight comes to announce “Romance of The Oscars”.

Ben Stiller and Natalie comes to announce the best award for the Oscars. Ben Stiller looks funny with that beard and dirty chewing gum. He says Slumdog Millionaire was shot on the cellphone. He looks lost J, pretending funny- may be…Oh yeah, talking about the wizard cinematography.

Who will win this award – Slumdog ? Lets wait and watch.

And the Oscar goes to Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire. He wants to thank 1000 people but can’t.

Congratulations – The Slumdog Millionaire team for the second Oscar award. I am excited!

Time is 9:36. Time for a break!…

Image Credit: MasterOrz

Popularity: 16%

The Oscar fever has caught on and for the first time, I am blogging live watching the Oscars, from the comforts of my home. Nothing can beat this experience. Seeing it live, munching my favourite triscuit, watching my two kids screaming louder than the Oscar host and blogging as Slumdog Millionaire is about to win Oscars – At this point, I don’t know how many, though!

The expectations are high among Indians that music maestro AR Rahman, who has bagged three nominations for “Slumdog Millionaire”, will bring home the coveted trophy. What a moment that will be!

Other two Indian films vying for the glory are “Smile Pinki” and “The Final Inch”.

The time is 8.30 PM EST.

Ok, the Oscar Awards has begun and so is this live blogging.

The time is 8:33 PM

Singer, Dancer, Actor Hugh Jackman enters the show with startling display of his talent. He starts of with the song on Slumdog Millionaire, moves onto Benjamin Button – what a startling display, picks up Anne Hathaway for an impromptu dance. Jackman performs about the other movies – The Reader, The Wrestler and Nixon. What a Live Performance that was!

The time is 8:40 PM

Hugh Jackman introduces all the nominees including Mickey Rourke, the couple – Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, the guy who played Nixon, Demi Moore.

The time is 8:45 PM

5 yesteryear Oscar actress winners including Whoopi Goldberg introduces Penelope Cruz, Marisa Tomei, Demi Moore et al.

Penelope Cruz wins Oscar for the best actress. She goes to the stage and thinks she would faint…but doesn’t. She gave an emotional speech saying it is art which unites the universe. You are too good and beautiful. Penelope – Congratulations !

The time is 8:54 PM

Some type pad clicks. Few sentences and sounds of a typewriter. I don’t know what is happening.

Enter Steve Martin and Tina Fei. They starts joking around, as usual and soon picks up the mike for announcing the best screenplay. Now I understand why there were those type sounds.

The best screenplay award goes to Dustin Lance Black for Milk. Dustin, on the stage, emotionally talks of “Hope” for Gays and Lesbians across America.

Next comes the award for the best adopted screenplay…and the award goes to Simon Beaufoy, the writer for Slumdog Millionaire.

Oscar # 1 for Slumdog Millionaire. Wondering why Vikas Swarup for Original Screenplay. But yes, he thanked Vikas Swarup and the other two musketeers and his love for India.

I am so excited now. My friend, Madhavan, who wrote Will Slumdog Millionaire Win the Oscar Awards, pings me on Gmail. We exchange congratulations for the first in the kitty and many to go.

The time is 9:03.

Enters Kungfu Panda and his star friends…I am talking of Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston. He is hilarious.

The best animated feature film goes to Wall-E. Oscar is taken by Andrew Stanton. He thanks everyone..nothing extraordinary of a speech. The show goes on

The best animated short film goes to La Maison En Petites. Kunio Kato collects the award and “Sanks” everyone!…Sankooo..meaning Thank You.

Time for a break!

Popularity: 27%

Mumbai is a city of vibrant dimensions and people. It is a city where all the genders live together whether male or female, but then why does Mumbai forget some people who are also a very part of the society. They have the body of a man but the soul of a woman and their claps form the symbol of their community. They are those people who are fighting for their identity as the third gender. They are known by many names like “Hijras”, “Chakkas” or most commonly known as “Eunuchs” all over the world.

Eunuchs are not a sudden discovery in the world. They have been there in the pages of many historical events. They have been shunned and boycotted by the so called “Normal people”. They are forced to beg on signals, do menial jobs or work as sex workers. They do not get good jobs even if they are highly educated because they are considered as a taboo to the society. We talk about illiteracy, poverty and other problems faced by the society, so why aren’t these people taken into consideration.

Today these individuals do not get suppressed easily. This community is finally getting out of its shell. Many of the eunuchs are surprisingly graduates from esteemed universities. The best part about this community that the whole world should learn is the “UNITY AMONGST DIVERSITY” amongst these people. They do not divide themselves on the basis of religion and they accept everyone with open arms even if one works as a sex worker or has AIDS.

In our world, we fight in the name of religion and kill each other forgetting that we belong to the highest community that is humanity.

Eunuchs are also humans and not an abnormal being. In order to prove this to the society some eunuchs have formed an NGO called “Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust” to bring reforms in this community. It is really sad to know that this is the one and only trust working for this cause.

It is a completely different experience to speak to the organizers of this trust. The determination and enthusiasm of the eunuchs is highly motivating. They just behave like normal people working for a good cause. They believe that they all are woman, but are trapped in the body of men. They want to be free from this fake identity and be what they actually are. But then why is the society ignoring them or not accepting them.

They long to be a part of the society they long to be heard they have a voice, they have opinions and demands, then why during social, political, and economic discussion regarding the city they are forgotten. That is why these people are relying on them selves to make a difference and to break the barriers around them.

The society does not accept them but they have accepted the society with due respect. One of the organizers of the NGO quoted

Ae Zindagi Gale Lagale, Hamne Bhi Tere Har Ek Gam Ko Haske Gale Se Lagaya Hai

She also said,

We have no enmity against the society inspite of all the atrocities we have faced because of them. We are also human beings and a part of this god gifted world

It’s high time that we all leave are orthodox beliefs behind and open ourselves to a wider horizon in the world.

We cannot ignore a whole community of human. Instead we should “Ban Ignorance And Not Human Rights”.

Image Credit: RahulDLucca

Popularity: 11%

Diversifying a portfolio means, deciding on how to divide the money available for investment between various investment options like shares, bonds, fixed deposits, Mutual funds, fixed property, gold and cash to be retained in hand.

In your personal investment plan try to ensure that there is adequate diversity. A clever investor will never put all his money in one type of investment. Let’s see why we should diversify our portfolio.

Main reason for a well diversified reason is mitigation of risk.

You can even add insurance to this list. But it’s slightly a different investment option in the sense its benefits are not available to you but to your dependants.

Once you have arrived at the money available for investment, it’s important to decide the ratio to be invested in different investment options. Before investing it’s important to know the amount of risk and return associated with each investment option.

Time is Money:

If you think of making money in a very short span it’s not possible with any type of investment option. Every investment needs certain time to generate returns. Before deciding on an investment option we need to be clear about how long we can hold that investment and what would be the approximate return. You must be clear as to go for capital appreciation or a short term return or a combination of both.

For example, if we remain invested for long term in stocks and fixed assets like a house, there are very few chances of incurring losses. Long term means you should keep the investment for at least 5 to 10 years.

History tells that those who have invested in stock market for 10 years have maximum lost 1.5 % of their investment.

So longer the duration lesser the chances of losses. There is also scope for making tons of money. Those who have invested money in stocks and real estate or gold between 2003 and 2007 have made tons of money.

Every investment has a cycle and it repeats. It’s very important to identify the right type of investment that has started churning money.

We can see that in the last 6 months, stocks are out and bonds are the preferred choice of investment.

• If your goal is long term, invest in stocks and real estate, this is the right time to buy as the valuations are very attractive. Though we can’t exactly say the % of appreciation, it will definitely yield good returns for long term investors.
• If your goal is short term, invest in fixed deposits or government bonds.
• It’s also very important to decide on the timing of the investment. Early birds will always make maximum money. When everyone is making money, realize that some will soon start loosing. Don’t buy when the market is at the peak. It’s very important to time the market.
• Finally ensure that you always have some cash in hand to attend to any emergency or to put in any attractive investment option that presents itself before you.

Finally remember that risk and return coexist in any kind of investment option and it’s always possible to lose money in any form of investment. Now the question you should ask yourself is “How much loss will I be able to bear?”

If you are not in a position to take more risk, put more of your money in FDs and Bonds and minimum in stocks. If you are capable of taking more risk, put more of your money in Equities and Real estate and very little in FD or Bonds. Those who have household responsibilities or those who are paying quite a bit of their money as interest towards loans should always be careful about the kind of investments they make.

Here is a small principle for dividing your funds amongst various investment options.

Reduce your age from 100 and what ever is the number you arrive at, you can put that much of money in high risk – high return investments.

For example, if your age is 30, you can put 70% of your money in high risk/high return assets and 30% in low risk – low return assets. As your hair starts turning grey, reduce your exposure towards equity, and increase it towards debt securities.

Image Credit: SMN

Popularity: 18%

If you invest in tax saving schemes right now, you can get your money back early. For example: If you have planned to invest in Fixed Deposit which can’t be withdrawn for 5 years, if you deposit today you will get your money back in 2013 December and you can use this money for tax investment again. Where as if you save it in March, you will get it back only in 2014 March and you will have to again go in search of cash.

Most of us spend all the cash in hand all through the year and try to find some cash in March. If we don’t find cash in March then your tax plan will go wrong.

Some people are of the opinion that even if I save on 31st March it will still come under this financial year, but this is not clever thing if you are trying to invest in Tax Saving Equity linked funds (ELSS) or Public Provident Fund. You will stand to loose 4 months of interest free income.

Some of us will wait till the year end to submit the medical bills or bills of books purchased for research etc. There is a chance of bills getting lost. It’s better to submit these bills every month to the concerned department in your office.

What about the investments I have made in the financial year ?

Before making any tax saving investments, it is always better to review the investments you have already made in the current financial year. In case you have made investments through Systematic investment planning (SIP), or already contributed to PPF, add all the amounts and plan for the remaining amount.

Get your calculations right:

• For employees there is PPF and it will anyway come under Section 80C. Some employees also would have taken health insurance, life insurance, or group insurance policy. First calculate the amount you have already paid towards premium.
• For those who have taken home loan, calculate the EMI you have paid for all the months. See the interest and principal component in that. You can get the principal paid on the loan exempt under Section 80C. You can claim exemption on interest up to 1.5 Lakh per annum.
• Also take into consideration, the tuition fee you have paid for your kids (allowed only for 2 kids).
• Take into consideration all the above and then decide on the amount for which you have to do tax planning.

• After all your tax planning is done if you are falling under 10% tax bracket and tax payable is not less than two to three thousand, it’s better to pay the tax instead of making investments only for saving these two or three thousands.
• Accounts folks in your office would have already informed you the amount of tax payable. Once you have calculated the amount invested so far, return from the amount invested, and the amount to be invested, all that you need to decide is to where to invest.
• If you don’t have the appetite to take risk invest in National Savings Certificates and Bank Fixed Deposits and if you are planning to invest for long term, put your money in Public Provident Fund.
• If you have the ability to bear risk, invest in Tax Saving Funds or ULIPs.

Instead of investing your money at once, it’s better to choose SIP and invest in 5 equal installments.

Image Credit: Kevin

Popularity: 21%

Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

                                                                                                by Rabindranath Tagore

Life will be a peaceful journey if we are able to face difficulties without fear, swallow the bitterness of tragedy, enjoy the happiness, and love that life showers on us.  Such lovely life is being crushed to death by the ruthless terrorism in a fraction of second right in front of our eyes.  In the journey of life death is appearing everywhere in today’s world. 

Parliament, temples, malls, shops, local trains, on streets, in star hotels, in air, on land or in water – everywhere terrorists are hunting down innocent people.

Recent attacks in Mumbai with are a direct war waged by terrorists on India.  Every time something like this happens I see a regular drama and it always has the below statements:

“We will destroy the very roots of terrorism and make our country a safe place again”

“I appreciate the people for the courage they have shown in this hour of crisis”

“We will not bow down before terrorism”

I think by now you would have guessed the people who make these statements.  These are our Netas.  When terrorist beasts are killing people mercilessly, what is the assurance being given these leaders,:

 “Incidents like these are happening all over the world and it is difficult to predict these incidents”

 “In a big city like Mumbai it is not possible to keep an eye on every person who comes in”

This is nothing but escapism and gross irresponsibility of the leaders.  They don’t even feel ashamed for making such statements. First time when terrorists killed people, I hated terrorists.

But then they repeatedly killed people, I started hating our politicians and law makers more than I hated terrorists for giving them a license to kill. 

10 to 12 terrorists who have entered Mumbai via sea  were able to hold the entire nation as hostage for 3 days. This clearly shows how incompetent our leaders, our policies, and our intelligence are. 

As if a sudden realization has dawned, Shivraj Patil resigned form his post. 

But it took a nation to loose 200 lives of civilians, 24 police officers, and soldiers to remind the Home minister of his “Moral Responsibility”.  After the UPA government came to power the number of attacks by terrorists have increased manifold and nothing was done politically to tackle this issue.  With all their concern for the terrorism they got POTA abolished. 

These leaders who can’t even step out without a dozen commandos around them say “people here are very courageous”.  They don’t have to certify our courage.  People of this nation are always more courageous than the leaders.  Though we know that our lives are not safe every time we step out, we still walk on the street without any fear.

Leaders make statements like “we will not be cowed down by terrorism’.  But it’s we the people who show this in action.  Within 3 days of the terror attack, ‘Leopold café’ is opened and people thronged it.  This is testimony to the courage of an Indian.

Mumbai resembled a war zone for 3 days.  Once it’s over people are back on the street not because of the assurances given by our politicians but because of the courage and patriotism shown by the Armed forces. 

Those brave commandoes who have sacrificed themselves to save us gave us the courage to come out and salute them.  Those of us who witnessed their dedication and sacrifice in flushing out the terrorists from Taj, Nariman house and Oberoi can’t forget them in our life time.

Even today we don’t have proper mechanism in place to tackle something like this.  We don’t have the weapons or technology or strategy.  How can you explain bullets piercing the bullet proof jackets of our cops? Our government is not able to stop the inflow of RDX into the country from Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Our intelligence officers became spectators when the terrorists were equipping themselves with latest weapons.

After the parliament attack in 2001, though the government declared Terrorism as a national issue, nothing was done to beef up internal security.  Though, Prime Minister spoke about setting up of a ‘Federal Investigation Agency’ nothing has materialized.  Look at America, immediately after 9/11 attacks, they have put in place ‘Department of Homeland Security’.

At last Prime Minister woke up and setup a task force to come out with a strategy to counter terrorism in 100 days.  Actually, this should have happened long back.  None of the states in India has plan in place for terrorist attacks.  There is no proper co-ordination between our Police and intelligence.  Attack on Mumbai is an attack on the whole nation. 

Hope at least now our leaders will open their eyes and really take an action to fight terrorism.

Image Credit- Sameer Gupta

Popularity: 20%

“Yet again the communal clashes in the city has left the streets  burning with the flames of hatred killing thousands of people all over “.

This is Naina Sahay reporting live from Mumbai, Kal Tak. 

Naina was a young, flamboyant journalist who had earned herself a lot of accolades for her brave reporting and blunt comments that supported the truth. Her parents passed away when she was barely the age of 12 in an accident leaving behind a lot of responsibilities and a younger brother to take care of.

As she grew up she started working at a very young age in order to give her brother the best of life she could. She gave him love of a mother, father as well as sister. And in the process earned a living through whatever jobs she could lay her hands on. Naina got introduced to the field of journalism through a friend and since then there was no looking back. 

Naina just kept on climbing the success ladder to earn herself a life she truly deserved. From scratch, today she owns a good house, car and everything. But what Naina truly cared for was Armaan, her younger brother. She could never live without him. A slight fever and the girl who could report under waist deep water during Mumbai floods would go paranoid.

A small wound on Armaan would make her go berserk  and a drop of tear from Armaan’s eyes would just make Naina depressed. Probably that’s the reason why Naina was unmarried because she could not live without her brother and would want to give him her undivided attention.

But then one incident shattered her life.

In the year 1993 communal riots broke out in Mumbai .People were behind each other’s lives. Dead bodies were lying on the roads. Injured unattended and bloody and gory sight’s everywhere. People were scared to get out of their houses yet Naina risked her life to deliver news to people.  So many times the bullets must have just missed her but even through such tensed situation she would remain calm and help the injured on the streets. While doing her duty her finger constantly clicked Armaan’s number at the interval of every half an hour to ensure his safety.  

Suddenly one day Naina heard a cry of help. On drawing closer to the sound she realized there was a man badly injured and was probably taking his last breadth. The man in a hushed voice called Naina closer. Naina hesitantly went closer. The man revealed a sensational news that would rock the nation and he also had photo evidence to back his story. Naina was shocked at the evidence. Before Naina could ask him any questions the man closed his eyes forever.

The man said that the current Chief Minister was involved in the clashes of Hindu and Muslim communities and he had started communal rights in order to degrade his political rivalry. Naina had a very important evidence and also the power to stop the future bombings that were planned to kill the leader of the opposition party which would leave the entire city burning and spoil the situation even more.

Naina hurried to her house and kept the photograph with Armaan. She went to her Head Office to make arrangement for her breaking news. But what Naina wasn’t aware of was the man who followed her to her house.

While Naina was in the office preparing for the prime event the man entered her house. Armaan heard the noise and went in the front room. The man attacked Armaan, Armaan resisted and tried to fight back but the man just removed a gun and shot down six bullets into Armaan. Armaan’s knees gave away, he fell down and instantly his life was snatched by the cruelty of the world. The man ransacked the entire house and found the photograph and ran away with it.

Naina with her boss returned to her house. Her feet trembled, beads of sweat trickled down her forehead, she collapsed the darkness was’nt only for the moment but for the rest of her life.  Seeing the pool of blood which Armaan was in, disturbed the mental state of Naina.

The news was’nt deliverd but the death of Armaan resulted in the suicide of the courageous self of what Naina used to be. Yet again the politics of our country silenced the truth. She lost her mental balance, she lost her voice and what was left was a silent suicide which was never recorded..

Statistics have shown thousands of people suicide due to different reasons but have we ever thought of the loss of individuality that people suffer at the hands of our ignorance…It is high time we follow the philosophy of LIVE AND LET LIVE… It is high time we understand that we are not divided on the basis of religion, caste, creed or sex but we all belong to a much higher sect that is Humanity.

We all have 2 eyes 2 hands 1 nose 2 feet, so why the heck are we fighting for our so called differences. Let’s all join in this human chain of understanding and love so that we make India, a better place to live in.

Popularity: 53%

I often wonder when I read about the bailout packages dished out by Governments all around the world to aid banks and other financial institutions that are on the verge of bankruptcy especially the amount of money spent in bailouts in last couple of months is staggering. I am even surprised that there was not a single protest from anywhere and these financial criminals go unpunished. It is the common man who is going to bear the burden of additional tax and increased debt.

Why should tax payer’s money be used for bailing out greedy banks and corporations that have done business only with profit as motive and no concern for morals or ethics and absolutely no concern for the consequences for their acts. Putting public money in corporate coffers is just not acceptable. Financial crisis that has happened is a man made crisis done through substandard policies, deregulation and greed. I can understand putting in public money for natural disasters like earthquakes or folds. Governments all over the world have spent trillions of dollars on bailouts already

This kind of bailout is ABSURD!

We must collectively protest this .This is real money, my money, your money, our money which is hard earned paid in the form of tax.

Why should banks and financial institutions which never cared about the creditworthiness of people who lined up for loans or the soundness of derivatives business be rewarded. We should not allow government to write checks on tax payers’ account. This measure will increase the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recovering the amount and not holding anyone accountable for the misdeeds they have done.

What is the signal you are sending to the corporate world and investors through these bail outs? Do your businesses as you like and we will reward you for the blind errors you might commit. Is this the right way?

As far as I am concerned, there should be a thorough probe into the events that have led to this disaster and every CEO, Executive or Government who were part of this financial carnage should be jailed, their assets sold and put in a bailout fund.

It is time to wake up and realize that greed is the basis for all the financial disasters and find a way, may be strict disclosure norms, increasing the transparency in strategic decision making, making one responsible for his actions and

Few weeks back Finance Ministers of several Asian, Europe and Americas countries met and decided to act rapidly on the financial crisis

And now stock markets are being artificially manipulated by bailouts by governments.

When corporations see that the demand is coming down , it is natural for the stock to take a beating. But every other day we see CRR, SLR rate cuts which means our money is loaned back to us and the market stages a rally of any significance. FIIs and Badla traders slowly and routinely remove their money from our markets to invest elsewhere leaving the retail investor in a fix.

It is certainly not a good thing for a responsible, saving, taxpaying citizen, with no defaulted loans or credit card debt to compensate for the that Wall Street gamblers will go bust on their stupid and greedy bets, over-leveraged and poorly managed businesses with huge losses.

Let me tell you some interesting fact. Lehman has set aside $2.5 billion as bonus for their employees even as they went bankrupt for the great performance they showed in pushing the bank to bankruptcy.

What do you call this?

Popularity: 24%