Sunday 17 June 2012

Happy Father’s Day

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States and world are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.
India is a sentimental nation also not far from celebrating such wonderful festivals, however we still believe that each day is special in which we have been taking breaths and getting love, support and affection from our parents, Hence each day should be treated as Father’s or Mother’s day to make sure that their love vice-a-versa reaches each other.
In my case, I am blessed to have a father like mine; Mr. Subhash Rana is a 65 years old gentleman, who has been instrumental in curving my life into a positive one. Starting from schooling to college to jobs, I have seen my father changing gears in his attitude. He was always tough to impress at school times, very easy to communicate and reachable person in college days and very wise person to guide us in our professional or personal crisis at this point in time.
Millions of fathers support their children, love them and care for them but in my case my Dad was a bit different. He was rock solid at all the time and have always made sure that all his 3 kids gets best out of him when it comes to learning and paving the path in this tough competitive world.
After my fatal accident in 2002, I became a paraplegic and left with no other option then to ride myself in a wheel chair. At this hour of need he was always with me and taught me, guided me and motivated me to become what I am today. He was thoroughly backed me up at the very critical condition of my health and today, he takes pride for me to start my life from where I lived. Today he is happy to see me going to office, playing wheelchair tennis, working for unprivileged children in an Ngo and also for my fighting spirit throughout this year.
I think it was his motivation, care and support that helped to swim across this huge ocean of difficulties and with him I always think I am safe, secure and I feel very special. I know a few of my friends who had lost their parents in a very young age and I can actually understand their pain.
Hence, this is my request and a suggestion to each one of you to please celebrate this day regularly, hug your parents, spent some time with them and give them their due respect, after all they have been so kind to us to bring us to this level.
Dad, I love you and would love to see you as my Dad in all my coming birth on this mother earth.

Would be President of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee



       India has always seen learned Presidents in the past. Current President of India is Mrs. Pratibha Singh Patil who has been instrumental in sorting out a lot of issues in the current politics of India. She has been a clam and thoughtful customer and has been handling all affairs with a great deal of intelligence.
Currently the race is among Ex-President Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee. Mr. Kalam as a president was impressive. He is known as the father of missiles in India. His thinking and patriotism is class apart. Be believed in taking action and had always taken initiatives to improve the mind-set of general publics in the form of write-ups, a column in a newspaper and also while addressing the country in National television. He has been one of the powerful yet so simple President India has ever produced in the past.
India is now on the way to see yet another President who is thoughtful, has an experience of around 5 decades of handling politics in the country and had handled challenges in as a Finance Minister and as a Defense minister in the country. His father was a freedom fighter from whom he has learned the meaning of patriotism. He has been attached with congress in India from last 50 years and was a very powerful member of congress from the time of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. His pet name is Poltu. He as a person is a true Bengali who spent 10 days in performing Bengali rituals and Pooja at the time of Durga Pooja in his native place. He is very close to his friends back home and a very polite and down to earth person.
After the death of Mrs. India Gandhi everyone thought that he could be our Next Prime minister but Indian history was waiting to see new face called Mr. Rajiv Gandhi who was also known to be the Father of Computers and technologies in India. He at that point in time was not able to digest that fact and hence, left Congress for some time. After the assassination of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, he again joined back, as congress needed as person Like Pranab who was wise, trustworthy and experienced campaigner who could show the path forward. He with his long chain of experience handled a lot of strong portfolios and with his strong character helped the congress party to swim across a lot of difficult tasks safely.
Whenever I had failed in any task or failed in any interview, my well-wishers always shown me the path by saying God has some different and good role for me stored in the future, I used to think my near and dear ones are calming me and making me realizes to face the truth and motivating me to go ahead in life. But now, I realized that how wise they were and how truth it was to say that God has something good for me and here in case of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee also this statement is absolutely true. At that point in time he missed to occupy the post of Prime minister of India and now God is about to bestow him with a position which is above Prime minister’s role and this is the beauty of life.
In the Indian Politics, Mr. Mukherjee’s colleague addresses his with Dada, which means elder brother. Now Dada’s story gives us an insight of very strong and thoughtful lesson for all of us, with sheer hard work and commitment a person like Pranab Mukherjee who comes from a middle class family and a very humble background can acquire such name, fame and respect in the society. He has been one of the role models for a lot of Indian wannabes. At the age of above 65 he has been working for 16hrs and has been achieving each and every single task with such grace and passion. Another great thing about Dada is that he does not lose heart; he keeps on working and leaves everything to God. I saw a Hindi movie called “3 Idiots”, in which the Hero, Amir Khan, said don’t follow the success, instead become knowledgeable and attained to excellence, success will then follow you”. How true it is in context with Dada’s story, Dada becomes master of his field and now the success is chasing him. Wow Dada!! Thanks for motivating all of us and we would like to see something different from you in your new role, very similar to what you have been doing all this year in your current role. We all know that you are a versatile and a true patriot; we all love you and all the best for your future role in Indian politics!


Monday 4 June 2012

World Environment Day

This year sees the 40th anniversary of the event that led to the establishment of World Environment Day. WED, as it is often called, was established by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the start of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm from 5thto 16th June 1972. The first World Environment Day was on 5th June 1973.
The Stockholm Conference was the first occasion that world leaders met to discuss the political, social and economic problems of the global environment with a view to actually doing something about it.
Each year World Environment Day is hosted by a different country and this year the host is Brazil and the theme is Green Economy: Does it include you?
This can be summed up as being a socially inclusive, low carbon economy that is efficient with its resources.
India is also not far from contributing to save our Planet earth. As a part of social duty corporates from all sectors are coming forward and contributing. Corporates in India have stopped using plastics or papers cups for tea coffee. Many corporates are coming forward and planting millions of trees and to new a few are Reliance India, Cocacola and Vodafone India. Corporates have been collecting E-wastes and are sending it for recycling. Nokia around the world are planting a tree in lieu of one old cellphones which is again a great gesture in order to contribute some positives towards this special day. Entire world have been contributing and celebrating “Earth Day” by switching off their lights for an hour’s time. Entire world has stopped using papers instead of that we all are using internet and doing paperless work across the world.
In spite of taking so many initiatives in all corners and from all walks of life we have been failing to produce desire results and the reason for the same is that we have been producing more pollution than we have been working on saving the earth. All developed countries are emitting millions of tons of wastes and pollution, which is again deteriorating our progress towards saving the environment.
The 2012 gathering in Brazil is being hailed as one of the largest and most important gatherings in the history of the United Nations. In addition to 2012 being an important date in the history of World Environment Day, it is also the 20thanniversary of the first Earth Summit that was held in Rio in 1992.
This year's Rio+20 Earth Summit is seen as a once in a generation opportunity to set the world on a path leading to a sustainable low-carbon green economy. It is confidently expected that at least 130 world heads of state will be attending the gathering.
Unfortunately the major problem facing the world is that in spite of the determined efforts in recent years to improve the environment, according to some experts the situation is actually getting worse rather than better.
A report from the World Wildlife Fund cites a combination of swelling populations, mass migration to cities, increased energy use and soaring carbon dioxide emissions that are putting a greater squeeze on the planet's resources than ever before. Particularly hard hit are animals and plants whose diversity depends on a clean water supply, plus a range of other natural
Climate-warming carbon emissions have increased by 40% since 1992, but two thirds of that increase has occurred since 2002.
In the past 20 years the populations of the world's cities has risen by around 45% and urban residents typically have much larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts. In China, for instance, the average Beijing resident has a footprint three times the average for the rest of the country.
The clear message of World Environment Day is that everyone has a duty to push for a Green Economy and hopefully the world leaders at Rio+20 will take this forward. Turning things around will be difficult; it will need unity and strength of purpose, but it simply must be done.

Sunday 3 June 2012

Satyamev Jayate – Don’t Hate Love

Satyamev Jayate in many ways has brought a lot of positives with it, I still remember the day when we as a kid used to wait for Super Sunday to watch all mythological and cartoon programs, all the family members including Grandma and Grandpa used to sit in the Hall in front of the TV. They used to sip their tea/coffee and we used to have our milk, chocolates and a lot of fun with our friends and counterparts, I remember those moments often before going to bed in the night but look that day has finally been bestowed by Amir and his team in the form of Satyamev Jayate. Today again with our breakfast, tea, coffee and other eatables sit in front of the TV and enjoy the learning and change our soul with positive thinking. 
Today’s episode of Satyamev Jayate begins with a couple where the female was normal from a physical point of view but the male was physically challenged. Both of them fall in love with each other and wanted to start a new life together after marrying each other. This is absolutely not normal at least in India. If the girl wants to marry someone who is physically challenged and he is not from the same caste then it’s not acceptable in their vicinity and everyone thinks and treats them as if they have done a big crime. I am being a paraplegic has also faced a similar kind of situation where my wife’s parents were absolutely adamant. They used to make her understand that she will lead a disabled life, she will not be able to relish ever with me, I won’t be able to take care of her, I won’t be able to take her out for outing and many more such negative discernments which is not acceptable. In the society also people see me as a role model but only in front of me, but as soon as, I leave people start talking all the crap about me and my wife. I don’t understand why society always sees the negative part in any one, instead of appreciating a person from marrying a differently abled person like me; they take the advantage of my disability. I am sure, every single differently abled person had to put more than 200% to compete with a normal person and a lot of time they even defeat the so called normal persons, and people still thinks that they are someone who needs our sympathy and they should not be treated as normal or they should not be given a healthy life partner. I think, I have taken birth to prove this and to change the approach of society, community, district, state, country and the entire world that don’t treat us like a debris, given a chance we had and we will prove our metal and we are not disabled we are just differently abled. By the grace of God, I have proven all the proclamations wrong to my wife’s well-wishers. I have been working 10hrs in a day in a multinational company and withdrawing handsome salary, I have been helping my wife with all household works, and we generally go out on the weekends and on long holidays across the country. So, where is the problem, I guess it is only in the mind.
Satyamev Jayate has really done awesome work in researching this topic that if a young wannabe who can have the power to elect his prime minister why he can’t select his life partner. If parents and society won’t change their mentality with the time then it is unquestionably going to produce more and more Manoj and Babbly in the country. I still remember my Grandma reciting my parents love story. It was in the year 1974, some 37 years back, when my mom and dad fall in love and entire society was against my grandma as my Dad was Himachali Punjabi and my mom was a Brahmin Bengali girl. My Grandma single handedly took the decision and gone against the society and relatives to tie their knots. I was just wondering, if 37 years back my Grandma had such a loyal and good vision why can’t we also change our perception and that too in the age of the iPhone, laptops, and multimedia and in 3rd Generation. Enormously thought provoking, we must also change with the world to make this world a better place to live. As sung by MJ “Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race, there are people dying, care enough for them, and make it a better place for you and for me”. Trust the differently abled people and don’t ever hate love because love is something which connects the entire world and this is the only similarity we have as a human being in every corner of this universe.