Constitution of India and Republic day.

Hi,
Today on 26th January 2014, I got a blog post update from Shekhar Kapur, the director, producer and actor who has contributed to movies such as "Bandit Queen", "Elizabeth"  and Wishwaroopam" and many more, through my subscription to his blog.

Here is what he wrote in his blog post:

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to 
constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR 
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:  
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity 
and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of 
November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO 
OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION

On the occasion of Republic day of India, he has posted the exact words which were recited on the day when the Constitution of India was actually enacted i.e. 26th November 1949. I think this was a good way to congratulate Republic Day to our citizen by reminding them of the words which carried the aim of our constitution.
I thought this to be an important post so wanted to make it a post for my own blog. To all the Indians:
Happy Republic Day!

Thanks!

Reference: http://shekharkapur.com/

The Dancers of Sunder Nagar, Himachal

Hello there,

As usual, I went to Jawahar Lal Nehru Park in Sunder Nagar to enjoy the open air and soothing sunlight. A stage was prepared for several dance and singing performances. This was the inaugural function of the "Feet of Fire" (FOF) dance academy at Sunder Nagar on January 19, 2014.

Cold in the morning kept me in my room, but at noon the Sun was shining.  I preferred to sit under the tent while I watched the performances. Two young boys were anchoring the show, Andy and Sare (possibly the stage names). I think they were successful in keeping the noon show interesting, and the crowd responded well.

"Swagtam," a welcome song, was performed by the visually handicapped girls from CRC S.Nagar. They came on the stage holding each other's hands. They performed well and were cheered by the crowd with applause.

The crowd consisted of people of all ages and all genders. Another major attraction of the function was Amit Bhatia(director of the FOF academy, S.Nagar), who appeared to me again a young boy. I am not a dancer, but I was happy to see someone of that young age to become the director of a dance academy, which I suppose will be successful after getting such a big inaugural attention.

Sam, Amit, and one other (Sorry! I forgot the name),  Dance India Dance(DID) fame stars, performed several dances, and one of which caught my attention was on the song "Rama Re" from the Bollywood movie "Kante"  by Sam.

Few dance steps and a short introduction on "Kathak" by Dinesh Gupta, who claimed to be the first postgraduate from Himachal Pradesh on Classical dance "Kathak", was also an eye-catching performance. I have no formal or informal education in dance. I feel that I am not the right person to comment much on the whole event, but now, as I came back and thoughts about the show just kept coming to mind, I felt an urge to write about it, because this was different from the regular shows.

This was an interesting show. I got refreshed, and somewhere inside, in a corner of my heart, I feel an urge to learn dancing. I wish all the best for the people who were part of this function and hope they will be successful in organizing more such functions. One more reason for writing this post is to compensate for the fact that I clapped very little while sitting there on the chair, so I hope this post does that job.

Thanks for visiting!

Media makes me Angry.

I have not written much about newspapers earlier, but today, as I am frustrated for some reason, which is not totally related to newspapers, but also not something which I should share in the open, so I'll write about a common topic for all. All I am trying to do is be productive even with my negative emotions. Please note that I am not an expert in this domain.

I have stopped buying newspapers, because I find them absurd with the news of the rapes and abuses on the front page. There is news that makes us feel bad and nothing more. Because perhaps bad news always catches our attention, they publish it more and more, as if nothing good is happening in this world. I don't know if this would be a good thing to ignore the newspaper, but I don't see any advantage to reading such papers.

According to Gandhi, one must see good, hear good, and speak good, and not do the other way. Newspapers are filled with stories of bad deeds. I think they can do good by observing some good stories too. Maybe they do focus on those good stories, too, but I think they are more focused on the bad part of the world.

All I like about newspapers is the advertisements in the newspaper when they are of any relevance to the common man. Some people advertise for recruitment, and some people advertise just to show their products to the common man. That is the main business of the newspapers, but their business can become good if they can provide something better on it.

I think newspapers need to understand the psychology of the people and they must understand that they have a very big responsibility by selling the information. They must recruit psychologists and they must be aware of the impact of the stories on people's mind.

Recently wife of Shashi Tharoor was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi. If that was a suicide, then I think one of the major reasons behind the suicide was the media. The media put the story of her personal relationship with her husband and another lady reporter from Pakistan, who was in a fight with her, put more spice to the matter as the media would've wanted. 

They put news about someone's personal life, which is not of much relevance to other people. Was there really a relation between Shashi Tharoor and that reporter? Who cares? Only a few people would care about it, and they shouldn't know this from the larger media. 

 Insensitive media publishes it in the open, as if it were in the national interest for everyone to know about their personal life, without even thinking about the life of the people close to the subject,  the pain they would go through after reading it in open media, the humiliation they would feel?  

Don't you think that they should be left alone to live their personal life? How can the media be so cruel? It makes me feel disgusted with the newspapers. I have started to hate them. All I want to say to the media is, 

"Media, Please Leave the personal lives of the celebrities to their own, don't interfere with them, and start publishing something meaningful."

The media is the real criminal in today's world; they are the ones who glamorize crime and criminals. They can do good by covering some good stories. They must put something on their pages that could have inspired the wife of Tharoor to live more instead of committing suicide. 

Update - July 5, 2025

I re-visited this blog post today, and as I read it, I tried to remember the day and the events that prompted me to write this angry post earlier. Which newspaper was I writing about? -  I don't remember, but a decade has gone by, and many newspapers are still mostly the same. 

I read the news even today, but now I have learned to cope with the bad news, and I have to accept the fact that it will not change. Also, I have other options now to read. For example, if I am interested in financial news, I read Business Standard or The Financial Express. Similarly, if I want to read about politics, then it is in almost every general newspaper. I think it is all about setting our priorities to not let someone waste our time with the junk news. Everybody has to learn this in life, and I have learned it now to some degree :). 

Constructing a house

Hi,

Need to construct a house arises when you are living in a place for a long time on the rental rooms. There comes a time when I realize that if I have spent that rental money on buying my own place it would have been more fruitful.

I recently have thought of having my own home at Sunder Nagar or at near by towns in Himachal Pradesh. I have very low capital at this time as compared to the amount I need to construct a home.I have started to inquire about the procedure and things I need to construct a house.

• Land:

I think choosing appropriate land depends upon many factors. I have to look if the place is approachable, must a facility of market which must fulfill out basic daily needs. Traveling more than 1 km for buying my daily groceries will be place unfit for my residence.

Land of 1 biswa(125 sq. m) is will be sufficient to have a one room with one kitchen and one bathroom along with space for occupying a car. The rates vary from place to place according to the industrial and agricultural importance of the land.

Here in Sunder Nagar rates will vary from 2 lacs to 5 lacs per biswa. Prices are higher if the place is near to the national highway -21 and they may decrease if the place is distant from it but, if the place is near to an educational institute then prices are automatically higher.

• Material and manpower:

Material is getting costly day by day, today a cement packet of 50 kg got 20 to 50 rupees more costly than it was yesterday. Cement companies raise price if they see the demand to hike in the nearby future.

Govt. funded construction projects play a major role in the demand of the cement so, if they see a numbers of projects coming on, they will raise the price.  Other than cement, the price of steel is constantly increasing and that need us to have a little heavier pocket.

I have a little experience with all this so, I need your suggestions. Please share with me whatever you think is worth sharing.

Thank you!

Best time of a Day in winter

Hi there, 

You might have heard the news about the record breaking cold in the US this year. 

As you know I am not from US but this is same season here in Himachal Pradesh in India.

Sunder Nagar is colder than the average temperature in Himachal Pradesh.

Sun Shining through the window in winter - Sunder Nagar, Himachal Pradesh

I enjoy this time with Sun, when this walks around my window and offers its rays which shines and sooth the body and spirit. I clicked myself and thought to put it here in my blog as a memory of cold.

I think Sun is the best heater, you will not find electrical one in my room. What about you?

How do you cope with winter?

Wearing rings on your thumb

Hi,

I hope you are happy and peaceful. Okay, I wear a silver ring on my left thumb and I just Googled it to find if there is any meaning attached to it.

I read one or two top articles. In one of the articles they say, as the left hand represents the emotional, sub-conscious side of a person and while right hand represents the labor hand of a person so, it means wearing a finger on left hand means you are reflecting your sub-conscious or intuition.

Right hand shows the materialism, labor and maybe conscious. In one another article I found this weird prediction that people who wear rings on right thumb are gay, lesbian or trans-sexual and straight if you wear this on your left thumb.

I read many people responding to this by writing " I have started to wear the ring on my right hand".  I myself wear a ring on my left thumb and some people might find it weird and some might find it aesthetic.
So,  I want to know what would you prefer? On right thumb or on your left?
Or not on either?

Please show some energy by posting your view on the comment box.

Thanks for visit!

Why I love Google-5 reasons

Hi,
Have you celebrated birthdays of the famous personalities? If you use Google(obviously you do), then you surely at-least come to know about birthdays of the famous personalities around the globe. I love Google for many reasons:
(1) Celebrates Birthdays of the famous personalities:
I am always interested in knowing about the people around the globe who have done something remarkable. Google put a doodle on the home page, to commemorate those people on their birthdays. This has increased my awareness, and a curiosity to know more about such people.

(2) Celebrates the famous days:
Today is 9th December and this is "Human rights day" which I came to know after looking the doodle prepared by Google for the celebration of the day. So you never miss a day which is of international importance.

(3) Celebrates your own birthday:

If you are having a Google account and your birthday feed in there, then Google will prepare a doodle on your own birthday also just like it prepared one for me.

(4) It has the power to tell you anything you want to know:
This is the fact that Google is the search engine which is surely the best and so, will never disappoint you with any question.

(5) Earning money:
Since Google Adsense has been launched it is not a secrete that people have become millionaires using this program. This is the best program available in terms of the earning rate as compared to Chitika or any other in there.
I know you have your own reasons to love Google for so, please if possible share them with me.

Thanks!