Happy Diwali 2013

Diwali is almost over but hey... good things and good deeds can be done anytime. This image is courtesy of JK YOG, I just removed the name of their organization digitally and published it on my blog. No copyright infringement is intended.

If I were in India it would have been one pig fest eating till my stomach busts, sweets, savories, etc. But then I am in America and don't even know any Indian families that celebrate these festivals well enough that I get invited to their place. Anyway festivals or not life goes on...

Beliefs and Convictions - different strokes....

I saw this advertisement in the local papers. It is interesting how people like Jim and his group featured in the advertisement take pride in eroding the religious practices and cultural beliefs of community and create rifts in the nation in the name of god. Religion and god was never meant to create unrest, and conflict in a society, but modern religion, especially when it gets highly professionally organized seems to be doing exactly that.

India is already a disturbed place with almost 20% of the world's population in less than 5% of the world's land area the country is reeling under several problems. Converting people and creating new religious orders only lead to conflicts. I wonder when people will understand that one doesn't ascend to heaven by creating conflicts in nations.

One of my friends who had lived in Texas earlier had remarked to me that "Texas is like the buckle of the bible belt" and having lived here for over five years I would say I have been poked and pierced by the buckle several times.

Money and Happiness!

"Money can't buy happiness" goes the old adage. The modern alternative to that is "Those who say Money can't buy happiness, simply don't know where to shop". This is at least true for 99% of the world's sane, thinking and normal population. The remaining 1% belong to the old school and still think there is not enough money in this world to buy happiness. I have heard colleagues of mine say "This company can't pay me enough to come to work on a Sunday or holiday...." It simply goes to illustrate that they simply don't know the strength of the financial muslce an organization can flex.
My personal opinion, money can buy happiness, as long as the money is in your pocket. The minute it changes hands you lose both money and happiness. Food for thought!!!

Aruba - My Next Holiday Destination

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Aruba Tourism Authority for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was scouting for a place to go which is accessible, fun, affordable, exotic, and most importantly year around I stumbled upon Aruba, an island destination that has everything one could dream of. Aruba, appropriately called "one happy island" offers amazing options for every kind of holiday seeker - the foodie, shopper, beach lover, adventurer, honeymooning couple, and anyone for that matter.

Aruba is a small enough that everything is within reach but large enough to give you the variety in landscape that is bound to enthrall and entice everyone. While Aruba offers something for everyone, I am sure your reasons for visiting or wanting to go there could be quite different from mine.

I am looking forward to Aruba travel simply because of the amazing outdoor activities and adventure sports that the island offers. The island has some of the most amazing geographical formations and landscapes in the world. A unique combination of mountains and oceans is what draws me to Aruba.

I can climb tall mountains and refresh myself in the azure waters and lounge around on the ivory beaches. I am looking forward to a soul-soothing experience while hiking through 20 plus miles of trails across the wilderness of the Arikok National Park.

Personally speaking I am a water baby. I simply feel at home in natural waters of the ocean and the fact that Aruba's beaches offer amazing swimming opportunities make me want to go there today. Not to mention that the rising waves entice me to rent a surfboard and fly across the ocean.

I personally believe Aruba is one location for everyone. For those who don't want to drive or rent a car the public bus service is convenient and inexpensive. There are a number of taxis available for those who want a little exclusivity and speed. If you do want to rent a car then there are number of advantages, parking is free through the island, driving is on the right side of the road and the best thing is that foreign and international licenses are accepted.

I rest my case here about wanting to visit Aruba this year. What is your case? How would you enjoy Aruba, let me know I would love to discuss further about holiday options, plans and activities that you plan to undertake in Aruba.

Texas Sunset

A typical Texas Fall Sunset. Photographed by a colleague of mine with a smart phone.

5 Foods Americans Eat that Are Banned Around the World - Yahoo News

Growing up in India I recall the huge furore about BVO or Brominated Vegetable Oil being used in soft drinks, chocolate, etc. Consumer groups hounded these corporations and the government to ban products using BVO and the campaign was quite successful back then in the 1980s. Now I hope the ban continues. I am shocked to know that American corporations continue to spew out products with BVO quite regularly and not to mention growth hormones which makes the children and adults here grow to gigantic proportions. Wonder how it would be in India with so many multinational brands fighting for their share of the billion plus market.

5 Foods Americans Eat that Are Banned Around the World | Shine Food - Yahoo Shine http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/5-foods-americans-eat-banned-around-world-161800329.html These common foods in America include ingredients that other countries ban Read the full story

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Would you let your Sister/ Daughter do this???

A strange practice indeed, sending young women to practice prostitution in the name of religion. I have heard of such practices being followed but not with this kind of lethal intention. I wonder who in their right minds would happily send their daughter/ sister/ wife etc to sleep with 100s of unknown men. I guess only those who are so brainwashed with fundamentalist ideology would do. The whole world stands up outraged when a rape happens in a third world country, but when women willingly go to sleep with Islamic fighters with the intentions of bearing children who would go on to become terrorists, they say it is a "Strange Practice". Mind you not "abominable" or "barbaric" or anything else, just "strange".

Tunisian Girls Are Coming Home Pregnant After Performing 'Sexual Jihad' In Syria - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tunisian-girls-coming-home-pregnant-233735013.html A very strange practice. Read the full story

Medicine as an Art

Train Views

Views of Lewisville lake from the train as I ride to work daily.

Indians losing identity - or have we already lost it???

As a proud Indian citizen I continue to get frustrated by people who make the common mistake of using my ethnic-national identity label on others who are not even remotely connected to my country or ethnicity. It makes me wonder if there is even one individual out of the billion plus Indians who feel the same way about this issue.

Every so often things come up in the media that frustrate me to no end. One of the biggest that makes my skin crawl and blood boil is the issue of ethnic identity. Few million "Native Americans" in compliance with few million more Europeans and Africans continuously assault our identity. The first group have the audacity to continue to refer to themselves as "Indians" even though they know that they are not and for that matter never were the owners of the identity label. The second and third groups continue to foment the myth of Indian identity label for Native Americans. What is worse is the fact that over a million real Indians in the United States and a billion plus in the rest of the world are blissfully accepting this labeling without as much as a squeak of protest.

Recently I listened to a radio program on NPR presented by of course the famous Lourdess Garcia-Navarro, International correspondent based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was inappropriately titled "Brazil's Indians Reclaim Land Citing Promises, Using Force". Of course she is writing about the indigenous people of Brazil. In her biography page on NPR it is claimed that "Garcia-Navarro captured history in the making with stunning insight, courage and humanity." I wonder where this insight vanished when she is referring to Native Americans or whatever tribal nation they belong to as Indians. This reporter has been feted multiple times in various forums for excellence in reporting.

The reporting excellence seems to vanish when it comes to reporting the truth about Indians - of course the real ones from India and not those who are piggybacking on the label just because of a mistake made by Spaniard Christopher Columbus.

Riding the Train to Dallas

I am starting a new job in Dallas on Monday. Since the distance is far, working nights, and of course the rare convenience of train made me contemplate taking the train to commute. In order to check the feasibility for myself I decided to do a trail run and yesterday I bought a $10 ticket to ride from Denton, TX to Dallas, TX. If I drove in good traffic conditions it takes me about 50 mins and by train it took me about 80 mins, a good 30 mins increase in commute time, plus adding the time to drive back and forth from the train station. There is no real savings in terms of time or money. It would cost me just about the same amount of money to drive. The biggest advantage of riding the train is to offset the stress of driving after working a sleepless 12-hr night shift.

The train interiors don't stink, they are clean, hardly any crowd, seats are pretty comfortable, so it is going to be a pretty decent ride home from work I am hoping. The only disadvantage is that there is no service on weekends. I will still have to drive to work on weekends.

Railway Platform - deserted

Railway Platform - deserted

No smoking, drinking or listening to loud music in the train

View of Lewisville Lake!

I-35 during low traffic time... 

Twitter Down

 

Twitter down!!!

Twitter the online microblogging platform is down again... or at least that is what it says when I try to login. This is the third time I have tried logging in since morning.... Wonder what the Silicon Valley Geeks are doing...

Trouble in Myanmar/ Burma

Myanmar has become the latest nation at strife with Muslims. The Buddhist majority nation has begun to experience the influx of illegal immigrants from its western neighbor and of course when Muslims have a little bit of community and a small group they will start trouble. The first step they take is to seek special privileges for prayers and then extra benefits and then territory and then the host nation has to either has to bow down and convert enmasse or perish in the onslaught of terrorism. I sure hope Myanmar doesn't go that direction and the Buddhists will stand up for themselves and preserve the ethnic and religious identity of their nation.

American-born Islamic Terrorist's trail begins

After what seems like an eternity the trail to punish Major Nidal Hassan began yesterday. It is ironical that even after being imprisoned for over 4 years the terrorist in Hassan is still alive and active. According to news reports the alleged terrorist who is defending himself opened his case with the statement declaring that he indeed shot army personnel at Fort Hood.

According to news reports he claimed that he was among the "imperfect Muslims trying to establish a perfect religion". I don't know how he can call it a perfect religion when it doesn't give basic human rights to people who don't believe in the exact same doctrine propagated by its holy book.

A perfect religion ought to promote peace, Islam on the other hand seems to be doing the exact opposite. A perfect religion promotes respect for life, respect for all human beings equally, compassion for less fortunate, nonviolence, etc. I can go on and on about what a perfect religion should be, but that is not the point of this blog post.

Justice for those injured and the families of those killed will be served only Hassan is branded terrorist and punished to the highest extent by law. Of course it is for the judges to decide what to do with a terrorist like him but in my opinion anyone who attempts to harm the people who willingly lay down their lives to protect the nation should be punished to the fullest extent.

I sure hope it happens in this case and soon. I also believe that Justice Delayed amounts to Justice Denied.

Back to School Savings!!!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of costcaptain for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Back to School Savings online

Shopping online is the latest buzz. Gone are the days when one had to endlessly scour supermarket shelves, travel from store to store to find the right stuff to get ready to go back to school. Now it is online and finding the right online retailer who sells everything you need and at the right price is the key. Getting ready to go back to school I found this amazing website CostCaptain.com which sells all products at affordable prices. Computers, tablets, gaming systems, stationery, calculators, games, printers, networking accessories, etc. All these products are sold at prices that match or beat the best in the market.

CostCaptain.com also offers numerous discount programs and reward opportunities. These programs are highly beneficial to online shoppers, especially those associated with academia, teachers, schools, museums, students, etc. Cost captain was earlier available only to academic buyers but now it has opened doors to everyone. Anyone can shop on Costcaptain and benefit.

CostCaptain.com went online in 2005 and has since served over 1 million customers across the country. Customers include teachers, students, librarians, museums, etc. There are over 100,000 products online, you just have to find them and buy them at the most affordable price.

Customer support is what Costcaptain prides itself in. Emails are answered within one business day. Telephone customer service is available with call centers based in Georgia and executives exude Southern Charm as they serve your needs. All brands available, Lenovo, HP, XBOX, PS3, Wii to name a few.

Experience Costcaptain's superior customer service, simply call them at (866) 912 9222.

What are you waiting for, visit costcaptain and start saving.

Justice delayed is Justice Denied... well almost...

I have been following the case of Major Nidal Hassan the Muslim American army officer who turned his gun on his colleagues because they were fighting against Muslims in the middle east. To me and rest of the members of the public the case looks very straight forward. Nidal killed and injured army staff, the people who are hired to protect the nation. There are enough witnesses, and a confession too. It should be easy to put him to death and finish the case. But, US army is not finding it so easy, they think the case is complicated and continue to hold Nidal in prison and pay him his official salary. New reports that have emerged indicate that it may be impossible to put Nidal to death.

Looks like the American Justice system is stumbling along unsure of what to do. Few years ago India experienced one of the most deadly terrorist attacks and one Pakistani citizen was captured alive and his trail also took a long time but ultimately he was put to death by hanging. I wonder if that is a good enough precedent for America to follow. It is time the members of the slain service members families get the justice they deserve and the deceased souls rest in peace. Enough of paying taxpayers dollars to a traitor.

Minimum Wage Workers - the New Generation of Slaves

America has a history of Slavery and now it seems as if the history is being repeated in the form of low wage workers and high earning executives (read CEOs and management). I was listening to Diane Rehm Show on NPR and was appalled to hear that one of the panelists thought that minimum wage workers receive a "phenomenal" wage increase in the first year. I wonder if he is properly informed about the prevailing situation in the market.

I know a friend of mine who works in one of the leading hospital systems in DFW area, TX. His first year wage raise was a mere $.07 an hour, which translates to 2.80 a week and $134 a year. The years salary raise doesn't even cover his gas bills for one month and this gentleman thinks it is a phenomenal raise. I think he needs to get down and dirty before making such comments.

Atheists unveil first atheist monument on government property

Atheists unveil first atheist monument on government property - So what should we call this? The temple of ungod? The first temple of Athiests has sprung up. I am pretty sure more such monuments will come up in the near future. If believers place their faith on god of their choice and worship in the monument of their choice such as a temple, church, mosque, etc, the athiests have finally built their own place of worship.

I Wonder what their god will be called! Let us wait and watch out for the mushrooming of these shrines soon.

Bangladesh Phenomenon Moves to America

In the recent past news reports on building collapses and factory fires in Bangladesh were the hot topics. The trend seems to have moved half way around the world to Philadelphia, US, where a building collapsed in downtown and had several people trapped in the debris. Of course thanks to the greater amount of space and much higher response speed there have been no deaths reported yet in the Philly collapse.

Initial speculations are pointing to an industrial accident in one of the construction sites nearby. We will wait for the right verdict on this case if at all it becomes public and newsworthy for the media to carry.

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