What about your own mess, Mr. Bush?

In the article by VOA news, http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-08-16-voa1.cfm, the great Mr. Bush of the US of A states this, and I quote,

In his weekly Saturday radio address released Friday, Mr. Bush called Russia's invasion of Georgia "completely unacceptable."

Well, what can you do but laugh at such outrageous comments about someone else's mess when their own courtyard is full of mud and vomit, when they themselves have not fulfilled the promise of rebuilding Afghanistan, vacating Iraq gradually (its been more than 4 years now, you know)?

Maybe the US doesn't think so, but it is time they changed the way they think. The dirty tactics used CIA and FBI (and while we are on this cliche issue, all the Intelligence agencies of the world) and start thinking in terms of building peace measures.

And please stop using the excuse that "terrorism" doesn't believe in peace. India has been a victim of terrorism for more than 3 decades now, far longer than America. We have seen more soldiers killed on our borders just defending our country. There have been more terrorist attacks on India and more people have been killed than all the western countries put together.

And yet, India has never thought about invading other country even when we have proof that the country was responsible for the attack. Yet, I believe, our Intelligence agencies and government (no matter which one) thinks about strengthening ties with that country.

India has always believed in peace. The Indian Prime Minister yesterday expressed regret and grief about Pakistan's role in Kabul's embassy bombings. Never anger, or intent to harm the country, or its citizens. India has always believed in peace and dialogue, even in the time of greatest of crisis (think of British colonialism and India's peaceful non-cooperation movement).

I think the GREAT US of A should learn something from India. I think it is time that our great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, are made available from publicly and easily, not to spread Hinduism, mind you. Not at all. But to spread the great message of peace that these two epics convey.

Today, on the 61st Indian Independence Day, I feel proud and honoured to be born in this country. And if I ever have to reborn on this Earth, I would ask God to make me again, an INDIAN!

Jai Hind!

TATA Internet Broadband Service

Well, what can I say about them, the lesser the said, the better for them. But what the heck, I am going to say it anyway. I mean, its what I started this post for, right? So here goes!

I took the TATA INTERNET BROADBAND 3-months prepaid connection on 6th August, and they had it installed on 7th. And my roommate (who also has Tata connection, but postpaid) told me that they did the install pretty fast. It took them 3 days to installation for him. Well, that made me beam from end to end, and I was a happy man.

What I didn't know was that this TATA BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTION was going to a cause of great anxiety and tremendous fury over the next couple of days.

The first trouble started over the speed. They claimed the speed to be 384Kbps. Now, according to the International standards, the actual speed you get is:

<actual speed claimed>/8

which brings the speed I should get to around 48Kbps. But the average speed I was getting were only 35Kbps. But I let it pass. Didn't do anything about it, thinking it would go up gradually. And even it didn't, it wasn't a great problem.

But then the trouble started. 2 days in, my connection was no longer working. I called up the guy who set up the connection for me, and he told me that there is a cable problem in that area (although my flatmate's connection worked alright). I bought their story and they told me it would be working by 6:00PM in the evening. So I said, great! Not a problem.

The clock struck 6, the hour and minute hand as perfectly in sync as the cuts in a diamond. And I was as burning as black as the carbon from which it is made. The connection was not up yet.

And so, I called the guy up again to tell him that connection is not yet up, and he tells me that he will send a person tomorrow to fix it up for you. I said okay (since there was nothing else that I could actually do except agree). So, next morning, I am waiting for him to come till 12 noon (since he said he would come in the morning). Then I give him a call, and he tells me after 10 mins that a person is on the way. Now, I would not like to bore you with what happened in the net few hours, but the person managed to arrive at 6:00PM.

He did something and Voila!, my connection was up and running.

I went to office quite happy (I work nights) thinking about what I would do tomorrow now that my connection is up again. But a shock awaited me when I would reach home.

You guessed it! The connection was down again!

Now, instead of calling the person, I checked the documents he had given me when I bought the connection, and I found the number (044) 060 7070 for Chennai customer service. I called them up and found out that my account had been de-activated because I hadn't paid the money. My cheque had bounced.

Now, I tried and explained them that I had paid CASH when I bought the account. But he insisted that I call Mr. Nazeem up as there was nothing he could do about it. But I managed to get the distributors' number from him. It was Mr. Shankar.

I hung up and called Mr. Nazeem up and explained the situation in the nicest fashion. He asked for 10 minutes to find out what's up with my account. But he never called back.

I am not exactly frustrated yet, I am a patient man. But when I tried to call him back at around 2 PM, he would not pick up my calls. Basically, ignoring me. After calling him about 20 times and getting ignored, when I was just about to give up, he answered his phone.

And instead of speaking lightly, he started shouting at me that I am harassing him! I mean, now I am laughing at it, but imagine my surprise and annoyance that he tells me that I am calling him. And now, I am pissed too. So I call him something that I now regret calling him. But even so, I think he deserved it. And hung up the phone.

I called Mr. Shankar up (whose number I had got from the tech support guy from the number 044 60607070) and explained the situation politely. He has asked me to wait another two hours because their machines are down (I wonder how many times their machines go down in a week, and the number of times it goes down, I shudder that they are actually providing the service).

And it is during this period of waiting that I am writing this post, waiting for the connection to come up, check the news, hear Osho speak about the word 'fuck' on youtube.com, in hope that I would be able to do so in two hours' time.

My suggestion, avoid TATA INTERNET BROADBAND SERVICE like the plague, for eventually you will end writing something of the kind I have just written. Un-pleasant experiences.

P.S. Would let you know how it goes after two hours, or whenever I get the chance to surf the Internet again. I am uploading this post through my mobile GPRS connection, while my friend is blissfully asleep (he works night shifts too)!

I can only say

India's New anthem!!!

Hello people!!! Check this out. And don't forget to leave your comment below!!!

Tum chalo, to Hindustan chale!

‘Buddha – a story of Enlightenment’ by Deepak Chopra

I recently read a book titled ‘Buddha – a story of Enlightenment’ by Deepak Chopra. Well, before I say anything about the book, I must tell you that I have never read anything about Buddha before. I had definitely heard of him, but never really knew what he promoted.

And so, with little knowledge of what was about to come, I started to read.

Beginning with the technicality, the book is divided into 3 sections, his life as a prince in the kingdom of Kapilavatsu, his life as an ascetic and then the enlightenment. I have believed in God all my life. This book changed everything. I have been intrigued.

Buddha literally means ‘The Enlightened One’. That is free from thoughts, free from any misgivings, freedom from suffering. He experiences no pain, no grief, no sadness, no anger, and no jealousy. And Deepak Chopra goes as far as saying ‘Freedom from Karma’.

Buddha also says that suffering is universal. All beings that take birth have to suffer, and eventually die. And if suffering is universal, then what purpose is served by God? Why is he intent on making people suffer? Is there really an end to all this?

Buddha says freedom from karma is really freedom from everything. The real moksh. Once the cycle of karma stops, you achieve moksh. But how do you stop your karma? This book has tried to explain it, but I think its a frugal attempt at that. Stopping karma is like stopping time itself. It’s a state of self-realisation where you are aware of nothing, and yet everything. You stop your karma, and you stop making any mistakes. Your paap and punya account stops. You are free from the life-cycle of birth and rebirth. You are one with him. You transform into Buddha!

This book opens up a great new outlook on life, new meaning to things and a throws some light on the teachings of Buddha. This book has intrigued me on his teachings, and I plan to read more books on Buddha.