Hope this Republic Day changes our mindset!!!

1020th BLOG POST -->>

     

     Two days ago we celebrated our Republic Day. Congratulations to all of us and let's hope that our country progresses continuously. We are already one of the best developing nations in the world. The only problem is that our Ministers and Governments aren't being ethical. Whenever leadership is being talked, the first quality that's been discussed is of being ethical. The biggest leader is the Government of any country as it has to manage the whole nation and its citizens. It's not a piece of cake to manage but a very big plethora of responsibility. But this can not be the excuse for our ministers to make. They have themselves chosen to be a politician, minister and public servant. If they fail to do it, they should themselves surrender the post and position rather than staying at it and ruining the condition of country day by day. 

            When we criticize our Government, we should make it sure if we are doing our best in nurturing and protecting our nation. It is said that country is our mother but actually, it's like our child. Until and unless, we will not handle it with care, it will never develop into a good country. We never feel privileged of what we have got. We are always interested in complaining and crying over whatever our country does not possesses but we never cherish the properties that we already have. Our own countrymen, while roaming in another country, ensures that they do not spit here and there but as soon as they land in India, they start spitting within an hour itself. This is how we shower our respect towards country. Somewhere down the line, our Government isn't the only one to be blamed. If we want our Government to work appropriately, we should be the one helping them out. 

              Whenever we discuss about our country, we talk only about the worst that has happened in all these years. We never acknowledge the fact that there are so many good things that our country proudly owns. We never talk about the wonderful things Gandhiji had done but we only point out his wrong decision of partitioning India and causing havoc. This is how we have turned pessimistic about out country. Sadly, we have ourselves corrupted our country more than our politicians have. We have not been the citizens that we could have. If we would have tried to be like the American or European citizens who make it sure that they follow the system of their country so that nothing gets out of the track, even our Government had to change itself and bring themselves to the level of Superpowers. Let's hope on this Republic Day we will change our attitude and think a bit about our nation, our child. 

 Thanks.

 

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!

India Non-Fiction Literature Fest Season-3!!!

1019th BLOG POST -->>

         

          The third season of India Non-Fiction Fest again takes place at Nehru Center, Mumbai the way its first season took place. It was a wonderful three-day sessions comprising of 75+ speakers and many informative sessions. The speakers weren't as big names as the first season of the Fest had but the sessions were quite interesting if compared with the first season. Kumaar Bagrodia, the organizer of the India Non Fiction Fest was seen running here and there for all the three days and it showed the amount of hard work he was putting to make it sure that every thing goes well. The best part of the event that I appreciated personally is punctuality. Every session except Tisca Chopra's debut book launch started at time and ended accordingly too. Comparing this with the Season 1 that happened in June 2013, the hosts weren't as cool and fluent as they were in first season. 

DAY 1:

   The Festival started with the lamp lighting by Kiran Rao, Ajit Balakrishnan and Subroto Bagchi. And then their session about "India Our Time is now" begun. It was a thrilling session. The moderator Subroto Bagchi made people smile and laugh continuously. The question by a boy in audience regarding the argument "India vs Bharat" was well-answered by Kiran Rao and others. At 2 PM, the next event was the book launch of Minhaz Merchant's latest "The New Clash of Civilization". The pieces of book was read by Sabira Merchant. Also were present at the book launch- Islamic scholar, Zeenat Shaukat Ali and the Bestseller author, Amish Tripathi. Amish ended the session with a wonderful thought over Islam. From 4.15 was the session of Radhakrishnan Pillai where he discussed about his latest book "Chanakya's 7 Secrets of Leadership" with the co-author Mr. Sivanandan. After that a wonderful book launch of Hotelier Vithal Kamat's "Idlis, Orchid and Will Power" happened where he discussed how he used management tactics in his business which grew him from one hotel serving idlis to 500-600 restaurants worldwide. He was quite frank while discussing about his adventure which added flavours to the Day 1. These were the highlights of Day 1 otherwise there were many other sessions taking place simultaneously. 

Day 2:

       There were two sessions that begun simultaneously- One at Hall of Culture and another at Hall of Harmony. At the Hall of Culture, Anil Zankar, Aditya Seth, VS Kundu and Pankaj Butalia discussed about Non fiction through the camera lens. There were many unknown facts that were discussed during this session. On the other side, "Excuse Me Can We Have Our Country Back?" got launched by Fahad Samar and Anish Trivedi along with Suraj Sriram, the author of the book. A very interesting genre in Non-fiction, Mythology- on a whole was discussed by Ashwin Sanghi, Swami Shubh Vilas and Vinod Advani. Ashwin Sanghi, like every time, engaged the audiences very well with his speaking capabilities. "Elections 2014, Media and Women" were discussed in a session that had Uday Shankar, Somnath Batabyal, Nayana Kathpalia and R Jagannathan. On the other side, "Heroes Everywhere & Within" was discussed by Geeta Anand, Faith Johnston and Jerry Almeida. It was quite motivational and the young audiences learnt a lot. Many other sessions also took place along with these events.

Day 3:

        The last day of the Festival was celebrated on the National Republic Day. People were seen in the patriotic dresses and colors. It was a celebratory air around as all were waiting for many TV and movie personalities to come and give them a glance of them. It all started with Laxmi Dhaul's latest book launch which had Shruti Seth as chief guest. Then there was the most awaited book launch by the debutant authoress-cum-actress, Tisca Chopra. She had Imtiaz Ali with her to launch the book where they discussed how a struggler can make his way in Bollywood. It was one of the most interesting sessions of the Festival. Later on, Dr. Rajat Chauhan and Charles Assisi discussed about self confidence and personal achievements. It was one of the motivation sessions. "Chalo! Lets Go!" was a wonderfully funny session where Rishi Piparaiya, Tanushree Podder and Sunil Vaidyanathan discussed regarding the weird, funny and unique incidents that happened during their traveling experiences. The last session at the Hall of Harmony had Hussain Zaidi, Vaibhav Purandare and Harish Nambiar discussing about cities and crimes. It was a hardcore session where audiences were asking tough questions and the panelists were making it sure that they answer every question been thrown at them. 

          The Grand Finale of the Festival had Roadies fame, Raghu Ram for his first book's launch. This was the only session where audiences filled almost every seat and there were hell lot of people standing around. Everyone was smiling, screaming and shouting while they saw Raghu speak, stand and answer their question. He discussed about how he has different images in life and he can not be what he is on Roadies in real life and vice versa. His book received a warm applause and everyone made him feel special. With this, the great season of India Non Fiction Fest ended. Hope it comes back soon to Mumbai again. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!

The Death of Sunanda Pushkar!!!

1018th BLOG POST -->>

     

       The death of Sunanda Pushkar has surprised all of us. Never ever would have anyone of us thought that something such drastic could happen with an eminent personality within few hours of discussion over a sensitive topic.. Everything was well few hours before and suddenly life changed dramatically for that particular person or say couple. People started estimating the cause of death but its something that shall never come out until and unless someone opens out the secret if its not a natural death. The latest report says that she wasn't poisoned nor an attack has been made on her. It's surprising that a controversy, reactions and then a tragedy- all takes place within the premise of few hours. Astonishing! We have assumed that nothing wrong can ever happen with celebrities regarding love, affairs and marriage issues because they have an approach that makes them change their partners every next month. Well, now we know that we shouldn't generalize statements.

              Few people say that it happened because we, the tweeples, passed jokes on her which resulted in depression that lead to death. If someone like Sunanda Pushkar, a lady who was been observed as energetic and excited towards living life can end it just because of few jokes that we, the non-value people made on her, I would say the statistics of suicide will, then, keep increasing day by day. Considering that the death is due to suicidal attempt, it's something Sunanda should have avoided. Shashi Tharoor has already been through 2 marriages while this was his 3rd. The previous two marriages has ended in divorce. Its evident that Shashi and those two ladies, decided to part ways because Shashi could not manage a heavy relationship called marriage. Considering this, Sunanda first of all, should have thought 100 times before tying knots with him or she should have been prepared for something like this. Because she has been quite positive while expecting something from this marriage, she got disappointed when she got to know about his relationship with Mehr Trar.

                 Now, everyone of us know that Mehr Trar is linked with ISI. There were many possibilities of big secrets been possessed by Sunanda as she read few messages of Mehr and Shashi. Someone can be involved in this mysterious murder but god knows, what's the truth. We, the common people, won't even come to know the real secret of the murder if it is, because the big names will burn all the facts. The secret will remain secret forever. No one knows about the reason of Sunanda's death. We can just hope that it's just a natural death and nothing else. A suicide or murder will seriously be terrifying to hear happening in that elite class where there's lot of literacy, intelligence and education been embedded in their personalities, past and experience. 

               Whenever we are in any relationship, we must make it sure that we aren't messing around too much. If we find that we are at fault, we should stop it then and there informing, directly or indirectly, to our partner. If we find that our partner is wrong, we should make him/her understand that we aren't liking the changes. We should make it sure that we are ending the worst in the first gear itself. If the things get resolved in a conflict or two, all is well. But if it gets out of proportions and we open our eyes then, it would be quite tragic for our present and future. There are lots of problem that's been discussed these days regarding people not taking the tag of 'married' seriously. They take out the issue of breaking up every time there's a heated verbal discussion. There's something called patience which is the first rule of relationship. People don't take it seriously and hence, such cases are been heard of. My deepest condolences goes out for Sunanda Pushkar, the one who's the most neat in the whole issue. Hope Shashi Tharoor gets strength to fight with all the media nonsense that'll take place now. 

THANKS.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!