IN SUPPORT OF TIGER WOODS

Hello,

It is so easy to point fingers but so difficult to look beyond.

Tiger Woods and his women set me thinking.

I am sure Tiger was not looking only for sex. If it had been DISCRETE SEX he could have donned the best disguise and paid in cash for the costliest prostitute in the world.

Why did he leave traces as big as the footprints of the Yeti?

Was it intentional? Did he do it because he wanted to be in the position he is right now? Was he actually in a bad marriage? He did say so to many of his women.

Tiger Woods is an exceptional golf player. He was worshipped by fans all over the world, he was paid handsomely by the advertisers. Why did he put all of this on the 'Guillotine'?

I am sure he is not bird brained not to realize the consequences of his action.

He always has the spotlight on him and there is no way he could have thought that he would get away without being noticed.

So why?

Why did he risk his marriage for the several affairs he had?

The answer seems simple.

He was not happy in his marriage.

Now the question obviously is why did he not divorce his wife before he started on his affairs?

The answer to this is difficult and Tiger is the only person who can answer this accurately but most probably a wild guess would say that he did so because he did not have the guts and opted the easy way out by doing something that would automatically lead to the same result.

Now, he would be a brave man if he stood by his transgressions, did not bow down to the social pressure of trying to keep the marriage alive and got himself free from the relationship that had failed to bind him.

Best regards,

Manoj

BARCELONA LET DOWN

Hello,

Yesterday, 21/12, was a day I was badly let down by FC Barcelona.

I had waited for this match between FC Barcelona and Kazama of Kuwait for almost a week and arranged for two tickets for my son and myself. The excitement at the ground before the start of the game was extraordinary and it was hard to believe that a crowd of a mere 20,000 could create such a ruckus. We made mexican waves and shouted and clapped to the rythm of the music playing and everyone had their cameras out for the wonderful fireworks. The noise was at its best when the FC Barcelona team with Puyol, Henry, Jeffrey and others made their appearance for the photo shoot.

I was disappointed at not seeing Messi, the magician, but the disappointment was magnified when only Bojan, Milito and Jeffren of the main team made an appearance in the playing eleven.

The pace was slow and during part of the game Kazma managed to keep possession and dominate proceedings. It was infact in line with the proceedings that the game ended in a 1-1 draw with Abdullah of Kazma scoring a wonderful flick goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Abdullah earns himself a place in Kuwaiti folklore.

Thank God I did not pay for the tickets. When I think of the entertainment and fun my son and I had at the stadium I am satisfied that I had the KD 35/= tickets at KD 150/= each it would have really hurt.

Best regards,

Manoj

Global Investment House - Restructuring completed

Hello,

Not many people outside the GCC would know much about Global Investment House (GIH). But it was big.

Before the global financial crisis hit the Banks in America, Europe and then the other smaller markets, it was one of the leading Investment Banks in the region with a reputation strong and big enough to attract investors from Europe. Ms. Maha Al Ghunaim, the chairperson of this company was listed in the 100 most powerful business women in the world by Forbes in 2008.

The Global crisis induced a financial road block as Banks refused to renew exposures and recalled their debts which lead to a default by the Company. It also became evident that several strange investments meant that not much could be said about the asset quality.

But when everything seemed lost, Global has risen Pheonix like - The banks who refused to renew exposures in December 2008 signed a restructuring agreement in December 2009, which allow the Company the time they require to tie up their laces and get back into the race. The Banks are benefitted as their exposures are now secured by assets of the Company and there is a lot more transparency in the operations for Banks to forsee any misadventure in the future.

Best of luck to Global Investment House and the employees working there.

Manoj

EXCITEMENT

Hello,

I am excited about the visit of Ruchira, my daughter to Kuwait.

She is coming here on a short vacation, and most probably, will use her trip here to relax, sleep and shop.

She will be with us after a gap of 6 months and although we have video chatted on the internet almost everyday, there is something mental about the matter.

Best regards,
Manoj

27/11/2009 - Kuwait at a Farm House

26/11/2009 in Kuwait - By the Sea

Hypocricy - Unconscious bias

Hello,

In a gathering on Thursday we discussed two topics.

One: MF Hussain getting Government nod about security cover on coming to India and whether he should be excused for his excessively sexual potrayal of Hindu Gods and Goddess.

Second: The growing menace of the Maoist and whether their being asked to come to the negotiation table is correct.

Most of us were liberal, secular, democratic, timid and Pseudo intellectuals who thrive on our ability to accept every attrocity with open arms.

Not surprisingly, a majority said that MF Hussain has done no wrong. Most felt that he was being targetted because he was from the minority (22% of the population and still minority). Few said that what wrong has he done when what he actually did was replicating what has been done in Ajanta & Ellora. Some felt that what he has done is less vulgar than heroines posing semi-nude for gods and goddess in films and calendars.

It was felt that MF Hussain has freedom of expression as an artist and no one has the right to stop him from doing so.

When it was pointed out that the world does not tolerate such expression (eg: the protest of sikhs against Dera chief for dressing as their Guru and the Dane being pulled up for the cartoon on Islam) and that MF Hussain has been selective about his liberties, they claimed that there ought to be difference between a moderate, secular viewpoint and a radical fanatical outlook. For them the protest against the paintings was a radical outburst that needed to be condemned.

We then taked about the Maoist and how they were killing inncoent people and getting away with it. When some expressed anguish at the Governments decision to bend and call them for a dialogue, most of the others protested saying that the maoist had no option and they were taking up arms because they have been exploited, abused, insulted.

Now if you look at the discussion it will be obvious that while on one side the group preaches tolerance and avoidance of any protest on the other side it sympathises with perpetrators of aimless violence.

Selective bias, is it not.

Could anyone sympathize with the maoist if their son was killed. Would you sit without protesting if MF Hussain had painted your mother, your sister, your wife, your daughter naked.

So why do you have such opinions my friend.

All because it is you are not personally affected.

Best regards,

Manoj

Election, your choice

My dear friend,

I’ve not called a spade a shovel. We’ve kept our promise of giving you the choice. How can you make the choice unless we place some truths before you.

You, my friend, should know that the Association has taken a loan of Rs.50 lacs. Meaning thereby, there is not only no funds, there is lien on future membership subscription receipts. In State Bank of Indore, with half the number of officers, their Association is having a fund of Rs.8 crores.

Another matter, where is now the Qualis car the Association had purchased ?

You have been looted my dear friend. There are many more skeletons they are hiding. Change is necessary.
People who have run the Association for 20 years on the basis of community politics, are strangely now speaking of caste. But if you look at the composition, we are a more consciously balanced lot. They would have loved, we had no base.

A friend

Sanjoy

PS:-

Team for Change: Vote for the Panel for Merger :

Ashok Meena (President)
D. S. Ujjwal (Vice_President)
Santosh Kumar Sharma (General_Secretary)
Sanjoy Gupta (Treasurer)
C. L. Jonwal (Organizational Sec)
Sunil Kumar Gupta (Zonal Sec - Bikaner)
Vijay Kumar Rajora (Zonal Sec -Delhi)
Surendra Singh (Zonal Sec - Jaipur)
Man Singh Kachhawaha (Zonal Sec - Jodhpur)
K L Meena (Zonal Sec -Kota)
J. P. Sharma (Zonal Sec -Mumbai)
Ram Ratan Meena (Zonal Sec -Udaipur)

MF HUSSAIN - HYPOCRICY UNVEILED

Hello all,

Find below the masterpieces by our famous painter MF Hussain.

Goddess Durga in sexual union with Tiger

Prophet's Daughter Fatima fully clothed

Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh's head

M.F. Hussain's Mother fully clothed

Naked Saraswati

Mother Teresa fully clothed

Naked Shri Parvati

Hussain's Daughter well clothed

Naked Draupadi.

Well clothed Muslim Lady.

Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-clothed

Full Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin.

The above painting clearly indicates Hussain's tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred. But the height is the painting of Naked Bharatmata -

Hussain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians.

Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion.

He says nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour. But is it not strange that only Hindu gods and Goddesses are singled out for this purity and honour.

Now look at the last picture. There are four leaders in the picture.

Out of the four leaders M. Gandhi is decapitated and Hitler is naked. Hussain hates Hitler and has said in an interview 8 years ago that he has depicted Hitler naked to humiliate him and as he deserves it !

How come Hitler's nudity cause humiliation when in Hussain's own statement nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour !

This shows Hussain's perversion and hypocrisy.

When a person dresses like a Sikh Guru, thousands of Sikhs gather and destroy their establishments , threaten to kill him, announce a bounty on his head.

If a Danish journalist depicts the Prophet of the Muslims , Muslims all over the world rise in anger, there is violence, a booty on the head of the Journalist.

But if MF Hussain draws paintings depicting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in sexual positions (which relations are not borne out by ancient texts at all ) and Hindus merely protest , they are called communal, intolerant and taught lessons in secularism by one and all.

The problem with Hindus is that they accept what ever is dished out, they do not have the guts to say that this is wrong , they seek acceptance from outsiders rather than standing for their religion.

We worship the same Gods and Goddesses but don't stand up for them when the time comes.

Is it a matter of shame when you do not stand for your religion, your faith and your God.

Manoj

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. ~Harold Wilson

My dear sir, my dear friend,

Someone who begins on a loan of Rs.35,000 at the beginning of his political career, ends up as owner of petrol pumps, cold storage, medical stores and real estate agencies when he retires 20 years afterwards, on the salary of a bank officer, and we meekly salute him. Shame on us !

No wonder, bank officers are the softest targets of society today. Everyone throws a punch at us in passing. And nobody really seems serious to even save the faces of our so-called netas with a whatever wage settlement.

We have an election before us, after 20 long years, at last a chance to have it out man. Throw out these fellows who have brought us to this plight.

Of course, as W. Edwards Deming had said, “it is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”

Seriously, we’ll change, we’ll thrive. We seek merger, the mother of all changes. So vote not only against the existing netas, but also against those handful of guys who have no chance of winning except fragmenting the voters a little bit.

We’ve brought you a decisive choice at last. Come on, it is your turn now to use it.

A friend

Sanjoy Gupta

PS :

Team for Change: Vote for the Panel for Merger :

Ashok Meena (President)
D. S. Ujjwal (Vice_President)
Santosh Kumar Sharma (General_Secretary)
Sanjoy Gupta (Treasurer)
C. L. Jonwal (Organizational Sec)
Sunil Kumar Gupta (Zonal Sec - Bikaner)
Vijay Kumar Rajora (Zonal Sec -Delhi)
Surendra Singh (Zonal Sec - Jaipur)
Man Singh Kachhawaha (Zonal Sec - Jodhpur)
K L Meena (Zonal Sec -Kota)
J. P. Sharma (Zonal Sec -Mumbai)
Ram Ratan Meena (Zonal Sec -Udaipur)

Books worth reading - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

I read Wilkie Collins “The Woman in White” on the recommendation of my dear friend Mariam Karim.

Before getting to the book I would first like to give a brief description on the writer. Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824, the eldest son of the landscape painter. He had worked in tea business and entered to read for the bar at Lincoln's Inn. The legal knowledge he acquired was used in his writings.
He was a friend of Charles Dickens, acting with him, contributing to ‘Household Words’ and traveling with him on the Continent. Dickens produced and acted in two melodramas written by Collins, The Lighthouse (1855) and The Frozen Deep (1857). Dickens also edited “The Woman in White”.
Besides “The Woman in White” (1860) Wilkie Collins also wrote “The Moonstone” (1868), which T. S. Eliot called 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. His novels ‘The New Magdalen’ (1873) and ‘The Law and The Lady’ (1875) were considered rather sensational novels for its time.
Collins also braved the moral censure of the Victorian age by keeping two women (and their households) while marrying neither.
He died in 1889.

“The Woman in White”
First of all I would like to say that once I started reading the novel, I wanted to complete it. A sure shot sign of the book being to my liking.

The book is divided into chapters and sub-chapters and reads like a television serial. Some readers have also likened it to a Soap Opera. Later I found out that the book was first published in a serialized form.

The advantages of the form being that at every break there was something to look forward to. The disadvantage being that every break was built up in an elaborate fashion which did not suit the novel format. The passages just before the break became long drawn and tempted you to skip them and exactly when you begin to think that you are near some discovery, the book takes you back into the spider web.

The novel is a Victorian Age tale of an ordinary drawing master and an heiress in love and their adventures, both forced and self imposed, mixed up with murder, conspiracy, lunacy, illness, affairs and a ‘look alike’ thrown in. The good win at the end, and the bad, although smarter all the while, get screwed by destiny in the end. Melodramatic it is.

Sample this for intrigue:

A man put his head from the window and asked: "Have you seen a woman pass this way-a woman in white? She has escaped from my asylum."

These lines make you look ahead and several times in the novel we have starts like this which keeps our interest.

We have characters like Laura Glyde nee Fairlie and Walter Hartright (lovers who separate at the start to reunite at the end) Marian Halcombe (the intelligent sister of Laura), Pesca (the bubbly Italian friend of Walter), who love selflessly and then we have characters like Sir Percival Glyde (The impostor Baronet and husband of Laura), Count Fosco (An Italian in exile and friend of Sir Percival) whose devotion to another is based on logical calculations. We have fringe players enacting the roles of lawyers, doctors, asylum keepers, nurses, housekeepers, etc, who help in the story of Anne Catherick (Laura Glyde’s look- alike and ‘The Woman in White’), reaching its conclusion.

In short it is story of the desperadoes Sir PG and Count F, Short of money, getting the better of LG and MH, pocketing LG’s inheritance and her identity, till WH comes back into the story to set things right. Sir PG is done in by his obstinacy and meets his death at the place of his original crime, while Pesca unwittingly scares Count F to his end.

Some of the quotes that are worth mentioning are:

But the Law is still, in certain inevitable cases, the pre-engaged servant of the long purse.
Some of us rush through life, and some of us saunter through life. Mrs. Vesey sat through life.
The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.
"I am a citizen of the world, and I have met, in my time, with so many different sorts of virtue, that I am puzzled, in my old age, to say which is the right sort and which is the wrong."
Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money, but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them.
The best men are not consistent in good--why should the worst men be consistent in evil?

All in all a book you will read from cover to cover.

A Golden Opportunity for Change in SBBJ called Elections

My dear Brother-Officer,

When is the last time we've had a proper election to the Officers' Association in SBBJ ? This time there'll be one, because Ashok Meena some years back accepted the challenge and tirelessly built up a strong base by working for his guys. And now in his political maturity he has launched a Team for Merger comprising of Shri Santosh Kumar Sharma, a veteran of SBBJ political arena and myself, Sanjoy Gupta, a new comer to politics.

Originally what inspired us was the common plank for merger. The net benefit which will accrue to all of us once SBBJ is merged with SBI is known to all of us to be quite huge. We also now know that after forcing us into strikes against merger and making us suffer salary cuts on that account repeatedly, suddenly the existing office bearers have turned in favour of so-called merger "at par". Obviously their heart is not in it because the understanding which has been reached between the two prominent office bearers is that the one who'll be President will also be the Officer Director, but if there will be merger then where'll be the position of the Director left.

One of our election pledge is therefore, that none of our office bearers will be the Director. We undertake to keep not only this but all our activities and accountings democratic and transparent. We have had excess of the rule by a small group of netas for so many years when a handful of officers have cornered all the privileges and benefits. We seek to overturn that. Why should you and I only suffer while they enjoy unjustly all the fruits of our labour.

Today, the fact at the branches, the BPR centers and everywhere where brother officers are working with dead sincere dedication and for very very long hours, is that, officers are being mercilessly squeezed from all directions, officers are being silently killed with high BP, diabetes, heart problems. And the compensation is not even 54% of what the equivalent state government employee gets. And what does our existing office bearers of the Association do ? Become half-management and exert more pressure on the officers !! Why not leave the management do its job to increase business, to do this also and that also. You do your job. And what is the job of the Association ? It is obviously to represent its members. It is to jump into help every brother officer who is in any sort of suffering and/or facing any sort of injustice. It is for the Association to speak up with courage against the mindless exploitation of the meek innocent officers’ community that is taking place today day in and day out.

But this will not happen if the present set of office bearers who have developed rigid vested interests in the present set up and arrangements, are not thrown out in this election. Our team is the only team having the base capable of doing that. But unless friends like you join us and help us actively, this will not happen. So do reply to this mail to encourage us and keep us posted of how we can be useful to you.

A friend

Sanjoy Gupta


PS :-

the old & original
PANEL FOR MERGER IN SBBJ
Aboa : unit sbbj, election – 2009-12
THE PLEDGE
merger without any ifs and buts
complete parivartan
· · In first week, we shall pass Resolution for Merger and submit to management to be placed before Board of the Bank for approval.
· No question of ever again stupidly resorting to strikes against merger.
· · Quick relief and welfare will be brought to each and every brother-officer facing injustice or suffering.
· Postings will be got changed as per dignity due and desire.
· Officer Director shall not be any one of the office-bearers.
· Monthly subscription shall be reduced to Rs.50/- from Rs.75/-.
· Group insurance for all officers free of cost.
· There will be democracy and transparency in all our activities and accounts.

The Team : SK Sharma-Ashok Meena-Sanjoy Gupta

Openly Supporting : Dr Anoop Goyal, CP Joshi, Parijat Saurabh, Pushpendra Nath Pandey, KS Rekhi, CR Das, Sudipto Bannerjee, RC Mishra, SK Singh, Gautam Prakash, RS Chauhan, PK Mohanty, NS Sharma, DS Ujjawal, RK Kankhedia, JP Sharma, Sanjay Sandhu, Mohan Meghwal, Suresh Chand Gupta, TP Pandey, Ghanshyam Meena, BR Meghwal,
-- "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (Paulo Coelho) This is our chance to complete parivartan. Vote whole-heartedly for the team for merger (without any ifs and buts) of ASHOK MEENA-SK SHARMA-SANJOY GUPTA

David Letterman - Holier than thou

ELECTIONS IN SBBJ

Hello,

Elections in SBBJ used to be a dull and drab affair with Sanghi and company always sweeping the polls and winning by huge margins. In my fifteen years in SBBJ (1985-2000) I remember only one election when a viable opposition had come up but they lost because the opposition was from more or less people with similar attitude who had cobbled up a team against Sanghi because they were not getting the taste of power which Sanghi dominated through distribution of assignments to his stooges.

Sanghi also had the power backing of the Jains, who blindly voted for him against assurances of plum assignments.

The 2009 elections appear to be going in a different direction. As already done in SBH, the group which is openly pro merger is challenging the hegomony of the Sanghi group and for the first time the Sanghi camp is actually jittery.

My friend Sanjoy is part of the team which has put up the challenge and I really appreciate the guts these new faces in SBBJ politics have exhibited.

Sanjoy and his team have the right agenda and designs and it would be interesting to see if the officers of SBBJ can see beyond caste and petty assignments.

Best wishes to Sanjoy and his entire team.

Manoj

CHANGE IN BANK TIMINGS

Hello,

When I first came to Kuwait in 2006 the timings for the Bank was 7.30 AM to 2.30 PM.
The weekends were Friday and Saturday.

This was extremely convinient as we brought our breakfast to office and reached home by 3.00 PM which was the right time to have lunch and retire for the afternoon siesta.

It was also very convenient for people having work at ministries as the ministries worked on Saturdays. Their weekends were Thursdays and Fridays.

What was actually happening was that Banks were getting almost a three day weekend as Thursdays used to be relaxed with no ministry related work getting done.

The government got jealous of the workers in Banks and decided that we should have work on Thursdays and changed their weekends to Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile the Management in Banks also felt that the long afternoon siesta was making the employees lethargic and therefore they plotted to make things uncomfortable for us by increasing the timings by half an hour to end at 3.00 PM.

Earlier, leave on festivals were the same for ministries and Banks. If the ministries closed for 5 days then Banks did likewise but this year on Eid the ministries closed for five days but banks closed for 3 days only.

Now from 27th September, Banks will work from 8 AM to 4 PM. Another increase by half an hour.

This will reduce either our siesta time or the time we get to spend with the family in the evening by an hour and most probably lead to presence of grumpy employees.

But I have faith in the ability of the Management to change course midstream and I hope they analyze the disadvantages of the time change at the earliest and get back to the old timings for happy and productive employees.

Hoping for the best,
Manoj

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS.

Manoj says, write down your thoughts and repeat it to yourself every night and morning till it registers into your subconscious. Let your inherent skills take over, do not let this weapon be shadowed by doubts and let it lead you to success.

Manoj says, this can be best exemplified by the story of Eklavya.

Why not Rakhi Sawant, Manoj? She is a brand. She is brazen, believes in herself, never wanted to be known as a sati savitri, has gone in for breast implants (did she really need it?), has comfortable played a transvestite on screen and is philosophical. We might be tempted to scoff at her. But Rakhi Sawant is an achiever.

If there’s one thing anyone can learn from Rakhi Sawant, it is confidence and its display. She knows what to tell the media and how. All in the name of modesty and frankness, of course.

Yes, Rakhi, more comfortable in Hindi ("I am not very well educated"), can get dirty with words. And yes, that doesn't come as a surprise. Some samples: 'Main jab sets par jati hoon, to acche acche log kaamp jate hain', 'Mujhe koi shauk nahi hai ki log mujhe sati savitri bulayen. I am very happy being called the hottie', 'When I meet aunties, they tell me: aadmiyon ko chorro, jab hum tumhe dekhte hain, to humme bhi paseena aa jata hain', 'It's not easy to expose. I am proud of myself. I'm not a hypocrite. I say what I have to. How many people have the courage to do that?' 'Mere andar tezaab hai.' Be honest. Speak your mind. But most of the other times, use loaded words to titillate people and hog attention.

Her father has disowned her. Rakhi now lives with her mother Usha, who was once a Gujarati heroine. "My mother is very proud of me. My father disowned me. I disowned him too. What else could have I done? I struggled and struggled. I was clear about my goal. I wasn't born to be just someone's wife and bear his kids. I never wanted to known as a sati savitri. I respect my father's decision. Agar kisi ki bhi beti aise karti to woh kya karte. He is right. But I am right too. Hum sab apni apni bhumika nibha rahein hain. I will not tell anyone to go against her/his parent. But when you are sure of yourself and your goal AND you know you will get there someday, but your parents still create issues for you, then go ahead with your conviction. I am sad that my father is not with me. But I am very happy with what I have achieved in my life. I jump with joy when people call me a sex symbol. I got what I wanted."

If you have to make it big, almost all gurus of the galaxy will tell you to have faith in yourself. Rakhi Sawant, however, gives a new meaning to the word confidence. "The only thing that can make anyone successful in Bollywood is hard work. I had to struggle for years before making a name for myself. I just didn't give up. There are many more girls out there who expose. Why are they not making it big? My success is not just because of exposing. Mere char minute ke gaane mein logon ko sab kuch milta hain." Sab kuch? "Sex, glamour, dance, talent, expression. When the time comes, I can show my talent even with clothes." Point noted. Be confident. Just show the world your over confident side. Competition is one word that doesn't exist in her dictionary. "When you talk of item girls, there is just no competition. Even JLo is nothing in front me."

As a member of Mumbai police, Mr Sawant, Rakhi's father according to her, never made more than Rs 4-5,000 a month. "We were not even a middle class family. We didn't even have the money to pay rent." But Rakhi claims money was never a motivation for her. "I always wanted to do something in life. Not for money. Because I wanted to become somebody." Ask her how much she is worth and pat comes the reply. "Kai crore kamain hain yaar. All my songs are hit. I pay income tax and everything." No figure there. "I have bought three flats with my money. I gifted one each to my mother and brother. Paise ka kya hai.. I was alone and I will be alone all my life." Chase money. Just don't admit it.

"I believe in Ganpati, Jesus and my guruji. He has told me ki meri achchi takdeer ab shuru hue hai. Can you imagine? I have only seen forty per cent of the success God has in store for me?" A permanent feature in her room is the piece of paper on which guruji has written the things she is supposed to do. She even wears clothes according to days. It's white on Mondays and purple on Sundays.

So there, Rakhi Sawant is more religious than many religious blogs.

EID GIFT - TO CITIZENS OF KUWAIT

Hello,

Last year the Emir of Kuwait granted a KD 200.000 for all citizens.

There was much hue and cry about the utility of the gift. It was in probability utilized by about 90% of Kuwaitis to repay their credit card and other debts.

As they could not use it they felt that the gift was a stupid exercise. They forgot that in one shot the Emir managed to reduce about KD 90 million in loans and dues.

Well, the Emir learnt his lesson and this time there is no cash gift.

So what is the gift?

The gift is in the form of a new Bank. This Bank will be formed with a capital of KD 100 million. KIA, the investment wing of the Bank will invest 25% and the rest will be distributed amongst the citizens. So we will approximately KD 75 Million in the hand of the 1.1. million population (or slightly less if we minus the non adult citizens).

This translates into 750 shares each. At an expected price of say 350 fils each share, the gift translated into money is KD 265.000.

The Emir has killed two birds with one stone.

Infusion of KD 100 million into the economy and gift to the citizens both through this wonderful action of creating WARBA BANK, the first Islamic Bank where the entire population of a country will be share-holders.

To give you an idea of how the Government takes care of the citizens here are a few perks the citizens are entitled to:

Every child - KD 80/- till eternity.

Every marriage - KD 2000/- gift and KD 2000/- payable in installments of KD 10-20 every month.

If working in the private sector - KD 300/- maintenance allowance. KD 400/-, if married.

KD 70,000/- loan (interest free) for house or house (no one takes the house as they already live in palaces) . KD 100/- installment every month. - Till you take the loan or house KD 150/- housing allowance.

US$ 1,500 per month allowance if studying abroad.

Education free in Government schools.

Medical free.

Does anybody need to work after this?

No electricity, phone bills are paid and petrol is cheaper than water.

It is not surprising that the rest of the GCC citizens try to get Kuwaiti citizenship.

It is understood that UAE guys are even more blessed.

Does anyone have an example of better living conditions?

Best regards,

Manoj

Questions & Answers

Thanks friends, for your sincere efforts to find the answers. No, I don't have them. They didn't either, I think so. They means Art of Living, whose 6 days basic course is where I got these questions from.

Instead I had a couple of questions for them which I didnot get to ask them. They are :

1. Why are the gals of Art of Living always good looking and the guys effeminate ? and

2. Why there are only two Sris before the name of H.H. Sri Sri Ravishanker ?

Last Set of Questions

1. What are you ?

2. Where are you ?

3. Who are you ?

Now shall we have some answers.

More Questions

1. Whan did you come onto this earth ?

2. How long will you stay on this earth ?

3. Till you stay what do you plan to do here ?

Next 2 Questions

1. What are the responsibilities you would like to take ?

2. What are the responsibilities you wouldn't like to take upon yourself ?

Day 2 Questions

1. What do you need to stay happy in life ?

2. When will you be happy ?

I thought these were relatively easier questions to answer. What do you say ?

Questions

Someone asked me a set of questions over a period of some days. I'm still searching for the answers. Who knows, someone of you may have the answers. Please help me.

Questions (only two) of the first day :

1. What do you want from your life ?

2. What things make you restless, unhappy ?

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

Hello,

When in school I had to read a few short stories by this great author. But then reading Hindi was a pain in the 'you know where' and any reading beyond the course books was non existent.

As I was never considered a reading/writing sort of person by my friends I also did not have friends who could reintroduce Hindi Literature into my reading . (My passion for sports & games being so on my sleeve, I have always been considered a person more at ease at pursuit of hobbies in the physical rather than mental.)

Now thanks to the publication of my short story in 'The Shrinking Woman & Other Stories' my old friends who never discussed books have come out of the closet to disclose their liking for reading and have shared their favorites with me.

My friend Supriya Ritwik, reintroduced me to Munshi Premchand.

In one of our several weekend get togethers, we sat together while we discussed the stories of Munshiji. Till then I had vague memories of 'Idgah', 'Poos Ki Raat', 'Bade Bhai Saheb', 'Bade Ghar Ki Beti' and his classics 'Godaan' and 'Nirmala' (more so because of the movies). Due to these exposures I always rated him as a writer who wrote about the darker and melancholy side of life. Mr. Ritwik told me the story of 'Basi Pawroti'. Excellent plot and imagination to a fun tale of misconceived notions.

This discussion has now brought me back into Munshiji's fold and I am in the process of devouring his short stories.

The books by Munshiji are available very cheap in India (Mr. Ritwik told me so) and most of his stories have also found their way on to the internet.

Does anybody have any special list of Munshiji stories. I would love to set a priority in the reading list.

Best regards,
Manoj

WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT

Hello,

I went through two self help books - 'The powers of the Subconscious Mind' and 'Secret'. Both were books that basically subscibe to the view that with a positive outlook we can achieve all our wishes. The books give a lot of examples of success achieved through this process.

Without having gone through the theoritical part I had experimented with positive thinking at several stages in my life with good results. I therefore found a lot of good things to take from the books and I am now trying to implement it with knowledge.

I have two new books vying for attention. 'The Terrorist' by John Updike and 'Love in the time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I am wondering which book will be more suitable to my current mood.

Needless to add, whichever book I take up the summary and review will be posted in the blog for you to read and comment on.

Happy reading,
Manoj

RAMADAN FOR A NON MUSLIM IN KUWAIT

Hello,

A few of my friends have been wondering how it is like to be a non - muslim in Kuwait during the holy month of Ramadan. Well frankly it has made no difference to me except for a few adjustments that we need to make in our daily routine.

The Ministry of Interior makes sure that the law which was formulated in 1968 is given wide publicity leading to Ramadan. The rule according to law No. 44 of 1968 says that anybody caught eating, drinking or smoking in public during the daytime in Ramadan, along with those who compelled or abetted them to do so, would be given a fine of up to KD 100 and/or a prison sentence of one month.
I have not heard of anyone personally known to me being caught but it is understood that the imprisonment ends on the last day of Ramadan. This law also gives the Ministry the powers to ask certain establishments to close during the fasting hours and Restaurants are not open during the day hours till the break of fast at sunset.
It depends on where you work and it is necessary that you respect the local customs as any unwanted exuberance is considered an insult to the tradition of fasting that is followed by most Kuwaitis.
In some organisations, the pantry is kept open for non - muslim expatriates to take their food, water, etc in seclusion. In most organisations the Kuwaiti colleagues do try to make it clear that they do not object to your taking food and water during office hours if it done in the pantry.
In an organisation I know of non - muslims had not paid heed to the sentiments of the fasting muslims and had gathered at the pantry, as if for a picnic. The action taken was that from the next day the pantry was closed.
I have not witnessed it but it is understood that if a muslim complains about your having taken food or water in public view, during the fasting hours, you can attract the penalty we have discussed above.
School children are allowed to bring their lunch and have it in their classrooms instead of the usual places like the playground or the auditorium. Sick and invalid people are exempted. I understand that even sportsmen are exempted but we do not take the risk and on Fridays when we play cricket we make sure that when we drink water we are not sighted by any muslim.

The arrangement of our water drinking place during our game is illustrated in the figure alongside. This is circulated to all players before Ramadan.

Ramadan is a holy month and the best time to ask for a raise. I am not sure anyone has actually done it or not. Kuwaitis give away 2.5% of their income as Zakat and try to be the most benevolent during the holy month.

Ramadan is the best time to relax. Office hours begin at 9.30 AM, two hours after the usual start and end at 2.30 PM, half an hour before the usual end. If your Boss is a Kuwaiti, then it is the best time of the year. No pressure & no irritation.

Muslims like to share during Ramadan and there are meals called the 'Ghabka' held at almost all big hotels in the evenings. Large AC tents are put up and a variety of food is spread for dinner. Non- muslims are invited and there is no restriction on the number of friends you take along with you. I am invited to one tomorrow.

The bad things about Ramadan is that traffic is really bad. Not as bad as in Delhi though, but bad by Kuwait standards. The reason is that people have not slept well and need to rush home to get sleep. Therefore some rash driving and some cat napping on the wheel. Ramadan sees a large number of accidents.

All in all it is month of rejoicing, meeting friends, having a lot of time for yourself for a non - muslim in Kuwait.

Be careful while driving, drinking and do some dieting, that's all.

Best wishes,

Manoj

THE ALCHEMIST - PAUL COELHO

Paul Coelho

Hello,

After finishing 'Unaccustomed Earth' I started reading 'The power of your Subconscious Mind' by Dr. Joseph Murphy.

This is a wonderful book but it gets tedious as the writer tries to drill in the message. While reading the book and after getting through the top seven chapters I was strongly reminded of 'The Alchemist' by Paul Coelho.

I took out the book once again and tried to go through the underlined messages. These were the best part of the book according to me, when I first read it and now when I was going through them again I realized how easily he had made us understand the power of the subconscious mind through a simple story of Santiago and his search for the treasure.

I tried to note down the top ten messages from the book. Of course these are my choices for the top ten and you may have your own selection. The messages are scattered around like gems in a treasure trove and I now strongly believe that if one goes through their own top ten from 'The Achemist' nothing in the world can stop them from achieving their goals.

THE TOP TEN:

• Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth. And when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

This people who saw "Om Shanti Om' will remember as Shah Rukh Khan's appealing dialogue "Kisi cheez ko agar puri dil se chaho, toh saari kayanat use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai."

• We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us.


• No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.


• When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.


• “Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”


• There is only one way to learn. It's through action.


• "You came so that you could learn about your dreams," said the old woman. "And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand."


• Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.


• "But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald."

and finally my current favorite

• The world's greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.

If you have read 'The Alchemist' long time ago I would persuade you to go through it again.

Your dreams are yours to achieve and although the journey may be tough, there will be sacrifices to make, choices to be made, distractions to be ignored, price to be paid, but at the end, if you remain faithful to your dream, victory will always be your charming bride.

"Maktub" - it's written.

Read 'The Alchemist' and you will have lessons on life. The book originally sold only 900 prints and the publisher refused to reprint. Later it sold 65 million copies.

Keep it by your bedside and read it whenever this happens "At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate." and you will know how to fight the greatest lie on earth.

Best regards,

Manoj

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

Hello,

Finished reading "Unaccustomed Earth," a collection of short stories, by Jhumpa Lahiri. The lives of expatriate Bengalis and their first-generation American-born children are once again the theme of the stories as were her earlier highly successful, Pulitzer Prize- winning story collection "Interpreter of Maladies" and her novel "The Namesake, which then was also made into a very successful film.

In "Unaccustomed Earth" we see the second generation Bengali kids struggle with their identities as their elders start adopting the American way of life. The stories try to show to us a struggle to adapt by individuals and the conflict between the desire to remain close to the roots and the need to adapt to the American way of life.

In the opening story we have a daughter trying to get over the loss of her mother, trying to maintain the filial relationship with her father as he struggles to let her know that he has moved beyond the past. The inability of the daughter to be Indian and the struggle of the father to acknowledge his Americanism is well depicted.

Bringing them both under one roof, Jhumpa creates a tension that gets exciting to finally end in the daughter voicing her needs and then getting to know about her father's secret by accident.

Told in simple sentences, you identify with the characters' innermost feelings. Ruma's vulnerability and her father's rising panic is transformed into a compelling emotional landscape.
I really liked the way the father looks at his marriage "the entire enterprise of having a family, of putting children on this earth, as gratifying as it sometimes felt, was flawed from the start." But this is of course hindsight and as he thinks somewhere else "He did not want to be part of another family, part of the mess, the feuds, the demands, the energy of it."

The second story "Hell Heaven" once again is a struggle between the 'have done' and 'could not do' the transition kind of American Bengalis. Pranab Chakraborty playing with the emotions of a simple housewife and then moving on to greener American pastures to finally in a very American manner cheat on his wife, leaving Aparna to long secretly for a moment of bliss, but not being able to gather the courage to take things in her hand. She is finally able to get over her burden when she narrates the story, to her daughter, who was then nursing a broken heart herself, of how she had almost ended her life after Pranab had decided to get married .

In "The choice of Accommodation" we have another Bengali, Amit, struggle to honour his marriage vows as he is haunted by the love of his childhood and youth. He is finally being able to do justice to his marriage after wedding of his affection takes place at the school where it all started. By bringing him back to the school dorm, Jhumpa gives his life a new beginning which is as open and uninhibited as the love making of Amit and Megan at the end of the story.

"Only Goodness" talks about the relationship between a brother and sister and ends up in a near disaster as the brother almost kills the child of his sister when he finds himself failing to kill his obsession for alcohol. The struggle of the brother is wonderfully depicted as he goes back to the source, her sister, her fight with her guilt, about having introduced him to it.

The stories about Sangeeta in "Nobody's business" and the next set of three stories about Hema and Kaushik are just fine. In fact the simplicity is missing as the situations turn contrived at the end.

All in all the stories are all well told but the length is something I have complains about. It has something of an Alice Munroe or John Updike kind of fixation for description of the landscape that at time turns boring. This is mostly in the last three stories as Jhumpa tries to convey meaning to the lonliness and solitude by taking the protagonist through several towns and events.

Love,

Manoj

John Updike - Rabbit Run

Hello,

John Updike is some kind of a legend and Rabbit, Run is the first story I have read. in fact it is his first novel as well.

It is story based in Brewer, Pennysylvania, USA.

It is a story unwinding itself in 1959.

It is a story of Harry Rabbit Angstrom, who has had his good days as a a legendary high school basketball star. He realizes suddenly, after a chance basketball outing with kids that he is tied down in a suburban marriage to a woman who is alcoholic and has an achingly prosaic career as a kitchen gadget salesman.

He gets out of his house to get back the car and his kid and ends up abandoning his pregant wife to drive off ambiguously toward Florida. After reaching West Virginia, he changes his mind and decides to return to Brewer, Pennsylvania.

He struggles with his thoughts and ends up falling into the lap of a prostitute through his old coach who himself is a good for nothing drunkard by then.

It turns out that Rabbit has been to war and has come back to see his childhood sweetheart married to someone else. These are just mentioned in the passing.

He wants no responsibility but is also a scared cat trying to be as close to an anchor as possible. He gets bored easily and after impregnating the prostitute gets back to his wife when she gives birth to their daughter.

The fact that his misdemenour is forgiven so easily emboldens him and he also eyes the wife of the priest who has tried to bring him back to his family. He vacillates between the whore and the wife as each outdoes the other in being nice to him for all his cruelty and finally runs again.

Rabbit Angstrom, despite his grotesque immaturity and narcissism, is a very real character and you tend to hate, like and laugh at him as he goes through his idiotic inexplicable ego trips and keeps getting away with it as people seem to be too willing to forgive.

The prose is sometimes laborious as we get to know the roads and surroundings of the area although they do not seem to impact the story in any particular way. John Updike also uses an endless streams of adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and relative clauses and the exposition becomes compounded and bombastic when describing a small building, a backyard or a skyline. Such pages we turn to flip over quickly.

It was a revolutionary book at that time as the use of words like sex, penis, etc was taboo. It is reflected very well through Rabbit who wants oral sex with Ruth, the whore he stays with when he runs from his wife, but is not able to put it into words.

John Updike clearly brings to life the life of the 50's and 60's where frustration is growing, the white man is dominating relationships and women are turning into doormats as personal gratification becomes more important than family life and values.

It would have been a much much bettter book if the boring landscape descriptions had been edited.

Happy reading,

Manoj

TRIBUTE TO LEELA NAIDU - ANURADHA

TRIBUTE TO MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI - JAIPUR'S PRIDE