My Emails

Taking the email fwding to a different level...Fwded emails (from humor to tips to speeches to pictures ...) I thought to be worth sharing. NOTHING is my original work. If you've the copyrights of the content, let me know and I'd specify so in the post. AND if you do not want your content blogged, just comment so.
"fwd this to every alive and dead else": I've received so many chain emails that they're no longer frustrating. Now they amuse me. By posting them here, I don't encourage them!

HELLO: THIS ONE IS FUN

From : kavita
Sent : Tuesday, August 16, 2005 7:43 AM
To :
Subject : HELLO: THIS ONE IS FUN

Okay, first get a piece of paper and label it from 1-10. Now
remember, you need to take serious thought into these questions! No cheating-don't scroll down until you have answered all the questions!!

1. What is your favorite out of these three?
a. cat b. bird c. dog

2. What is your favorite color?
a. pink b. white c. black

3. Name a friend of the same sex.

4. Name a friend of the opposite sex.

5. Do you like the mountains, or beach better?

6. Do you like to watch the sun rise or the sunset?

7. What's your favorite number from 1-10?

8. What is your favorite plant?
a. red rose b. fern c. a dead one

9. What is your favorite season?
a. Spring b. Winter c. Summer

10. Make two wishes.
Wish #1_____________
Wish #2_____________

**********************************************************************

Okay, now for the results:
1. a.) cat: you love yourself the most.
b.) bird: you like hearing yourself talk.
c.) dog: you put others before yourself.

2. a.) pink: you're outgoing.
b.) white: you're classical.
c.) black: you're living on the edge.

3. This person is your lucky star.

4. You'll become very, very close friends with this person.

5. a.) mountains: fast paced lifestyle.
b.) beach: slow paced lifestyle.

6. a.) sunrise: you're a morning person and you get more done.
b.) sun set: you're a romantic and you fall in and out of crushes slowly.

7. The number you picked is how many people it will take before you
find your true love.

8. a.) red rose : your life will be beautiful but sometimes thorny.
b.) fern: your life will be predictable and safe.
c.) a dead one: your one sick person!

9. a.) spring: you're hopelessly romantic.
b.) winter: you're a hugging kind of person.
c.) summer: you're a bare-all kind of person!

Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: r u among 2% or 98%

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Monday, August 29, 2005 6:18 PM
To :
Subject : Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: r u among 2% or 98%

2% or 98%

This is strange...can you figure it out?

Are you the 2% or 98% of the population?

Follow the instructions! NO PEEKING AHEAD!

· Do the following exercise, guaranteed to raise
an eyebrow.
· There's no trick or surprise.
· Just follow these instructions, and answer the
questions one at a time and as quickly as you can!

· Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance
until you've done each of them ... really.

· Now, scroll down (but not too fast, you might
miss something.)

Think of a number from 1 to 10

Multiply that number by 9

If the number is a 2-digit number, add the
digits together

Now subtract 5

Determine which letter in the alphabet corresponds to
the number you ended up with

(example: 1=a, 2=b, 3=c,etc.)

Think of a country that starts with that
letter.

Remember the last letter of the name of that
country.

Think of the name of an animal that starts with
that letter.

Remember the last letter in the name of that
animal.

Think of the name of a fruit that starts with
that letter.

Are you thinking of a Kangaroo in Denmark
eating an Orange?

I told you this was FREAKY!! If not, you're among the
2% of the population whose minds are different enough
to think of something else. 98% of people will answer
with kangaroos in Denmark when given this exercise.
Keep this message going. This one is actually worth
sending on to others. Forward it to people you know
so they can find out if they are usual or unusual

Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: GUESS THE ANSWER

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Saturday, August 27, 2005 11:45 AM
To :
CC :
Subject : Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: GUESS THE ANSWER

Note: forwarded message attached.

GUESS THE ANSWER .... LET US SEE HOW SMART ARE YOU?

Soniya, Laaloo , Rabri , Mulayam,Vilasrao, Maya & Mamta were sailing in the same boat.

If the boat sinks who will survive? Guess?

OUR INDIA

with regards,

Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] Slogans

Subject: Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] Slogans
From: Manoj
Date: Jul 4

Note: forwarded message attached.

Have you ever noticed... anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

Bye from jaa.
> >#Sign on a railway station at Patna:
> > Aana free, jaana free,
> > pakde gaye to khana free.
> >----------------------------- -------------------------------------------
> >----------------------------- ----------------------
> >
> > #Seen on a famous beauty parlor in Bombay:
> > Don't whistle at the girl going out from here.
> > She may be your grandmother!
> >------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---------------------------------------------------
> >
> > #Seen on a bulletin board:
> > Success is relative
> > More the success, more the relatives.
> >----------------------------- -------------------------------------------
> >----------------------------- ----------------------
> >
> > #Sign at a barber's saloon in Juhu, Bombay:
> > we need your heads to run our business.
> >----------------------------- -------------------------------------------
> >----------------------------- ----------------------
> >
> > #A traffic slogan:
> > Don't let your kids drive if they are not old enough - or else
> > they never will be.....
> >------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---------------------------------------------------
> >
> > #Sign in a restaurant:
> > All drinking water in this establishment has been personally
> > passed by the manager
> >----------------------------- -------------------------------------------
> >----------------------------- ----------------------
> >
> > THE BEST ONE :
> > Its God's responsibility to forgive the terrorist organizations
> > such as Jaish, Lashkar etc.
> > Its our responsibility to arrange the meeting between them and god."
> > - Indian Armed Forces
> >

Main kal ja raha tha

Subject: Main kal ja raha tha

From: Manoj
Date: Aug 4

Main kal ja raha tha
je meri chappal toot gai

ab chappal to mochi seeta hai
seeta to darzi bhi hai
darzi to kapray seeta hai
kapray to rangeen hotay hain

rangeen to lota bhi hota hai
lota to bathroom main hota hai
bathroom main to nal bhi hota hai
nal to lohay ka hota hai
lohay ki to istiri bhi hoti hai
istri to garam hoti hai
garam to Custard bhi hota hai
custard to peela hota hai
peela to chooza bhi hota hai
chooza to anday main se nikalta hai
anda to sufaid hota hai
sufaid to doodh bhi hota hai
doodh to bhains daiti hai
bhains to kaali hoti hai
kaala to bangali bhi hota hai
bangali to paan khata hai
paan to laal hota hai
laal to gulab main bhi hota hai
gulaab main to kantay hotay hain
kantain to machli main bhi hotay hain
machli to achchi hoti hai
achcha to Bander bhi hota hai
bander to bander hota hai
ye mail padhne wale bunder jaisay hotay hain
jo padh kar apna time barbaad karte hain..
well, chillao mat pura padho......
upar wale nay aap ko bhaija to bhaija..
per bhaija to aisa bhaija,
ki bhaije main bhaija hi nahi bheja..
ye mujhe kisi ne bheja..
isliye maine aap ko bheja!

Wah! Wah! Wah!

Have you ever noticed... anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

Bye from jaa.

Fwd: [telecom_2005re-vamped] The IT world

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Friday, August 19, 2005 4:07 AM
To :
Subject : Fwd: [telecom_2005re-vamped] The IT world

| | | Inbox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment : image73.gif (< 0.01 MB), image74.gif (0.03 MB), image75.gif (0.01 MB), image76.gif (0.03 MB), image77.jpg (0.02 MB), image78.gif (0.02 MB), image79.gif (0.01 MB), image80.gif (0.01 MB), image81.gif (0.03 MB), image82.gif (0.03 MB), image83.jpg (0.03 MB), image84.gif (0.04 MB), image85.gif (0.04 MB), image86.jpg (0.04 MB), image87.gif (0.03 MB)

Note: forwarded message attached.

Fwd: [telecom_2005re-vamped] The IT world

Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] MiSCoMMuNiCaTioN

From : Manoj
Sent : Friday, August 19, 2005 2:52 PM
To :
Subject : Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] MiSCoMMuNiCaTioN

| | | Inbox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment : Miscommunication.jpg (0.15 MB)

Note: forwarded message attached.

Have you ever noticed... anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

Bye from jaa.

Fwd: bUGGING YOU

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Tuesday, August 2, 2005 8:00 AM
To :
Subject : Fwd: bUGGING YOU

| | | Inbox

Note: forwarded message attached.
__________________________________________________

Plz have the speakers ON.

http://beverlys.net/LJ/BuggingYou.swf

what would u choose - water or cup????

From : Manoj
Sent : Tuesday, August 16, 2005 5:49 PM
To :
Subject : what would u choose - water or cup????

Inbox

Really a wonderful article saying a lot in short.

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for ourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in
society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."

Have you ever noticed... anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

Bye from jaa.

apples ke funday

From : Manoj
Sent : Friday, August 12, 2005 6:04 PM
To :
Subject : apples ke funday

| | | Inbox

THIS SURELY WILL WIN THE ANNUAL AWARD FOR
"THE MOST TORTURE MAIL OF 2005"

A for apple.
B for bada apple.
C for chhota apple.
D for dusra apple.
E for ek aur apple.
F for fokat ka apple.
G for gol apple.
H for hazar apple
I for itney saarey apple?
J for jaao nahi khaana hai apple
K for kaise nahi khaayengey apple
L for lena padhega tumko apple
M for mujhe nahi chahiye itne apple
N for naa nahi kehtey kyunkey yeh hai apple
O for Oh to tumne khaa daale yeh saare apple
P for peth bhar khaao apple
Q for qismat mein nahi hoti hai sabke, yeh apple
R for roz agar khaao tum apple
S for sehetmand rahoge khaaogey agar tum apple
T for tumko nahi milengey itney achey apple
U for udhaar kii nahi hai yeh apple
V for very tasty hai yeh apple
W for waste na karo time aur khaalo jaldi se apple
X for X'mas mei bhii khana padenge apple
Y for youn na chehra phero dekhkey apple
Z for zaraasa aur khaalo aaple aur................

bas ho gaya...

Fwd: [telecom_2005re-vamped] Fwd: Fw: Saddam and Sardar Gurmukh-too good

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Friday, August 12, 2005 3:56 AM
To :
CC :
Subject : Fwd: [telecom_2005re-vamped] Fwd: Fw: Saddam and Sardar Gurmukh-too good

| | | Inbox

Note: forwarded message attached.
__________________________________________________
Saddam Hussein was sitting in his office wondering whom to invade next when his telephone rang.

"Hallo, Mr. Hussein!" a heavily accented voice said. "This is Gurmukh from Banga, District Hoshiarpur. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Gurmukh," Saddam replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," said Gurmukh, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, my cousin Sukhdev, my next door neighbour Bhagat, and the entire kabadi team from the gurudwara. That makes eight"

Saddam paused. "I must tell you, Gurmukh that I have one million men in my army waiting to move at my command."

"Bloody Hell " said Gurmukh. "I'll have to ring you back!"

Sure enough, the next day, Gurmukh called again. "Mr. Hussein, it is Gurmukh I'm calling from Banga STD PCO, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some fantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be, Gurmukh?" Saddam asked.

"Well, we have two combines, a donkey and Amrik's tractor."

Saddam sighed. "I must tell you, Gurmukh, that I have 16,000 tanks and 15000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I've increased my army to 1-1/2 million since we last spoke."

"Oh theri ....." said Gurmukh, "I'll have to get back to you."

Sure enough, Gurmukh rang again the next day. "Mr. Hussein, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne...... We've modified Amrik's tractor by adding a couple of shotguns, sticking on some wings and the pind's generator. Four boys from Malpur have joined us as well!"

Saddam was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Gurmukh, that I have 10,000 bombers and 20,000 fighter planes. My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile Sites. And since we last spoke, I've increased my army to TWO MILLION!"

"Tera pala hove...." said Gurmukh, "I'll have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Gurmukh called again the next day. "Kiddan, Mr. Hussein! I am sorry to tell you that we have had to call off the war."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Saddam. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," said Gurmukh, "we have all had a long chat over a couple of bottles, and decided there's no way we can feed two million prisoners."!!

Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: Ash as never seen before (careful)

From : durgesh
Reply-To :
Sent : Sunday, August 7, 2005 4:03 AM
To :
CC :
Subject : Fwd: [TIL] Fwd: Ash as never seen before (careful)

| | | Inbox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment : image35.jpg (0.09 MB)

Note: forwarded message attached.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ash as never seen before........simply sexy!!
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World's most complicated railway line

From : smita
Reply-To : smita
Sent : Wednesday, August 3, 2005 8:31 AM
To :
Subject : World's most complicated railway line

Inbox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment : image10.jpg (0.24 MB)

From: Kruti
To:
Subject: [nidokidos] World's most complicated railway line

Check this out.
Inspite of being such a complicated Railway network, we never hear about any accidents in Frankfurt Germany.

Disorder in the American courts - Humor

From : smita
Reply-To :
Sent : Wednesday, August 3, 2005 1:14 PM
To :
Subject : Disorder in the American courts - Humor

Inbox

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
___________________________

ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
___________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
_______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh....
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.

ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh?
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] One of the Best ADS

From : Manoj
Sent : Saturday, August 6, 2005 4:22 PM
To : jignesh
Subject : Fwd: [siescomsmca2007] One of the Best ADS

| | | Inbox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment : image001.jpg (0.03 MB)

Note: forwarded message attached.

Inspiring Story

From : Manoj
Sent : Friday, August 5, 2005 4:28 PM
To : jignesh
Subject : Inspiring Story

| | | Inbox

Note: forwarded message attached.

Have you ever noticed... anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

Bye from jaa.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Bamman Friends,
I got this story in a forwarded mail and though of sharing it with everybody I know. Quite inspiring and thought provoking, do read it.

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.

Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.

"No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.

He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match.
Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered.
"First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"

A must read for every Indian....

From : jaa
Sent : Saturday, August 6, 2005 4:26 PM
To :
Subject : A must read for every Indian....

Inbox

DR. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad.

"I have three visions for India.

In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone.

We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.

My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation.

We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed
nation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

I have a THIRD vision.

India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career:

Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist.

After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.

The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.

One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around.

He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients.

In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. >From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around!

Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?

We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?

Another question : Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?

We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is.

She replied: I want to live in a developed India.

For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don' t work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say.

What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore..... Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?
Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???
We are still talking of the same YOU.
YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own.
You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commis sioner of Bombay, Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right.

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA)