Souvenir, Sai Mahima released

Turn Veggie to Save the World

Rajendra Pachauri ( vegetarian for last 8 yrs) and Sir Paul McCartney ( veggie for 30 yrs!) to save the planet from greenhouse gases created by rearing livestock. Reasons :

• planting of cereal crop for animal fodder,
• fresh water usage
• pollution due to use of agri chemicals

Dr Pachauri and McCartney cite a 2006 report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, which stated that livestock are one of the most significant contributors to climate change because 70 per cent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing and livestock now use 30 per cent of the world's land surface

I am a veggie for last 20 yrs and proud of it :) Let us save the earth !

Source : Times of India

Mumbai Terror Attack

Mumbai returning to normal, very slowly... For Mumbaikar, resident or non-resident, Mumbai will never be the same! The politicians and establishment failed the common man. An operation of this magnitude was being hatched and executed, we had no clue about it.

Robhin Sharma in his blog has prayed for Mumbai.
Indeed, that is what many of us did... could do.... out of devotion ...and also due to a sense of helplessness !

Today people, across major cities, are on the street. Holding candle and expressing their sense protest. Gandhigiri... Mumbai will not forget this easily. We need action this time...from governments and establishment

Mumbai Terror Attack

We lost some precious members of our own Mumbai and guests -the hostages, members of NSG/ATS/Mumbai police...May their souls rest in peace.

Sincere condolences to the members of the family who lost their valuable lives in this tragedy. May God give them the strength to overcome this grief.

• Like New York & London, sadly Mumbai has its own 'Sept 11'. Mumbai does not deserve it, for sure.
• Israeli expert has questioned whether our forces were too fast to 'attack' terrorists. This is in line with the the question I raised in my earlier posting, whether our action was 'professional' enough. We need to address this dispassionately
• NDTV got Shobha De on their channel to react yesterday. Now, they got Sanjana Kapoor on air. Both of them reflect the opinion of the silent majority of Mumbaikars. Prannoy Roy has assured Sanjana his channels would be with voices such as Sanjana in their efforts
• This global phenomenon needs to be handled very strongly, from a position of strength and true to the values of Indian ethos.

Mumbai Terror Attack

Mumbai burns...most shocking attacks on Amchi Mumbai by terrorists. How could they just come on boat, land at Gateway of India and launch an attack at 10 different spots in our beloved city ?

Hotel Taj, is part of most reputed & respected Tata group, is a heritage builging, a world class property, an iconic brand of India and truly Pride of India. Oberoi property is one of the best in its class, world wide. Nariman House would have always been a soft target for terrorist attack - how could the security agency not anticipate a terrorist attack there ? Where is our preparedness/intelligence/preventive measures ????

It is a collective failure of all who are responsible for the security of the city, the financial capital of India and one of the best cities in the World. While the political leaders enjoy the security of Z-category protection, the safety and security of the common man was conveniently forgotten. The reaction of the political establishment, including the televised address of PM, was pathetic!

For God's sake, don't blame Pakistan blindly. If we forgot to lock our home and a thief enters our home ... who is responsible ? Police ? It is our primary responsibility to keep the home locked and secured. Our establishment, political, police/intelligence and defence/navy/coast guard, etc., failed us for not securing our own city.

The image of the burning Taj will continue to linger in our conscience for a long time. The image of an old man helped by a cop in a deserted railway station too...

We lost some senior cops, including ATS head and also NSG Major. Was our response professional enough ?

For God's sake, let us bury our ego and take all international help possible to solve this case.

And, Mumbaikars, let us not allow the policians to sing glory of the Spirit of Mumbai and wait for us to forget and move on. We need to maintain the pressure on political leadership to act now and Mumbai gets what it deserves

Paul Coelho

Stuart Husband's article on Paul Coelho made me share my thoughts ....

• He looks and dresses like a rock star...he is 60 yrs 'young' !


• He is not irked by the fans who want to pose with him for a photograph or apprach him for his autograph ( Recently my son was shooed away by a body-guard of a Bollywood superstar at the lounge in Mumbai's international airport. Security was obviously not the reason. My son felt sad. I thought what is a superstar if he is not able to reach out to his fans !!) For me, someone like P C is a bigger star, esp when he has this humility !


• one fifth of his 100 million books sold has come from THE ALCHEMIST. I liked the book, but never rated it as anything very great. But the line, WHEN YOU WANT SOMETHING, ALL THE UNIVERSE WILL CONSPIRE TO HELP US ACHIEVE IT is just great !


• Hs background is interesting. Do check out http://www.gulfnews.com/weekend/books/10259315.html


• His advise, FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS...

SPB at Saigramam

Saigramam celebrated birthday of Sri Sai Baba in their usual spiritual style... check out

Living in the present economic crunch

we are living in 'interesting times'. Collectively and individually too...

Just read an internet forward from a friend, Interesting Article from Adam Khoo - Youngest Millionaire. Few points stuck, sharing same...

1. it is not necessary to live a flashy life, acquiring the expensive and big brands of clothes/watch/jewellery/accessories or travel first class.
2. He suggests, save instead.
3. He sympathises with people who lean on material things for happiness

What makes him happy ? when he sees his children laughing/playing/learning...when he is able to reach out to others to make them happy by inspiring/training them... cool !

LIVE life frugally ! bE HAPPY !

Master calls it, CEILING ON DESIRES

did you meditate today ?

Indian team wins Dada retires

Big day for Indian cricket... Indian team wins a series against Australian team... Kudos to the men in white...

• A great team effort
• Dhoni led from the front. He continues to maintain his cool. I like him for his captaincy, how he has retained his 'cool' and the character he exhibits on & off the field. To lift and carry around Kumble at Delhi was cool. To pass on the baton of captaincy, temperorily to Dada at Nagpur this eve, was 'cooler'.

Dada enjoyed few moments of 'captaincy'.

• He brought about a new aggression to Indian cricket ( though taking off t-shirt at Lords was a bit extreme :) But then, that was his brand of aggression!)
• Some of the best cricketers in the GenNext owes their career-progression to Saurav
• Left handed batsmen have a natural advantage, but Saurav was very specially elegant.
• He, with Sachin, made one-day cricket more interesting at the opening slot.

Couple of years ago, when he was down and 'out' of Indian team, I saw him at Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai. I wanted to go across and tell him, 'keep going & fight the system'... But true to his usual style, he bounced back. Indian cricket will surely miss Dada...

Kumble Retires

Kumble also has decided to hang his boots ! Some thoughts...

• He has always been a great fighter, a symbol of true aggression. People always think 'aggression' is to throw about your weight around, shout and abuse all in the vicinity. ( So common in our corporate life, esp in the field of Sales !!). It is perhaps his education, which the Master says 'should end in CHARACTER'. Or, is it 'sanskar' or upbringing ? Worth emulating, indeed...(He unusually exhibited his emotions yesterday, when he shouted at Amit Misra, for poor fielding)
• Departure of Dada and Jumbo will leave a big gap. We have some exciting talent waiting on the wings, but not yet good enough to fill the vaccuum. No need to look far for examples. Ask the visiting Aussies
• I agree with Sachin and whole lot of others. We 'don't respect seniors'. Our culture boasts of Respect for Elders as one of its pillars. But, that does not seem to be applicable to senior cricketers. Or is it change of our value system ???

We may produce more great spinners such as Kumble... but few will bring his character on to the cricket field. That is the true loss to international cricket.