Farewell to the most memorable period of my life!

Farewell!

As we travel Life's weary journey,
And plod through the gathering years,
With our burdens of care and sorrow,
O'er a pathway bedewed with tears.
If, perchance, for a fleeting moment
Our hearts should with rapture swell,
We have added but one more sorrow,
When we bid the glad time "Farewell".

I have watched the bright dawn awaking,
And noted each changing light,
As the sun, in its morning splendour,
Dispelled the dark gloom of night.
I have welcomed its bright rays stealing
Over hill-top, and wood, and dell;
Yet, my joy was alloyed with sorrow,
As I bade the bright stars "Farewell".

I have seen the red sun descending
To its home in the glowing west,
Whilst the tremulous voice of nature
Was solemnly lulled to rest.
I have welcomed the stars, appearing,
And greeted them one by one,
Yet, my greeting was toned with sadness,
As I said "Farewell" to the sun.

When we welcome the summer sunshine,
Farewell to the flowers of Spring.
Adieu to the fruits of Autumn,
When we welcome the frosty king.
Good-bye to the joys of childhood,
When vigorous youth appears;
Then - a season of strife and turmoil,
And - farewell to the vanished years.

I am sighing a farewell message,
As I sit in the gathering gloom.
Farewell to all earthly sorrows,
Then - rest, in the silent tomb.
Farewell to the trees, and flowers,
To mountain, and stream, and dell,
Farewell to the glorious sunlight,
To the moon and stars, "Farewell".

-Thomas E Spencer



A few more days to go to bid farewell to the most valuable and cherishable era of my life. Life was truly wonderful for the past 4-5 years in Aftek. I have learnt a lot many things in these years. Made many friends ( and maybe foes too ). All of them have enriched my life with everlasting knowledge, about career, life in general, even office politics :) !! But the most valuable gift these last few years have given me is my identity. Well, with a very heavy heart I am saying adios to all these; As they say, kuch paane ke liye kuch khona bhi padta hai! But I am sure lessons learnt here will keep guiding me in the next innings of my life! And definitely, I will cherish all these beautiful moments for years to come.
Farewell dear Aftek!

The Alchemist

One of the better things I did today was to read the Alchemist... What a fantastic book it has been. Really shakes you from the inside out. People might interpret it in their own ways. What I learnt from this book is that Life is truly in the Journey and not in the Destination as most people want to believe. It is more to enjoy each and every moment of the present, to follow your heart and pursue your interests, all the while sticking to your morals. We may not 'dream' about some distant hidden treasure like Santiago did; we may in fact never realise what our treasure is. In the end, it is HOW we achieve WHAT we achieve is ALL THAT MATTERS.
I am thankful to having read this book, it has helped me clear many cobwebs from my mind!

Blogging was blocked!!!

I didnot understand the logic behind blocking all the blog pages! Banning blogging is like banning freedom of speech. Thankfully, they have removed the ban now and we are again free birds in the blogspace!

Bombay burning...

The recent Bombay blasts is the talk of the town now. All are praising the Mumbaikar spirit and that how people are back with more vigour now. This is indeed admirable. However, what about the 200 innocent lives that we have lost? What about their families? Now the Government can only scrap the wounds by announcing them a few lacs of Rupees. Rupees cannot bring back the lives, can it? Isn't it the Government's responsibility to ensure security of public? We are just showing the Government and the world that whatever happens, our spirit is not dampened. Kill a number of people in a day and still we are back on our toes the same day! This is just making the Government more lethargic than ever towards the main issue --> safety of the innocent people. What next can we expect from this? There will be a "show" of lot of activites to find out the culprits, court cases, cross-border politics and after a few years, it will just be history, like the 1993 blasts. What guarantee do we have that such things won't be repeated? When will all this stop? How many more to lose now?

Rang de.. rocks!

Just saw the most brilliant Amir Khan movie Rang De Basanti. Its really an awakening movie. The current situation in India is indeed disheartening and pathetic. The worst part is that the public has become used to this situation. Kudos to films like RDB that try to awaken their sleeping souls. When walking out of the theatre, I got the feeling of "what have I done for my country". I am sure most others did too. The movie has shown us the young generation a mission: to clean up the corruption in our system. How do we start on this great mission? From where do we start on it? From our own selves...

The great Democracy of India!!

Here's what I got in a mail f/w recently, which must be no doubt true to a large extent:

"Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP):

Monthly Salary: 12,000
Expense for Constitution per month: 10,000
Office expenditure per month: 14,000
Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km): 48,000 (For a visit to Delhi & return: 6000 km)
Daily BETA during parliament meets: 500
Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train: Free (For any number of times)(All over India)
Charge for Business Class in flights: Free for 40 trips / year(With wife or P.A.)
Rent for MP hostel at Delhi: Free
Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units
Local phone call charge : Free up to 1,70,000 calls.

TOTAL expense for a MP per year : 32,00,000
TOTAL expense for 5 years : 1,60,00,000
For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years : 8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 cores)

And they are elected by THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, by the largest democratic process in the world, not intruded into the parliament on their own or by any qualification.
This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities.......Think of the great democracy we have............. "



Well, these people look to it that they get their rights fulfilled. Who will take care of their duties? Who is responsible for the bad state of infrastructure we are in today? The bad roads leading to number of road accidents per day, corruption in bureaucracy, pollution, etc etc.. who will clean all this? Think of where our tax money is going instead of being used in this!

An Indian does leg-pulling again!!

It was shocking to watch the recent news about the adultration of medicines prepared in Swami Ramdevji Maharaj's DivyaYoga trust with animal products, flashed on most major news channels. Before pointing finger at a person like Swamiji, I think the general public should also look at the following aspects of this fishy story:
1) Because of Swamiji's selfless efforts of teaching Yoga free to the millions and curing so many of them from their chronic illnesses, the fan following of Swamiji has risen manyfolds. He has created a mass feeling of Indianism (patriotism towards our own tradition and Ayurveda) instead of concentrating on any particular religion. This could have possibly alarmed people who have vested interests in Divide and Rule policy ( to retain their vote banks? ). And this could be just another plan to nip this wave of patriotism in its bud. Well, no wonder Indians are known to pull the legs of people who are reaching the top.
2) The people who have raised this question might be true; then there is also a possibility of another nexus of false drug manufacturers running, who might be using the brandname of DivyaYoga trust and amassing wealth at the cost of Swamiji's reputation. The police and the government should try to do research on this aspect too and nab the defaulters.
Whatever the case maybe, millions of people who have benefitted vastly from Swamiji's teachings can never trust this story and its just that, just another false story! Swamiji, all those people are with you and we pray to God that you come out of these false allegations at the earliest.