मुझे रावण जैसा भाई चाहिए

मुझे रावण जैसा भाई चाहिए
------------------------------

गर्भवती माँ ने बेटी से पूछा
क्या चाहिए तुझे? बहन या भाई
बेटी बोली भाई


किसके जैसा? बाप ने लडियाया
रावण सा, बेटी ने जवाब दिया
क्या बकती है? पिता ने धमकाया
माँ ने घूरा, गाली देती है
बेटी बोली, क्यूँ माँ?
बहन के अपमान पर राज्य
वंश और प्राण लुटा देने वाला
शत्रु स्त्री को हरने के बाद भी
स्पर्श न करने वाला
रावण जैसा भाई ही तो
हर लड़की को चाहिए आज

छाया जैसी साथ निबाहने वाली
गर्भवती निर्दोष पत्नी को त्यागने वाले
मर्यादा पुरषोत्तम सा भाई
लेकर क्या करुँगी मैं?

और माँ
अग्नि परीक्षा चौदह बरस वनवास और
अपहरण से लांछित बहु की क़तर आहें
तुम कब तक सुनोगी और
कब तक राम को ही जन्मोगी
माँ सिसक रही थी - पिता आवाक था
-------------------------------------------------------------
सुधा शुक्ला

A woman writes to technical support guy



Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 & I noticed distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.  Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?

Signed

--  

REPLY

DEAR Madam,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyouloveme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the  background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 6.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.

We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.

Good Luck Madam!


The Demon Star

The Demon Star

Ah! Algol! Your evil eye enchants me.
Evil - did I say? O, forgive me I pray
For there's nothing evil I can see
What a pity that mythological narrate
You the Demon Star because of
Your remarkable coruscation which
Led to speculation that you
Must be evil and
Then left you to that fate

Please us! Do you not resent it,
Mythology should so present it?

Algol! From after your very variation
Incites the imagination
To overwhelming admiration
For so called Demon star
 

TIME, YOU OLD GYPSY MAN

TIME, YOU OLD GYPSY MAN
 ..... Ralf Hodgson

Time, you old gipsy man,
   Will you not stay
Put up your Caravan
    Just for one day?

All things I'll give you
Will you be my guest,
Bell's for your jennet
Of Silver the best,
    Goldsmiths shall beat you
     A great golden ring,
      Peacock shall bow to you
     Little boy sing.
Oh, and sweet girls will
Festoon you with may,
Time, you old gipsy
Why hasten away?

Last week in Babylon,
Last night in Rome,
Morning, and inthe crash
Under Paul's dome;
Under Paul's dial
You tighten your rain -
Only a moment,
And off once again
Off to some city
Now blind in the womb,
Off to another
Ere that's in the tomb,

Time, you old gipsy man,
    Will you not stay
Put up your caravan
    Just for one day

 

Quots, notes and the rest

Advice
If you want any advice, ask a woman, whatever she says do very reverse of that
You sure will succeed
 
Happiness
There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball,
And that is to have either clear conscience, or none at all

Gratitude 
Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty

Cynic 
The cynic is one who knows the price of every thing and the value of nothing

Americans
Forty percent of American families own dogs, and vice versa

Small town
A small town is where you squeeze a girl and everybody sequels

Where two's company and three's a demonstration

Friends
Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself my enemies

Ur
as sweet as
GIN

as hard as
RUM

as worm as
BRANDY

as clear as
VODKA

as matured as
WHISKY

as refreshing as
BEER

u r a bar of
Friendship

A good friend is nothing but one's own reflection with just a little improvement  here and there.

Home
Home is the place where, when you have to go there
They have to take you in.

Fifty
Forty is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age

God
If God answers your prayers he is increasing your faith.  If he delays he is increasing your patience, and he doesn't answers he knows you can handle the situation perfectly.

Innocence 
There cannot be innocence in this world, not with Man in it.

Life
That's life - Always some bugger telling you what to do

There are things that have to be done and you do them and you never talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can be justified. You just do them, then you forget it.
.... Godfather

Keeping cool
If you can keep your head when all about you are loosing theirs,
It's just possible
                        you haven't grasped the situation

Fool people
You can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time: but you can't fool all the people all the time


Punctuality
Punctuality is the politeness of princes
Jaffrey Archer in 'Not a penny more not a penny less'

Santa Banta
Santa n Banta were feeling Happy
Happy got embarrassed and left


Woman
There is a mink, from rat on a cat

You may call a woman a kitten, but you must not call her a cat
You may call her  a mouse, but you must not call her a rat
You may call her a chicken, but you must call her a hen
You may call her a duck, but you must not call her a goose
You may call her a vision, but you must not call her a sight.

Take a wife
"Come, come," said Tom's father, "at your time of life, there is no longer
excuse for thus playing the rake -
It is time you should think, boy, of taking a wife."
"Why, so it is father - whose wife shall I take?"

Everybody's business
That which is everybody's business is nobody's business
 ... Zaak Walton

This is a story about four people!
EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, AND NOBODY!

EVERYBODY was asked to do an important job;
EVERYBODY thought that SOMEBODY would do it,
but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry about that,
because it was EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it,
but NOBODY did it, but NOBODY realized that
EVERYBODY wouldn't do it.

It ended-up that EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY
when actually NOBODY asked ANYBODY to do the job!


Duchess
I sat next to the duchess at tea;
It was just as I feared it would be;
     Her rumblings abdominal
     Were truly phenomenal
And every one thought it was me!


A Wise Old Owl 
     ... Edward Hersey Richards

A wise old owl sat on an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why aren't we like that wise old bird?


Toast 
For the memories of yesterday
For the haplessness of today
For the promise of all our tomorrow

A Famous Toast
Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen,
Here's to the widow of fifty,
Here's to the flaunting, extravagant queen,
And here's to the house wife that's thrifty
       Let the toast pass
       Drink to the last
I'll warrant she'll prove an excuse for the glass

(From School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Shridan)


In your life problem may start from
Haywards 2000 or Haywards 5000,  but

u must take it as Royal Challenge, otherwise people will call an
OLD MONK and stick a BLACK LABEL on you.

You must fight like NAPOLEON, live like  BAG PIPER, walk like
JOHNY WALKER, work till 8 PM, think like DIRECTOR'S SPECIAL
and then your life will be IMPERIAL BLUE.  If you do all these things
will be an ARISTOCRAT and there will be value for your SIGNATURE


Awesome Answers in IAS Examination:

Awesome Answers in IAS Examination: (Cut and paste from an email received)

Q. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
A. Concrete floors are very hard to crack! (UPSC Topper)

Q. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
A. No time at all it is already built. (UPSC 23rd Rank Opted for IFS)

Q. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
A. Very large hands. (Good one) (UPSC 11 Rank Opted for IPS)

Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
A. you will never find an elephant with one hand. (UPSC Rank 14 Opted for IES)

Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?
A. No Probs, He sleeps at night. (UPSC IAS Rank 98)

Q. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
A. It will Wet or Sink as simple as that. (UPSC IAS Rank 2)

Q. What looks like half apple ?
A: The other half. (UPSC - IAS Topper )

Q. What can you never eat for breakfast?
A: Dinner.

Q. Bay of Bengal is in which state?
A: Liquid (UPSC 33 Rank)
 

Valentine's Day Quotations

Valentine's Day Quotations

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
-Aristotle
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
-Lao Tzu
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
-Henry Ward Beecher
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.
-Anais Nin
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires;
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller
Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
-Zora Neale Hurston
Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.
-Leo Tolstoy
Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.
-Dorothy Parker
I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.
-Alice Walker
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
-Pablo Neruda, "Love Sonnet XVII"

The farmer & the yuppie

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and a YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, 'If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?'

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, 'Sure, Why not?'

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resoluti on photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany . Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, 'You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.'

'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,' says Bud. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?'
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'

'You're a Congressman for the U.S.Government' , says Bud. 'Wow! That's correct,' says the yuppie, 'but how did you guess that?'

'No guessing required.' answered the cowboy. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows...this is a herd of sheep. . . .

Now give me back my dog

Governmentium

A major research institution (MRI) has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named Governmentium.
Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

Effort and Experience

A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed! 

 
A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"
 

So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer...... ......... ........ $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap......... ......... ........ $ 9, 998.00

An effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!

चितळे द ग्रेट

चितळ्यांचं कुमठेकर रस्त्यावरील दुकान. वेळ रात्री आठ वाजता म्हणाजे दुकान बंद होण्याची. मालक चितळे स्वत: कुलूप लावायच्या तयारीत..
त्याच क्षणी एक माणूस बंद होणार्‍या शटरच्या खालून जवळपास लोळण घेत आत घुसला...
चितळ्यांनी त्याला आडवायचा प्रयत्न केला पण तरीही तो चिवट माणूस शेवटी घुसलाच.
चितळ्यांनी खवळून त्याला काय पाहिजे म्हणून विचारलं...
" बाकरवडी.." अपेक्षित उत्तर आले.
"किती वाजले घड्याळात...? आठ वाजले ते दिसत नाही. का घड्याळ चुकीची वेळ दाखवतंय.. तसं असेल तर बाकरवडी ऐवजी घड्याळ घ्या... " चितळे त्याच्यावर वतागले.
" मला बाकरवडी हवीय.."
" मिळणार नाही.. दुकान बंद झालेय... उद्या या.."
" बाकरवडी.."
"शक्य नाही... आता बाहेर पडा आधी..."
चितळ्यांचा संताप अनावर झाला. तो माणूस बाहेर पडत नाही हे बघून चितळ्यांनी शटर ओढले आणि तो माणूस आणि चितळे स्वत: दुकानात कोंडले गेले..
दोन मिनिटांनी आतला वाद वाढला तशी बाहेर गर्दी जमा झाली. गर्दी वाढतच गेली तसे वादही वाढले. मग आतून मारामारीचे, आपटाआपटीचे आवाज ऐकायला येऊ लागले.. काहीतरी फुटल्याचे आवाज आणि माग कुणाचातरी जोरात ओरडण्याचा आवाज... गर्दी अवाक होऊन बघत होती.
इतक्यात शटर परत किलकिले झाले आणि तो माणूस जिवाच्या आकांताने बाहेर पडला आणि पळायला लागला... मागोमाग चितळे बाहेर आले. चिडलेले, घामेजलेले पण तरीही चेहर्‍यावर एक समाधान घेऊन...
" काय झालं हो...?" गर्दीतून कुणीतरी विचारले.
" बाकरवडी पाहिजे होती... आठ वाजल्यानंतर याला.. आणि नाही म्हटले तर हातघाईवरच यायला लागला... मग दाखवले चौदावे रत्न... आठ वाजता बाकरवडी मागतो म्हणजे काय... वेळेचे भान आहे की नाही.."
" कोण होता हो...?" गर्दीतील उस्तुक प्रेक्षकाने विचारले...
" होता कुणीतरी मद्रासचा... शिवाजी गायकवाड म्हणून... "
चितळ्यांनी शटर ओढून कुलूप लावले आणि ते घराकडे निघाले...

Must visit links - Marathi typing and dictionary tool

If you do typing in Indian languages (Hindi / Marathi etc) then you must visit Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) site and see if you would like to download various applications.

On this page you will find links to
  • Video Tutorial on use of software tools 
  • To download unicode typing tool
And more importantly links to software available in various Indian Languages.

Clinking on Marathi takes me to http://ildc.in/Marathi/Mindex.aspx   Here you have to first register which is quite simple really.In fact you can also get installation CD by post, free of charge.

Once you have registered go to the download where you find download possibilities for Window 9X, Windows 2000 and above and for for Linux.

Here you find downloadable software like "Marathi language True Type fonts with keyboard drive"
or "Marathi language Multifont keyboard engine for True Type fonts" etc.  I found "Dictionary Marathi – English & English-Marathi"  very useful. It is very simple to use and as many options. 

When you open the dictionary (of course after downloading and installing it properly) you can type in a word in the given window you see it pronunciation and meanings. What is interesting is that it has five dictionaries, three Marathi general dictionaries and one each for Marathi Government and Customs.

The typing tool allows you to type in Inscript, Typewriter and Phonetics.


Sketching the transit of Venus 8th June 2004

My account of Sketching the transit of Venus on 8th June 2004 at the 3rd and 4th contact.

On June 8, 2004 I had a wonderful opportunity to observe transit of Venus from Tehran for this I thank my friend Dr Mansour Vaisali 

What follows is from my account form my journal  and sketches which I made with my comments.  I made some quick sketches on a small notebook with pen and made notes. Then after the event made the refined sketches.I have no specialize training in sketching  but have been trying my hand.  I had used 2H pencil to make the sketches.


Year (2004) Month 6 Date 8

"Its a transit day. Manosur called me at 7:30 a.m. or so and asked me to be at the Sharif University (the place where he had put me in)  gate by about 9:15 a..m. He arrived at 9:20. We first went to Nojum office and collected a telescope and some Nojum magazines and went to a Pardisan Park (Park-e'-Jangali-ye-Pardisan) where they have a bio-diversity museum.  We quickly set up the telescope and magazine/Nojum stall and were ready for the transit to begin 09:48 (Iran time).  After the second contact life was relaxed - not too many people came - the total may have been close to about 300 not more. Met some very nice people who visited us.  There was a TV crew - spoke to the camera.

Since the crowd was less and just about 20 odd people at the 3rd contact I decided to observe the transit and sketch the progress between 3rd and 4th contact. 

After the contact we went back to Nojum Office - A meeting was arranged with some official.  But before their arrival I had enough time (more than 30 min) to make my first basic sketches. 

In some sense it was a busy day for me but one of the relaxed one too - no dinner tonight. We picked up some food and Mansour dropped me at the University by about 9:30 p.m. and then I took about an hour completing my sketches."


Transit of Venus
Predictions for Tehran, Iran
Contact time (Iran) Alt
First 09:48 46
Second 10:07 50
Mid 12:15 77
Third 15:32 55
Forth 15:51 51

While making the sketches I had concentrated only that area where Venus was touching the solar limb. Though I 'looked around' I did not bother to sketch any other features such as sunspots nor do I remember if I saw any.

The time recorded was Tehran time but again was not very important  It took me about 10 to 12 seconds to make a quick rough drawing and write time.
 Drawings and notes
 The telescope : Refactor 80 mm / f 900, 

Eye piece 34 mm
Angular diameter of Venus was 57.74"

In the sketched below - the sun is white, the sky and silhouetted Venus are dark.

Could it be possible that I was looking at scattered sunlight form the upper atmosphere of Venus

Sketch  0       (not here)  
           15:28:30 Can't say seeing black drop - black line joining Venus and the limb of the Sun

Sketch #1
About 3 min before the third contact at 15:29 the solar limb appears to be pushed up. Angular diameter of Venus was 57.74"


Sketch #2
Just about a minute before the 3rd contact (15:32) at 15:31:03 noted that there were two arms at side of Venus, as if two side black drops and there was a distinct curved white gap between the sun and Venus

 Sketch 3
15:31:30 may be black drop
The a 30 second prior to the third contact (15:32) at 15:31:03 noted possibly the black drop.

Sketch #4
Now this is interesting - Venus is just touching the limb of the Sun, the  sky is dark of course and I see a distinct white curve shimmering just above the solar limb, as if the solar limb is pushed up.

Sketch #5
This looked very much like the sun is setting over the sea. The points where the Venus' disk was touching the solar limb appeared to be curved outwards.

Sketch #6
15:35:00 - it is like sunset as in sketch 5 above but the shimmering upper portion as in sketch 4 is gone now.

Sketch #7
I now see a touch between the boundaries of silhouetted Venus and the Sun

Sketch #8
15:38:30 again a little curving like that in #6

Strong wind is shaking the telescope
Changed the eye piece to 12.5 mm
15:43:00 Venus is half gone

Sketch #9
Saw the advancing limb of Venus outside the solar limb as a white line making an arc - first I thought that it was a trick played by my eyes but then there were two very clear instances of this observations so I sketched this.

Sketch #10
15:44:30 -  It is not a half circle any more but kind of two white curves from either sides

Sketch  #11
15:45:15 and 15:45:47 One more clear upper (half) ring and one shimmering for just for half a second or so.  Fourth contact was at 15:51

Sketch #12
We are nearing the 4th contact  (15:51) and 3 min prior to that at 15:48 I see one more instance of the upper shimmering

Sketch #13

A very clear notch was seen - the instances 12 and 13 were almost like mirror images but in negative.

Its gone now

Two pages from my note book on which I made my quick sketches
Pages form my small note book