Neerja Bhanot – Bravery and Nobility Personified

   

                                   

                                It has been quite a while since I blogged. Welcome back to my blog. I watched the biopic, ‘Neerja’, some time back, which really touched my heart.  The movie ‘Neerja’ is based on the life of Neerja Bhanot, who was a Purser for Pan Am based in Mumbai, India. She was shot and killed while saving hundreds of passengers on board a Pan Am plane which terrorists had hijacked. 

                                Without going into the details of the story, since there are various sources already available to do that, my blog post attempts to pay a tribute to the finest qualities of the human spirit exhibited by probably one of the greatest and bravest real-life heroines that the Planet has witnessed, Neerja Bhanot. What a remarkable, brave and noble lady, she was! So courageous and selfless in the face of life-threatening danger! 

                                 

                                In the modern world, where human values need to resurrected and terrorism has shocked the world in different ways, the noble sacrifice of people like Neerja Bhanot immortalizes the truly admirable qualities that the human spirit has been endowed and provides a beacon of light for the world. The selfless heroism of Neerja Bhanot at the face of nerve-wracking danger, where probably, most people would just think of saving their individual lives, will go down in history as perhaps one of the most noblest acts of bravery.

                                It is time for each one of us to think of ways and means by which the world could be made a better, safer and happier place for the future generations so that the noble sacrifice of people like Neerja Bhanot does not go a waste.

                                I come from India where we firmly believe in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ – ‘The World Is One Family’  As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar recognizes humanity as the highest identity, is it not time that all the people on this planet have a broad vision and celebrate diversity while retaining pride in their roots, their native heritage?

                               Neerja was a true heroine who saved many human lives, cutting across boundaries while selflessly sacrificing her own life. Is it not time that we too imbibe noble values in our lives and make the planet a better place for the future generations? Think about it. Neerja is a brave role model, whose life-story should probably be the bed-time story for our younger generations. Hers is not a fairy-tale, but definitely it is a tale that will inspire bravery and nobility in the hearts of our younger generations.  I salute the youngest and first woman recipient of the Ashok Chakra, Neerja Bhanot !

References:

1. http://images.mapsofindia.com/my-india/2016/02/Neerja-Bhanot.jpg

2. http://media.mensxp.com/media/content/2016/Jan/story-of-neerja-bhanot-the-flight-attendant-who-died-in-1986-pan-am-73-hijack800-1453294989.jpg

3. https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAASHAAAAJDgzMmY2YjBlLTkyYzgtNDVhMC1iMTZlLTc4YzRjMjM2OWM1YQ.jpg

Who Am I?

Am I an Engineer?

Am I a Doctor?

Am I a Teacher?

Am I an Entrepreneur?

I may be any of these,

But is that all I am?

Who Am I? I wonder!

Am I a Daughter?

Am I a Son?

Am I a Mother?

Am I a Father?

Am I a Wife?

Am I a Husband?

I may be any of these,

But is that all I am?

Who Am I? I wonder!

Am I Rich?

Am I Poor?

Am I Intelligent?

Am I Foolish?

Am I Refined?

Am I Crude?

I may be any of these,

But is that all I am?

Who Am I? I wonder!

Am I Beautiful?

Am I Ugly?

Am I Smart?

Am I Clumsy?

Am I Witty?

Am I Dull?

I may be any of these,

But is that all I am?

Who Am I? I wonder!

Am I this Body?

Am  I this Mind?

Am I the Five Senses?

Am I the Five Elements?

Who Am I? I wonder!

Who Am I?

The Quest Continues!

Delving Deeper and Deeper!

Perhaps, this is the Spirit of Enquiry!

As Unraveled By Ancient Seers!

And Maybe Revealed to Me Someday,

Through Infinite Grace and Blessings of My Master!

(This post was written in response to @BlogChatter prompt, 'Who Am I?')

I want to take my blog to the next level #Blogchatter

                    I was tagged by Ajay to write this post.     

     

                              To me, blogging appears to be a creative outlet of ideas and reflections which are shared with my readers, my audience. I value the time spent by my readers on going through my blog posts and hence make sure that I present authentic, well-researched information to my readers in a manner most suitable to the topic blogged and appealing to the sensibilities of my audience.

                               I started blogging last year and now want to take my blog to the next level!  I have been able to build a small loyal audience and would like to expand my loyal audience. I have shared my blog address on twitter and hope to attract twitterati towards my blog. Now , I am focusing on more in-depth content to feature higher on search engines and also to keep my readers completely engaged. Text is definitely not everything in a post. Adding suitable images and videos does boost up the value of a blog-post and is likely to get my posts more social shares. Increased interaction with my readers through active commenting by readers and by holding interactive quizzes requiring the readers to participate would take my blog to the next level.

                               I believe in organic growth personally, but things are a little commercial these days, with bloggers even paying to get more traffic to their blogs. I definitely am not saying if it is good or bad. But that would probably be my last option!

                               I believe in targeted recommendations by loyal readers and so building a loyal audience, as I have already mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this post is extremely important to me. Inviting guest bloggers is another step that I plan to take to make my blog reach a wider audience and also to add a new voice and dimension to my blog and provide my readers with a greater breadth of quality information.

                               Expert advice from the leading authority is welcome and would add credibility to my posts. Keeping track of the issues that affect my readers is definitely top-priority so that I can build content on those issues to help my readers.

                               Analytics is probably a good tool to make better publishing decisions, Based on the interest shown by my readers to particular topics through their comments and questions, I could probably come up with areas for improvement on my website like blog categories etc.

                               I have always believed in ingenuity and innovation. Thinking out of the box appeals to me greatly. I would experiment with unconventional approach to content to take my blog to the next level.

                               Learning from mistakes is wise and smart and not repeating the mistake is definitely wisdom.  These tips should help me create quality content to engage my readers and make them admire my blog, which will definitely push my blog up to the next level.

Thanks for Reading!  If you like it, do share it and this way, we can collectively take my blog to the next level !

Thanks in advance, for your support!

 I now tag Santosh to write his take on the topic.

References:

1.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140210144437-14236046-mastering-the-five-levels-of-creativity-part-1

2.https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/6/005/041/310/0af4c5b.jpg

I want to take my blog to the next level with Blogchatter 

A Letter to the Maker

Dear God,

                We communicate quite often through prayers. This is one of those rare occasions, where I am penning a letter to You. I am not really sure that with so many people around the globe just on Planet Earth alone (not to forget the scores of galaxies out there in the vast space), seeking Your attention and guidance on various matters, starting from trivial issues like children scoring high marks in a class test to more serious issues like people fighting terminal diseases or natural disasters or violence or crime, you have the time to look through my letter! Nevertheless, I am hoping that you will give it a glance!

                 Firstly, my Salutations to You, the King of Creation, the Eternal Life Manager and the Brilliant Manager of the Cosmos! You have truly been a benevolent creator, bestowing upon Mankind the wondrous gifts of Nature like Sun, Moon, Stars, Clouds, Rain etc. In fact, Nature in all its splendor is probably one of Your greatest gifts to Man. Nature is like an invisible mother to man, who finds expression in her many manifestations like rivers, forests, mountains, oceans, etc.

                You, the Great Almighty, have gone a step further in Your creativity and made man special by giving him the ability to think and distinguish right from wrong! Being human myself, I feel grateful for this characteristic bestowed on the human race. But the modern age with its rampant industrialization and technological advancement has led man into a spree of deforestation resulting in pollution and global warming which have had a disastrous impact on the climate of the world and left the environment in a poor shape.

                Nature has unleashed its fury in the form of devastating floods and earthquakes around the world. The fast world has rendered man a machine. In the race to make money, somewhere the human values have taken a back seat and violence and crime has gripped the world. This is a very sorry state of affairs. Ethics have been pushed behind. Where is the world heading?

                I am sure that You are shocked and devastated by the way, things have turned out in the modern age!   But You are the director of this drama of life. The world as a stage, has seen many heroes in the past. It is time now for heroes, men and women of vision and maturity to take centre stage and battle the challenges of the modern world like pollution, corruption, violence and crime and eradicate them from society!

                I appeal to You to script this play of life in the modern day world to have a happy ending characterized by a divine society like You meant it to be in the first place, driven by wisdom and human values, so that a better world lies in wait of the future generations.  Request You to grant my wish or prayer, as You deem appropriate.

Thank You for all Your Blessings and Grace!

Yours Faithfully,

A Humble Creation.

(This post was written in response to #Blogchatter prompt 'Letter' by Blog Chatter (@blogchatter)) 

Landing In Cartoon Land - What If I Came Face to Face with Tom and Jerry?

                                     Hello Everyone! It has been a while since my last blog post, has it not? Well, I am back with a new interesting blog post! The title and the picture above, do give some idea about what I would like to present to my readers. Without much ado, let us get to the point.

                                 'Tom and Jerry’ is probably one of the most popular animation series watched in India and the world over.  As the years pass by, the legendary duo of Tom and Jerry continue to cast their spell on new generations of viewers. Children two decades back, were just as enthralled with this magical duo, as the children of the current generation.So what is it that adds the midas touch to these legendary characters? Perfect comic timing of fights between the two lead characters and clever execution of plot combined with suitable music and traditional sound effects make these cartoons truly adorable and entertaining. In fact, Tom and Jerry was my favorite cartoon show when it was aired on Doordarshan, years back. It continues to be my favorite even today.

                                 There was a time in my life when cartoons absolutely fascinated me.  Often, I would imagine myself getting transported into the fantasy world of cartoons as I watched them on television. I would wonder what I would do if I actually met my favorite characters, Tom and Jerry face to face.  Would I shake hands with them? Would I say Hi or Hello to them? Or more appropriately, would I say Namashkar to them (since I am an Indian)?  Would they reciprocate the gesture or would they be too busy with their comic fights to even take notice of me? I remember myself watching the comic fights of Tom and Jerry on television, without even batting my eyelids. What an era it was!

                                Now let us come back to my face to face encounter with Tom and Jerry. Suppose I came face to face with Tom and Jerry in their debut appearance as Jasper and Jinx. That would truly make me happy as that is one of my favorite cartoons till date.  If I also became an animated character and became part of ‘PUSS GETS THE BOOT (1940)’ (which is the debut appearance of Tom and Jerry) cartoon, then I would probably laugh and laugh till my sides ached at the sight of Tom getting onto Jerry’s nerves in the first 53 seconds of the cartoon and then it would be time for me to barge in and then introduce myself to Jasper and Jinx. I would probably join in the fun and run around with Jasper and Jinx then at 1 minute 5 seconds, I would be delighted at the prank that Jasper plays on Jinx, painting a portion of the wall with INK to make it look like a mouse hole and then further  labeling it with the ‘HOME  SWEET HOME’ wooden nameboard. I would let Jinx bang on the wall once and then before he tries once more, I would do what Jasper begins doing at 1 minute 35 seconds of the cartoon and take water from the aquarium and throw it on the false mouse hole, washing the black paint off and thereby revealing its true identity which is solid wall. That would be a script change indeed, because I would play a role at 1 minute 18 seconds and prevent Jinx from further banging on the wall.

                                 As Jasper hides behind the wall listening, both Jinx and I would run and find him there.  I would side with Jinx on this one. We would each give him a beating, I guess and then Jasper would come running behind us and then at the point where Jasper crashes into the showpiece and everything comes crashing on him and Mammy Two Shoes comes calling Jasper at 2 minutes 20 seconds, I would let her scold Jasper and then correct her spelling and grammar saying, ‘Mammy Two Shoes, you should say, ‘Now understand this Jasper if you break one more thing, you are going out , ‘OUT’ out’ and not ‘Now understand this Jasper if you breaks one more thing, you is going out , ‘OWT’ out’ .  Now would that not be my remarkable debut in Cartoon Land?  ‘Wow!’ Is the only word that comes to my mind! Hope you agree with me.

                                 Let me now leave you with the debut appearance of Tom and Jerry as Jasper and Jinx. Hope you enjoy it! 

Image References:

1. http://i0.wp.com/newwallpapershd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tom-and-jerry-Cartoon-HD-Wallpapers-1.jpg?resize=660%2C505
2. http://newwallpapershd.com/tom-and-jerry-cartoon-hd-pictures-wallpapers/

Video References:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGmZ6weLcpg

What is special about the new year 2016?

                  Happy New Year 2016!  We have entered another new year, another chance for a new beginning, another chance to make new choices, another chance to tread the chosen path(s) with commitment and dedication, another chance to lead a better and a more meaningful life! It is the time to make new year resolutions and to follow the resolutions earnestly and sincerely. A good new year resolution would be, to be committed towards making the world, a better place with peace, harmony and human values, so that we leave a better world for the future generations! May the Almighty bless us with the ability to create smiles , to create happiness all around us!              

                It is time to now focus on the topic of this post. What is special about the year 2016? The year commenced on a Friday! Do you know that the year 2016 is a leap year? This means that there are 366 days in this year! An extra day! Where did this come from? I am sure you know this! However, let me tell you that the month February this year comes with 29 days! So for all those of you, who have your birthdays on February 29, you actually get to celebrate your birthday this year! Wonderful, is it not?

               As per the Wikipedia, this year 2016 has been designated as the International Year of Pulses by the sixty eighth session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Like many leguminous crops, pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix nitrogen. To support the awareness on this matter, the UN declared 2016 the UN International year of Pulses.

              The number 2016 is a triangular number, obtained by the continuous summation of numbers from 1 to 63.  As per Wikipedia, the number 2016 is also a hexagonal number, which satisfies the condition 

                           where n is an integer for hexagonal numbers.

                 
                  Now that we know that the year 2016 is indeed special, let us make a special beginning in our lives this year and let the world be a special, beautiful and divine place filled with peace, joy and harmony. God Bless Us All!

                   Have a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year 2016!   

    
References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagonal_number
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(legume)
4. https://www.quora.com/Is-there-something-special-about-2016
5.http://www.business2community.com/marketing/top-5-things-focus-2016-01404604#rB6cQIfIHODMgBBg.97










                    
                      
              


        

Good Bye 2015! Welcome 2016!

           Hello and Namashkar! With just some time left to bid the year 2015 good bye, it is that time of the year, when we are standing on the threshold of the year that is soon to be past, eager to welcome the new year with renewed hope, enthusiasm, joy and aspirations. It is also the time to reflect back on the year that has been! What are our joys and victories in the year that will soon be gone? What are our mistakes and blunders and what is the learning that we get from them?  It is important to get wiser after every failure and keep trying until one succeeds!

         At this juncture, one should feel blessed and grateful for having completed a year in the journey of life, acknowledging the Grace and Blessings of the Maker and be ready to take up the challenges of the upcoming year equipped with the maturity and wisdom gained from the experiences of the years gone by! One may also pray for the well-being of the near and dear ones and the world as a whole.

          One may observe a minute of silence to honor, revere and acknowledge the contributions of all the great personalities who left us, for their heavenly abode, this year.

          It is a time to be together with family and feel grateful and blessed. Quoting the words of Brad Paisley now

            "Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one." 

       As per the English proverb, "a good beginning makes a good end". So let us make an earnest and good beginning this new year 2016!  Before the party begins, before the wishes and messages start pouring in, before the old calendar ends and the new one begins, before the social media gets inundated with messages and pictures, before the mobiles start ringing non-stop, here is wishing everyone a peaceful, joyous, happy, prosperous, healthy and enthusiastic new year 2016!

                        HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!  

   References:

   1.http://happyholidays2016.com/new-year-2016-png/   
    2.http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/happy-new-year-2016-24-inspirational-quotes-and-greetings-to-start-the-year-on-a-happy-note/ 






         




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