Finally you Die

Yess!

Finally you die!

Tag

Well at first I thought I will post my tag here since Shalini tagged me here. But then I loooked at the questions.. and thought this is a more appropriate blog of mine for the questions...

The Fire Within

It is the fire within. The fire within that makes us write, write and write. And the same fire within on some days burn so strong that it burns us into cinders and render us inadequate. On such days all thoughts simply burn into flames and do not come out of the pen or the keyboard. I wonder if all human beings are such mixture of emotions. They must be. But it must be true that only those people who have been able to control and tame their emotions are successful in what they want to do -- love or career or whatever... So do not lost control. And like the wise man control your mind and not let it control you.

Why does one Blog?

Somebody asked me what made me a blogger. Well here are my thoughts on that. I have these other blogs too:-

1. RELATIONSHIPS -- it is my blog on what I feel about relationships.

2. The Rate Race -- It is all about that parallel life that we lead to survive, just to exist. This life is different from the life which we would like to live had we not needed money to exist

3. Fascinating Nature -- This is a photography blog where I plan to post photos nature. I feel very close to nature and it affects me deeply. The sea, the mountains, the forests they all make me feel very different when I am amongst or near them. I would like to express my feelings through my photos.. If only I had time to go out. But nevertheless, I will do whatever I can under my constraints.

4. Flora and Fauna of India-- Another photography site where I plan to capture photos of flowers and animals that will show that humans may be the greatest creation of GOD but flowers and animals are as beautiful and no less worthy of sharing this world with us and also provide succour to the humans in form of simple beauty or utility. Again this site will need time to develop.

5. India through my Photoblog -- This is the site one of whose posts you visited and wrote to me from. This is what the name suggests. It will be photos on anything that is typically Indian... from eateries to to toilets to religious places to govt buildings.. to anything else. I have planned to depict photos that will show the world what we really are-- good or bad, ugly or pretty, humourous or sad... A complete India through my Photos.. Again a long task and a difficult one. I too want to see how best I can do it and whether I really have the talent to bring out what I want.

6. The diary of a confused man.... ..This ONE--this tells exactly what I am and why I am here through my posts. I think readers will see that I am a confused man indeed, not knowing why I am here on the web, what I want from life, what I plan to post and tell here, and how to do all that. So in short I am confused and so this name to my blog.

7. Fascinating India, Fascinating World -- this is a pure views blog. My vieWs on anything that is Indian or Global. I have always felt that this world and India works peculiarly, their govt works peculiarly and I would like to point out the pecularities and so this name. The ways of the woRld Fascinate me.

If anybody reads them and the posts they will get an insight on why I am here and how I cam here and what I am doing as a blogger.

I think Blogs in particular and the web in general are nothing but a manifestation of that inner thirst of the humans to create. This creation may result in information useful to others or plain sharing of thoughts which one would like to leave behind for the others to see. While creating we may also form bonds with each another-- be it in fhe guise of providing information (strutured or otherwise) in the name of science, history and all the subjects that we study or be it in the form of sharing thoughts or be it in the form of guding others or whatever form they take.

Barring the goal of earning money from the web by selling wares, information or even porn, I think all the matter that we see on the web are there only because someone took pain to create them there. And such pains are taken by people only because there is a foremost inner desire in all of us and that is CREATE. We as human beings have a natural urge to create and leave something behind us for posterity. This why mankind is evolving, had it not been so it would have died long ago.

After meeting the desire of creation I think the next inner desire in all of us is to form bonds with fellow human beings. When it comes to the web what better way is there than to create a blog or even a website of information which others read and maybe respond too? After all when readers respond, it not only gives a satisfaction of having created and being appreciated but also it makes one feel that there are some people who are reading one's thoughts.... even if one does not meet them ever- offline or online-- even the very people-count meter that says how many people have visited one's site probably gives a satisfaction to the creator of the page (blog or otherwise).... and sometimes we do meet people online and make friends too.

Q. What compelled or 'inspired' you to start your blog(s)?

-- As you can see from my 6 blogs, I have different reasons to start the same. One was maybe I was lonely even with family and work responsibilities. I am not a psychologist but an engineer by qualification and training. So I will not really know WHY I AM BLOGGING.. Perhaps a psychlogist would be in a better position to tell me or you why I am here. But on self introspection I can hazard some guesses. After all I know myself best!! So first was that I felt that my feeling of loneliness was not because I have no one to share my life with. But it something beyond. It is something about my thoughts. I feel my thoughts are something that need an outlet and if I only have a receptor to receive my thoughts.... Whether at office or at home somehow I do not feel like sharing them with anyone- because I do not find anyone suitable to share them with - because of the simple reason-- I feel my thoughts are too erratic, out of the context, difficult to understand for the people who are around me. But I needed an outlet. So I came here. Here at least I can write my tru thoughts and be damned about who likes them and who does not and who agrees with them and who does not.

Now this probably will tell you that as a human being I am one who does not want to listen to disagreements. It is not so. I am not talking of thoughts and ideas which I think are mine and correct. On such thoughts I am very open to debates but I only accept logical debates. And that is what is missing most of the times. But my thoughts are not always and mostly not on matters of debate.. i feel they are something that need to be shared and that is all. Someone should be there to listen that is all. They need not be commented upon or debated on. Most of my thoughts are not for debate to prove them right or wrong but are thoughts that should result in better / improved thoughts and feelings. Examples of this you will find on this site. And also on other sites.

Second reason of my coming here was my hobby of writing and photography. I can use them both here. I need to have something to do to keep my mind active after i retire and what better than dong something I like best? Writing and Photography- and maybe even better if I can combine them. So the blog or a personal web site seemed to be a good idea to get ahead on that distant goal of my life. This was one additional reason for me to come here others will have different reasons for their blogging.

Third reason was forming bonds with like minded individuals. I know the world is vast and I have proof that there are people like me.. who think like me.. and my blogs are invitations to them to link up. I have formed friendships with a couple so far and that is quite good an achievement for me I think and my good luck too. At least sitting from my home I am interacting with people whom I will probably never meet!! And I meet then nothing like it!!

Fourth reason of my blogging can be I have lots of free time now after work ... so to remain mentally active this seemed to me a good way.. I liked to read books and do gardening.. and I have seen my hobbies changed with age and time.. because of changes in circumstances supporting or prohibiting the hobbies. Like money is a problem in pursuing books.. you need money to buy or visit libraries at far places from home.. you need ground for proper gardening.. indoor and terrarce gardening in pots are not that feasible in such hot weather and waterless city. Swimming needs money toooooo - costly in Delhi and NCR... these are examples of why m hobbies changed with time.. the net is the cheapest way to spend time today. And so i took to the net.

Then I asked myself what I can do here? Well I have tried chatting and found that most of the people who chat are nubile fools bent upon some form of adultery or adult activities and only a few are really interested in pure friendships or believe in them. And even among them they are unable to separate the offline lives from their online ones. So even these people are not permanent on the web- they vanish when their offline lives clash with their online ones.

I saw sites which provide information and are very useful to readers. And I felt the urge to create something as I already have explained. So I went across articles on blogs and what they do and what can be the subjects. I found that blogs basically mean a daily log on the net. Web logs in short BLOGS. But that is best for some people who have created famous blogs of their experiences while travelling across the world constantly uploading text and images through their mobile phones and laptops. Others are maintaining their personal day to day logs of what they do everyday. But this latter one I find no use. Unless I can make it humorous why should others be interested in knowing what I am doing every day!!!??

SO I rejected the idea of a real blog-- a daily log on the web. And I have deviated into the different avataars of blogs as you can see from the description of my blogs above. The ones with photos are to help me develop my hobby of photography and get me some experience and satisfaction of having someone to see them. The other ones are to share my thoughts and form bonds with people and to make me release my emotions. So these blogs are basically helping me keep my sanity in a worryful world- they take me away for a while from the real world where I am bound by rules and demands. Here amongs my blogs I am a free man free to say what I want and feel and free to do what I like? Are bloggers escapists? No I do not think I am an escapist. I think because I want to be in the real world and survive there I am a blogger. Because being a blogger I am preserving my sanity by releasing my bottled up thoughts and then coming back to the real world charged up once again.

In the process if I make a friend or two-- what better I an ask for? Because they friends I will make here will be people like me!!

Unfortunately I find people do not like to reveal themselves even when appreciating my posts. There was someone who said my thoughts were exatly like hers.. as If I was reading her mind.. But then I DO NOT know who she is. I would have liked to know her because life is short and if we can find someone who is is like us we should bond as friends. and share our minds.. this is what I think.

Indian Govt Removes blockage of blogspot site

THANKS GOD!! Sense has prevailed upon the Indian Govt. I can see my blogs now!! And now I can post my photographs and thoughts once more... sighhhhhhhhhhhhh

Indian Govt Goes Haywire

Someone posted some instigating materials on some blog hosted by blogspot and so Govt of India went and censored the sites. ISPs in India in their eagerness to be stooges to this Govt of India have gone and blocked the whole og blogspot!!@~ And now how do people like us blog? After all the pain taken to build up blogs.. one day we find our basic independence being censored!!

This Govt has got to go!! From Quota to censorship to taxes... it is not doing anything rightly at all!!!!

Come next vote we shall see.

Fuel price: Govt, states gain more than oil firms

This is a copy paste of a news item from TOI, Delhi, 12th june 2006. It is not my article but the red colouring is. It is probably because of wrong policies of this country which is why we are all suffering- the oil companies and the citizens. I have nothing more to say.

Quote:

Are petrol and diesel priced lower in India than in the international market? Not if we are looking at retail selling prices. For instance, the price of petrol in the US is about $2.90 per gallon today, which is equivalent to about Rs 34.50 per litre, way below the retail price for petrol anywhere in India. Diesel too costs about the same amount in the US, which is quite similar to the price of diesel in India.

Then why does the government complain of oil companies making losses on these products? The price we pay for petrol or diesel is not the price the oil companies get for them. In fact, less than half of what we pay for petrol actually goes to the oil companies. Calculation done by the petroleum ministry before the latest increase in prices, the oil companies net realisation on a litre of petrol sold at Rs 47 was merely Rs 20, while on a litre of diesel sold at Rs 33.4 their realisation was Rs 20.9. The estimated cost of crude alone to produce a litre of petrol or diesel without adding any levies would be about Rs 23. Hence the situation of oil companies having to suffer losses even on petrol and diesel.

Where does the rest of the money go? The bulk of the remaining part of the price of petrol goes to the central and state governments in the form of various levies. In the case of petrol, for instance, the calculations showed that the Centre imposed various kinds of excise duties that totalled up to about Rs 15 per litre. The states, in turn, imposed sales tax that worked out to an average of just under Rs 10 per litre. Other costs like dealer commissions, freight and marketing costs between themselves accounted for barely Rs 2.20 per litre. In the case of diesel, which is taxed relatively modestly by both the Centre and states, the total amount of levies per litre was about Rs 11 per litre.

If so much of the price is in the form of taxes, why can’t they be cut? This argument has been made by many. The argument is that since tax rates include an ad valorem component — that is a component fixed as a percentage of the pre-tax price — the Centre and states gain windfall revenues when prices go up. Hence, it should be possible for them to moderate the price increase by forgoing some of this supernormal revenues. In fact, even the Rangarajan Committee — which was set up to examine the entire gamut of issues relating to petroleum product pricing in India — had suggested that the government fix specific duties — that is, duties spelt out in rupees per litre — so that the tax component of the retail price does not go up as prices do. The same Committee had also recommended that state governments agree on a uniform rate of sales tax. At the moment, the rates vary widely across states, which explains to a large extent why retail prices are so different in different parts of the country. On petrol, for instance, the sales tax rate varies from 20% to 34% and on diesel from 12% to almost 29%. The latest decision by Maharashtra to forgo additional tax revenues on the increased price is a small step in the direction and there are indications that other states, particularly Congress-ruled states, might follow suit.

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