I Am An Indian

Neither Bengali nor Punjabi nor Tamil nor any other Indian community

I am an Indian who identifies himself with the entire Indian fraternity.

I love and respect every Indian community, and identify with its customs and culture

And know for sure that we all are same, except some apparent differences in our nature.

I believe in a pan-Indian identity, and identify myself with every region of this land

I am quite proud of my so-called own community (the Bengali community), but on any day I will prefer to carry an “All India” brand.


LONG LIVE INDIA! I LOVE MY MOTHERLAND.


French Translation

Je Suis Indien

Ni Bengali ni Punjabi ni Tamoul ni l'autre communauté indienne

Je suis Indien qui s'identifie avec la fraternité indienne entière.

J'aime et respecte chaque communauté indienne, et identifier avec ses douanes et cultiver

Et savoir exactement que tous sommes mêmes, sauf quelques différences apparentes dans notre nature.

Je crois en une identité casserole-indien, et m'identifier avec chaque région de cette terre

Je suis tout à fait fier de ma soi-disant propre communauté (la communauté bengalaise), mais sur n'importe quel jour que je préférerai porter un "Toute Inde " marque.

INDE LONGUE DE VIE ! J'AIME MA PATRIE.

Human Blood

I am the same inside James Brown, a Roman Catholic American

I am the same inside a Buddhist Chinese, named Miao Chan.

I am the same inside a Muslim Arab named Amir Muhammad

And I am again the same inside a Hindu Indian named Akash Chand.

Yes, I am also the same inside you, no matter which religion or country you are from

Who am I? I am that precious red liquid present inside everybody – the Human Blood.


French Translation

Sang Humain

Je suis le même dans James Brown, un Américain catholique romain

Je suis le même dans un Chinois bouddhiste, Miao Chan nommé.

Je suis le même dans un Arabe musulman a nommé Amir Muhammad

Et je suis encore le même dans un Indien hindou a nommé Akash Chand.

Oui, je suis aussi le même intérieur vous, n'importe qui religion ou le pays que vous êtes de

Qui j'est ? Je suis ce présent liquide, rouge et précieux dans tout le monde – le Sang Humain.

We Salute You Rahman, The Crown Prince Of Music

A.R. Rahman, the Crown Prince of music, and the King of our (Indians) heart

Your music is as refined as your nature, and precious like a rainfall in a desert.

You had already conquered India, and today you won the world

Trust me, “Oscar” itself is honoured that you have won the award.


French Translation

Nous Vous Saluons Rahman, Le Prince Héritier De Musique

A.R. Rahman, le Prince héritier de musique, et le Roi de notre (Indiens) le coeur

Votre musique est comme a raffiné comme votre nature, et précieux comme une hauteur des précipitations dans un désert.

Vous aviez conquis déjà l'Inde, et aujourd'hui vous avez gagné le monde

Me fier, "Oscar" lui-même est honoré que vous avez gagné la récompense.

My Key To Immortality

All living beings in this world are mortal, and so am I

There is no way to permanently elude death, no matter how desperately I try.

There will come a day, when I will have to say goodbye to all of you

And will be forgotten by most, while being remembered by just a few.

But……

I will ensure that my link with this world remains intact even after my death

Years after my death people will remember me, you bet.

I will remain “alive” through all my creations – like my blogs and poems

Which are so insignificant for the world, but for me they are like precious gems.

Every time one will read my poems I will get “alive” for that moment

This way my entity will remain alive, even after my mortal self meets its end.
(22nd February,2009).

French Translation

Ma Clef A Immortalité

Tous les êtres vivants dans ce monde sont mortels, et donc je suis

Il n'y a pas de façon d'une façon permanente pour échapper à la mort, n'importe comment désespérément j'essaie.

Viendra là un jour, quand je devrai vous tous dis au revoir

Et sera oublié par, pendant qu'est plus rappelé par juste quelques-uns.

Mais……

Je garantirai que mon lien avec ce monde reste intact même après ma mort

Les ans après mes gens de mort me rappèleront, vous pariez.

Je resterai « vivant » par toutes mes créations – comme mes blogs et comme les poèmes

Lequel est s'insignifiant pour le monde, mais pour moi ils sont comme les gemmes précieuses.

Chaque temps l'un lira mes poèmes j'obtiendrai « vivant » pour ce moment

Cette façon mon entité restera vivante, même après mon mortel rencontre automatiquement sa fin.

(22e février, 2009).

The Cost of One Shahtoosh Shawl? At least Three Tibetan Antelopes

You must have heard of Shahtoosh shawls, right? Apart from being a work of art, a Shahtoosh shawl is also a perfect symbol of your status. Quite understandably. After all it is so costly. And you know the cost? At least three Tibetan antelopes.

A unique member of the global wildlife, the Tibetan antelope is native to the Chinese part of the Tibetan Plateau region. Considered to be an endangered species, the estimated population of this strikingly beautiful animal is less than 75,000, and even that number is fast declining.

And why is it so? Well, it is because of the skin of the hapless animal, which the world knows as Shahtoosh, and which is the raw material for the world famous Shahtoosh shawl.

Reportedly around 20,000 Tibetan antelopes (also called Chiru) are killed by poachers every year, to ensure that the worldwide Shahtoosh trade is never short of raw materials.

Since the Tibetan antelope or Chiru never sheds its skin, therefore the only way to obtain Shahtoosh is to kill the animal. Generally three to five Chirus need to be killed to gather enough raw materials for a single Shahtoosh shawl.

After killing, the dead animals are skinned, after which the skin is used to manufacture the world famous Shahtoosh shawls (and other Shahtoosh products). Then these Shahtoosh products are illegally transported to fashion capitals worldwide, where they are sold at astronomical costs.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – which controls the trade in endangered species products – has completely banned international trade in Tibetan antelope products (including Shahtoosh). It is illegal to import Shahtoosh into many countries, including the USA (ironically, Shahtoosh products are so popular in the US fashion industry).

Unfortunately, despite such laws being in place, the Shahtoosh trade is going on in full swing. This is because it is not enough to have laws. There must also be a strong public protest across the board against every person who is by any means related to the Shahtoosh trade. There should be a widespread public sensitization campaign to educate the common people. People must be discouraged from using Shahtoosh products, and the ones who use these products should be publicly taunted and humiliated (so that they are forced to stop using these products). The fashion crazy (read status crazy) morons must realize that the life of a single Tibetan antelope is much more precious than their so called social status.

Also, we must stop purchasing any product from the shops and retailers which sell Shahtoosh products. I mean, we should not only refrain from purchasing Shahtoosh products, but should also refrain from purchasing any products from the shops who sell Shahtoosh products. In a nutshell, they should be boycotted. Only then they will be forced to mend their ways.



Information courtesy: http://www.earthislandprojects.org/tpp

Photo courtesy: www.gov.cn

Congrats to Japan for launching Ibuki

Japan has done a really appreciable job by launching Ibuki – the satellite meant to study greenhouse gases concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Ibuki will take readings at around 56,000 locations, across land and sea, thus facilitating accurate predictions on the future of global warming.

With the global warming being a burning problem for the modern world, such a step was long overdue. Loads of congratulations to Japan for taking a significant step in this regard.

Hopefully countries across the world will now start sharing their technical expertise to counter the global menace that global warming is. And yes, it is not enough to identify the sources of problems. Such initiatives will be meaningful only when, after identification, the reasons for global warming will be properly eradicated. If that somehow hampers the business interest (or other interest) of country, even then the latter should not hesitate to cooperate with the rest of the world.

Arjun Dev Gandhi – Simple Effort, Big Impact

Whenever we think about social initiative/entrepreneurship, we always love to think about it in terms of enormousness and a catchy focus area – that it must be a more or less huge organization with a number of committed people, working on a sensitive issue like street children or environment. While it is heartening to think big, that sometimes makes us overlook the simple ways through which we can provide apparently simple but actually valuable service to the common people.

And one such person who so successfully personifies it is Mr. Arjun Dev Gandhi of New Delhi. It was such a pleasure to read about this man and his initiatives in The Times of India, New Delhi on 25th January.

A former officer with CRRI (Central Road Research Institute), Mr. Gandhi regularly lights up candles at a newly renovated subway three times every single evening. He has been spending money from his own pocket to buy candles to light up a “powerless” subway at Masjid Moth in South Delhi. A sudden spurt of nobility that will soon fade out with time? No dear. He has been doing this for more than a year now.

So how did this idea of lighting up the subway come into his mind? Well, one evening he was walking through this subway. It was as dark as anything, causing huge inconvenience for all the pedestrians including Mr. Gandhi. He thought about the problem for few days, trying to identify a possible solution. Finally he decided to light candles in the subway every evening. Since then he has been regularly lighting candles in the subway three times in the evening at an interval of one hour.

Mr. Gandhi’s initiatives seemed to be successful when lights were installed at the subway. However, the power connection has been disconnected more than three times in the last six months. So, ultimately it is this enterprising old man that the pedestrians find to be their only refuge.

What a nice lesson for all of us. No big plans, no catchy focus area. Just a simple effort powered by civic consciousness. And what a big impact. It is an eye opener for all of us, who only waste our time in complaining without trying to do something ourselves.

We do not need to be larger than life to do something constructive. We can do a lot despite being just common people. Let all of us take a leaf out of Mr. Gandhi’s book.