Anna Hazare - The Man of the Moment

Anna Hazare aka the 21st century Gandhi, is the Indian public's crusader against corruption. He proposed the Jan Lokpal Bill to be brought into effect to check and stop corruption at all levels of the Indian political sphere. After a 13 day long hunger strike protest by the 74 year old, which was backed by millions around the country, the Indian Government had to give in to Anna's request for the Jan Lokpal Bill. The Bill was unanimously passed by both houses of parliament and has been put forward to the Parliament's Standing committee for detailed study.  He was ably supported by very many activists such as Arvind Kejriwal, who is considered as a Key figure along with Anna in the Anti Corruption Movement,  Kiran Bedi etc.
Next Anna has demanded an amendment to the electoral law to incorporate the option of None of the above in the electronic voting machines during the Indian elections. The "None of the above (NOTA)" is a ballot option that allows an electorate to indicate disapproval of all of the candidates in an electoral system, in case of non-availability of any candidate of his choice, as his Right to Reject. Soon, the Chief Election Commissioner of India Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi supported Hazare's demand for the electoral reforms. 

I believe this too is another important measure which will further enhance the concept of a democratic electoral procedure in the country! Several foreign nations have provided such an option to the people. In the United Kingdom they have adopted something similar to the NOTA called Re-open Nominations (RON). Spain, Ukraine and Columbia too have something similar. Few states in the United states have excersied this option.
I really do hope that this gets implemented in India. It'll give the people a real sense of power with which they can reject the candidates put up by the various parties for election, if they feel that they, the candidates are not competent to become the leaders of our country!
JAI HIND & Come on Anna! :)

Independence Day Celebrations - 15th August 2011

My mom welcoming everyone

64 years have gone by since our great nation gained independence from the British Empire. the toils of 100s of 1000s of men lead by able leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru gave us the freedom which we all deeply enjoy today. Independence day is a day to remember our past/ remember the men and women who gave up their lives for our freedom from the British Empire!

August 15th is a national holiday in India. Its a day when most of us just waste away our time by slouching in front of our TV sets.The channel authorities very well know of this and use this to their advantage by telecasting the very latest action movies, which will do a lot good to improve their TV viewer ship ratings :p ..... The younger generations use this time to get away from their studies and hang out with their friends. Well its a National holiday, can't blame them for doing that! :p

Well this year, independence day was very different than usual for me. My mom being the President of her Lions Club decided to something meaningful for our Independence Day - to visit an orphanage and spend time with the inmates and them to have breakfast with them. Although the Lions clubs do such kind of activities every year it was my first time, being a part of it! We decided to visit the Valsalya Bhavan Orphanage, Ponnurunni which is a shelter for orphan girls of the age group of 5 to 15 being run by Nuns, with the help of the Cochin Corporation and the Don Bosco. I knew the kids over their from my days at Make A Difference. We spent about 2 hours there with the kids. They sang patriotic songs and also performed a patriotic themed dance for us. We distributed sweets and flags to them after which all of us sat together and had breakfast, which had been prepared by one of the members of the Lions Club. It was a very good way to spend my time which i most probably would've wasted by sitting in front of the "idiot box" ! :D

The kids performing the Patriotic themed dance!

Breakfast time!

Me having breakfast with the kids

For more pics - CLICK HERE

I'm 21!!

Yes! I'm 21 now! Major in every way! :p Actually i turned 21 on the 12th of August, Friday. Did nothing special. Just my daily routine and spent the evening with family! :)

The aftermath!

This is a continuation to my last post - Take 4!. My mom seemed to think that the cause of all my studying worries is my LG GS 155 mobile phone and so she decided to make a very important decision! "No more mobile phone for you mister until you finish your exams", mom said! I was a bit taken back at first by their decision. But soon i gave in as i realized that there's no point in defending myself, given the situation that i was in at that time....... 2 days past the decision i actually feel very relieved that my parents made me take such a decision! :D Yes, you heard me right! No phone = no worries = less tension! Haha. Who ever thought not having a mobile phone will have its advantages! :p

Take 4!

Yes! I've did it again. Another exam, yet another failure! :( Though i did a better job this time in terms of both the studying and the results! Didn't get the required aggregate marks which i really hoped that i would be able to secure! Parents are not at all happy! Relatives keep asking the same old question - "Result vanno?" (Did your results come?) Me - "Vannu, pakshe pass aayilla" (Yes, results came but i didn't get through.) Relatives - "Enthu patti? Padichille?" (What happened? Didn't study?) Me - long pause ............................. "sigh"

I really don't like it when people who don't understand my course (Chartered Accountancy) ask me such question!

Oh well, i rightfully do deserve to bear a part of the blame! I could have prepared a bit better for certain subjects! Hmmm....

The scoreboard stands at Me - "0" / Exams - "3" ! Its TAKE 4 next! This coming November! Look out exams here i come!

Hopefully all the plans that i have laid down for the next few months will go as per the plans and coming November i hope to tackle this huge hurdle in front of me in the form of CA PCC Examination!

No ESPNSTAR!!! Asianet!!

Asianet Cable Vision or ACV has been the major cable operator in Kerala for the past 10 years! With the onset of the Digital, Direct to Home Services (DTH) too, Asianet introduced its own DTH service in the name of Asianet Digital so as to compete with the new entrants such as TATA Sky, Reliance, Airtel, Videocon and Sun Direct. In my household too, being Asianet subscribers from the very beginning we didn't care to migrate to any of the new entrants. Asianet fixed us with their brand new Asianet Digital Service for free, as a token of their appreciation for our trust in them :P . But now we've been made to think twice about that decision!!
Sports has contributed a significant share of my households TV viewing. Right from Cricket to Football to Hockey to Tennis, my dad me and my brother are keen followers! Especially of Cricket and English Premier League Football! For the last few years there have been plenty of incidents were Asianet pulled off ESPNSTAR and its sister channels, which are the major telecasters of sports in India, off its network. Rumors went around, sighting failure to pay subscription by Asianet to ESS as the reason for them pulling it off their network... rather getting pulled off its network! :P But due to wide spread protests, Asianet were forced to bring ESS back much to the delight to its subscribers!!

But now, Asianet has again pulled off ESS off its network! This time sighting the fact that ESS are charging them a very high price!! The cricket lovers in the state have already missed a chunk of the very exciting Cricketing action between India and England. Also, the new Barcklays Premier League Season is just around the corner, less than 14 days to the start of the new season. But sadly without ESS on Asianet, football lovers i the state will be left with no option to migrate!!!

But their lies the next problem. The very shrewd Asianet Sales Executives for-saw this and have collected in advance the subscription from a large majority of its subscribers!! So they left with an option to migrate and suffer a loss or stay on with Asianet and miss all the action!! :l

Hopefully the Asianet people will come to their senses and FIX this problem immediately!!

Do check out these articles -
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k11/july/july197.php ,
http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/1/Article/7771/Asianet_takes_ESS_channels_off_air.htm