March against media

Its was an event by the YES!+

March 1st 2009 was a historic day for youth of our nation. Where The March was organised

In Delhi, as more than 10,000 youth marched on Parliament street to stand up against corruption and terrorism along with likes of Prahalad Kakkar and Kiran Bedi supporting the cause.

One would imagine that such a news would be covered by all major media, its BIG news for sure. Well all major media like NDTV, CNN-IBN, TOI etc were present, and surprise surprise, none of the big channels and print names reported one word of it.

‘The March’ also happened just before the elections, and reporting such an event would definitely be a slap on the face for the government, which unfortunately got re-elected. A few days back I stumbled upon this interesting forward, which I suspected had some truth in it, especially after having a first and experience working with TOI.

* NOTE: the contents of the below article are of questionable origin, it may not fully true, it is used purely for the purpose of illustrating a point.

Who owns the media in India ?
Let us see the ownership of different media agencies.
NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain Supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan . Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist party of India . His wife and Brinda Karat are sisters.
India Today: which used to be the only national weekly which supported BJP is now bought by NDTV!! Since then the tone has changed drastically and turned into Hindu bashing.
CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US.. The Church annually allocates $800 million for promotion of its channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
Times group list: Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust, Femina, Vijay Times, Vijaya Karnataka, Times now (24- hour news channel) and many more...
Times Group is owned by Bennett & Coleman. 'World Christian Council¢ does 80 percent of the Funding, and an Englishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The Italian Robertio Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.
Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church Melbourne.
Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collaboration with Times Group.
The Hindu: English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne , Switzerland .. N. Ram's wife is a Swiss national.
Indian Express: Divided into two groups. The Indian Express and new Indian Express (southern edition) ACTS Christian Ministries have major stake in the Indian Express and latter is still with the Indian counterpart.
The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar.

Looks like we have a huge task ahead to reform our media.

Saluting the sun

I woke up with bright sunshine hitting my face, The first thing I do, is Surya namaskars. 20 minutes later, I lie down in shavasan, relishing the execise with every pore of my being. I recall how I grew to love these set of asanas, so much so, that I teach it to youth at the Art of living YES!+ workshop.

My first experience of Surya namaskars was when I did the Art of Living course as an 18 year old. Back then yoga sounded like an utterly outlandish concept, where people twisted themselves into weird positions, and then don’t know that to do.

But doing Surya namaskar was fun, as it was more like an exotic choreography. And surprisingly after 15 rounds in 10 minutes I felt amazingly exercised and energised. Its a set of these 12 yogasanas, that give complete exercise to you mind, body and spirit. Not only is it a great way to be in shape, but it gives complete rest to your body. Doing Surya namaskars's fast rounds makes you shed extra flab, and doing it slowly is very meditative and increases your stamina.The best part about it is that you do these asanas in co-ordination with your breadth, which very rejuvenating. It is best done facing the east in the morning and west in the evening, preferably with a light stomach and before the practice of pranayam and meditation.

There is a story that says that before the battle of Mahabharatha, the Pandava army along with Krishna used to practice 108 Surya namaskars before going for battle for courage and stamina.It is also said that Krishna is the 'Padmanabha', means, whose navel is the size of a lotus, in the navel resides the 'Solar plexus', which is a size of a pea in a human body, with regular practice of Surya namaskar, the pea can grow into the size of a lotus. The Solar plexus strengthens the intuition or 'the gut feeling' in a human being.

20 minutes of Yoga, about 30 rounds, at 6:30 am (not being a morning person at all, its the earliest I can manage, earlier than this and I'm sleep walking) when nature is in complete harmony, its a brilliant time to do Surya namaskars. For me its more like getting in tune with the nature, which carries forward for the rest of the day, keeping me calm and centred.
No doubts about it, its my mantra to keep super fit and super cool.

What made news

Have been inhumanly busy past one month, but have been dying to post about so many things. So I have compiled a list of things I loved, I might blog about them in detail sometime, but in the meanwhile, please check out the following on youtube/wiki/google etc. And plz post your comments/feedback on what you like, and maybe on my next post I can feature the best ones.

Summer
Mangoes: That's what I love about summers, like Bawa says, “All fruits are god’s experiments to make mango gone wrong

Sugarcane juice and tender coconut (both happen to be sugar less)

Elections

BJP, Advani, thumbs up, commis, congs, third fronts especially Mayawati thumbs down, huge threat of mass migration abroad looms if Mayawati wins

Theatre
Bikhre Bimb, Doordarshan meets Alfred Hitchcock. Worth a watch.

Places
Bangalore: Is the metro rail project ever gonna end? are we gonna be alive to see the day when its finally built?
Hyderabad: Hot
Chennai: Hot and sweaty (worse!)

Food

Ragoo’s at KR road, the epitome of delicious veg continental food.

Music

Madagascar: “I like to move it, move it” (though its a lil old now)

Documentary
What the bleep do u know, watched it again, made an amazing lot of sense this time.

Geek stuff
Dear Macbook, Why do u have to start peeling off. Is this Apple’s commercial strategy to force people buy the macbook warranty pac costing 300$.
ipod: Is there an easy way to convert stuff into itunes format?

(fine, I admit it, I mentioned ipod only so that I could put this pic!)
Fashion

Naomi Campbell at India Fashion week wearing Saree. It takes a foreigner to tell Indians, “hello people, its fashionable to wear your culture.”

Books
Eragon: Does anyone know when the fourth inheritance book is gonna be out?
Twilight: Yet to read the fourth sequel, like the first two books, Twilight and New Moon, Eclipse was a washout, might as well finish reading the series with Breaking Dawn.

(P S: Movie sucks!)

Ponniyin Selvan: First flood, must read Tamil lit by Kalki (you get English translation too)

Google

SEKEM

Emoto Masaru- Messages from Water

My articles

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/Mar232009/metromon20090322125661.asp

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr212009/metro-tue20090420131356.asp

Thats enough for now, enjoy maadi!

Tender lovin care

The shop and restaurant windows are full of pink and red heart shaped balloons, the Brigade road it is swarming with couple holding hands.
On one hand we have Muthalik's army, Ram sena, crusading against a cause that is so a non-issue, and on the other hand we have these people (those against Ram sena) making an issue out a non-issue of a non-issue. The amount of debate that this has sparked off in Bangalore, is ridicules. I mean doesn't nation of 1.5 billion have better things to talk about. If couples want to hold hands, let them, and if Muthalik has made some retarded proclamations, let him. Seriously we have better things to worry about. Like:

1) Global warming- Apart from the fact that it has been reduced into a glamorous word in the vocabulary of beauty pageant contestants, It is a REAL PROBLEM. And oh we didn't do much, by being a Non Vegetarian, we only contribute towards 27% of global warming.

2) National Security- Right around the time last year when the media warped up the inconsequential 'Arushi murder case', India was invaded by China three times!

3)Naxalism-is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade. The communist rule is weakening India internally by funding naxalites, and externally through maoist attacks from across the borders. In poor villages in India, especially the UP-north east belt, the naxalism is so rampant, that children of impoverished villages aspire to be naxalites in order to combat extreme poverty.

4)Politics- Our country is being run by a bunch of senile freaks, who still follow the legacy left by British- divide and rule in order to win vote banks. How can you blame them, the young educated population of India, is too busy to vote (myself included) but not to busy to complain.

5)Education system-Its about time we read 'real history' of India in our text-books, rather than suppressing our true history, where stuff like Jaliawala Bagh murder just gets a two line mention.

6) Terrorism- The basic intolerance for other religious and cultural ideologies, and this could include something as stupid as the Ram sena attacks. In the name of preservation of cultural heritage, gross violation of human rights and human values are being committed.

So its my sincere request for the youth of this nation to get into some action. Our country, our world, our environment is crying out for some love and affection. And if we focus our energies there instead of retarded (non)issues created by sensationalist media (I know I am a part of it),
This Blog has been inspired by Bawa's blog, on how, its out Nation that needs utmost TLC.
Here are some of the ways to get started

1. Attend the YES!+ workshop (contact me for details)
2. Register at http://www.jaagore.com/, to Vote
3. Read up on real Indian history on Francios's website
4. Become a vegetarian (no arguments, just do your research)

Now that's not a bad start, if you've checked the above on your to do list, its time to get others on the bandwagon. Else trust me, you'll be stuck behind a seedy screen your whole life, with your only significant contribution after reading this blog being increasing the traffic rate on google.