Its about THEM . Lets play our part!

So, how many sweaters are you wearing?

Did you have warm milk before you snuggled in your blanket with your socks on?

Is the heater's temperature comfortable for you?

Did you like what your mum cooked for you or did you order out today ?

Confused?

Well, these questions may seem very normal and usual to all of us. But there are lakhs of people out there for whom these questions are mere fantasy and a part of million prayers.

I am talking about the one's we rather ignore when looked at the traffic signals and markets.

The ones who were either born like this or circumstances made

them live a life we generally call a "nightmare" .

Ofcourse we can't bring them all to our home and feed them but what we can SURELY do is support the NGO's, agencies and people who are trying to do so .

Aham Bhumika is one such organization based in Bhopal, India which works for orphans, destitute and widows from the rural areas and provides them with food,shelter and literacy with the help of donors.

A grain school has been organised by them to teach women read, write and do basic

arithmetic and then widen the tuition circle and provide the teachers with grains and ration.

According to me, there's absolutely no better way to feed and teach women at the same time.

The maximum we can do is help them revive this cause by donating old clothes that we are not even using, blankets which are not-so-soft for us, books that we don't need rather than taking up the space in our store rooms because these things might be trash for us but it means the world to them. Donations can be done in cash as well .

Pay them a visit as few smiles and glitter in eyes is all they need.

So, if you are still thinking how you can help them,

here's the easiest way of using your talent to help them,

If you are a photographer then its better to utilize your skills in a good way rather than posting them in an album on facebook, myspace, etc. That is what I do but have decided to guide them in a good direction. If you too think the same then you can,

Participate in the photo exhibition to raise funds.

All you need to do is send pictures related to :

• Subjects with Rural India in positive light: Examples Child nutrition, women education and empowerment, rural employment, health and sanitation. Food grains, green revolution, culture, festivals and traditions etc.

• Dark side of rural India: Examples Malnutrition and Illiteracy, child labor, droughts and floods, lack of infrastructure, child mortality, religious malpractices, discrimination etc

• Beauty: Example Landscapes, farms and rivers. Heritage and monuments, costumes, handicrafts, decoration and celebrations etc.

For more details, please refer to http://anganwadikids.blogspot.com/2010/12/photo-exhibition-for-raising-fund.html

I really think this organization is an answer to most of my questions raised in the previous articles.

So now the only question that remains is not "How do we do it?" but to

"Do we want to do it?" .

And if the answer is yes then do follow their blog - http://anganwadikids.blogspot.com/

Follow them on twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/Ahambhumika

Or on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aham-Bhumika/120275261368589

Because they might not be one of the Shahrukhs and Sachins but they truly are the heroes of today. And lets face it, getting updates from them is just a click away .

If you are not a social networking frantic, contact them on ahambhumika@gmail.com or call Subrat on +91 98264 72718 .

And always remember , only YOU can make a difference!

Dil waalo ki Dilli. Really?

I remember sitting with my roomies and explaining them how hyped the whole "Delhi is not safe" scenario is .

But I think my pride for my very own dilli was momentary. EVERY day is a new day for the new criminal records. Be it rapes, robberies, assaults, you name it, we have it .

Somehow, I come across this line a lot of times when discussing about the 'halaat' of Delhi - "Its all about which area you stay in" . I am sorry but my hostel is in bhawana - a lil' village on the outskirts of Delhi and I remember how they helped me when I locked my car keys in the car and yes, "they" were the no so cool people who according to us are the roots of crime because of the AREA where they live.

I don't remember watching so many people cluster around a guy who was hit by a car in the oh-so porch golf links 'ilaaka'.

Sheila Dixit once said "jab tak ladkiyaa kuch karengi nahin, eve teasers ki tadaar badhti jaayegi "

Ma'am, I really hope you've read the news where the girl actually did something and then was brutally murdered after 5 boys assaulted her in public.

According to witnesses, this happened on a busy road and when the girl screamed for help, the traffic was as swift as a water turbine. the same traffic which does not even wait for the firing siren of the ambulance.

This rules out the "we have to do something to stop it" phase that our leaders are after.

So what do we do?

Don't step out of our homes? Okie. Agreed.

What about the 72 and 71 year old couple who were doing so andwere murdered by their very own servant.

So what do we do?

Don't keep servants? Okie. Agreed.

What about the husband who killed his wife,mother of two and then cut her into 70 pieces and kept her in their house .

Well, lets do one thing! Lets not live. Because we have no other option.

"Barso se hum 5 hi cheezo ke liye larh rahe hain

Roti, kapda, makaan, paani aur padhai

To kese hogi dekh ki praggati? "

Sorry but now, I think we need to fight for something else.

The right to LIVE.

Honestly, I did not write this post to alert you. I shared this because I am tired of justifying that my very own dilli aint that bad place for you to visit.

But I guess, I will lose this pride very soon!

NOKIA v/s iPhone

I always tell my friends that you don't "need" an iPhone, you aways "want" an iPhone.

Especially in a place like India where phones and cars are a mere style statement and not a requirement.

I used Nokia for 6 years before I switched to iPhone 3gs the last month when my brother sent it as a birthday present .

I was so excited to use an iPhone that I jail broke and unlocked it on my own (yeah! a girl can do that) and then my fury started. When I used it for a week I felt that it was a boon from God.

But trust me, I miss my Nokia SO bad now that its not even funny .

I have used nokia 1100, N72, N82 and N95 in these 6 years and here are some things I have noted in the two entirely different softwares, apple and s60.

1.

Battery life :

If you are someone who is always on a run and can charge your phone only once in a day, don't event think of buying an iPhone and especially 3gs!

I am someone who travels to Punjab almost everymonth and my N82 used to work fine throughout the trip (7 hours) + music player.

And our dear Iphone needs to be charged thrice when all you are doing is taking one call in 5 hours.

2.

Bluetooth :

Remember liking a song in your friend's phone and immediately asking them to send it to you?

Yes? Well, then forget it if you have an iphone!

It can only pair itself with apple phones and mac pc's.

Now nokia ain't that racial :p

3.

Camera :

Personally, I love taking pictures. You would know what I mean if you are in my Facebook list.

N82 and N95 had 5.0 megapixel cameras where N82 had xenon flash which makes your pictures look real and perfectly lightened!

3gs being such an over rated phone could not account for a normal flash , let go xenon .

The 3.0 megapixel camera takes awful pictures!

4.

Messages :

iPhone has "few" plus points too. The way the whole message conversation is kept together is a good point as you don't have to keep switching from sent to inbox.

5.

Application stores :

The apple store for iPhone and itunes is anyday better that OVI store as it offers you more utilities for free and is more precise.

6.

Size :

Iphone is of course way compact than Nokia. Nokia phones are generally bulky but what would a probably do with a thin peice of metal which does not even run the whole day without constant charging ??

7.

Ringtones :

Ohooo! how could I forget this one . Remember the fact that "I like this song, let me put it as my ringtone" after 3 seconds - Ringtone assigned!

Forget that too.

first, you will connect your iPhone to your pc THEN using a software you will convert the mp3 format into an MPEG-4 format and then sync!

8.

Accessories :

Enough said ! iPhone's accessories are way to expensive!

9.

Screen :

For the ones who think that iPhone's screen size beats every nokia phone.

Go to your nearest store and take a look at the N97 and 900 AND N8!

10.

Whatever!

I miss my nokia. End of discussion! :p

FREEDOM COMES FOR A PRICE IN DEMOCRACY

Democracy!

It is that form of government in which sovereign power resides in the people as a whole, and is exercised either directly by them or by officers elected by them.But, THIS is just found in books and not, certainly not found in reality.

Whatever its virtues, democracy is NOT freedom and by any chance if it is,it does not come for free. Ironic isn’t it?

Democracy is just a way to decide who will rule and who will seize all the power and believe it my friends, we are the one who chose that who will supress our freedom out of the Lott.

They say "all good things come for free" according to me, they really need to think twice!

Freedom is not free and the cost is war when between countries, blaming when between states and of course man power amongst the citizens if not anybody else.

Now before all of you start thinking that I am going to start with the blame game, It is really not that. Because I strongly believe that even if we citizens are a part of this infrastructure , we should not forget that our government is highest in this hierarchy and no matter how much we try to bring about a change without them, we can hardly seize success.

Lets face it, that when we do , the so called youth leaders are either sent behind the bars or face even worse conditions.

Irrespective of all this, we very proudly recognize ourselves to be free, of course we are free

Free, so free in Prisons, in Detention centers..

Crammed, packed, jammed... The smell of blood, urine and feces, covering the infected wounds. Wounds of torture born on transparent skins covering rib cages..

Free, so free.

If that's the price of freedom, do we really need it?

Yes, there is formal independence, but there is no freedom. Confusing, yet true.

According to Wikipedia, Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of aggression.

HOW UNREAL.?

Louis D. Brandeis once quoted -"We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth in a few hands, but we can't have both."

Now, this man was a real genius and he surely won;t be disappointed because boss, he could predict future decades back.