Power of Knowledge!

There was a time knowledge was limited to print media and reading was the main option. It was books, News Papers and Magazines. I was a member of couple of libraries and frequency of my visits were exceptional. Once I was a avid reader, today I hardly go though any books rather than computers. Apart from books other device which we used to stick to was our good old radio. Every bit of knowledge we acquired that time was with lots of effort. This effort is still working, specially while calculating I hardly use a calculator. There was  some print media available that time but it was out of our reach. We envied the people who was having the series. It was Encyclopedia, specially The one from Britannica.

Once having the volumes of Britannica was a status symbol and I knew many of them those having these series in their bookshelf but never scanned through a single page in their life. The oversized volume, printed by Koberger shortly after Columbus discovered America, was a history, atlas and almanac with biographies and news items - an encyclopedia

What is Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a book or series of books that contain general information about many topics or areas. The world encyclopedia comes from the Greek enkyklia paideia, which means "a general knowledge." The word has been in use for at least 500 years, and used in print for the first time in Encyclopedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines, which was published in 1559.

The first encyclopedia was written in the first century BC by Pliny the Elder with the help of his nephew. The work consisted of 37 volumes and covered everything from anthropology and human physiology to agriculture, painting, and pharmacology. An encyclopedia is often confused with a dictionary, although they are inherently different.

In the 20th century, the Encyclopedia Britannica has become the standard for encyclopedia works. Topical encyclopedias have also become more popular, and cover topics as varied as economics, bioethics. Many encyclopedias are now being published in CD-ROM form, with the most notable example being Microsoft's Encarta other encyclopedias are now entirely available online, with no print version, like Wikipedia.

Some of old and popular Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder

One of the earliest encyclopedic works to have survived to modern times is the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, a Roman statesman living in the 1st century AD. He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history, art and architecture, medicine, geography, geology and all aspects of the world around him. He stated in the preface that he had compiled 20,000 facts from 2000 different works by 200 authors, and added many others from his own experience. The work was published circa AD 77-79, although he probably never finished proofing the work before his death in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The Britannica

The Britannica  is the oldest English-language encyclopedia still in print. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland as three volumes. The encyclopedia grew in size, and by its fourth edition (1801-1809) it had expanded to a well known 20-volume set. Its rising stature helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th edition (1875–1889) and the 11th edition (1911) are landmark encyclopedias for scholarship and literary style. Beginning with the 11th edition, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its North American market. In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopedia is continually reprinted and every article updated on a schedule.

The Encyclopædia Britannica, published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert contributors. It is regarded as one of the most scholarly of encyclopedias.

The size of the Britannica has remained roughly constant over 70 years, with about 40 million words on half a million topics. Although publication has been based in the United States since 1901, the Britannica has maintained British spelling.

Microsoft Encarta

Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia  encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation  from 1993 to 2009. As of 2008, the complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles,  numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive contents, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and was available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD or multiple CDs. Many articles could also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.

In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions. The MSN Encarta site in all countries except Japan was closed on October 31, 2009. Japan's Encarta site was closed on December 31, 2009. Microsoft continued to operate the Encarta online dictionary at dictionary.msn.com until 2011 when they discontinued the dictionary making Encarta discontinued altogether.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia - This one is a cracker and proud to have an account with them.

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content  encyclopedia project based on an openly editable  model. The name "Wikipedia",  wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.

The fundamental principles by which Wikipedia operates are the Five pillars. The Wikipedia community has developed many policies and guidelines to improve the encyclopedia; however, it is not a formal requirement to be familiar with them before contributing.

Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia  has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference websites, attracting 400 million unique visitors monthly .  There are more than 82,000 active contributors  working on more than 19,000,000 articles in more than 270 languages.

!!!Source of unlimited Knowledge just under our finger, go grab it.!!!

Dramabaji’s and nautanki’s [dramatically and Operatic Dramas]

In India and as well as some of our Asian counterparts housing a good numbers of these breeds. I will write about some of our in house products. While staying in Mumbai, I was knowing a Gujrathi fellow, he was having a family with grown up children. Often he used to visit to the different Maidan’s in Mumbai, don’t get me wrong he was not visiting there on demand, I mean on nature call. He was having a well furnished house with all basic amenities. Of course men often find the road with full view is more  comfortable place then their own bathroom. Forgive me, I guess I am heading to the wrong direction, let me come back, yes that man often visited to the maidans for a day long hunger strike for different causes. His family itself was tired fed up him for his antiques. Nice way to get an instant fame. It was long time ago I don’t know what his current status.

Let me list a few darambajis of India who could have landed in bollywood and got all accolades.

** Sharad Pawar – With his twelve crore assets and an unfulfilled dream, everyone can guess it, the kursi I mean Prime Minister’s chair, a poor man indeed. At least, for a day PM should concede the chair  to him otherwise, the chair will be haunted forever. His dramas are very smooth and calculated because once he was known as a good administrator and equally a best CM Maharashtra ever had.

*** Sushma Swaraj – I wonder, why this lady never opened a dance class. With missing  waistline, the jig was not at all enjoyable in Rajghat but it left a few cracks over there and aftermath two earthquakes that followed. This slogan is only belongs to he- ‘Mera Bindi Mahan’. If she participate in  largest Bindi contest, she will be a clear winner.

*** Lalu Yadav – He sang in the Parliament ‘Sau sal pahle’, but Bihar wished he was not exists in Bihar even ‘hazar sal pahle’. Of course he gets a pat on his back from me for the railway job.

***½ Karunanidhi – Remeber his hunger strike? Better forget it, whoever he sent to Delhi, never failed return with a bagful gold, but pity have to come back to Delhi and then to Tihar.

**½ Mamta Banerjee – I grown fond of her in the time of Rajiv Gandhi and then things changed drastically, later irritated and felt sick whenever of her sight. She knew her mistakes from those different dramas and then gone through a make over. Let us wait and watch. In her hand the railways will be always  going to run in reverse gear.

**** Yeddyurappa – His side of drama has many shades. Story about his famous Surya Namaskar [sans cloths], his girl friend, laptop breaking session and various tiff with governor. Finally his all dramas ends up with a resignation and may be in future Tiharians going to get a free Surya Namaskar lesson from him.

****½ Mayawati – She is a pure drama queen material. She also considered to be a 365 days birthday girl. You can see her smiling ear-to-ear, whenever you uttered ‘Statue’.

****½ Ramdev –  I already spend some of my precious time and energy writing about him.  Looking at him sometime I wonder, which is the most profitable business where you don’t have invest a dim, your guess is, as well as mine – Sadhu ..... Sadhu.

*** Shankersinh Vaghela – One morning he shouted at Modi from his rooftop ‘my hunger strike is strongest’ and he too decided to sit for the same. Now, it is interesting if Modi promoted or demoted then who will be the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

**** Balashaheb Thakre – If my memory is not that short then all I can remember that not for once he left beyond Maharashtra. Roaring always from his well guarded house in Bandra. No wonder he choose upon a tiger as his party’s symbol. Whatever he wrote or told about any prominent women leaders, you better forget it because it is available in a slanguage dictionary, if you have one then please keep  away from the children. He has good company around, includes his nephew, sons etc. So that was a tiger story who only roar from his caves.

***** L.K Advani – Every time he opened his mouth I choke whatever was going in or coming out from my mouth, even my words that I was about to say. Rath Jatra after Rath Jatra, only for the same thing, arre yar that same PM post.  Why don’t he goes to Jaganath Puri and stay over there. All his life he able to maintain a five star status, kudos.

***** Narendra Modi – Whenever I see him I liked to tell the children in my house ‘Shhh! Sleep beta sleep, otherwise I will call NM’, strange its work like a magic. After consuming gallons of give me red substance, three days hunger strike is cake wake. A earthquake in several state when he took his first step towards Delhi, God, what will happened to the country if he become a Prime Minister. When he saw Anna Hazare’s hungur strike and the popularity, he too turned a Gnadhians.

Did you ever heard this Hindi idiom – ‘Sau Chuhe Khake Billi Chali Haj Ko’.

!!!Therefore, The Dramabaji of the year award goes to NM and Life time achievement award to LK.!!!

Trek to Matheran!

While staying in Mumbai, I had a fixed picnic schedule, two picnics in a calendar year. On 15th August and on 26th January, every year we had a unique picnic destination. The destinations were not as same as any others were. We often breezed through the city’s hotspot and stopping every place for a couples hours. A pattern often was like this, we started with Charni Road Chowpati, after a minuscule stop and a multicultural breakfast, we proceed to Malabar hill to Kamala Nehru Park. We used to stay there until late afternoon while had our equally interesting homemade lunch. Then we took a bus to Gateway of India, bus route too was very interesting. It was via Nariman point and then passed a few important structures before we reached GOI. We spend there a couple hours and of course, this time we had Bhel, it was too from our own kitty. Finally we came back to Victoria Terminus and then to our own destination. Therefore, when all looked for a picnic spot, for us it was no problem to find one. We liked trekking and we always tried to find a trekking destination, specially on 15th August. We were amateur trekker, every time we ventured, we found it very difficult. Every time we decided to put a full stop to it but once, we back and within twenty-four hours, we planned for the next one.

I visited Matheran twice, once with my neighbours and next with my buddies. Both the visits were memorable for different reasons. Our plan for Matheran was not as per schedule, we gone there in mid nineties, it was neither on 15th August nor on 26th January. We gone there on Dussera day, it was somewhere in mid October. I had another memorable trip before. So, when we friends decided to go to Matheran on foot, that was not the first one for me. There are three ways one can reach Matheran. Take any Karjat local from Mumbai V. T. and get down at Neral.  Once you reached Neral station, you can trek or you can enjoy a toy train ride and you can go there by a taxi too. No modern days vehicles are allowed inside Matheran town. One go by taxi, have to get down at the gate of the town and then walk. Let me tell about the place.

Matheran Matheran is a town and a Hill Station in the state of Maharashtra. It is the smallest hill station in India. It is located on the Western Ghats range at an elevation of around 800 m  above sea level. It is located around 90 km from Mumbai. It is one of the few places in the world where vehicles are not allowed, which makes the place different from others. Because of vehicles being banned in Matheran, the place is quite peaceful despite the thousands of visitors coming to visit throughout the year. Matheran is connected by toy train to the mainline rail route at Neral Junction. Neral Junction is well connected by local trains from CST along the CST-Karjat route.

There are lots of lookout points that provide spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys. Matheran has a reasonably dense forest cover. There are around 38 designated look-out points in Matheran, including the Panorama Point that provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding area and also the Neral town. From this point, the view of sunset and sunrise is breathtaking. The Louisa Point offers crystal clear view of the Prabal Fort. The other points are the One Tree Hill Point, Hart Point, Monkey Point, Porcupine Point, Rambagh Point, and more. There is a Lake known as Lake Charlotte, it is the main source of Matheran's drinking water.

My first visit was with my neighbours, mainly remembered for the glitches and that made the trip very interesting. We gone there and back by a toy train and stayed there for two days. Second time it was for one day and by foot. My niece was visiting me and we decided to go to Matheran. We started from Dombivili at six in the morning and got a return ticket for Neral but when we about to reach Neral we found the ticket given to us was for Nerul that was at the other side, towards New Mumbai. We have to fool the T.C and managed ourselves out. Trekking was not easy yet by eleven we reached there. It was one of my best expedition of course trekking to Valley of Flowers was incomparable. Evening we started at five but this time we were not on foot, we took a cab to come down. It took us only half hour to reach Neral station. On our way back,  we saw film star Dev Anand, who too was going down in his car. We took a train back to Dombivli and we return with same ticket. I don’t thing it can be branded as cheating, wrong tickets that given to us for Nerul, pinched our pockets more than Neral.

!!!Life without a backpack, is boring to the power infinity.!!!

         

Gold Digger!

In my earlier days in Jamshedpur, we were having a wonderful helping hand. She was honest and hardworking woman, a few decades gone by yet she is still intact in my memory as it was. While she used to slog whole day, her husband, he was ‘good for nothing’. He was drinking heavily and doing nothing except occasionally selling coals in baskets. I had no idea from where he managed those stuff. Those days people used to cook in handmade oven and coal used as main source of energy for cooking. His price was lower than the market price, It took many years for me to understand how it was possible. But it was always happened with our natural resources. Illegal mining always exists with the help of political patronage. It is considered to be a free for all commodities, peoples work in of those sectors like Coal India and others are minting money.

Welcome to the world of different sort of corruption in India. Iron ore was illegally exported to china through ports of southern India and payment is made through more than 4000 banks account. Damage to environment can not be calculated. Politicians in several states are accused of enriching themselves or their friends. The list will be endless, here are the states rich with different type of ores and minerals. We had enough on the air, and on the ground,  now it is time for some underground activity.

Karnataka

The illegal iron ore mining and export scam in Karnataka is estimated to be to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore. Referring to the disappearance of five lakh tonnes of iron ore seized at Belekeri port, as well as the one in Karwar suggested around 35 lakh tonnes of illegal mining and exports between November and February.

Obulapuram Mining Company owned by G. Karunakara Reddy and G. Janardhana Reddy who are ministers in the Government of Karnataka,  alleged to have been legally mined after paying a minuscule royalty to the government. This ore exported to China and due to Chinese demand for iron ore is the cause behind the rising global iron-ore prices.

Finally Janardhana Reddy arrested on 6^th  september, 2011. It is to be seen if any way the Government could recover any money that lost. You cannot belive, these Reddy brothers donated forty one crore of public money to Tirupati Temple. Getting back this money to Government coffer, don’t dream it.

Jharkhand

A former chief minister of the state of Jharkhand, who is charged with extorting huge bribes in exchange for granting mining leases. More than 7000 hundred tonnes of coal is mined illegally across mineral rich Jharkhand every year.

There are some small time illegal miners too, lack of livelihood opportunities is forcing hundreds of poor Indians take up illegal mining in Jharkhand. Dozens of villages across Deogarh and Giridih districts, people engaged in illegal mining are poor village.

It is said, that Maoist too very active in tribal districts of Jharkhand - stepping into mining sector, imposing taxes on miners and also recruiting cadres from the poor families.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan tops the list of states where illegal mining takes place. Makrana, famous for its white marbles, has been going on flouting laws in the process of extraction of the precious stone. 

Orissa

Rich with its Quartz & Graphite, also in hotspot for illeagal mining. India's former environment minister Jairam Ramesh rejected the proposal by British-based resource giant Vedanta, to build an open-cast bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hill range in the state of Orissa..

Other states

Illegal mining in the Geer forest area in Junagadh district and illegal mining of  The Aravalli hills Range are the few others to be mentioned.

State wise  Fact File  (From Govt. Standing committee report)

Name of the State	Number of Mines	Important Minerals
Madhya Pradesh	128	Limestone & Bauxite
Uttar Pradesh	05	Silica Sand
Andhra Pradesh	308	Limestone, Quartz, Mica, Barite & China Clay
Karnataka	65	Limestone,      China      Clay, Moulding Sand & Quartz
Maharashtra	47	Silica Sand & Iron Ore
Bihar	54	Mica
Jharkhand	176	Mica, Fire Clay, Limestone, Iron Ore & China Clay
Chhattisgarh	10	Limestone
Meghalaya	04	Limestone
Assam	12	Limestone
Manipur	02	Chromite
Sikkim	01	Copper
Orissa	68	Quartz & Graphite
Rajasthan	251	Steatite, Silica Sand, Feldspar & Asbestos
Gujarat	391	Bauxite, Chalk, Limestone, Fire Clay, Silica Sand & White Clay

!!!On Air, on earth or underground, Corruption in India has no barrier.!!!

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Moving towards the wind direction is an easy task and I will take it as an advantage if my destination is in the same direction, otherwise I will fight against the all the odd and try to move to my way. I will never change my direction to gain an advantage. Often peoples find it easy to move with a wave even they do not understand it. I am not a political person and not having any political inclination. I believe in good governance and always go for the right person, obliviously honest and a sincere one. Hard to find one but lucky that still we having some around us.

I have not against Jan Lokpal bill and I, myself supported it in my blog ‘http://beeebeees.blogspot.com/2011/04/for-people-by-people.html’, but found the recent agitation is an irritating one. Specially things started since Ramdev and his so-called hunger strike, which was perhaps, was like ‘make hay while sun shines’. Apart from a handful people, all others hardly having anything to do with it or really understand it. At the Ramlila Maidan, many people may have gone there to have a decent meal, or on a picnic. Some of those are so dumber as they described the agitation as same as Egypt. These are the some quality of the peoples who gathered at Ramlila, they even unaware of the meaning of democracy and constitution.

I was a very big admirer of Kiran Bedi, but her remark – ‘Anna is India and India is Anna’ suggests that either I misjudge her or she lost her sanity. No individual of any stature cannot rise above the country and whoever thinks it, is the dumbest of all. Of-course, she herself may be forgotten the lathi charge on the lawyers when she was in helm.

I was very fond of Om Puri  too, seen him first  as a frustrated young police officer in ‘Ardha Satya’ and then memorize with his comic timing in ‘Jane Bhi Do Yarron’ as builder Ahuja and then there were many. It seems he is good at while reading out the written script otherwise he too lost his mental balance, he gone all the way to Ramlila Maidan to  serve people with some desi slang’s, some of those dialog can be heard in third grade movies. Is this is the face of the people who are in the middle of a mass movement? Thank god, there was no media coverage when our freedom fighter fought. To Anupam Kher, you may be comfortable with it but sorry using slang’s is not my culture.

I am not against Anna Hazare but felt some of his ways are not correct. Often felt like that his way of presurising is some sort of blackmailing the government. There is no doubt about it that he is honest and wanted to see India free from all sort of corruption. I myself never do a job if paid extra bit and never go for under table activity that does not mean I am an honest. Giver too is a criminal as good as taker. How many of us will stand in a long queue when service available instantly if we throw away a few bucks. Temples in our country practicing same thing, the wealthy well-known peoples are going there and taking the backdoor to get a darshan while ordinary people left stranded in the serpentine queue for same purpose. Same people will go back to Twitter or Facebook and then write a great on liner. Paid or taken, it should be treated equally.

Bottom Line : Why Anna Hazare kept the religious bodies out of Jan Lokpal bill? Those are the biggest cheater, who are exploiting the religious belief of the people and amassing exuberant wealth.

!!!If giver does not exists there will be no taker, STOP GIVING!!!