Stop AIDS. Keep the promise.

December 1st is World AIDS Day and is recognized around the world as a day to renew hope, commemorate those lost and celebrate progress. The theme of World AIDS Day 2005 is 'Stop AIDS. Keep the promise.'. In his message on World AIDS Day, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said, 'In the course of past decade, the world has made considerable progress in the fight against AIDS. It has also made considerable promises. The time has come to keep them. And I believe we can".

The National AIDS Control Organization NACO envisions an India in which every person living with HIV is trated with DIGNITY and has access to quality CARE. Among its activities, NACO has built up a Network of Positive People. The objectives of the same are :

• To facilitate and improve access to treatment for people living with HIV
• To provide access to information to people living with HIV
• To promote and protect the human rights of people living with HIV
• To promote involvement of people living with HIV in all levels of decision making
• To promote social acceptance of people living with HIV and to end stigma and discrimination
• To provide opportunities for networking for people living with HIV

AIDS is an epidemic of large proportions. Each one of us has to be aware of the enormity of this problem and do our little bit not only to Stop AIDS but also not discriminate those who are affected by this terminal disease. Let make a promise today to 'STOP AIDS', and 'KEEP THE PROMISE'.

Read Cricket

We are well into the Cricket season and yet there is a lot of Cricket still to be played. The rise in fortunes of the Indian Cricket team coupled with the continuing controversies has really made Cricket the hotest thing this winter.

In addition to watching some good matches, Cricket lovers who like to read have also have it very good this time around. Few really good books on Criketers have been published in these past few months.

The rise in fortunes of Team India captain Rahul Dravid could not have come at a more opportune time for his Biographer Devendra Prabhudesai. THE NICE GUY WHO FINISHED FIRST is a tribute to a role model who refuses to rest on his laurels, and remains as intense in his quest for perfection as he was when he started his cricketing career. It takes you through a journey of a cricketing career that started in Lords and is reaching new heights everyday.

“This biography holds a special place for me as it succinctly captures some of the most passionate and intense cricketing moments of my life and career till date. I am sure cricket lovers will relish these anecdotes from my life”, said Rahul Dravid at the launch of this book.

Another interesting read that has hit the bookstandsd is Great Indian Batsmen by Pratab Ramchand. This book profiles India's twenty great Indian Batsmen starting with the Col C.K.Naydu and ending with the swashbuckling Virendra Sehwag, with greats like Sunil Gavskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohmammed Azharuddin, Nawab Pataudi, Vijay Hazare among others. It captures the essence of these batsmen recounting little known facts about them.

Among other Cricket books to have released recently have been books by Andrew Flintoff ( Being Freddie, the story so far ), England coach Duncan Fletcher (Ashes Regained: The Coach's Story) and a few other books on the amazing English victory this summer.

With a long season yet to go and lots of Cricket all around the world, I am sure we will get few more interesting books.
Cherio :)

That could have been!

One of my latest acquisition (feels good to use that word :-), but actually its just a simple purchase) has been the entire FRIENDS Collection. Yes all 10 Seasons all episodes plus some extra footage !! If you are a FRIENDS lover as me, then you can imagine the joy this is giving me these days. Late nights watching one episode after another. I don't think I have had a craze for any other TV Serial as I have for FRIENDS (hmm maybe a bit for Baywatch, but that was just the raging hormones in the teenage years :-) ). As far as FRIENDS is concerned its really the simple reason that it never fails to make you happy.

Last night in the episode that I caught was the one in which the guys wonder if certain things had not happened to them, or certain decisions they had not taken, what life would have been like! Would they have been better off or worse, would they still be together. The things that each wonders :
Phoebe :If she had taken up the job with Merryl Lynch and become a stock broker,
Joey :If he hadn't put his foot in his mouth and was still on the TV show "Days of our Life" as Dr Dreg Remore,
Monica :If she had remained Fat,
Chandler :If he had the guts to give up his job and become a comic writer,
Rachel :If she hadn't run out from her marriage with Barry and gone on to become his wife,
Ross :If he hadn't got divorced (for the first time) and his first wife Carol hadn't realized that she is a Lesbian!
The serial proceeds with an imagination if all of these things were trouble.

That Could Have Been!!. Well it set me wondering about some of my actions too. Life certainly takes lots of twists and turns. What if I had completed my Engineering instead of leaving it after just 1 year? How different would things be for me?

In the FRIENDS episode, things actually end up in the same manner. Monica and Chandler hook-up inspite of Monica being Fat and Chandler being a failed comic writer. Though Rachel marries Barry, she later finds her cheating on her. Ross' wife Carol does realize that she is a Lesbian.

Had I completed my Engineering, I would have still ended up in some IT company, more or less doing what I am doing right now. I may have been earning more at this stage and maybe a position above in the corporate hierarchy. But would life really be different?

Its like a journey, if you take all the right turns, you reach your destination sooner and safer. You take wrong turns, you end up late and maybe with more fatigue. Life is gonna take me where I am meant to go. I need to make sure that I don't take anymore wrong turns!

What could have been is nice to dream about when you have nothing better to do or when you are on a high! In waking reality What can be done is more important
Cherio :)

Good to be back !

The Bandage is gone and finally I can type trouble free. My left hand is very precious to me. The realisation came only when it was in a bandage for a month. There are so many important things that this hand does for me, and I never gave credit to it! Everybody would say good that it is the Left hand and you are right handed, had it been the right hand it would have been really bad. Really?? What amount of typing I could do with the right hand alone, I guess I would have been able to do with the left one too. As far as eating is concerned well as it is I am mostly on a Noodles or Fried Rice and its equally easy to eat these things with either hands. Anyways Left or Right its good to be bandage free!

Misery loves company. I guess everybody has had a fracture or dislocation sometime or the other, and when you find somebody in a bandage, its your birth right to share your own deeply moving experience ! Such fracture/dislocation stories were a norm everywhere around me. My contribution in such conversations used to be the stupid manner in which my fingers got fractured !!

Talking of stupidity, here are a few stupid (but hilarious) tit-bits :
On December 5th, Come in with your friends and family and paint your balls for Christmas. --- Listing for an Atlanta Georgia Restaurant Event.
Percentage problems have always puzzled me, but this one really goes over my head
This fight is going to be 90% Mental and 50% Physical. --- Boxing Manager LOU DUVA
Being on numbers, try and make sense of this pop-tart by Samantha Fox :
I've got ten pairs of trainers. That's one for every day of the week.
Hearing to explainations of goof-up's can be pretty interesting. Here's one given by Governer of Prisons in England : There was not a breach of security as such. It was a case of someone cutting a hole from the outside and facilitating the escape of the three of our inmates.
Talking of foot in mouth, nobody can do it better than POTUS George Bush :
I have opinions of my own - Strong opinions - But I don't always agree with them
What was that?? Well Bush will be Bush. New Jersey Police Department really believes in equality of sexes, as their announcement proclaimed :
We shall offer police jobs to qualified women regardless of sex.
Customer Service offered by Credit Card/Telephone Companies is mostly irritating, but they can be really foolish too: Dear Mr Cook:
We have attempted on several occasions to reach you by telephone to discuss payment of your telephone account - which was recently disconnected. -- Letter sent from a phone company.

Well all these and many more such hilarious tit-bits can be found in "Lexicon of Stupidity by Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras".

Well nobody seemed to have missed my blog during this one month, but I sure did writing. Well its good to be back (atleast for myself) and hope to be more regular with my blogging :-)
Cherio