Sohag's Web Diary

My Silence Speaks.....

2009-07-14T23:57:00.002+05:30

as i see the virgin moon each night, from my bedside
i feel as if she wants to tell me something;
wondering about it i get up and start pondering,
is it about the sunrise, the rain, the rainbow, the lovely nightingale;
or is it about the my ambitions, my destiny and my destination;
is it about my virtues and vices,
or is it my responsibilities towards my family;
utterly confused i go back to the bed and try to impose a sleep on myself,
but she again stares at me with all the innocence she has within herself;
her innocent look reminds me of something, something that i have locked deep in my heart,
something that has grown much faster than me yet still is very young, very fresh;
something that has made me realise how important i am
some thing that has become my destination
but then destiny and destination do not always meet
but I have understood what the virgin moon wanted to tell me
now its someone else's turn to understand it
for i cant tell u about it, everytime i try it i go silent.....
for if u cannot understand my silence, u will never understand my words

A Birthday Poem

2008-07-12T21:47:00.001+05:30

A short birthday poem written by me(You are free to use the poem ):

The sun's first ray,
Proclaims it’s a new day;
Seems to be a special day,
But I don’t know why.

The sun is shining brightly,
And there is rainbow in the sky;
The sweet cuckoo is singing,
And the butterfly is flying high;
Seems to be a special day,
But I don’t know why.

The river is dancing gleefully,
With the blue clouds flying by;
The ant army is marching gracefully,
With their moral very high;
Seems to be a special day,
But I don’t know why.

A glance at the calendar,
Gives me the answer;
Its 21st of March,
Indeed a special day;
Before you start pondering why,
This is Sohag wishing you a very happy birthday.

"I love you dear...Could you please sleep with my friend?"

2008-06-08T20:01:00.008+05:30

After spending five months working with the United Nations at Macau, I was feeling lucky to be an Indian. The reason was the strong moral ethos associated with India. But news reports like this make me wonder whether our moral ethos, assuming that they still exist, are changing for the worse.

I am unaware of the new definitions of love and relationship. It seems that I have not grown with time, at least not at the pace at which people mentioned in the aforesaid article have. But whatever be the case, the most important thing in love or for that matter in any relationship is responsibility. Mutual respect and care for the partner are the cornerstones of a successful relationship. But today when I look around me, I find that relationships and failures are fast becoming synonyms. From parents killing their children to teachers abusing their students, the list of breaking relationships is unending. I am no social scientist to analyze the reasons for failing relationships. However, this particular case forces me to search for possible reasons from a common man's point of view. What could be the reasons that lead people to engage in swinging( partner swapping)?

Reason 1 : Unsatisfied with partner

The most common reason given by swingers. Well, this issue could be resolved by mutual understanding or by taking professional help. If your partner cannot satisfy you what is the guarantee that some one else's can?

Reason 2 : Just to spice up life

The most ardent fan of Baba Ramdev will tell you that spices are bad for health. Jokes apart, spicing can be done with other ingredients too. A cool vacation with your partner or anything that makes both of you are comfortable may work wonders. But swinging for fun??? Beyond my comprehension.

Reason 3: Status Symbol

Well, what status are you talking about. If you feel that indulging in swinging enhances your status then you are fooling yourself. Helping a poor child to get into school, for instance, is a far better way of enhancing your status. Of course, this is my definition of status and I presume that its obsolete now.

Reason 4 : Its my wish..what has society to do with it

My dear, you are free to follow your chosen path. In fact you are doing a great job for the society by increasing the tax collected from psychologists.

In my assessment, this is a desperate step taken by unsecured people who feel a hollowness in their existence. And to fill this hollowness they select mud instead of concrete. The article also mentions that swinging is class specific and limited to the rich and the upper-middle class. This observation, assuming it is true, clearly indicates that morality and education are not necessarily related. Such a thing is unheard of in poor communities, as honour is the only prized possession of the poor. Here, I must make myself very clear that my observation is with respect to a few people and not any class in general.

Finally I would like to focus on the results that the swingers get. Are they satisfied? Does their life gets spiced up? Does it give them the much sought after status? Even if it does...at what cost? I shudder to think about the permanent effect of this on their children and near and dear ones and most importantly, on their relationship.

Political Speeches in India and the United States:A Comparison

2008-03-25T13:40:00.003+05:30

After watching Barack Obama's speech on race and its influence on American way of life I am forced to compare the level of political oratory in the United States and India. Leaving apart the speeches of the founding fathers and other statesmen of India, I am unable to find anything close to Obama's speech both in content and emotion in contemporary Indian politics. The usual speeches by our leaders are lackluster especially from the nation building point of view. Its a different matter that for rabble-rousing and inciting frenzy our leaders are second to none. I think we have to wait for some time to get our own Obama.

Meanwhile here is the full text of Obama's speech on race.
"

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins. "

Shake a Leg

2007-05-13T03:36:00.000+05:30

With the launch of two 24 hrs FM music channels in Orissa, the people(esp the youth) are having a melodious time.Big FM 92.7 is a national FM channel having its presence in metros like Delhi and Mumbai.Radio Chocolate 104 FM is the other player in this new market in Orissa.So beat the heat ....the FM way.

Donate Blood Save Life

2007-05-08T23:54:00.000+05:30

Today is world red cross day.As usual i donated blood voluntarily today.Blood donation has many benefits like rejuvenation of the body's defence system.However there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding this topic.Some popular myths are(source :http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/blooddrive/myths.cfm)
Myth #1:
Someone else will donate all the blood that's needed.
Reality #1:
That's not true.If everyone thinks like this then there will be no voluntary blood donation at all.The demand for blood usually goes up in the summers.But unfortunately supply decreases as people think that donating in the sizzling heat will take a toll on them.
Myth #2:
It hurts.
Reality #2:
Okay, maybe it does---a little. Far less than getting ears pierced, though, and only briefly. Check out a real donor story to read about the actual donation experience from someone who's done it. And remember that donating blood hurts a lot less than having someone you care about need blood and not get it because it's not there.
Myth #3:
I don't have time.
Reality #3:
It doesn't take long: about 45 minutes in all from arrival to departure.

Myth #4:
They ask embarrassing questions.
Reality #4:
Okay, some of the questions are personal, but they have to be. The screening personnel are very professional and are not judgmental. Their only goal is to ensure a safe blood supply for our patients and a safe donation experience for donors.
Myth #5:
I might catch something from donating.
Reality #5:
Donations( carried out by professional organisations like Central Red Cross Blood Bank) are drawn using sterile equipment that is disposed of after a single use, and the professionals who draw your blood wear sterile latex gloves that are disposed of immediately after use on a single patient. At no time will you come in contact with any piece of equipment or material that has had contact with someone else's blood or body fluids.
Myth #6:
I'm too old.
I'm too young.
Reality #6:
There is no longer an upper age limit for donation. So long as you are healthy and weigh at least 110 pounds, you can continue to donate as a lifelong contribution to your community.
Maybe you are too young---if you're under 18. But once you turn 18, if you're healthy and weigh at least 110 pounds, you can make a real grown-up contribution to your community.

Finally....the frogs croak

2007-05-07T23:43:00.000+05:30

7th of May 2007 was a red-lettered(it should be blue-lettered) day for the people of Cuttack.Why??That's because after enduring the sun's wrath for over a month they got a chance to rain-dance(don't know what it is. good that means u have something left between ur ears) as the heavens opened up on 7th.It was a welcome relief for me.It seems God is really kind to me as tomorrow(8th May World Red Cross day) I'll be donating blood.And with exams round the corner no one would like to donate blood on a sizzling sweaty day.Thanks a lot GOD.

Am I Guilty?

2007-05-06T00:54:00.000+05:30

Today was a really terrible day.Nothing went right for me today.When I woke up in the morning I saw a bird in my room. It must have come through the windows as they were open all night.It seemed as if it was tired or injured.The bird was flying inside the room.I was concerned about its safety as it was flying too close to the ceiling fan.I tried to shoo it off out but in vain.I picked up a soft broom and tried to drive it out.A lot of pushing and shoving ensured that the reluctant bird was out of my small room.A few moments later I heard a terrible sound.I rushed out to see the bird being taken away by a cat.I was really upset.Couldn't help thinking that I was responsible for this tragic incident. My intention was to save the bird from getting injured.But it seems fate had some other intentions.After all, man proposes and God disposes.

The Intrusive Neighbour

2007-05-01T00:20:00.000+05:30

After a long time I slept for 8 hours yesterday night.Got up at 9am.Same routine stuff till the sun set.In the evening I attended a function organised by my friend.Her family had just moved in to their new house.We friends were getting together after a long time.We talked about many things from the good old college days to familiar leg pulling of the absentees(I'm sure now girls cannot live without it).A few elders started a familiar game named 'What Are You Doing?'.When my turn came most were unsatisfied with my answer that I'm pusuing higher studies."When are you going to earn?" asked a concerned(??)aunt."You should join a software firm" opined another.On hearing that I was interested in a career in civil services most mocked at me.

Of late a job in a software firm has become very prestigious.Maybe that's the reason that many people from diverse backgrounds like civil engg,mechanical engg,metallurgical engg and even humanities are getting placed in software firms.Very few are ready to slog it out for two years or more for the civil services. I often wonder whether this is a case of personal choice or of the famous(or infamous??) 'sour grapes' syndrome.From whatever my experience(rather inexperience) tells me in such matters silence is golden.

Wheres the Rain???

2007-04-30T00:45:00.000+05:30

The last few days have been really hot here at Cuttack.Yesterday and the day before the parched earth drank a few drops from the heaven.The problem is that the few drops allocated to Cuttack by Lord Indra(rain God) didn't prove to be of much help as the mercury levels remained more or less same.This natural heat coupled with the mounting pressure of civil services preliminary exams(on 20th may) is making my life miserable.

For a change I woke up at 6am today.Weather was perfect.Picked up the newspaper to find the same old stories...Aussies winning their third consecutive world cup(not interested),UP elections(move on),admissions to IIM's and IIT's sans the OBC quota(next page please)...stop...FARMER,DAUGHTERS KILL SELF IN BALANGIR(thats one of the most backward areas of India).Another battle lost against the hydra-headed monster POVERTY.Its a strange paradox that a nation which has recently joined the trillion dollar economy club cannot provide enough food to all its citizens.What is more striking is that Orissa is rich in minerals and other natural resources.Almost all of the chromite ores of India are located here.Coal and Bauxite are also in plenty.Then why this poverty amidst plenty?In fact, mineral rich states like Orissa,Chattisgarh and Jharkhand are the least developed.The reason is beyond my comprehension.

After my daily date with the newspaper I solved a mock paper of civil services examination.My score was pathetic.After revising a few chapters in the afternoon I turned my attention towards the idiot box.I often wonder whether the TV has got this sweet alias due to its similarity with Indian news channels where events like celebrity weddings and parties,that have nothing to do with the life of a common man, get covered for hours whereas issues like the one I mentioned find it hard to get a 2minute byte.This is where All India Radio is unbeatable.Tune in to it at 8.30 pm and you will get the best news and analysis sans any sensational drama.

To sum up, the day though a bit insipid was OK.Lets see whats in store for tomorrow.

Hi Everybody

2007-04-28T02:12:00.002+05:30

Hi everyone......
Welcome to my personal web diary. Before I start, a few words about me.

I'm Sohag Sundar Nanda a.k.a Shibu. Born and brought up at Cuttack,the economic capital of Orissa.I've spent about 18 years living in the port township of Paradip, one of the major ports of India. I've completed my matriculation and 10+2 there.After that i to moved Cuttack for higher education.I've completed my graduation and post graduation in Computer Science from the historic Ravenshaw College( www.ravenshawcollege.blogspot.com).I'm pursuing masters degree in engineering with specialisation in knowledge engineering.
My interests include debating, creative writing and atlantology. Research interests include Natural Language Nrocessing(NLP and,Information Retrieval(especially in Indian languages).