Toothwala- The Ultimate Dental Clinic in Bengaluru

 

Tooth Treatment- Past, Present and Future😭

I started tooth treatment in Bengaluru since Jan 2023 when I started experiencing tooth pain. A friend  staying in our apartment suggested Toothwala clinic located near Netkalappa Circle, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru. After reaching there on 09.01.2023, the same day, they took out 1 wisdom tooth, and one more additional tooth telling it was infected and tooth implant was was also placed. Apart from the above, root canal of four tooth was also done. All these happened on a single day and I was down with fever for nearly five days.

All those who heard this story were astonished with the story of these many treatments on a single day. Many dentists suggested that, they would never do these treatments on a single day. Also, the Senior Dental Surgeon at CMC Vellore Dr Santhosh Koshy opined that, they would not do implant on 6th and 7th tooth as it will not stay and asked me to lodge complaint against the clinic who did such kind of treatment.

Cap was also placed on the four tooth where root canals were undertaken. This entire exercise costed me Rs.80,500/-. All treatments were charged on the higher side. The clinic made me a cash cow and extracted maximum possible from me. 

Since beginning, toothwala doctor has been telling that, there are lower levels bone content on my gums. Other doctors and my father has opined that, in such cases, implant will not be effective and implant treatment will not be effective. However, this doctor has gone ahead and put the implant. The doctor asked me to take calcium and multivitamin tablets for a period of 3 to 6 months after which my bone would grow back and cap can be placed on the implant. 

But this bone growth never happened in reality and her judgement was proved wrong not once but twice. The first implant came out. After this she put one more lengthier implant. The cap was not put as she told that, let the implant integrate with the bone after which she will put the cap and finalize.

The last visit I made to toothwala was during Sep 2023.  During this visit, she told me the implant was integrating well with the bone and good progress was there. She also tightened the implant slightly and even i felt good at this point of time. After this, I didn’t go to her for further checkup. I was also feeling very reluctant mentally for visiting her.

After this during Dec 2023, one more tooth was requiring root canal as I was experiencing pain. I didn’t permit Toothwala doctor to do the procedure as I was not feeling comfortable with them. Instead I went to St.Martha’s hospital. I informed St. Martha’s doctor that, I am already undergoing tooth treatment and implant is present. Then she checked the implant and informed that, the implant has gone inside the sinus and needs to be removed immediately. So I went back to toothwala and fixed an appointment for 06.01.24.

On 06.01.24, I reached Toothwala dental clinic at 1.15 pm. At 1.30 pm, they started the procedure for removing the implant from sinus by way of dental surgery. This continued till 3.30 pm. However, they were not able to remove the implant from sinus today. The doctor was telling that, the implant was slipping inside the sinus and he was not able to remove it. I was not at all happy with this dental clinic since Jan 2023 when I approached them with a tooth ache and they did all these procedures on the same day. Today she advised that, they will once again perform the same procedure and try to retrieve the implant from the sinus on the next appointment day.

After coming back home, I discussed the matter with my parents and wife. Nobody was favouring going back to Toothwala again. My mother has been suffering from Crone’s disease for a pretty long time and local treatments are not giving any relief to her. Hence, parents are visiting CMC Vellore hospital on Monday 08.01.2024 for consultation.

My father advised me to go to Vellore hospital along with them and consult a senior dental surgeon for removing the implant from the sinus and doing the necessary after that.

I felt that would be better as getting the removal done through an experienced professional would be much better than through this Toothwala clinic who gave me so much trouble for earning additional money even though it was adverse on the patient without any medical ethics. 

Accordingly, I have booked an appointment on 09.01.24 at CMC Vellore hospital. Looking forward to treatment at Vellore hospital and early solution of the tooth problem. As far as toothwala is concerned, may God only save them.

Promotion or No Promotion

I have been employed in a public sector bank since 2012 and these are my personal views on further promotion in the bank. These are purely personal views and should not be considered in any other manner.

Promotion in 8 years vs. Promotion in 3 Years:

Earlier the promotion from one post to the next used to be after 8 or 10 years. During this period, the employee used to get sufficiently experienced and he had the ability to Say NO in unfavourable situations against the diktat of the higher authorities. Only what was right as per our consciousness needed to be done at work place. 

Now, the promotions have been fast forwarded and the minimum eligibility criteria is 3 years of service. The strategy as advised by some high level or consultancy to the bank management was that, decision making by younger minds would be faster than senior people who took slow decisions. What earlier used to take twenty five years of service to reach the position of Chief Manager, employees can scale the height in 10 years now for those who are in the good books of management. 

The main draw back of fast track promotion in my opinion is that, the promotees are not in a position to tell NO under any circumstances. They would tell YES and only YES to whatever decision taken/ imposed by the management. Be it unreasonable business targets, Shortage of staff in their work places, Sacrificing of Work Life Balance or working on holidays, the answer is always YES by the new gen employees. Those who are making life miserable for us presently would have enjoyed their parenthood and younger days in a much more fruitful manner as they were at lower cadres during their youth days and business/ target  pressure never used to be this much severe. The present generation is not at all able to enjoy the family life or spend any fruitful time with their family and children.

Today's pathetic Work Life Balance:

We leave our homes by 9 in the morning and reach back by around 8 in the night. In metro cities, the timings are more severe taking into account the travel time and traffic blocks involved. On holidays also, very often we are called to office for work. Resistance or Denials would be met with threats and transfers. Due to severe staff shortage in all the work places, even asking for a single day leave would be met with strong opposition from the reporting manager. Asking for single day alone is a sin, leave alone asking for a week's leave for a family vacation. There is hardly any meaningful time spend with our family. 

Role of staff unions:

The main role played by the staff union is during wage negotiation with the management. Also, when the employee faces any enquiry regarding credit related matters or others, the unions would support to a certain extent. Apart from this, there's very limited support from the staff union. Top management is pressurizing the employees like anything for achieving their ends. The union office bearers are posted in comfortable offices (mostly in Risk Management Section or Staff loan section where the risk is minimal). The union people can very rarely be seen in any section related to MSME or Corporate Advances. Regarding transfer also, the close confidantes of union leaders will be working in same place but different offices for more than 10 years at a stretch. The criteria is different for normal employees. The staff union leaders will not open their mouth in front of the top management against the difficulties faced by their members, but will only garland and give bouquet to top management during their visits. 

My personal experience with staff unions:

Certainly it was not good. I faced a minor enquiry during my tenure at an earlier branch. During the enquiry, the higher authority of the branch was an earlier active union leader and their close friend. Instead of supporting my cause, the unions drafted a reply in which I was apologizing for all the accusations against me without giving any justification from my side. 

Next time, I faced a credit related enquiry involving the same higher official. I was 100% sure in my mind that, there was no wrong doing on my part. I took the help of my father for drafting and submitting the reply. He prepared a perfect reply citing the fact that, there was no lapse from my side and the my higher official had sanctioned the loan justifying my reservations from his side without exercising any caution. The fact that, I had been transferred out of the branch within 2 months due to my non- cooperation was also very clearly mentioned. The enquiry is still going on. However, I feel confident that, I would remain unscathed thanks to my father. Had I approached the union for the reply, things would have been different.

I completed the basic requirement of three years in Mumbai and requested for assistance in transfer to my native place when the top union leader visited our Mumbai office. The reply from his side was that, since you are a specialist officer, you are directly coming under management and we have very limited role to play. Next year, fortunately I went to native place without the help of unions.

Three years had been completed in native place. I was heading a branch for one year. The union district secretary was working in regional office and assured me that, as I am performing well I will not be disturbed from the branch. 

But it was not to be. Transfer orders had come for another specialist officer who was having medical issues and the person had completed 7 or 8 years in home state at that time. I was the scape goat identified for head office posting and for not sending the originally identified person. I went and requested everyone including union leaders and top management. With tears I came back from the Circle Office. On the professional side, I put all the hard work and developed the customer base of the branch. There was notable improvement in the branch performance. From 52nd rank in our regional office during December 2018 quarter, my branch improved to 2nd rank during June 2019. 

I wanted this success very badly as this was the first time I was heading a branch and being successful at work place would have given a world of confidence for my future career. But it was not to be. Bank has denied me this opportunity and crushed all my ambitions. From this point onwards, my thirst for success at professional level was on the decline. I had been sincere through out my career, but the urge to excel and take more and more promotions has declined. 

On the personal side also I suffered on account of my unexpected transfer from my native place. My wife was carrying our second child at the time of this transfer. I had to proceed alone to the next work place leaving my wife and son behind with my parents. Then covid 19 pandemic broke out and severe restrictions were placed for interstate travel. My second child was born post 4 days after expiry of my father in law. I couldn't come to native place for both. The loneliness and helplessness I felt at my new work place was beyond description. Thanks to the majority union for all these wonderful experiences.

Continuous Resignations all around me

Many of my batchmates, seniors and even juniors took promotions and became chief managers within this short span of 10 years. However, not many were able to withstand the professional pressure. Some of my seniors from Mumbai who were good performers were also not able to withstand the pressure and resigned as AGMs and CMs with 10 years of service remaining. If bank doesn't want staff at the higher levels, why are they promoting in such large numbers?? The most targeted category for resigning is the Chief Manager category is what I feel. 

There is no difference between Manager and Senior Manager:

This is something which I have been hearing from so many people. Some of the people who joined the bank after me and worked in junior cadres have also become Senior Managers whereas I have remained Manager since 2016. I have been granted only one promotion so far, and that was from Mumbai. 

At some point of time, I also felt that there is no difference between the responsibilities of a manager and senior manager. I also felt like taking promotion. However, when I felt like taking promotion, bank didn't grant me. I appeared twice for promotion from manager to senior manager. Both times I was rejected. 

I was not able to impress the top management the fact that, I was also putting in lots of efforts and hard work for the institution though in a silent and effective manner. Anyways, I have no regrets for remaining in my current designation. I am happy with my present situation and will not regret even if I retire in the same designation.I have certainly done justice to my job during my entire career. I have not favoured any customer in an undue manner. I have always kept bank's interest the highest priority. More than anything, I have survived and I am still existing in the bank.

Conclusion

Considering the present scenario, going up the ladder under the would require lot of further compromises at personal level, mainly reduction of family time. If something goes wrong professionally at a later point of time even if done with a good intention will not be tolerated by the institution. The inspection department of the bank is going to come very very hard at you in case the account turns to non performing asset. There would be no mercy on anybody. Whether we have followed the Bank guidelines in toto would be critically analysed. There would be new interpretations of the guidelines which we would never have thought about while the account was in standard condition. Once the account turns NPA, all concerned staff would by default be treated as guilty unless proved innocent. 

Under the above circumstances, I feel I have contributed sufficiently to the organizational growth from this manager level. There is no incentive to go further in the promotion ladder for the time being and sacrifice so many things knowingly or unknowingly. Happy to be the way I am.

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023

India certainly stormed into the finals. They didn't loose even one match in the league stage and defeated New Zealand in the semi finals to enter the finals. It's even more painful to note that, Indian team defeated Australia in the league match, that too in a very convincing manner. After the match with Australia, many of the Indian batters and bowlers performed exceptionally well, scoring centuries and 5 wicket hauls. Fielding and catching was also satisfactory though not extraordinary. The team gave the entire Indian population sky high hopes. Also, the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat had 130,000 capacity and was ready for the big event. 

Australia wins the toss and sends India for batting. So far so good. India looses opener Shubhman Gill for 4 runs. That was also manageable and can happen in any game. Rohith Sharma, Captain continues his great touch and punishes the bowlers scoring more than run a ball. This gives us hope. Incoming batsman, Virat Kohli is also in good form and scores two or three boundaries. So far, so good.

Now the things started turning around in favour of the Australians. Instead of playing a responsible innings, captain plays an irresponsible shot and gets out. Rohith Sharma had already scored scored 10 runs in the over including a 6 and a 4. However, his carelessness becomes the turning point of the match. India scores a disappointing 240 runs in the 50 overs. From here onwards, India accepted the inevitable and body language became weak and eventually Australia received their sixth world cup from the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The commitment of the Australians on the field was something really appreciable. The turning point of the match, where Head runs backwards to take an astonishing catch reminds us of the climax scene in IQBAL movie where a well thought out plan has been executed. Also, 37 year old, David Warner shows his on field commitment by diving and stopping a certain boundary. This is an age old strategy by the Australians. They will dry up the boundaries and Indians will start getting out one by one. The same was successfully implemented against Sachin and Sehwag by McGrath, Gillespie and Brett Lee in earlier World Cups. History repeats. Compared to Australian on field commitment, fielding performance of the Indian team was lacklustre. They didn't dive even once to stop boundaries unlike the Australians who dried up the boundaries for Indian batsman. Boundary was not scored for 10 long overs when Kohli and Rahul were batting. 

May be, we can console ourselves telling that, this is only a game and winning and loosing is a part of it. But the most important take away is that, Australians executed a strategy, which has been time tested.

It's here we miss our dear Captain Cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for whom ICC cup victory was the ultimate objective, rather than personal milestones and rash shots. In the 2011 world cup, he motivated the entire team to achieve this objective. Personally, he also ensured that, he scored the winning runs without getting out to careless shots. When will India get such a captain once again?? Only then, can we hope to lift the World Cup again, if at all the 50 over match exists till then. The fate of our Indian Prime Minister was even worse. In his home country, In a stadium named after him, In a tournament where the Indian team didn't loose even a single match till the final, he had to hand over the cup to a different nation with a wry smile.

This team was not able to fulfil the hopes and aspiration of an entire nation due to carelessness and lack of commitment. The next generation will continue to have only Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to get inspired. Rohith Sharma 36 years and Virat Kohli 35 years should immediately retire from all forms of the game owning up moral responsibility rather than waiting to achieve personal records and milestones. As a team, they didn't lift the ICC World Cup 2023 trophy missing it between the lip and the saucer.

Miss you badly Captain Cool!!!!

Gangubhai Kathiawadi

This is a wonderdul movie starring Alia Bhat telling the story of red street and prostitutes in Mumbai. Like all other girls, she also gets cheated by her lover and is drawn into the profession.

A rowdy fellow comes to her work place and attacks her left and right and she gets hospitalized. After discharge, she takes the help of Ajay Devgan, Rahim Lala to fight him. Next time, when he comes, Lala comes and thrashes him.

Slowly she becomes the mistress of the brothel and later she becomes the president of entire Kamathipura by beating incumbent Razia Bhai. She makes this possible by playing a movie in her lane for all the ladies. The second thing she does is carrying out a marriage for the daughter of her fellow worker with the nephew of the tailor. Both had not happened earlier in Kamathipura.

The third part is when, misionary school people want to evacuate Kamathipura citing moral issues. She fights against this by admitting the children of fellow workers to the school. Kamathipura people face discrimination in school, hospital and all other public places. She goes for a speach in Azad maidan where she talks about all these rights.

Subsequently, she meets Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India and requests for legalisation of prostitution, non evacuation of her fellow workers from Kamathipura and social rights among others. PM agrees to all these requests and hands over the rose in his dress to her.

She returns home a heroine admired and accepted by all.

A very emotional movie where a weekling converts to a strong person with a very strong social message. I enjoyed watching the movie on Netflix.

Super Sharanya

This is one movie which has come in ZEE 5 OTT platform. After i purchased new smart tv, I discontinued recharging my dish tv connection which was there with me since 2012 during my Mumbai days.

As a small compensation or to avoid guilty kind of feeling, I paid 500 and got this ott channel. Comparitively it's cheaper than other platforms and having lesser films than other platforms as well.

One movie which I am eagerly awaiting on this platform is Kashmir Files. I read somewhere that, zee has produced kashmir files and they are having exclusive satellite and ott rights for kashmir files. Now, Kashmir Files is running full house in all the theatres and probably will take another 2 to 3 months for ott release.

Earlier, when pooja, adi and sreekutty were here, i hardly used to watch any movies during week days. Mostly, I used to take adi and sreekutty for walk after dinner. After coming back, i used to read story books for Adi, sreekutty used to come and play in our room. Even sreekutty used to pretend reading books holding in her hand mostly upside down lying under the warmth of our blanket. During weekends also, adi demands me to take him to childrens park. We used to watch movies on tv only once in a while. But now, my dear dearest family has gone to kerala again during beginning of this March 2022 to attend Adi's year end exams. So, now i am watching so much movies. During holidays I am watching sometimes three to four movies per day or minimum two. I know this is not an ideal situation. Once my dearest ones joins me back at bangalore, i will surely go back to my earlier schedules and itenary. That used to give me so much more happiness.

I watched this movie on last friday ie, on 18.03.22. Coming back to sharanya, she is the same girl who acted in thanneer mathan dinangal. Similar to previous, there is not much story line except romance.

Sharanya native of Palakad, joins an engineering college in Thrissur. Four people are having crush on her. First her senior, then her lecturer, her classmate and finally an outside fellow whom she meets while roaming with her friends at Ernakulam.

She falls for the last fellow. The usual story of break up and reunion between lovers follows. There is some comedy in this movie and not dry like super star movies. It's okay, watchable and having some laughing element.

Jurassic Park :: The Lost World

This movie is based on Micheal Crichton's novel and sequence to the movie Jurassic Park. The movie was released in 1997. I remember reading the novel in my high school days. It took me a really long long time and Amazon Prime to watch this movie.

This movie again depicts the greed and idiotic nature of Corporate companies to make money at any cost.

In the first part, they try to take visitors to an island where the dinosaurs are kept. Then, all the plans backfire and the entire park is destroyed by the dinos and many people are killed.

In this second part, James Hammond, the Ingen company owner sends a research team first. Another group of company owners sends a team to capture the dinosaurs and bring them to USA for opening an amusement park.

As usual, many lives are lost. The twist is that, they manage to tranquilize a t-rex dinosaur and it's kid. The kid is being taken back in a helicopter and the adult in a ship to San Diego USA for displaying in the park.

The company is in for a rude shock when the ship arrives. The adult dinosaur sets free and kills everyone on the ship. The ship comes and crashes into the harbour. The adult breaks free into the common areas with huge population density. Huge panic and havoc follows.

Finally, people from research team uses the kid rex as a bait and brings the adult dino back to the ship. The adult is tranquilized, locked in the cargo deck and taken back to the island.

The moral is simple. Don't mess with nature, else we will have to pay a huge price.

Good Luck Sakhi

I saw this movie on Amazon Prime. This is a telugu movie dubbed in Malayalam. Actually Keerthi Suresh is the only actor whom i know in this movie. Apart from her, the trainer has appeared as villain in malayalam movie pulimurugan.

The story is about a village girl Sakhi. Initially, she is leading a normal life like other girls in the village. Then kernel comes to the village seeking talents for shooting competition. Based on her talent in playing goli and concentration abilities, Sakhi also participates in the trials conducted by the kernel and she is selected.

After 2 months of training, she participates in district trials and qualifies for state level competition. Just the day before, she has some issues with her boyfriend and looses her concentration. Then, in the middle of the competition, he boyfriend comes running, gives her the lucky golis and emotional issues are solved.

Now, she is on full fire and wins the state level competition against the established players.

It's a nice movie and watchable. It's about village girls, women empowerment and sports.

Neyyattinkara Gopante Aarattu

This is a Mohanlal starrer movie. The first half is really boring. It's like a fusion dance where multiple songs are played for 2 minutes each. Movies like Rajavinte Makan, Chandralekha, Rajamanikyam etc are replayed.

The real story begins during second half. Anti national forces are being dealt with properly. The loss of parents for an army officer is being avenged by a mozad kind of agent. The employer is unknown.

UnLike shown after theatre reviews, i found the second half better than first half.

But most Mohanlal movies are kind of unwatchable now. Though he is 60, he is acting in far too many movies and in roles which doesn't match his age. Mohanlal has over the years, lost his brand value due to wrong selection of movies and this movie is also one such wrong selection. Watched in Amazon Prime and didn't go to theatres.

Dark Side of Giving- The Rise of Philanthro- Capitalism

Source- Economic Times (25th March 2011)

This article makes a shocking revelation about the so called philanthropic interests of Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. Warren Buffet is currently in India requesting Indian Business Men to contribute Funds to the Gates Foundation. 

The article says that they are not doing it out of charity, but to propagate and encourage American Corporate interests.

Africa is one place where the French and Europeans have greater influence than the Americans. Now both the Gates foundation and Rockefeller foundation is planning a new activity. It's termed as Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).  The real intention is to make 'MONSANTO' a dominant player in Africa. In due course of time they plan to make African agriculture fully dependent on the Genetically Modified varieties as they are trying with India and other Asian countries. 

There's another accusation against the Gates foundation. ie they have invested $23 billion in Monsanto, when asked about this Bill Gates replied that investment and charity must be seen separately. How can it be so when the main aim of the organisation is to help them come out of difficulties in life?

Some time back, Bill Gates had visited India and requested Indian business men to donate to their foundation. Shiv Nadar of HCL technologies said that he would do charity through educational institutions in rural areas and not through their foundation. He must have known the actual scenario there itself. 

Bill Gates initially ruled the world through Microsoft, he eliminated all other players. Now he's trying to do it in Agriculture through Monsanto. It seems his strategy is like making the India pay to ensure their dominance over us. It reminds me of the British era when taxes were collected from Indian peasants to maintain the army which was in turn used to suppress the freedom movement. Gates wants to repeat history once again it seems.

I don't know why Americans are always so selfish? Why don't they peacefully coexist with other nations instead of always trying to dominate?

I had a Quarrel with my Spouse!! How are you going to be affected??

Ever heard of this sentence before? Well, I have been hearing this sentence right from my 10^th standard board exams. This is a very famous excuse given by teachers who participate in centralized valuation. The students are of course at the mercy of these valuators. They suffer for no reason of theirs.Teachers give the excuse that they have quarreled with their spouses or on the huge quantity of answer sheets corrected by them for this poor performance.

I feel when they are being respected and obeyed; they also have the duty to be responsible enough. They cannot let innocent students score poor marks or fail for no fault of theirs. This situation shows lack of commitment among the teachers who indulge in such excuses. If they have a fight with their spouse, it’s something which is really personal and that cannot be spilled into their professional lives. What if the same happens with a student? Suppose he has a fight with one of his friends and comes to the class. If the student hasn’t done the homework or doesn’t pay due respects to the teacher, is he left scot free? It rarely happens. Infact the student in most cases will be punished again for his failure.

I wouldn’t say that the teacher should be punished in a similar manner. For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. If the result is not going to be immediate, then they will somehow or the other going to suffer for their irresponsible behavior in the near future. Even they have sons and daughters who are going to appear for university exams. These smart teachers mustthink about what will happen to then if somebody else corrects their ward’s papers in the same manner.

To conclude, such silly excuses are not at all acceptable. Teachers must be responsible enough to give a good job when they go for university paper corrections. Personal problems and professional duties must be viewed separately.

Environmental Impact- Policies With Long Term Vision Needed

The A.B. Vajpayee government successfully tested Indian Nuclear Bomb in 1998. There were big hues and cries regarding this. All major world powers termed this act despicable. The US even went on to impose sanctions on India. Twelve years have passed and look at the situation now. The governmental heads of all five major super powers have visited India and declared directly or indirectly that the prosperity in their nations depends to a large extent on India and its population.If people of the developing nations don't travel and prosper, for who else will Boeing and Airbus manufacture air-crafts for? If the capital markets of the emerging nations were not there, where else will Foreign Institutional Investors put in their money and get decent  returns? 

There's another scenario which has arisen recently. Jairam Ramesh was widely acclaimed and appreciated for his pro poor stand. He single handedly denied permission to Vedanta Industries limited for mining in Niyamgiri district of Orissa. Most politicians would have accepted bribes and allowed the company to mine at the expense of tribals who doesn't have any voting rights. Jairam Ramesh certainly chose to differ from others in the case of Vedanta, Lavassa and Posco.

Now it seems the whole government machinery is turning against him. Jairam Ramesh has been forced to give clearances with conditions. The companies are most certain to flout these rules and proceed as they please. The government argues that if companies are turned away in similar fashion, then India won't attract any FDI. 

This is an absolutely wrong perception. We must set the standards for environmental protection and sustainable development rather than doing it in the erstwhile imperialist  manner. The British and other colonial countries thought only about the welfare of their industries. They never took into account wheather the people in the colonies perished or went to hell. Our government certainly can't afford to behave in such an irresponsible manner.  

Initially it might cause a bit of distress and reduced FDI into the nation.Talking about long term, Where else can the developed nations invest their money if not in the emerging markets? Their markets are already saturated and there's not going to be any further significant growth. It's high time that we set the standards for pollution and environmental impact rather that letting the MNCs dictate terms to us. If we don't control them, they will start controlling us like the East India Company did in the 17th and 18th centuries. Should we allow history to repeat? Let's put on our thinking caps and get our acts together.

An Amazing Amazing Experience!!

Real prayer is said to happen when we rest with our souls, when we express our gratitude for all that GOD has given us. I visited Guruvayoor temple on 11th december 2010. I had such a wonderful wonderful experience. My parents had arrived at the temple town by the afternoon itself on the previous day.. I reached only by 11pm. By the time I slept it was 12.

Next day morning, I was too lazy even to just wake up.But I had no escape routes, My parents insisted and I had to go with them. Though reluctant, I got up and  went with them. We reached the inner shrine or nalambalam by 8 am. I hardly spend some 20 or thirty seconds in front of the deity.But that proved to be  more than enough.I prayed god that he should shower his grace on everyone in this world and take more and more people to devotion and the path to dharma. I have lots of small nephews and neices at my home town. I requested GOD to fill their hearts with innocence, gratitude and divine love. I thanked god for all the favours he has showered on me till now. I could ask god only for more and more devotion and gratitude for myself.

A sort of positive energy, or what is it, I don't know how to describe it, it was there all over my body. May be a divine grace.This was a feeling that couldn't be described, but only experienced.

After offering our prayers, we came out. I was really satisfied. My parents said they wanted to go in once more. I said I was already satisfied and didn't want to go a second time. I sat outside the temple till they came back. I sort of closed my eyes and began to observe my heart beats and sensations. Suddenly my mind became calm, very calm like an ocean. It was bliss and joy all the way. We can call it meditation and it was a fifteen minutes which I would never forget in my life. It was really really one of those moments which I enjoyed the most. I wanted to open my eyes since I felt that it was time for my parents to come back. And true to my intuition, they came and called hardly within two minutes of opening my eyes. It was real bliss, joy, an opportunity for me to thank god, being gracious and to request the well being of all my friends and relatives. OH GOD and GURUJI, thank you,thank you and thank you for this great experience.

Positive and Negative Aura

There's certainly a bit of positive and negative aura associated with people. Those with positive will create an atmosphere of joy and happiness while the others would cause displeasure and a sad feeling. I have felt this particularly while driving a car. When I drive with positive people, I hardly make any mistakes and the journey would be full of fun and happiness. The destination would be reached without us even knowing about it.

The reverse is also true. When we drive with serious looking people who find it difficult to even smile, I always tend to make mistakes and there would be many close shaves. The journey would be a very very long one. But unfortunately, the latter can't be avoided. We have to bear with them also. The interesting part is that, I don't know to which category I belong while not driving.

Herd Them to Earn Better Profits

There was recently an article in Economic Times which stated that if milch animals are grown together in hostel like cooperative set up, it would be more profitable. The article in fact goes on to show the Chinese model and says that we must adopt it.

The sad part is that Mahatma Gandhi had recognised this factor years ago. He said that it's the duty of every Indian to protect the cows. This can be done best by adopting the cooperative model. For this 50-60 acres of land must be taken up in the suburbs of cities. All the cows must be brought together here and brought up. The land must have adequate provision for growing fodder, conversion of cow dung to bio fuel and other value added activities must also be carried out over here. Another important aspect is that cows shouldn't be made to stand on concrete floors as this is detrimental to their growth. This is yet to be realised by the modern day scientists. In short if Indians look back to our great spiritual leaders rather than the west, we can achieve financial inclusion happiness and  a better quality of life much faster than currently anticipated.

SM Krishna's Comments Unwarranted

SM Krishna had made a statement that the BJP has tarnished the image of Karnataka. The opposite is true. It's the Congress and JDS that have tarnished the image of Karnataka and India as a whole. We all know what happened during the previous coalition government between JDS and BJP. JDS ruled for half their tenure and finally when it was time to hand over the reins to BJP, they backed out of the coalition without any shame. It's these two parties who are power mongers. Sitting in the opposition is also part of politics which the Congress finds untolerable. They always wants to be on the ruling front. Even in the current regime, these two shameless opposition parties have tried all possible acts to topple the government. This is not at all acceptable. The congress must try to uplift the condition of the poor in the states they rule rather than trying to rule all 26 states in India.

Test cricket is the best

New forms of the game might have been introduced. But the real thrill still lies in test cricket. The recently concluded (5th October 2010) 1st test match was a cracker of a match. Nobody would have expected India to win from such a dire situation. We all thought that it was Australia who would win the match with ease. Such is the beauty of the game that Laxman took India home from an almost impossible situation. Most of my family members asked me to change the channel saying that India has absolutely no chances of winning. But I knew results of a cricket match can be correctly predicted only after it ends. I kept on watching and finally India won. We can never see such tense moments and nail biting finishes in any other forms of the game. Test cricket has to stay for it's the real test for players and viewers.

Success Story Behind Elsamma Enna Aankutty

This is a new malayalam film that was released in September 2010. It's a real great film has has tasted commercial success as well. Some of the reasons which I could find for the success are as follows;

Aesthetic Reasons:
                   The film has been shot in a rural background with a new actress(Ann Augustin). The audience now seems to prefer ones with a good story line rather than one showing superstars in all the scenes. This movie doesn't have any superstars. Another positive aspect is that the film gives good social messages. The film raises strong messages against alcoholism, corruption and indisciplined lifestyle of today's youngsters   The entire story is very interesting and one would be glued to the seats from start to end. I must say that the director,Lal Jose has done real justice to this film.

Commercial Reasons:
                   This is a low budget film.Therefore it's all the more easier to break even. It doesn't have any superstars (i.e. Mohanlal & Mamooty) and hence their hefty pay packages are avoided. This has been  shot in and around Kerala itself. We could see many flop movies with song scenes shot in foreign locations. This adds to the overall cost.
                          Overall the movie is very interesting and people have received it with both hands. This is a real lesson for the producers to concentrate on good storyline rather than on superstars. This will help them achieve commercial success.

Efficient BJP State Governments- People and Industry friendly

I was one day travelling by bus from Kakanad to Kacheripady(both places in Kochi,). By the time we reached stadium, it was a terrible traffic block. Like any typical malayalee, many people were blaming the system. I too engaged in a conversation with the person sitting next to me but of a different nature. I really got surprised by what he said.

He said he goes to Ahmedabad very often and the scenario over there is entirely different. If the roads are to be widened, the decision is taken and it will be implemented without any compromises. Wheather temples, mosques or shops are present are immaterial. First preference is given to infrastructure development. Vote bank politics is given only the last priority. As a result the people  like Narendra Modi very much evn though many tried to label him as a tyrant initially.

The initial impression which people had about Modi was that he was a person propagating communalism in the state. All that's changed now. Where did the Tatas go after the Singur incident? They started their plant in Sanand and production is on in full scale.

There are a lot of development activities which had been taken up. One of them is Jyotigram Yojana where separate electricity lines are provided for household and agricultural purpose. This prevents misuse and ensures that the deserving people get electricity at concessional rates.During an investor's meet in Gujarat, many industry leaders including Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal had said that Narendra Modi would be a person they would love to see as India's Prime Minister.

There was another major development in Kerala itself. CPM leader A.P. Abdullakutty had publicly said that Kerala must follow the Gujarat model of development. The senior comrades found this unbearable and lead to Abdullakutty's expulsion from the party. On the agricultural side, there are no major farmer suicides reported. All these clearly shows that Modi and BJP government has grown in stature and going from strength to strength.

There was an article in Mathrubhoomi about the rehabilitation of slum dwellers in Banglore for the metro rail project. It was really amazing. The government held talks with residents of JaiBhima colony in Malleshwaram. They had agreed to move into flats built for them near Peenya industrial estate area. The metro rail is not yet complete. But 82 out of 102 families had already shifted to their new residential complexes. Those people are happy and the metro rail is also on the right track. This example clearly shows an excellent model for inclusive development model. Orissa government can certainly learn lessons from this episode. They wanted to evict tribals from the Niyamgiri hills and transfer the forest land to Vedanta for mining.

These states, ie Gujarat and Karnataka are doing this without any central support.I am sure, if Modi was given the charge of common wealth games, it would have been world class. But the Congress government has little or no interest in all these.

To conclude, all these are really wonderful achievements and they are models that are worth replicating all over India.

India has matured as a nation with respect to Ayodhya Verdict

It's on very few occasions that governments act pro actively. This has been certainly one among them. Both central and state governments took all measures to ensure peace. There were forces posted all over the nation to prevent communal riots. They also banned all sorts of public meetings and group smses which could have aggravated the situation. Amritha TV  went one more step ahead. They decided not to conduct any debates or discussions on this issue on the the verdict day. All these shows that India has really matured as a nation.

Three Cheers to Nandan Nilekani & Aadhar Team

This is certainly a very proud day in India's history. The UID or Aadhar was rolled out in a tribal village in Maharashtra. Usually all government projects would have cost overruns and delay. This project has been entirely different. The team had promised that the services would be rolled out in 18 months. Contrary to all expectations it has been rolled out in just 14 months. This can be attributed to the dynamic and result oriented leadership of ex infosys CEO. When compared to the common wealth games that has brought about national shame, this is truly exceptional.
Hence forth all such future projects of national importance should be entrusted to people like Nilekani who have a proven track record. Inefficient politicians who bring about national shame should be completed avoided.