Remedy to Campus Ragging

Did you ever get rag by your seniors? Or did you ever rag your juniors? What do you think about ragging? Does ragging should be banned in college campuses? However, why do students rag? Who started this ragging? Like this, there are so many questions pop-up in mind whenever we hear a tragedy ragging case.

Ragging is becoming a new nuisance in the college campuses, nowadays. Earlier, it was considered as a light teasing event and once that is over, students who participated in this event used to throw parties to the juniors whom they ragged. At the end, every one used to benefit from this ragging event. Now, the situation has changed. Students are showing the villain part of their mindset during these ragging events. Juniors, whose parents pay huge amounts of fees to the colleges for their higher studies, are forced to undergo this horrific, terror, and shocking event even they do not want to, but to just keep their parents happy by not abandoning the course.

The buck does not stop there. These juniors, who experienced these horrific ragging experiences, become seniors next year. Although they suffered a lot in the hands of their sadist seniors, yet, these people continue the tradition on the incoming juniors, thinking that they are taking revenge against their past horrific experiences. This cycle continues…!

If one goes through the records of tragic deaths happened due to ragging, one can see that most of these tragedies happened to people who have been pursuing technical-related courses. These students who always deal with machines, equipment, etc, and not exposed to Arts subjects, which should have been the part of their curriculum but not, build a certain kind of monster mindset of their own. With this kind of snubbed immature mindset, one cannot do positive things in life. The social relations part of the mind goes underdeveloped. Finally, when the individual with this kind of mindset arrives on the scene to rag a soft-spoken, gullible, innocent junior, the ruckus attitude in him/her gets a ‘high’ and s/he does ragging in such a way that the whole situation ends in tragedy.

The only and easy way to end ragging is to introduce the Arts subjects in the curriculum of all the students irrespective of what they are studying i.e., Engineering, Medicine, etc. By studying Arts, one knows how s/he should behave in the society, and what is expected of him/her, etc. Other subjects won’t teach all these things.

This blog advises everyone to be a human FIRST, then whatever you want to, NEXT.

Housing Loan Interest Rates – What is Happening?

Is building a new house or buying an apartment for one's own use becoming prohibitive even in these recession times? Seems YES in most of the cases. You may wonder why? Although most of the nationalized banks have come down on interest rates, but still the public, at large, is feeling that they are left out. The reason – it is not easy to create an account in a nationalized bank even in these days and the priority for housing loans will be given to those who have an account with the bank.

There are private banks like HDFC, ICICI, IDBI, etc, which have huge presence in India both in terms of real estate (they have huge offices in prime locations of the country!) and customers in India. However, though a few private banks have come down a little bit in terms of interest rates but most of them have not done much in this category (public opinion!). In India, it is everyone's dream that they can have a house of their own. These dreams were shattered by the skyrocketing interest rates in the pre-recession times.

But now, when banks are flush with cash and do not know what to do with those huge reserves, they can use these funds to finance the shelterless people in India at low-interest rates. Although a few banks have decided to give loans at 8% (nationalized banks only), but this interest rate is available only for a short duration (for the next 5 years). Moreover, the availability of housing loan at this interest rate is available up to a few months from now onwards (max up to July 2009 for most of the banks).

Roti, Makan, Aur Kapada (Hindi) has been the slogan of political parties during the mid-1980s. This slogan means that every Indian citizen should get food, shelter, and clothes. Nevertheless, even today, one can see people who are forced to live in a slum-like environment due to lack of affordability and eat only once per day so that they can save the second meal for the next day. There has been change of governments but the economic situation of the common man did not change even after 60 years of Independence.

So, now when the cash reserves are forcing the banks to reduce interest rates, then why they are not supporting the same by implementing the reduced housing loan interest rates?

This blog would like to know your comments/opinions on this topic. Please contribute your opinions.

The Making of a Politician

Since the only eligibility that a person can become a people representative is the age factor in India, one can think what sort of people will occupy the high seats of power here. This blog does not try to stereotype all the politicians under one umbrella. There are good, educated, and pro-development politicians also except for their number is so small. Out of all the politicians who jumped into the ring to fight 2009 elections, the uneducated, semi-educated and rebel candidates number is more. But, why like this even after 60 years of development activities as promised in our every 5-year plans?

As we all know that corruption has been so rampant in India and whatever little development activities happened, their fruits percolated maximum to the higher strata of the society. People at the lower rungs have been living in the same condition as they used to live in pre-independence era. That's why, Danny Boyle could able to direct Slumdog Millionaire movie in India. Otherwise, it is highly impossible for him to get this kind slum environment anywhere else in the world even after promised years of development. Jokes apart, even today most of the Indians are going to bed hungry. This is nothing but practicality. There is not a single household (BPL) in India which is not effected by poverty in these last 60 years. Who held the reins of power in these 60 years? Moreover, where is the accountability of their activities?

Today, even after 60 years of Independence, there is not a single politician who can go to his/her constituency and demand votes based on the developmental activities s/he has done. Almost every party has to fill their manifesto with all sorts of gimmicks and magic so that they can attract the masses who don't worry about who is going to rule except for the money they get for voting for a particular party. Political parties started roping in the cinema heroes and heroines just to attract masses and to rack in votes. Moreover, there are a few others, who had earned tons of money by acting in movies and have chosen politics as their retirement earning career. Bogus promises, duplicate schemes, and drama tantrums apart, is there a sitting politician worth his/her salt who can demand votes by genuinely developing his/her con stituency.

This blog invites you to share views on the 2009 elections and the contesting politicians from your constituency. We would like to know how your representative has developed your constituency.

HOW WE GET THE PERSONALITY WHAT WE HAVE AT PRESENT?

This is an interesting question. Spiritually speaking, as per Bhagwad Geeta, Lord Krishna told us that the atma (human soul) journeys from one birth to another and it will not die. Every time the atma takes a new birth, the subtle body comprising the senses and the mind accompanies it. These will form the inborn tendencies and the desires of each individual that shape his/her unique personality. This is the core personality of the individual.

Actually, all the preceding explanation happens before the individual takes birth. After s/he takes birth, the environment around the individual starts shaping his/her core personality. However, this part is what the soul learns consciously. These new learning's may mould the unique personality of the individual by giving it a new twist. That is why there has been old saying that "Tell me about your friends, I will tell about you."

By taking birth, the atma commits itself to God that it will come clean by doing penance for the old sins committed during past births and by doing the punya-related activities during the present birth. Unfortunately, the atma forgets all the commitments it made to God after taking birth (Only a few saints like Lord Buddha remember more than his 500 previous births.) and starts indulging in all the activities of this materialistic world.

Every birth gives you an opportunity to come clean of your past birth sins and do punya-related activities. By doing more and more punya activities, the atma can be relieved of the present birth-death lifecycle forever. This is what every atma aims before it takes a new birth.

Those who realize the purpose of their presence in this present world, will definitely stop indulging in the madness of this materialistic (maya) world and start aiming at the higher purpose of their coming here – relieving one's self from the bondage of birth-death lifecycle.

Are Indians Confused about the Secular Status of their Country?

India is going to face elections this year. The heat is already there in the speeches of the wily politicians who will not leave any stone unturned to grab votes by wooing innocent public. India is a big democratic country in this world. Elections happen in India after every 5 years. People chose their representatives/leaders by voting process. There are innumerable parties apart from Independents who will not belong to any party and who have an agenda of their own. The big parties as per today's scenario are Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at national level. Out of these two, Congress is a pan-India party, which have established itself very strongly since India got Independence from the clutches of British.

Coming to elections, recently there has been a hot debate about one of the radical speeches of one of the Gandhi family against Muslims. The speech is so radical that News Channels all around the world have taken a moral decision about not to broadcast the same to the public. Actually, the person in question is trying to woo the voters of a particular constituency through this kind of speech. Since India is democratic and secular country, these kind of radical speeches are uncalled for.

But, the question is why these politicians are trying to play the religion politics every time India goes to elections since she got her Independence? What is it that these politicians think that they can attract voters of a particular community by making radical statements against another community? Moreover, why these radical speeches against another community, in particular, woo these voters?

The answer lies in Indo-Pak partition. This happened when India got Independence from British. The members of all the communities irrespective of their religion status had done the struggle for Independence. Once India got independence, immediately a few Muslim politicians who have been having a few differences with the existing Hindu politicians, announced to the world that they want to have a separate country for themselves. Then the division of India happened and the new entity thus born was named as Pakistan. So many Muslims who have been hitherto stayed in India had moved to Pakistan and Hindus there, moved to India.

This division along with the movement of Muslims to Pakistan had created an illusion in the minds of Indians that from here onwards India is theirs and they can rule however, they want. However, even after the partition, a majority of Muslim families opted to stay back in India. These people had been friendly with their neighbor Hindus. When Indian constitution was written, it had been decided that India would be a Sovereign, Socialist, and Secular country. Although the word Secular has been written in our constitution, it could not able to enter the mindsets of so many Indians.

Coming to today's scenario, India holds the majority of the Muslim population in the entire world. That means more number of Muslims are there in India compared to those countries where Islam has been declared as their state religion. And suddenly, a majority of Indians started identifying themselves as Hindus due to the divide and rule politics of these wily politicians radical speeches. Out of the blue, they started realizing that why not we declare India a Hindu state at the same time forgetting the secular status of India.

If you look from third-party point of view, it is not the question whether you are a Hindu/Muslim/Christian/etc. There is no need to get confused. Whatever you are, whoever you are, you are an Indian citizen. You need to think what you have done or what you can do to better the lives of your country citizens. Hinduism, Islam, etc, teach us different ways to understand God. Nevertheless, our development as humans of a better society comes from the manners, which we learn through the education imparted to us.

Remember, if we as human beings forget the idiom "Live and Let Live" then it has to be understood that there would be no more days left for our human community to survive on this Planet Earth.

How You Can Attain Salvation?

As per Hinduism, attaining Salvation (MOKSHA) is the ultimate achievement for the human soul. Knowing this, so many people tried various ways to attain salvation. Era-after-era, period-after-period, there had been birth of so many saints who preached various ways to attain this ultimate achievement. But, a few people could able to achieve what is known as ultimate achievement of the human soul – MOKSHA. Why?

Because there are various ways to attain salvation, one might be confused which way to follow. And there have been debates on this issue. Debating on this issue about which way is the best to be followed to attain MOKSHA is a mere waste of time. If one goes through the preaching and teachings of all the knowledgeable saints and try to deduce the gist of what they taught us, one could easily see that all their teachings point to one simple path.

The simple path to attain MOKSHA is to control one's self. To control one's self, one has to attain GNANA. Apart from this GNANA, one needs to have BHAKTI toward the Supreme Lord (God). With the cutting-edge combination of GNANA and BHAKTI, there are chances that one can achieve MOKSHA, if one prays for the sake of God. If one prays Lord with ultimate BHAKTI to attain material prospects, then forget about MOKSHA.

One needs to attain GNANA to control all his/her six senses. It is not that much easy to control our six senses. Great sages like Vishwamitra, who is also known as Rajarshi, could not able to control his attraction toward Mohini even after thousands of years of rigorous TAPASYA. These six senses can be compared with a chariot drawn by six horses, all in different directions. And the chariot is the human soul here. If the chariot is drawn in six different directions, there are 100% chances that the chariot will go topsy-turvy, in this case human soul.

So, attain GNANA and pray the Lord with BHAKTI while not thinking about material pleasures to attain MOKSHA.

IN.com & its Features

The recent innovations in mail applications are really stunning! Nobody would have thought that one day the traditional post letter will be sublimed in to thin air but will reach the target person within the fraction of a second compared to what our traditional post letter used to take time to reach. Internet has changed the essence of our traditional post letter logistics in every sense their delivery model. As time passes away, new innovations by new entrepreneurs have been changing the face of the traditional things which we have been known for years. But life is like that. And as we move forward, we need to take everything in our stride and have to make use of every new innovation to our benefit.

mail.In.com, the provider of world's shortest mail ID, is a great mail service provider compared to other free mail service providers. The highlights of in.com are

1. Future Mail: This feature allows you to send a mail at a later day and time, which is so useful in our daily lives. For example, if a friend's birthday falls on a future date and if there are chances that you are not available to greet him/her on that particular day, then this feature comes in handy. You can mail your greetings right now and set the delivery time and date for a future date. In.com exactly delivers your mail on the set time and date.

2. User Interface: The interface is so easy to understand and clutter free. The features are intuitive, easy-to-understand and easily accessible.

3. Space: You are provided with 10GB free space. You can upload Documents, Pictures, Music files, etc, whatever you want.

4. Viewing mails from other mail providers: You can access Gmail and Yahoo mails from IN.com Inbox. No other mail service provider allows you to access other mail service provider mails like this.

5. Messenger: In.com allows you to chat with your friends and relatives from the convenience of your Inbox. This kind of Messenger sevice is right now being provided by other mails service providers also.

Like this, there are so many other useful features. And In.com mail team is coming up with more innovative and creative features to make your life convenient.

Open an email account with In.com right now to avail the benefit of all the preceding features.

Please comment on what you think about In.com features in this blog under the Comments section.