Firefox !!! WHY

I thought it's my duty to present my view regarding Firefox, rather why I used Firefox for more than 2 years now..
I was not a fan of netscape navigator ever, Internet Explorer was my favorite.. Still I dont hate IE, use it for some of my banking sites, actually.
I have tested Opera earlier and found tabbed browsing was really good.. But Opera was not a free browser.. I hated seeing Ads on my browser.. So Opera was used very little.
Then came Firefox, and I found no reason not to switch to FF...
1.It blocked the popups for me.
2.It came with a built-in search for Google, no need for another toolbar
3.It can be extended using extensions, now called add-ons in FF2.
4.Now I can decide what to see and how to see the web, rather than the content provider dictates. This is not a privilege even available with newspapers, magazines, television etc(we have no way to block their annoying ads !!!)
5.Excellent Unicode support with perfect Malayalam support.. I can read any Malayalam page with any font I prefer perfectly by using UserContent.css
6.Padma eliminates the need for any malayalam ascii font to be installed in our system.Almost all the ascii malayalam fonts are / can be converted to Unicode.
7.Last but not the least, its Opensource !!! I can contribute to the community if I have time and skill.

and its email client Thunderbird is an equally good one...
The best feature I found in TB is the ability to download the header first and the details later..
Also different accounts can have different Inboxes and like...
The extensions 'Redirect' and 'Padma' saves lot of trouble...

I stopped using OE.. I didnt find any reason why I should !!!

Enjoy Firefox and Thunderbird

Excuse me

This has become the most used phrase in the recent times.. The next contestant is 'sorry'. And the worst part of it is that these are considered as polite words. People are shamelessly looking for excuses.
'I overslept', 'I didnt know that...', 'I didnt mean to...'
If one is to get a prestigious award, one never say the excuse of oversleeping and will be present on time. The excuses really show the importance and priorities given to the issues.
No one will appreciate persons making a lot of excuses.
But still, it can be used to heal a sore relationship, if it is used wholeheartedly.
Don't postpone your work to tomorrow..Tomorrow never comes.

Tags: excuse, musings, relation, shame, sorry, behaviour

Onam, The Hijacked Harvest Festival

Onam was celebrated by the Keralites as a harvest festival...By adding a myth of Mahabali, the entire Keralites are constantly mocked at..
The myth goes such..
Mahabali was an 'asura' King . He was a great ruler and a man of word and principles.. The devas got jealous (!), they pleaded Lord Vishnu, read God, to get rid of him... And the God, in disguise of Vamana, 'cheated' Mahabali and send him to 'Pathala'... What a shame.. Will God do this to a good ruler?
And why, if Vamana was one of those avatars, is alien, outside Kerala? It is disgusting to see an incarnation of God for the sole purpose of removing a great ruler !!!
According to me, the myth can be rewritten as thus.
There was a good socialist dravida (asura) ruler in Kerala. He was dethroned by some aryas (deva) by cheating. And the new rulers invented a story to coverup their immoral behaviour.
The harvest festival was used to cover up the truth...
This myth is to mock at the God, to insult the Keralites ....Think ... Think over it dear ones....
Why cant we enjoy Onam without this nonsense story?
We can have flower carpets, sadyas, oonjaalaattam, all kind of entertainments.... just throw this myth away !!!

Amazing Thought !!!

This poem was nominated poem of 2005 for the best
poem, written by an African kid.........amazing
thought!!!

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black..

And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..

And you calling me Colored ??

Footsteps

I present here a fictious story inspired me on 'Positive Thinking'. I am not sure about the author of the story.

A man who is constantly in trouble, prays to god one day and due to his persistent and dedicated prayer, the Almighty appears in front of him and pleasingly tells him "my dear, do tell me what your doubts are about?"

The man happily starts to narrate this "Oh my merciful lord, I have a vision, in which I could see my past life and I have doubts on it which I wanted you to clear." Smilingly God tells him to carry on.

The man says thus "Lord, I saw that in my past, whenever I was happy and good things happened in my life, I could see two pairs of foot steps on the path of life. One of them is mine; I could not understand the other pair of footstep which was following me. Whose does these belong to?"

Almighty smiles and says "Dear, whenever you were having good time and happy, I would silently walk behind you allowing you to enjoy the fruits of your good deeds."

The man then asks "Ok, Lord, I saw that whenever am in troubles or sad times I saw two pairs of footsteps again! And this time, the second pair was beside me all along the path."

Calmly God says "Dear, whenever you were in bad situations of life, I would walk beside you, guiding you through the tough times into the good times ahead."

The man, satisfied with the reply, then looked puzzled and sad; says "But Lord, I also had a vision that whenever am in the worst of troubles and the most toughest times I have ever faced in my life, I saw only one deep pair footsteps all along the path. Why have you deserted me when I need you the most?"

Now, God looks at him lovingly and says "Oh my poor, you could see only one pair of footsteps during the worst part of your life because those belonged to mine and I was carrying you all along, on my shoulders! Remember this, I never have and will desert you, my dear" Thus saying the Almighty disappears!!!

The ultimate truth of life! Never doubt the Almighty and remember that he never ever gives-up on us!

This was narrated to me first by my friend JayPee when we were preparing for our Engg Entrance Examination.

Debt Kills !

We may not realise until it kills us. First it kills our pride, then it kills us completely.
We have to learn to live with our ability. Not everyone is born equal. Everyone is different. We can be motivated by others' success, not depressed. Piling up riches for future is going on , on one side.. Debt-ridden 'proud' people are killing themselves on other side. We have to learn to live in the NOW. Everyone is a genius in some way or other. We have to identify our power. If we dont realise our power, and try to imitate other successful persons, we become mediocres.
Why should we borrow money for the marriage of our children?
Why dont we live with what we have?
Even in the midst of poverty, one can be grateful to the Almighty that he has good health-physical and mental. What is the use of money for a person who has no health- unable to consume anything but bread and water !!!
We can find positive thoughts in any emergency. What the farmers need is counselling. The Govt should not 'cheat' anyone by false promises. The people should not live by seeing the money in others' pocket.
Debt is very very dangerous. All the loans look 'sweeter' in the beginning. You'll find the real 'taste' when you are short of money to pay the installments.
Those who are rich, spend your money wisely. Those who are financially poor, dont borrow money for living.. and life is always fair.

Are you scared? You are IN.

First there were those life insurance agents. They remind us that our life is precious . We have to take care our family even after death. So we buy a Life Insurance Policy. Our family is secured.
Then they reminded us about our health. We should have some money for our treatments when our health deteriorates all of a sudden. If all our fortunes made by us are used to treat our ailment, we are made to understand that our family will secretely first and openly then disapprove it. So inorder to save from that embarassment, we take a Health Insurance Policy. Now they reminds us about the 'extra' money we must have save oursleves from the embarassment of begging our own money from our kids. So we opted for a Pension Plan. Our life is pleasant.
Now I came to know that there are two options: either live healthy or live unhealthy. They told me that if we live with our current diet, we will soon be short of nutrients. So they helped me to stay healthy by using their food suppliments. All the protein I need a day is available in a capsule!!!
God knows what comes next!!

Independence Day musings

Lemme start with an ol' joke.
"A foreign delegation comes to India . Meets the MPs.
One: We are the Single Largest Party. We are in opposition.
Two: We are the Second Largest Party. We support the Govt from outside.
Three: We are the Third Largest Bloc. We also support the Govt from outside.
Four: I am the only MP of our party. I am a cabinet minister.
Five: I didn't win the election. I am the Prime Minister"

So Independent. Any Independent can be a Cabinet Minister !!!

Is winning a Panchayat seat a credit?
It is, if it is won as an Independent.
When will we get freedom from fear?
Hey, I'm not afraid of anything. Aiyyo !!!!

Maktoob

They say that the entire script of our life is already written . So what is our role ? Why we are taught about right and wrong ? If the events are to happen according to a written script, why should we bother? I think many of us will share this concern.
What I believe now is that, though many "milestones" or "keyframes" of our life are fixed, the path to attain those solely depends on us. We are programmed to move according to paths we chose to reach the same destination. Some paths may be curved so that we might not see the milestone directly and through the shortcut it may be very near. So I believe, this is our role in our life - to choose the right path. There are many "helpbooks" available. Occassional inputs are given by The Almighty himself. We have to listen to our heart.Though this interpretation might seem simple, it could be made even simpler by any other person. We need not believe that the "solutions" of life is entirely complex and can be understood only by "masters".
Believe in yourself and be ready to get the "inputs" from The Creator !!!

Who is Rich ?

The person who can afford to spare his richness to others is rich. A billionaire is not rich if he thinks that he is not rich enough and that he cannot afford to help the poor. The richness is applicable to every walk of life, not only limited to money. You can be rich in happiness if you can make others happy. You can be rich in politeness, arrogance, love, hatred, anything you name it.
I like to be rich in good feelings and to be a nil in hatred and hypocrisy. Not that I'm not an hypocrat. Not that I dont have hatred. Its my wish.
If we want to enjoy all the good riches for ourselves, are we rich? No. If we are able to share and spare our riches to others, then we are rich.
Let the whole world be rich in love and care..........

Friendship

Friendship is a very precious relationship.It spans across gender, religion, beliefs, countries, color, age and what not.I am fortunate to have atleast a small set of friends, my wife being one of those.Friends always help in need.No false excuses will be made.I can't forget the timely motivation of my friend to complete my studies successfully.I can't forget my friend who taught me the difference between love, lust and infatuation.Friends are really very essential to get the right advice at the right time.
May be because I come from God's own country, The Almighty is a friend of mine. He gives me invaluable inputs at innumerable occasions.
Be friendly to yourself and enjoy!!!

De-Addict

We are very keen about the amount of pesticide content in Pepsi and Coke. Some say its 20 times the approved minimum, some say its more than 200 times!!! The debate goes on. There are movements against these "imperialist" companies. Our leaders are even requesting our celebrities not to "pose" for these companies. All that said, are we so keen about the smoking, drugs and alocoholics? No. Because, these are the main revenue generators. Also they help to contain the population explosion. The excise duty on the liquors contribute the lion's share in the revenue of many of the states. The exorbitant tax on the cigarettes contributes another big sum.Though "banned", we have seen recently the easy availability and "abuse" of cocaine, heroine etc, as these things are becoming the essentials in "partying".Only if the Indian public is not healthy, the multi speciality hospitals will have "business".Otherwise how the doctors who pay more than 60 lakhs to become doctors, get their money back!! "Enjoy your life tension free, but dont forget to take this medcine" was the advice of an ayurvedic product.Its like "Go and kill someone and come back to me, I'll save you" advice by an advocate.Our agonies and sorrows are "sold" and "marketed" in the media.Disaster relief funds end up as 'ChiefMinister's" or "PrimeMinister's" relief funds.
Still, I am optimistic. Instead of going afetr non-issues, we should take part actively in the nation building. We need not distance ourselves away from anything..We should not shy away from politics.First of all lets DeAddict ourselves from our greed.. Lets share our fortunes.Lets DeAddict ourselves from intoxication..Lets be humans.
DeAddict ourselves from Smoking , Drugs and Alcoholics!!! A bright future awaits us.

Marriage - Beginning of a new Life!!!

Its the end of another life as well... the stringless life. in an age in which we feel we can change the world.. friends, humor,ecstasy,thrills...
Atleast most of the women will lose all these after marriage. and gets a new batch of things...Strings from society, house... commitments, responsibility..
Its not bad, but its a different world altogether. Husband/wife, kids, household, job, school, food, shopping....Only a minority continue their pre-marital friendships..Men are more fortunate. They are mostly free to maintain the friendships. But women take it their responsibility to avoid the friends..But the love between the couples can dilute all the other losses. Its really wonderful..Love and trust goes together. Parenting is another wonderful experience, though its not very essential to make the life beautiful. Children take us back to our childhood. They remind us the duties to our parents.

Six wonderful years and counting!!!

Why cant I be the Prime Minister?

Man, are you crazy? This post is reserved to politicians.
Then how Manmohanji became the PM?
Oh, he was posted by politicians..
I heard he was posted by Soniaji, she was not an active politician.
She was the wife of our late Prime Minister, so she is a politician.
Sorry for being dumb, can educated persons become politicians?
As a matter of fact, yes. But the general trend is not that.
Can you make it more clear, please?
We all want to become professionals and make our children also professionals. ie the jobs with social status. eg. engineer, doctor,mbas, software professional, civil service and like...there are more.. We teach our children that politics is for the unprivileged. Let them strike and you study..
So we study and become professionals. The unprivileged dont study and become politicians. And they become our leaders . They represent us to become MLAs, MPs and ministers. Is that clear?
No comments, sir. If I do they will deny me a ticket.

It is time to replace freeship with scholarship

I believe its high time that the freeship be replaced with scholarship in the professional education. Students should sustain their merit to enjoy the educationa subsidy they enjoy. Only because a student 'wrote' the entrance examination, the Govt , need not bear all his expenses for 4-5 years. Why the students who continue their education only because of the 'total promotion' of the university, be given freeship in education and get all his food and accomodation expenses met by the State Govt.
Everyone who studied in a professional college in Kerala will share my opinion, I hope. Only DESERVING students be given SUPPORT.
Students should work hard to sustain their merit. Now the Govt is trying to introduce freeship in SF colleges also. This is ridiculous. Govt should ensure the merit of the students joining these colleges. That's all. Govt can even direct the managements to give merit scholarships to the deserving candidates from SC/ST/OBC/Financially backward category. The difference between scholarships and freeships is that the scholarship cease to exist when the student fails to sustain the merit. So he works hard for that. Otherwise he will have to pay the full fees. On the other hande, freeship is a freerun, no obligation. He need not work hard. The subsidy is given as granted.
Providing false affidavit regarding the financial status should be made a criminal offence.

Gods' Own Country

But Kerala can be called as 'Dog's own country' also.
There are lot of dogs in the state.
Stray dogs, house dogs, ... dogs etc.
All these dogs bark, but only the stray dogs bite, bcoz they are not taught about this phrase "barking dogs seldom bite".

Otherwise Kerala is Gods' own country. There are lots of Gods living together. Variety Gods. Small Gods, big Gods, private Gods etc are there in Kerala.

In God's own country the man has no right to save a drowning man. It is the responsibility of the God. In other words, it is the fate of that man. We can watch it LIVE!!!

As we live in God's own country we need not work!!! God (for atheists, Govt) will provide the food, job etc. It is the responsibility of the God. We juz pray for it.

But we can even sell Gods, beliefs etc for votes. We can also kill people in the name of God.

Catchy phrase for the Lazy malayali...
God's own country....

Statutory Information: I love my state. Kerala is very beautiful.All Keralites are friendly and educated. No fun intended. I am a God fearing individual.