Z: Z marks the end of the A to Z Challenge...

Letter 'Z' is not just the last letter of the English alphabet. It also marks the end of my A to Z Challenge 2014 journey.

I have a strange mixed feeling today- I feel sad...that it's gonna be over for this year..sob sob...yet I must say I've enjoyed it to the hilt overall!

I thank @ArleeBird and his entire team! And so many thanks to each of the wonderful bloggers who read my posts and encouraged me to write more! No wonder my blog views have shot up by leaps and bounds and I am so overjoyed!!

I got a unique palindrome number too in the course of my A to Z Challenge journey: 42424!! It's only Lord Jagannath's grace that this happened while I invoked the Lord's world-famous holy, colourful and unique festivals Rath Yatra and Nabakalebar in Puri, Odisha, India! :D

Screenshot of my blog!

So here is a recap of my A to Z Challenge journey 2014! Those who missed out, may please click and discover all that I had to blog about in a very productive month for blogging- April 2014!!

Y: Yahoo!

We generally associate 'Yahoo' with the website and dot com company.

Yet do you know that there's a famous song 'Yahoooooooo' by evergreen Indian Bollywood actor of yester-years: Shammi Kapoor?!

X: X is who?!

Maths sums always had 'X had blah blah, calculate his speed or blah blah' & algebra had 'blah blah blah. Find x'. We also tend to name people we do not know as X, Y or Z!

So what's the fascination with X about?! The thing is that the X-factor about X is just this- in our thinking, anything unknown becomes 'X'!!

W: Won Sunshine Blog Award! Thanks Namrata! :)

I'm so honoured to receive my second blog award ever, the 'Sunshine Blog Award' from Namrata, my very sweet blogger friend! She has such a fabulous blog herself! :) Thanks so much Namrata for your kind consideration and showering blog love !!





I first learnt about Sunshine Award from Namrata only! So as a proud recipient of this award, I need to do the following things and so should others who receive this from me!

V: Vain

I showed the mirror on your face,

How you cringed in disgrace.

Yet you never will acknowledge it,

For you are the most vain...!

U: Under terror threat::Rath Yatra & Nabakalebar Festivals at Puri, Odisha

Terrorists have the aim of inflicting maximum damage using minimum equipment. The more the people gathered at a place, the better the target becomes to inflict maximum human casualties. Any great festival, congregation becomes a natural target.

Source

It's indeed unfortunate that our world-famous annual Rath Yatra this year (almost 10 Lakh people congregate at single place- Bada Danda of Puri) and Nabakalebar Festival (to be held in 2015 and expected to be attended by a whopping 50 Lakh Jagannath devotees as the Lord will take on a new body)

T: Tihar

Did you know all this?!

• Tihar Jail (TJ) is the largest jail complex in South Asia, located in 'Tihar village', New Delhi. 
• It is also called 'Tihar Ashram' as correctional activities aim to transform prisoners to good citizens who can join society again.
• Four of its inmates have written a book of poems called 'Tinka Tinka Tihar' which was released recently.
• It has its own TJ FM channel and RJs are creative jail inmates, some of whom have even got jobs outside after their release!
• It has its own rock band who sing and compose wonderful original songs! Watch the video here:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCyVtC2idI
• Inmates make several products which are sold at various outlets of Delhi including bakery, bags, accessories, pickles, chips and lots more!

S: See the Sea

See the Sea,

Vast, huge,

Overwhelming.

Propping up the Sun,

Gobbling it too.

Guardian of islands,

Beautiful blue.

R: Rigging in Indian Elections 2014

Rigging in elections means using fraudulent practices during voting process to garner votes by any party. This has been sadly seen amply in Odisha's elections this time. Even in several other states of India also this has been seen, which puts a big question mark on the 'free and fair conduct of elections' in the world's largest democracy. And we are still half way to go for the end of elections.

A tv media channel has captured how on April 17, a group of men entered a polling booth in Aul Assembly Constituency of Kendrapara district of Odisha and forced people to cast the vote as per their order or simply they took over voting. This is a shameful activity and culprits must be nabbed and jailed immediately. To whichever political party they belong, the public should ask for answers and should never vote any party which spreads such hooliganism. Link is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cPhW6xL2Lw&feature=youtu.be

Also recent violence in Kendrapara over a four-wheeler having many EVMs and parked outside a BDO's house was terrible. A person died and many others are seriously injured. Transferring EVMs to strong-rooms has also been done without police security, casting wide doubts over their exposure to tampering. 

Q: Queen

Source

I loved watching the Bollywood movie 'Queen' starring Kangana Ranaut as the soul of the movie. To top it all, this movie was justifiably released on International Women's Day and I watched it that day itself! The movie shows how a timid yet super-nice woman from a small place in India discovers herself and enjoys her liberation after going on her honeymoon alone to Paris and Amsterdam, as her fiance refused to marry her just the day before marriage.

P: Power

Trying to put up a facade,

Of confidence,

Of power.

Alas! It all shows through!

No use of a facade anymore,

You've been peeled!

O: Odisha voted today in its 2nd phase!

 

The beautiful state of Odisha voted today for filling up 11 Lok Sabha seats and 77 Assembly seats. Earlier, voting for 10 Lok Sabha seats and 70 Assembly seats had been completed. The Northern and Coastal districts of Odisha have voted today. News reports say that 70% voter turn-out was witnessed- quite high compared to states like Rajasthan, Karnataka etc.

I voted too from Bhubaneswar Central constituency. Felt great!

N: No Confusion

Source

No confusion,

Decide on one choice,

And pursue it doggedly.

No nonsense,

Only clear thoughts,

To propel you ahead.

M: Meenamma & Rahul's Thangabali scene!

This is my FAVORITE comedy scene from any movie ever! Whenever this comes on TV, I NEVER miss it!

So today you all must meet Meenamma (Deepika Padukone) and Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) - two absolutely adorable characters from two contrasting sides of India who meet by fortune on 'Chennai Express'! As they flee their enemies they land up at a cosy Tamil town.

L: Loved reading this book~ Prisoner, Jailor, Prime Minister by Tabrik C!

Source

This is the first political thriller I’ve read in my life and this page-turner held my rapt attention till I read the very last page! Prisoner, Jailor, Prime Minister is a racy political story with many twists and turns. It is about Harvard-educated Siddhartha Tagore, who catapults into political centrestage after being spotted by ‘Lok Neta’ in New York, years after his illustrious father’s demise. Tagore is also a rare musical genius- combining the talents of Mozart and Tansen! He is the first rock-star Prime Minister of India and a true Tibet-lover with strong views against China and Pakistan. He is one whom Providence saves from an assassination attempt at his loved place- Tibet, while he was Leader of Opposition. In fact how this alongwith Lok Neta’s sudden death gets him to enter 7 RCR makes for a great political story. Tagore is a firm Constitution protector and will do anything it takes to stop the country being sabotaged by his right-wing opponents- who want a radical Constitutional change.

K: Killer Instinct

Source

My blogger friend Rakesh Mondal recently figured out that I was blogging about each succeeding letter of English Alphabet each day. Obviously he was unaware of A to Z Blogging Challenge! Anyway yesterday while commenting on my post J:Jealousy he gave a nice suggestion for letter 'K'- Killer Instinct! Thanks Rakesh! So I've accepted your suggestion and my thoughts on 'Killer Instinct' are below:

What is 'Killer Instinct'?

J: Jealousy

Source

 Jealousy is a good thing. Just that in movies they show the bad form of it- where someone kills the other or destroys the other. Even in real life, the negative connotation is held closer to heart. Often the destructive human nature takes over when faced with this overpowering emotion of jealousy.

But then we must realise that jealousy is actually a positive emotion and if we channelise it positively, we can do wonders in our life. We just need to forget focusing on the person who makes us jealous. Instead we need to focus on ourselves due to the fire raging courtesy jealousy! Once that fire urges us to achieve the hitherto impossible and surpass our own potential, then jealousy indeed becomes the positive factor of our life! It can make us win and how!

Thank God for jealousy. How else would some great things be achieved! How else would humankind have surpassed the 'me too' syndrome in the quest to move ahead of competitors! How else would humankind race towards ever greater progress?!

So, just like - "Daag achche hain" [Stains are good!], a popular ad campaign by a leading washing powder company in India, I'll also say - "JEALOUSY IS GOOD!"

Just channelise it properly in your lives and see how your lives transform!



**This is my post for letter 'J' of the A to Z Challenge 2014. I thought of writing a free write on 'Jealousy'! :)

I: India

Source

In a mood to win,

I surge ahead,

Dedicated to my Mother,

Is my every drop of sweat.

Her potential be achieved,

Her millions progress,

Her greenery saved,

Her wildlife in peace rest..

H: Hosanna

Source

 What does 'Hosanna' mean? I've often wondered about it. Especially when I remember the song:

"Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King of Kings!!"

[with each Sing Hosanna gliding to a higher pitch! :)]

G: Great Expectations

Source

 I

----

Great Expectations,

They have from me.

Just that my time has not come,

So they look down upon me with a frown.

F: Failure vs Winning

Source

To fail is to feel bad.

To win is to convert this feeling,

Into a burning fire,

Of desire,

To achieve that elusive goal,

To make it elusive no more.

E: Elegance Etcetera

Source

I've decided to speed-blog for letter 'E'. Idea is to write as many words as I can with 'E'. My laptop shows time as 19:39 and I'll stop exactly at 19:44. So here I start!

Elegance                                                                            
Etcetera
Engineer
Enliven
Encourage

#DoRight:: Be a Do-Gooder for Dooars XI

Hockey is India's national game. Still the story of how badly India has deteriorated in hockey is a very sad one indeed. India which won the admiration of the world by winning a record consecutive six golds in Hockey at Olympics from 1928 to 1956, following it up with another two golds in 1964 and 1980, merely qualified in Men's Hockey at 2012 London Olympics after a long 8 years gap! Adding fuel to the fire, it finished last.

Similar stories plague almost every other team sport in India (exceptions like Kabaddi exist, which is a sub-continental sport). India's Cricket craziness/obsession has zapped out all performance from most other sports.

And what about Football? That lovely team game played by 209 countries all over the world and having far more spectators than Cricket or indeed any other sport in the world?!

Don't even ask!

Yes- 1.2 billion people, enough grounds to kick a football around (though decreasing now especially around cities due to encroachments), least infrastructure needed for this most common team sport- yet our Indian Football Team ranks 152 amongst 209 countries in FIFA rankings of March 2014!

And that's men's football.

Indian women's football team hovers around a much better 50th rank out of 130 countries. That's why they can teach the men's team some good lessons inspite of all the difficulties they undergo to pursue their dream.

China and perpetual Communism?

“China cannot copy the political system or development model of other countries because it would not fit us and it might even lead to catastrophic consequences.” Xi Jinping, Chinese President, has said this recently in Europe. Though considering China's history and evolution, he is right to an extent, still there is a lot to be debated about his view trying to justify the current system and to perpetuate it. 

Source

My analysis is as below:

China was ruled by various emperors till 1912. Then under Sun Yat Sen's leadership, Republic of China was set up based on principles of democracy and nationalism. This also failed as after his death, Kuomintang Party split and efficient leadership lacked. Also, till World War II parts of China were continuously invaded by imperial powers. In the vast country of China, people were starving and backward. So, communism could make strong inroads into China.

Befriending a Tiger

I didn't know how far I had come inside the forest.

Being a top implementer of development schemes, the Naxals had kidnapped me to secure release of their comrades.

I had escaped providentially in the pitch dark night. I had no idea where I was.

Still I kept going as far as I could. As fast as I could. For I knew they would be on my heels the moment they woke up from their tired slumber.

April 1st is #UtkalaDibasa!

April 1st happens to be a very special day for over 5 Crore (50 million) people belonging to the eastern state of Odisha in India. This was the day - 1st April 1936- that Odisha was born as a state. Odisha's people are also called Odias. Today Odias are dispersed across India and the world, in this increasingly globalised era and all celebrate #UtkalaDibasa or Odisha Day with great joy and reverence. Odia is the language of the people of Odisha. This ancient, rich and great language has recently been announced as the Sixth Classical Language of India and the very first Indo-Aryan language which has been granted this highly esteemed status. Odissi is the classical dance of Odisha- one of the most subtle, beautiful, graceful dance forms of India.

On auspicious #UtkalaDibasa I convey my best wishes to all Odia brothers and sisters..Source

Odisha since historical times has had several names- Udra Desa, Kalinga, Utkala, Odisha. Hence April 1st is popularly called Utkala Dibasa : 'Utkala' name was popular during 19th and early 20th centuries when Odia freedom fighters took up the cause, and 'Dibasa' means Day. Famous patriotic song written by Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra 'Bande Utkala Janani' was made the state anthem upon Utkala's independence on April 1st, 1936. For full lyrics, click here.