Eight little known facts about me
Before you accuse me of being a narcissist, blame Varnam! 
He tagged me a few weeks ago which prompted this post. Here are eight little known facts about me:
- First “ambition” was to become a train driver.
- First “job” that “paid” was as a Radio Announcer.
- I once tried to grow mushrooms (in Madhya Pradesh!).
- Back in 1989, I bought a one-way rail ticket to Gauhati and boarded the train with only Rs 150/- in my pocket…What happened next is a long story (- for another time).
- A childhood ambition was to see each and every state of India before I turned 25. By the age of 29, I had done all of them except Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram - they are still on my list of places to see (most of these states, I saw on my own, travelling alone; Travel remains a big passion).
- At various times, I have studied (and forgotten), Hindi, English, Bengali, Sanskrit, French and Japanese
- I once stayed at the Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari. http://www.vkendra.org/
- And I’m stealing this one from Varnam: I (too) had an e-mail address in 1993.
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In turn, I am tagging (in no particular order) Varahamihira, Vivekajyoti, PrudentIndian, Nita, RealityCheck, Offstumped, Apollo and Gyani.
Hi Shantanu! You have a well-written and informative blog…I shouldn’t have been so lazy and should have visited it before.
Well, will visit your blog more often now. I notice you too got the blog of the day award. Congratulations.
er…about this tag. you are the third person to tag me with this, and as I refused the others, you will understand if I don’t this time too. Reason is simple. I avoid personal stuff on my blog, unless I am making a point. in any case, this tagging thing makes me a wee bit uncomfortable, unless its an award!
Comment by Nita | August 6, 2007
Nita,
Thanks for your kind words and I do understand your position.
The “tagging” was mainly meant (at least in my mind) as drawing the attention of readers to other, interesting blogs.
I will be watching your blog with interest too.
Comment by B Shantanu | August 8, 2007
Shantanu - am enjoying you writing.
Wishing you the very best!
I can understand when you say, you need to do something that will outlast us. beautiful. I believe you and our paths will meet someday. Am on a similar journey.
Wishing you the best and please continue writing.
Arun
Comment by Arun Shanbhag | August 31, 2007
when will india stop crying over its past glory being destroyed by islamic and christian rulers and look forward to bring about real change in attitude of the ppl?
man, for a thing that happened just yesterday, you can have thousands of explanations and that too very much convincingly.. so i dont see you doing any creditable job here.. anybody can rake up ppl’s emotions particularly when its related to culture and generations.
I challenge you, can you do a single thing or can you come up with a single thought or idea that can server this country in a constructive way? man, thats difficult. but scratching on the wounds is pretty easy.
just see how many ppl are reading this hate blog of urs? all these ppl may not be as emotionally mature or intelligent as you are. they may act in the fit of rage and kill the next muslim or christian or sikh they see tomorrow. who will be resposible then?
History has seen several things. some are real bad. if u say about the moral authority u have to denounce the atrocities of muslim rulers, what have the aryans done to the indegenous population of india, the tribals when they come here? definitely they have destroyed the way of living of the tribals. how will u like it when the tribals rise one day and throw all the blame on u and want to take revenge for that? will you like that?
the only sustainable way is to allow the normalcy process to continue and let time heal the wounds.. then only there will be trust between ppl. then only our culture will be sustanable. otherwise till the end of the world you will blame on attacks we are having from outside and all beating we got and still stay in the mud pit we are right now.
if u have the capability to understand this vast country and its emotions and its aspirations, do something to improve their livelihood. and idea will be helpful, however small it may be than you hate message and this blog of urs.
Comment by touchriverian | December 17, 2007
“…so i dont see you doing any creditable job here..”
touchriverian: thanks for stating your view. I do not write this to get awards, praise, money or fame.
You are of course entitiled to your opinion but may I point out that you do not have to read this blog? …
If you don’t like it, you have the option of ignoring it.
***
“..I challenge you, can you do a single thing or can you come up with a single thought or idea that can server this country in a constructive way?”
I am not going to dignify that with a response.
If you would have bothered to read some of the other posts here, you may have had a different view.
***
As for my readers not being “as emotionally mature or intelligent as you are“, surely that is presuming too much? (thanks for the compliment though)
Finally, I believe there can be no “trust between ppl” or normaly as long as we shy away from discussing hard topics or avoid difficult questions.
In my humble opinion, burying your head in sand does not help you face the storm - but that is my view - you are free to disagree.
Comment by B Shantanu | December 18, 2007
“when will india stop crying over its past glory being destroyed by islamic and christian rulers and look forward to bring about real change in attitude of the ppl?”
Yes, india will, whenever jewish people stop spreading holocaust awareness. Awareness of of atrocities on Jews has made the present generation of Jews stronger and more productive.
You know, of course, that making people aware of the hindu holocaust does not automatically mean hindus just sit back and relax on everything else, right? So we don’t stop educating ourselves, working etc. in parallel.
But we do stop falling for the Mulla-Marxist-Macaulay propaganda that our lying textbooks (”un-saffronized” is the PC word) and west-owned media (want to do some research on who owns Star, IBN etc?) keep dishing out.
Comment by Ashish | December 19, 2007
This is the oldest Marxist trick in their hat-bag ! Blame the victims i.ie. the Hindus. Next step to destroy India : recruit the Sikhs ( and sometimes Buddhists, Jains and “tribals” ) in to ” minority ” and put them against the Hindu. How the hell can you put the Sikhs into same bed with muslims ? It is like putting the Nazis with the Jews ! This is the cruelest and most disgusting trick in Marxist hand bag !
Comment by blotter | December 26, 2007