why brickbats for FB are mega scaled as compared to stingy or absent praise for FB's help,reach and social initiatives

everyday I check my memories on FB and today I saw a post about FB introducing Safety Check in Pakistan last year ...to help people affected by the tragedy there  ....Safety Check has helped people in quite a few countries during natural and man made calamities and tragedies....

social media ...spl FB did help during so many calamities ....I hardly hear reports of the reach and change a page like HONY has thanks to FB ... or reports about ....so many social causes FB supports ....
during Startup Weekend Bahrain... I was in a team designing a free app which would get the expertise that the end users would use through crowdsourcing...not once did any of us think of the end users as being products ...
I doubt the design of FB was exploitative .... people are free to give feed back to improve FB services ....how many tech people and design people do give feed back ???
the very minute I sign up for a social media platform and post snaps ....and if anyone googles my name ...there is a chance those snaps might pop up ....I am sure we the educated should be aware of this liability when we sign up and use social media no??
why only brickbats ....
why no kudos of this scale when a social media platform got people together and helped bring about social change for the good ....

walk into a hospital and we get a permanent number that we have to furnish for each subsequent visit ...all our information is stored with them...
shop in any store in any mall and can you finish paying the bill without disclosing your phone number ????

heights was .....last year in Bahrain i got a call from a professional tution class or cram classes for my son....for spl coaching after school in math ....they were even open to coming home to teach one to one ...I asked how they got my number and very naïvely they told me the truth ...

the school had given out my personal number to this org ....i was shocked at how classified information was being misued by a Lazy teacher ...the maths teacher who was also the class teacher had 5 students in the 8th grade and had major issues with explanation and her work load ....
that is when i thought ...we pay through our nose for this expensive school and the class teacher fibs about most things ....was disliked by all her students and also gave out our personal numbers for a commission and an easy time in class ....
i will rather homeschool ...than pay so much and work full time with my child's school syllabus ...
a few months later a new Principal joined and he was very helpful and explained things very well to us about shifting and getting a school run by the same trust in India ....when explaining he mentioned ...how the rule about setting up schools in India is such that ...profits made by a school have to be channelled back into the school ...ergo the Bahrain branch was a loss making branch as compared to the other branches in the GCC ....ergo that trust was sending money from India and other places in the GCC to keep the Bahrain branch functioning .... hence he was going to stop the 8th grade from continuing with 5 students ....his observation rightly was that ....such a small class was detrimental to the students and faculty .... I thought that a wise move on his part ... I was glad that finally the school had got a sensible person at the helm ....and hoped things would improve ...
however
we as a civilisation are........moronic and tragic

Random Thought

Sigh ...Mother Nature ....the rich trample you and you torture the poor farmer ...not fair....

Indian Govt and its shenanigans ....

In just January i heard an internationally renowned author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, talking about being overwhelmed by the Great Indian Hospitality ....and the incessant namastes and headbowing, we tourists get to experience all over Jaipur during the literature festival time .... and i said to myself.....hmmm it is OK to be Indian with our weird 'Over the Top' quirks ...After all we Indians are know for our ethos of 'ATHITHI DEVO BHAVVA' for us Indians our guests are on par with God ...we treat them with Reverence and Respect 
ghanta i say ...
coz cut to 14th March 2015 ....
where the STUPID OFFICIALS posted at the Immigration Desk at Mumbai International Airport have held my mentor and friend from Startup Weekend, like a common criminal and are not letting him enter Mumbai .....
Volker Heistermann had come to help an NGO with his expertise and years of experience .... he is one person who does work like this, 24x7x365 ....travels to all parts of the world in economy class ..... endures all kinds of travel, climatic conditions and hardships and weird situations that crop in countries he travels to ....someone who takes no holidays ...a lot of his work ...spl the work he had come to India for ...is done as a favour, for which he does not charge anything ..... he is the most simple soul i have seen ....goes out of his way to help budding entrepreneurs World Over ....travelling for at least 8 months a year ....he is hardly in his home in San Fransico, .....i keep telling him how he should be getting free travel for being in the air for so many many hours a year :/
Is this your Hospitality You Dingbat Government ??????????
and the best part
The freaking Indian Govt is in CAHOOTS WITH THE AVIATION INDUSTRY ....
How ??????
by deporting the poor people who misunderstood the norms posted wrongly on the website and entering India...back to the country they travelled from ..... charging them fully for it ....
when the Root of the Problem is An ERROR on the website ....
actually when applying for passport renewal for my little one ....i realised and reported to the concerned authority ...about ....how the website is not clear in its instructions ...spl about annexure H and others concerned areas ....
My point is
Why is the Freaking Indian Govt not taking the necessary steps to rectify this small error on their website ...leading to quite a few people getting caught up by this Lacuna 
Why is the Government HAND IN GLOVE with the Aviation Industry ....such a piddly amount the concerned departments must be making due to this lacuna
You Morons at the Ministry .... Why Can't your Sad Piddly Brains Understand ....you are least aware of .... the backward and foward linkages of ..... such DESPICABLE BEHAVIOUR ...
many of these harassed people will never come back to our country ...and the word of mouth by such people ....
what is the 'Brand India'.. team doing ???????
hatching eggs i am sure

RIP ..... Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou

23/5/14

mama who is ur best friend demands my little piscean .......he needs reassurance every once in a while and he loves to repeat ......reminds me of his grandad (a piscean too)and our early morning talks ..... he needed a black tea at 6am and i wud wake up to make it and then sit with him while he sipped it ....he always started off by narrating his dreams ....such vivid dreams he had and ever so often i wud wonder which year he was talking about and if he was talking about his dream or something else ...... he always spoke in english with me ...even though i understood assamese by that time ..... i would reply very rarely ...coz i never got some part of his extensive dreams and i did not want to hurt his feelings .... it is surprising how my second child has so many of his mannerisms ....his anger, the way he sat, he eats very limited amounts of food ...... a strange child who does not like chocolates and even if the food is his favourite .....he sticks to his quota and never ever over eats !!!! i so wish he wud and become a little chubby

i always answer my little one's questions with questions ....who do i go for movies with? who do i go to restaurants with and get so thoroughly embarrassed ? who do i go shopping with ...who do i go for walks with ? by now he is bored of my questions and screams.... mama u forgot to click the food !!!!!!!! and i smile a thank you at my little imp ..... both the brothers want to help with the photo session and then my elsder one wanted the phone to see the videos i made of the football matches .... and finally i am so hungry i give in ......

yikes i had not seen the videos and suddenly realise i sound highly weird supporting my little one to convert opportunities into a goal on the field ...wil have to take off the sound in the videos ....i make a mental note to myself ..... then the elder one decides he has to pull up the little one for not converting so many opportunities into goals on the field .....and what a sorry captain the little one was ..... obviously the little one who had cried abt a weak team for 4 days was not going to take any of it and so starts another of their loud arguments......

i try the emotional black mail of .....i am tired and hate arguments when i am eating and try to sound as hurt as possible .......both the boys as usual have an attack of temporary deafness ..... lol ......most moms would understand this affliction :( i decide to change topics and ask if the they can see the sports channel well ......and luckily they decide to see an interview of the boys... who recently sang a hindi song, for the release of spiderman in india ...... ha ha ....sometimes miracles do happen chez nous too :D .....
their favourite way of spending time with me of late is .....to tell me the virtues of programs being aired on the idiot box ....they are very upset with the fact that i have given up on watching the idiot box ..... finally we watch the making of the song by sanam and samar  ..... and the sensible discussion that ensued was docile enough and i finished my food in peace yesterday afternoon ......

i do have a real bad habit of forgetting to pay the electricity bill ...and of late if the electricity goes off ....my kids are like ...mama did u forget to pay the bill !!! and i am of course not .... twice after coming back we had our electricity going off for delay in paying the bill .....they both are my local guardians and sometimes the incessant calls when i am out of the house, can be a real headache ....they need to know where i am at all times .....a sad fall out of having a worrying father, who grew up with insurgency and has major trust issues .....some of that overcautious approach to circumstances did rub off on my kids .....
spending extreme close up time with my boys, is a lesson in 'strategy' at most times !!!!!! they teach me new aspects of life and myself every day ..... :) 

10/5/14

went to drop my little one to his football coaching class .....he was supposed to go alone today as my elder one is not in a mood to go watch football if he can not play it .....moreover cousins being in his granny's place ..he refused to go ....i always thought the younger was a bold kid as when ever we go out... it is he, who gets information or even runs most errands for me ....he does max for me ....today it was so upsetting to see him wiping tears as i was taking him in the rick to the venue and quickly wiping his eyes once the bus was there ....i told his brother's batch mate to look after him and ensure that he ate at break time .... sigh .... kids always come up with something different when u least expect it ....he is a little upset at his team being weak and losing two matches and winning only one match and having a draw in the 4th match .....i felt it is all ok as long as he enjoyed, played and ran well....  

11/5/14

he did just fine yesterday .... he scored a goal and made his team win a crucial match ....he has been made captain of his team and was in seventh heaven when my friends and i went to pick him up ....he had a great time telling them both abt his match and i was glad i made him go yesterday .... he is thrilled i am gonna be there with him today .... how can i not be there ...both my kids will be getting their certificates from the ppl who run the coaching classes .... the boy who started 'happy feet' is an ex student of mine ..... life is full circle now ..... in a way :)

14/6/14

the thought that ...we need an army is the root of all defence spending ......if all the countries in the world think of peace and give it a chance ......the only ppl losing out will be the arms and ammunition industry ...by arms i mean the entire gamut of industries like war planes to drones to missiles to what have u ......can u even imagine the huge amount of money that will be free for use .....can you imagine all nations becoming welfare states !!!!!! ohh if only all the nations thought and did away with the army, navy and the air force .....