WHEN ADVISES BECAME .......TORTURE

A day comes in your life when you act foolish,weird ,the world seems falling in places and..........okk i would stop being melodramatic and narrate you a crazy"hairy"day which turned out to be torture

It just happened one fine day that i got an invitation for a conference in Goa (don't give me that look.yes it was a "conference"in Goa) and my marathon preparations started as if i was going for a kingfisher calender shoot 
The shopping,apparels,footwear was ready ,appointments for parlour were fixed and the adrenaline rush on just thinking about beaches,feni and a free bird environment was uncontrollable 
Out of the blue someone suggested that i should sport straight hair for the trip and here the story took a tragic turn .the hair presser was quite a costly affair and then one of my "Fashion conscious"friend suggested using iron for the same 
Ignoring the fact that when god created me he forgot to install a software called delicate hands,being careful and yeah you guessed it right i ended up with flicks of cauterized hair
Disaster 2: When the fashionista's suggestion gave me fizzled out,burnt hair i returneed back to the age old "Daadi maa ke nuskhe" my mom told me to apply a paste of banana,papaya and honey .I won't blame you maa.u said a paste and i just mashed them with hands and applied ,after an hour went to wash the hair and whoa the banana was badly stuck to my hair and inspite of washing it for hours it didn't come out properly .In between the long bath ,water went away and i suddenly realized i was in Delhi where water is priceless this day was not only turning out a disaster but a long one too .I rushed my maid to fetch some water from neighboring flats and she proceeded i could hear verbal abuses in her local dialect and to my utter helplessness i could not say anything
Finally managing to partially remove the banana pieces from my hair i came out from the bath only to find my dog sniffing in air trying to locate the source of fruity smell and this was only left for the day to complete
I rushed to the nearby salon unless my Goa dream turns into a nightmare where she oiled my hair and shampooed it with Sunsilk only to get that flawless,straight ,free flowing hair........and how could i miss that simple thing 
So Goa trip came to a start and i was pretty sure that my hairs looked fabulous after the three dreary episodes
Moral of the story -Don't ever follow the advises blindly,they might turn out to be torture

WHEN MUMBAI BURNT..........REMEMBERING THE HEROES OF 26/11

26/11, a date remembered in infamy, forever etched into India’s consciousness. An attack so brazen, that a country was left reeling in shock for days afterwards. But amongst the chaos, there emerged stories of incredible heroism in the face of terror, where it proved that despite the best attempts of those who would seek to destroy it, the spirit and nobility of humanity would always shine through The more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai which began on 26 November 2008 are referred to as 26/11 on the lines of 9/11 that reminds of the attack on the Twin Towers in US. The attacks lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308. Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai including at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, and the Metro Cinema. 

The whole country saw Taj burning, Kasab’s  footage at CST terminus ,brave hearts of India ranging from NSG to police forces ,an irresponsible coverage by media and the breach in intelligence where terrorists dared to attack us from front Remembering the heroes of 26/11 when Ajmal kasab is still alive in Indian jails 

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Arun Jadhav, Constable Ombale and many others. You were Heroes.. We shall never forget what you did for us till our last.... Salute to the lions!!!

“Do not come up, I will handle them", were the last words which Major Unnikrishnan told his men as he was hit by bullets while engaging well armed terrorists 

"But how then are we to remember
Those that have been torn from the fabric of our being
Those that we have come to so desperately miss
Often only once they have been taken from us?
How do we honor the ultimate sacrifice
How do we construct that eternal pedestal
Upon which our loved ones will stand,
In all of their splendor and magnificence......Sehar

A DAY TO REMEMBER..........CREATING SHARED VALUE FORUM 2012

“Life is not a matter of milestones but of moments”CSV FORUM2012 organized by FICCI and NESTLE was one such day and I had this pre realization when I got the invite for it .The whole idea of” Role of business in development” was an amazing one and the pragmatic shift from Corporate Social Responsibility to Creating shared value was felt at global level

The venue was superb, the nestle  staff were sweet enough to send a pen drive to furnish us with details of previous forums and yes the “the water blog &the water resources group” and “The moga story”

The pre event lunch was wow and yeah I donned a skirt for it J Janet Voute from Nestle explained us the way nestle was involved in CSV followed by Mr Sanjay Khajuria ,India head after which the spectators grilled him on various issues especially Maggi being a healthy snack or not for which the only thing that satisfied me was Janet’s statement ”We are not projecting Maggi as an apple and saying- a magi a day keeps a doctor away”

Amid the expert panels ,enlightening talks ,bullshit talks by politicians and representation from all walks of life I was sitting there as The CEO-NAARI and some superb topics were touched upon be it water crisis ,malnutrition ,rural development ,beyond philanthropy with budding social entrepreneurs ,social leaders ,business tycoons from all over the world sharing the stage

To talk about all the panel discussion would make the blog hell of lengthy but let me share with you some experiences that left me smiling:

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA- Social media has reached upto exemplary heights today ,realized this when I met “Peter Blackshaw-the social media leader” and his team he is a complete sweetheart ,ready to absorb ideas, a wonderful person to discuss global changes and he asked “Is half of the India owned by tata???” I smiled –thought about the reach of tatas saw the taj hotel.mineral water bottle and even the table cloth which said”A TATA product” and I replied “Kind of” .Secondly the media section didn’t comprise of conventional journalists but the bloggers and twitter celebs from all over the world

MODESTY IS THE JEWEL OF ACHIEVERS- I met many delegates there be it from Thailand or the darling Ruth from Kenya who have achieved volumes of respect in the social sector and whoa they were so modest –sharing lunch, having coffee ,Ruth invited me to Kenya, hugged me and said “Blessings little girl ,you are doing a noble work” .The one who was brilliant among panelists was #Harish Hande ,CEO – SELCO who was the man of action because he had spent his prime in working at the grassroots explaining me the perfect financial management of vegetable vendors in villages ,you remain in awe of harish when you talk to him

The day ended with some new ideas, enlightened thoughts, many visiting cards ,enhanced contact list in phone and the most important thing-friends for life

These are the days when u can sit back and say to yourself that may be life is throwing up new challenges every other day, you managed to sustain yourself strong amid the tides and as I always say “when you do something for someone without any self intrest in return ,the heart felt blessings give you a larger return some day”……………Sehar

"“A sacrifice you make today 

Will never ever be gone
A sacrifice you make today 
Will soon be passed on

A sacrifice you make today 
Will stay in many hearts
A sacrifice you make today 
Help many play their parts

A sacrifice you make today 
Will never be forgotten
A sacrifice you make today 
Will never be mistaken

A sacrifice you make today 
May even change history
A sacrifice you make today 
May be kept in someone’s memory

A sacrifice you make today 
Might light someone’s day up
A sacrifice you make today "

FOR A HERO CALLED............MALALA YOUSAFZAI ,WHO STOOD AGAINST FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER

I haven’t been this angry in a long time. Maybe I’ve never been this angry. On October 9, 2012, Taliban militants stopped a school bus filled with girls returning home from school and asked for a girl named Malala Yousafzai. Malala is a 14 year old girl from the Swat Valley in Pakistan. From the age of 11 years old, she has been an activist demanding for her right to have an education. She was forced to do that because the Taliban had been taking over Swat and blowing up girls schools and committing other atrocities. Whoever resisted, they beat them, humiliated them, shot them, beheaded them, and then left their corpses out in the streets for everyone to see. Despite all of this, Malala had the strength and courage to fight back by learning wherever she could whether it was at school or at home. Last year she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize and awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize by Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister of Pakistan at that time.

So you can understand my horror and my fury when it was reported that these Taliban monsters hunted down a 14 year old girl and shot her simply because she wanted to go to school. Thankfully she is still alive and the bullet was retrieved when she underwent surgery, but she’s still fighting for her life. I’m amazed by her bravery and shocked that there are girls who are literally risking their lives just so they can read books and learn math. I doubt that many Americans think twice about how precious an education really is while riding their bus to school. I know I never did. I never had to fight for the right to learn because it was always a given in my life.

A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, justified their actions by saying, “She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, adding that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.”

All day I’ve been cursing in my head at these disgusting creatures who dare to call themselves men. No, they’re not even human. I hate them. I actually hate them. Who does shit like this, let alone justifies it? And I’m even more frustrated at the fact that I feel completely helpless. For everything that the Taliban has done, for all the lives they have destroyed…I hope they get what’s coming to them. Something far worse than death. I thought I would only read about such brutality in history books, not the news.

Please read and watch this video by Adam B. Ellick and Irfan Ashraf about Malala and her father Ziauddin, who is a schoolteacher and a huge advocate for girls’

- My ‘Small Video Star’ Fights for Her Life

    By-lena sharef   

Some think bravery is living without fear
But that is not true
Bravery is living despite the fear
And doing what needs to be done
Even though you’re scared to death
Some can stand on the sidelines of life
And be content with what could have been but never was

That is not me
I will not look back at the end of my life
Thinking of what could have been
I vow to live my dreams no matter what
I will stand up and be counted
Even when I’m one of the few or standing all by myself
I will proudly state before God and all who see
This is who I am and what I want to be..............sehar

Sisters by blood...Friends for life

sisters are..

clothes borrowers

fit throwers

cover stealers

secret keepers

an enemy, a friend,

a conversation without end,

sassy,bossy,silly,fussy

pretty and sweet

tea partys with treats

dress up, mess up, fess up, get punished,

fights over nothing, sharer of dreams

a headache, a pain, she gets spoiled again,

a princess, a brat, she ruined my hat,

i love her, i miss her, i tease her, i kiss her,

she is my family and that means more to me

what would i do without her?

INDO CHINA WAR.......50 years ,jara yaad unhe bhi kar lo jo laut ke ghar na aaye

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Indo -China War:Excuses have been thrown into what actually went wrong-non violence,hindi -chini bhai bhai blind trust,fingers have been pointed at the then P.M Jawaharlal Nehru, Defence mininster Krishna Menon and Lt. Gen.B N Kaul 

One of the bitter ironies of life is that greatest acts of heroism and valour mostly happen when the odds are hopeless and death and defeat inevitable. Throughout history nations have always glorified such episodes in their ballads and poems, by honouring the heroes and commemorating the event. It is the common perception of these few and far in between episodes in a people's history that forge a sense of nationhood. Why else would we celebrate the deaths of a Prithviraj Chauhan or a Tipu Sultan? Or a Porus or a Shivaji who battled great armies with little more than a handful of brave comrades and immense courage? Of course we rejoice in the triumphs of an Ashoka or Chandragupta or even an Akbar but that is about greatness and not heroism. Even if it is true that the end of history is at hand, we can be sure that the annals of heroism will never cease being written. However endless these may be, the heroic stand of 'C' Company of the 13 Kumaon at Rezang La on 18 November 1962 will always be among the more glorious chapters.

The monument that stands at Chushul asks, "How can a Man die Better than facing Fearful Odds, For the Ashes of His Fathers and the Temples of His Gods."

The 1962 Chinese invasion is a tragic watershed in the military history of India. It exposed an inept Indian state both militarily and politically. But for most of the war, the fighting qualities of the Indian jawan and the young officers remained unchanged.

Indians have been conditioned to believe that we had not a ghost of a chance against China in 1962; but that's simply not true. If the Indian government had not been so blasé; if the military leadership had not been so ineffectual; if the Indian Air Force had not been grounded, ill-advisedly; well, all historic ifs, but the outcome would have been very different. China's army is a lot less than invincible, as the battle-hardened Vietnamese proved by thrashing it in 1979.

Even the timing was propitious for India, yet we fumbled.

And lets salute the martyrs who in spite of being less equipped gave the ultimate sacrifice to the nation and never gave a second thought before laying down their lives in spine chilling cold of himalayan war of 1962.......a video which truly depicts the spirit 

STAY HUNGRY ,STAY FOOLISH..................STAY MISSED:Steve Jobs

One year after losing its visionary co-founder, tech giant Apple Inc. on Friday night (Manila time) marked the first death anniversary of Steve Jobs with an emotional video tribute only viewable on its home page.

 

Visitors to Apple's website (www.apple.com) were greeted with a QuickTime video lasting nearly two 

minutes, featuring images and quotes of Jobs

If we had a dollar for every time we've heard or read, "Steve Jobs never would have ..." (fill in the blank) in the past year, we might be able to afford a share of Apple stock. Maybe two.

.

In the year since the company's co-founder died, his name has never been invoked so often by so many who think they know what Jobs would or wouldn't do or approve, from releasing a not-fully-baked Apple Maps app towaiting six weeks to patch a large security hole. The practice is almost as arrogant and self-righteous as Jobs was. But it keeps his name alive, as if he's still part of the conversation. 

And he is. Our fascination with the man described as a modern-day Thomas Edison by New Yorker writer Ken Auletta has not ebbed; if anything, it's grown larger with his passing, all too soon, at the age of 56 when the whole world was stunned for he was a leader who made a company with passion,brute force into world's most powerful technology firm and the way his 'Think Different" ad changed the whole idea of ad world so were his i-products

STEVE JOBS (1955-2011) -you would always be missed not only on the day of your death anniversary but every time when a person dares to dream,to run an idea that is termed crazy,to challenging the norms and to create the world a beautiful place.......an igrateful generation says imiss to you

"Remembering that i will be dead soon is the most important tool i have ever encountered in my life to help me make big choices in life ,because almost everything-all pride,all fears stay flat in the face of death leaving only what is truly important........STAY HUNGRY ,STAY FOOLISH"