Railway employee to the rescue

I have seen people always cribbing about the inefficiency and apathy of railway officials. Government working today has become very very efficient and this i could know only when i worked in the railways.Yet the public perception is that they are inefficient, unintelligent and never offer help.

Yet one man's actions might change this perception to some extent. I am talking about railway announcer zhende whose actions at CST on the night of attack saved a lot of lives. Read this news article from ndtv.com

" The indiscriminate firing by terrorists at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in Mumbai took many lives. However, many other lives were saved because of one ordinary Mumbaikar who announces railway timetables for a living.

It was a usual evening shift for VD Zhende, making announcements of suburban train arrivals and departures from his small office room, overlooking the CST in south Mumbai when two terrorists entered near the main line and started firing at the passengers.

VD Zhende says, "I heard a loud explosion and then I saw public running. So, we started announcing for the government railway police (GRP) and the railway protection force (RPF)."

However, the police for some reason did not appear on time.

“Only when public started coming with blood all over, I realised that there was some gunfight happening. So I started announcing that all passengers go out from platform 1 and not go towards the main line, recalls Zhende.

Bullets were fired at them .The announcer and his colleague only hid from the gunfire after the platform was completely evacuated .

Co-worker Shekhar says, “They (terrorists) were standing right in front of us for half an hour. They had huge guns and grenades.”

When the terrorists reached the suburban line, a platform generally milling with people, was already evacuated.

The presence of mind of one man saved hundreds of lives on the evening of November 26."

Hope this sensitizes the people to the humane side of the government employees to some extent atleast.

Nuggets - Human mind :)

"Foolish and clever, mean and almost saintly, diversely unhappy- they are all dear to my heart; it seems to me that i do not properly understand them and my soul is filled with an inextinguishable interest in them. Many of them whom i knew are dead; i am afraid that except me there is no one who will tell their story as i would like to do and dare not; it will seem as though such men had never existed on earth at all....."

"The people i am most fond of are those who are not quite achieved; who are not very wise, a little mad, 'possessed'. The people of sound mind have little interest for me. The achieved man, the one perfect like an umbrella,does not appeal to me. I am called and doomed, you see, to describe - and what could i say of an umbrella but that it is of no worth on a sunny day?"

"A man, slightly possessed, is not only more agreeable to me; he is altogether more plausible, more in harmony, with the general tune of life, a phenomenon, unfathomed yet, and fantastic, which makes it at the same time so confoundedly interesting."

MAXIM GORKI "Two Stories"
The Dial, 1927, pp 197-98

An imagery of chess !!

Mikhail Tal - Mad Maverick
Piercing Gaze - Used to set the board on fire
Always felt " perplexed & stunned" while analyzing his masterpieces !!

The legendary Polgar sisters !!!
Now and then :)
I have only studied Judit Polgar's games.. the others are good but i never felt inspired by any lady GM's games ....... always felt unsure of the standards

A Chess Float at the Women's World Chp currently underway
Great idea !! Never even thought of it before !



The opening ceremony continues - so spectacular !!

The picture says it all !!
GM Wang Yue (China, 21 years) coming out of the tournament hall after hanging on to a draw in a lost position against legendary 87 year old Viktor Kortchnoi !!
Tournament - Rising Stars v/s Experienced event in amsterdam, 20-30 aug 2008

The last time i saw Wang Yue was in 2003 in Malaysia. He is a very energetic player and his mouth chewing a gum moves faster than his hand during time pressure. He is a product of the chinese dragon sports culture initiative which uses military like discipline to bring up players.



Would love to have such a chess set :) Saw one such set in a store opposite Petronas towers, Malaysia ... it was around 2000 ringitts which converts to around Rs. 25000



The real way to enjoy a game of chess
Be in one !!!

No No - Why So ?

U r a real no-nonsense woman
sitting in ur no-where land
making all ur no no plans for nobody

Don't u have a heart to cheer
know u not what u r missing dear
aren't u too a bit like me?

Food for Thought !!

I had read this article in Mahindra & Mahindra office during my summers....pasted on a wall :)

Saw this circulating in mails too....nice article to share :)

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw.

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

God's Pharmacy! Amazing!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocados, Eggplants and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (mo dern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actual ly bal ance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just l ike the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Summer stint at M&M

Craving for the summers to start

Restlessly i waited so long

In line was a stint at Mahindra

The will to perform so strong

Nothing was sure or structured

Every challenge though a treat

The freedom to have a free hand

Freely flowed thoughts upbeat

Our whole lives we long for moments

When people will herald our thought

The fight is always to put across

The essence of the idea never sought

But Ideas & suggestions were valued

Passionately pursued in earnest

Always on my toes did i feel

Getting ready to tackle the next test

Good things, they say, come to an end

Can they really? Do i ask

Memories so sweet, learning’s to cherish

Craving again for a new task

Which side of your brain is dominant?

Which side of your brain is dominant?
Left or Right?
Find out here with this simple test !!!





If u see it moving
Clockwise – u r right brained
Anti-clockwise – u r left brained

Since we use both sides of the brain, if we concentrate & use the other side of the brain, we will be able to see the figure moving in the opposite direction

I am right brained :) When i tried to think of the solution to some logic puzzle, the figure started moving anti-clockwise....but after that again clock-wise. It is said that more number of people see the figure anti-clockwise.

Left Brain Functions	Right Brain Functions
Uses Logic	Uses feeling
Detail Oriented	"big picture" oriented
Facts Rule	imagination rules
Words & Language	symbols and images
Present & Past	present and future
Math & science	philosophy & religion
Can comprehend	can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
Knowing	believes
acknowledges	appreciates
Order/pattern perception	spatial perception
Knows object name	knows object function
Reality based	fantasy based
Forms strategies	presents possibilities
practical	impetuous
safe	risk taking