Cheating is not allowed

Today, I saw an interesting photograph in a the Hindustan Times newspaper. The students of a school in Kohlapur, Maharashtra, India are being asked to leave their shoes outside the examination hall in an attempt to curb cheating. Obviously, students must be carrying tips/answers written on small slips (फररहा) of paper in their shoes.

When I was in school, I witnessed student as young as in Grade 2 cheating in examinations. The most common technique of taking tips/notes inside the examination hall was inside the pencil/geometry box. Students could easily look at the tips hidden in those boxes without being caught. Of course, people used to write answers on their hands and legs hidden under their clothes. Another popular technique was to hide pocket/guide books in toilets and go there to look for answers. Some students used to deploy their friends outside the school who would write down the answers, wrap it around a small stone and through it inside the examination hall. Well, now students have cell phones to communicate, as was shown in the Munna Bhai MBBS movie.

When I was in high school, there was a student in my class who had very long neck. His roll number was one less than mine, so he was always seated in front me. While facing forward, he could somehow bend his neck and read answers from my answer sheets! Surprisingly, he was never caught by teachers.

These days, so much of material is available on the Internet that it becomes very easy to pickup available material and present to the teacher as original. Sometimes students copy ideas and other times, they copy text word for word. This kind of cheating has a name -- plagiarism. For more information, visit http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Plagiarism_and_the_Internet. To counter plagiarism, commercial software are available that the school, university or student may use to check if the work is original.

Why do students cheat in exams and/or assignments? There are several reasons. Most students feel that is okay as almost everyone is doing it, and they will never be caught. May be, they have too much study load that they don't have enough time to do the original work, or the teachers expect exceptionally high quality work from students.

When I used to study in Pusa Polytechnic, we were asked to buy emgineering books that were written by the same lecturers who used to teach us. Those books were basically copy of classic books written by Frederick Emmonos Terman (1900 - 1982) and J D Ryder. Now, that's a different kind of plagiarism!

Positive Effects of Financial Slowdown

The financial slowdown, that started in USA and spread to the entire world is having some positive benefits for Americans. First, they now understand that their wealth cannot continue to grow for ever. Second, they need to save for the rainy days. Americans used to save close to none prior to 2008. The US personal saving rate that was 0% in 2007, improved to 1.7% in January - November 2008, and jumped to 3.6% in December 2008. This happened as more workers were laid off, house prices plunged and the stock market tanked. If Americans save some money, this will be good for them, but may not so good if the US Financial think tank wants people to spend more so that the economy may get out of recession.

I remember a story how USA got out of recession last time. Well, long long ago, USA was in deep depression. Almost all industries, including steel, automobiles and cement closed down. No factories were running. No one was buying cars. One day, one man named Peter goes to a car dealership and tells the manager that he wants to buy car. The manager jumped with joy, but there was no car in the dealer's showroom. So, the dealership's manager tells Peter that he would have to wait as he needs to place an order for the car with the car manufacturer. The manager takes down Peter's address and tells him that he would contact him as soon as the car becomes available.

The car dealership calls the car factory and places an order for 10 cars, hoping more orders would follow. However, the car factory does not have steel to make cars. So they order steel for 1000 cars from a Steel Mill. The Steel Mill needs coal. So they order coal, and so on. In the end, coal mills, steel mills, car factories -- every sector of the economy starts working and the country comes out of recession, and the car is delivered to the car dealership. The Car factory feels so happy that they decide to give the car to Peter, who placed the first car order and helped bring the country out of recession, as a gift for free.

The Manager of the car dealership goes to Peter's house. Peter's mother opens the door. When the manager asks for Peter, her mother gets a little worried. She tells the manager that her son is mentally retarded and does not know what he is doing, and requests to please excuse him if he has done anything wrong. When the Manager tells Peter's mother that her mentally retarded son has brought the country out of recession, she does not understand anything and continues to stare at the manager.

इंडिया India Rising

Everyone talks about the rise of India during the last few years. The rise is particularly visible in the middle class people living in the metro and large cities. However, like China, rising salaries, opportunities and improved standard of living is confined only to large cities, and has not trickled down to the smaller cities and rural areas, where the majority of India lives. After independence in 1947, when Nehru started building huge public-sector companies, he also though that the prosperity will trickle down to the entire country; however, it did not happen. Of course, one happy development that has spread to the entire country is reliable communication, which is perhaps the cheapest in the world. Even sadhus use cellphones these days!



Depending on whom you ask, you would get different views about the rise of India. BBC's "The Changing World" broadcasted a very interesting four-part detailed documentary about India's booming economy. This program, which was originally aired in February 2007 is available for listening. Each part is about 25 minutes long.

Part I : Changing Life in Large Cities

A new materialism and consumerism is an obvious sign of India ’s growing middle class -- Shopping Malls, Luxury Apartments, Cars, Hotels... Earlier India used to spiritually rich, but materially very poor. Now, it’s a very different story. Click to listen...

Part II: India that has been Left Out

This part focuses on the Indian state of Bihar, India's Heart of Darkness, left out of India ’s economic revolution. Click to listen...

Part III: India's Changing Entertainment Industry.

Click to listen...

Part IV: Environment and Social Cost of the Booming Economy

Click to listen...

Our Trip to Vrindavan and Agra

During my previous visit to New Delhi, India, my wife's cousin Vandana and her husband Sunil organised a two day trip to Vrindavan and Agra. In all, there were nine pople in the group, including my wife Ritu (Savita) and my sons Ankur and Anuj. We hired a van and started the trip around 10 am from Vandana and Sunil's residence in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi on a sunny winter day in December. At the border of Haryana and UP, we were held up for some time due to some confusion about the permit the driver of the van was carrying. While we were waiting for the permit issue to be resolved, a bandarwala (monkey performer) appeared and provided some entertainment. 

Vrindavan 

We reached the town of Vrindavan in the afternoon. Vrindavan is popular for old Hindu temples, the most famous being the Banke Bihari temple. The moment we entered Vrindavan, several tough looking young man moved in the front of our van and tried to force us to accept one of them as a guide. We had tough time telling them that we don't need their services. Vrindavan is an old town with narrow streets. While trying to reach the Ranganath temple, we ended up on a street that was so norrow that on several occasions, I had to get down to puch bicyles, rickshaws and even cows aside to let our van move forward. In the evening, we visited the famous Banke Bihari temple. 

The temple is sitauted in a narrow lane just three metres wide. The atmosphere in and around the temple was so different that we felt that we were in a different world. It appears that temple complex lives in the previous century. Before proceeding to Agra, we visited the ISKCON temple built by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement. This beautiful temple made of white marble is loacted at the outskirts of Vrindavan. Don't forget to visit this temple if visit Vrindavan. 

Agra

We reached Agra at night and checked in a hotel. Next day, after having breakfast in the hotel we proceeded toward Taj Mahal around 10.30 am. To reduce the effect of vehicle pollution, carbon-dioxide emitting vehicles are not allowed to go near Taj Mahal. After parking our van about 1 kilometer from Taj Mahal, one person offered to take us to Taj Mahan in his battery-operated van for very reasonable price. We gladly hopped into his van. While taking us toward Taj Mahal, that person told us that the monument opens at 11 am, so instead of waiting at the gate, he would take us to a UP Government handicrafts shop for our benefit. We believed in what he told and did significant shopping at that shop. Later we learnt that Taj Mahal opens in the morning at sunrise and that shop, which did not not belong to the UP Government sold us stuff at nearly double the market rates. 

Well, after finishing the shopping, that battery van driver did take us to Taj Mahal. This was my third visit to Taj Mahal, but I felt am witnessing the world's wonder for the first time. We were lucky that it was a beautiful bright sunny day. We spent a few hours in the Taj Mahal complex and then proceeded toward Delhi. On the way back to New Delhi, we stopped briefly at Fatehpur Sikri, another historical city that has the famous Buland Darwala. We reached our past mid-night after having two fun-filled days. 

Note: Please see the photo album for a few photographs from our trip. 

I Saved $2.75

Today I saved $2.75.

I usually go to my office by car; however, today I gave the car to my son, Ankur, who had to reach his University at 8 a.m. The bus ride to his University is close to two hours, whereas, my office being just 8 kms away, it takes much less. Since the weather was quite cold (about -15 degrees Celsius), my wife asked me to give the car to Ankur, and instead go to office by bus. While going to her office, she dropped me at the bus stop. My office is about 5 KMs from that point. Instead of taking the bus, I decided to walk to my office.

The weather was cold, but it did not feel so cold as the sun was shining. I had some difficulty walking on the snow-covered, frozen sidewalks (footpaths), which were quite slippery. I had to walk a bit slow to avoid falling. After walking about two kilometres, the sidewalks became snow-cleared, and I could walk easily. The journey took about 50 minutes, and I saved $2.75, the cost of a bus ticket. Besides that, I got free exercise and lots of morning fresh air. Instead of feeling tired, I felt refreshed on reaching my office.

During lunch time, I usually walk to a shopping centre to do my banking or buy some grocery. The shopping centre is about a kilometre away. I am bit surprised to find an old lady, about 70 years old, walking the route every day, no matter whether it is raining or snowing. My uncle once told me that he walked a distance of about 8 kilometres every day for several years in hot as well as cold (and very cold) weather of Toronto. Regular walking made him strong. He is now 74 years old and in perfect health.

I remember another incident from 1980. I used to work in DCM Data Products in New Delhi, and my friend, Anil Kumar used to work close by. We were entitled to go by Taxi and claim the fare from the office when were asked to go for official work outside the office. Most employees used to go by TSR (Three-wheelers Scooter Rickshaw) and claim Taxi fare to make some pocket money. One day, Anil Kumar told me that when he is asked by his office to go to close by places on official duty, he walks and claims the Taxi fare!

Walking is good for health. Keep walking.

Bihar Driving License Application Form

There are not many Taxalis in the world. According to one estimate, they are probably just a few hundred left in world. Most of Taxalis are settled in India, USA and Canada. Though World Wildlife Fund has not declared them an endangered species, they are considering to take some concrete action in the near future. Well, one on my past time is to Google Taxalis on the web. And one day, I found an interesting post about Bihar Driving License Form by Megha Taxali (Full disclosure: I personally don't know Megha). Here is what Megha posted. (I hope it won't offend anybody.)

DRIVING LICENSE APPLIKASON PHOROM

NOTE: If you dot knows, please copy from another applikason phorom. For phurthar instructions, see bottom applikason.
Please do not soot the person at the applikason kounter. He will give you the licen.

1. Last name:
(_) Yadav
(_) Sinha
(_) Pandey
(_) Misra
(_) Dot no
(Check karet box)

2. Phrist name:
(_) Ramprasad
(_) Lakhan
(_) Sivprasad
(_) Jamnaprasad
(_) Dot no
(Check karet box)

3. Age:
(_) Less than phipty
(_) Greater than phipty
(_) Dot no
(Check karet box)

4. Sex:
____ (M)
____ (F)
____ not sure
____ not applicable

5. Chappal Size:
____ Lepht
____ Right

6. Occupason:
(_) Politison
(_) Doodhwala
(_) Pehelwaan
(_) Housewife
(_) Un-employed
(Check karet box)

7. Number of children libing in the household: ___

8. Number that are yours: ___

9. Mother name: _______________________

10. Phather Name: ____________________ (If not no, leave blank)

11. Ejjucason: 1 2 3 4 (Circle highest class attended)

12. Dental rekard:
(_) Ellow
(_) Berownish-ellow
(_) Berown
(_) Belack
(_) Others - Give egjhakt color
(Check karet box)

Your thumb imparesson (If you are copying from another applikason pharom, please do not copy thumb imparession also. Please provide your own thumb imparession.)

PELEASE DO NOT USE PHINGERS OF YOUR LEGS.

Use thumb on your lepht hand only. If you dont have lepht hand, use your thumb on right hand. If you do not have right hand, use thumb on lepht hand.

NOTE - IF YOU DONT HAVE BOTH HANDS, YOU CANNOT DRIVE. WE ARE VARY ISTRICT ABOUT THIS

Are Credit Cards Good or Bad?

It depends...

Whether a credit card is good or bad for you depends on your situation and how you handle the monthly credit card statement. Basically, there are two types of credit card customers – first those who payoff their entire monthly credit card statement balance every month, and second those who don’t pay the complete balance (and carry forward the balance to the next month).

You Payoff Your Entire Monthly Balance

If you payoff the entire balance on your credit card statement, the credit card should be good for you (though may not be good for the credit card company). You typically enjoy interest-free purchases during the month and get additional grace period of two-three weeks to payoff the balance after you receive the monthly statement. Depending on the type of credit card, you may get additional benefits, such as free airline tickets, discounts or even cash back. Just to give an example, during 1998-2003, TD GM Visa card gave me a credit equal to 5% of my total purchases towards purchase of a new GM vehicle. In 2003, when I purchased a GM car, I ended up getting a discount of about $1,800 due to purchases on my TD GM Visa card. Now I have a cash back card that gives me 1% of my net purchases on the card back to me at the end of the year. Besides, some credit card may provide additional benefits, such as free insurance on rental cars, extended warranties and common carrier accident insurance.

You Don’t Payoff the Complete Credit Card Balance

If you don’t payoff the complete credit card balance every month, you don’t get the privilege of interest-free purchases. The credit card company starts changing you interest from the day the transaction is posted to your account. Besides, you don’t get any interest-free grace period to make the payment after you receive your monthly statement. Now the interest the credit card company charges depends on various factors, such as the type of the card, issuing company, your credit history and past payment record. In any case, the interest rate you pay to the credit card company is huge, typically in the range of 18%-50% per annum or about 1.5% to 4% per month.

On your credit card statements, you see two numbers – balance due and minimum payment due. For example, the balance due could be $1000 and minimum payment due could be $20 or $30 (typically 2 to 3% of the balance or $10, whichever is more). As long as you continue to make the minimum payment, the credit card company will continue to allow you to make additional purchases on the credit card. But, do you have any idea how much time will it take to payoff the balance if you make just the minimum payments every month. Let us consider that you make a purchase of $1000 on your credit card that charges 30% interest per annum and the minimum payment is 3% of the outstanding balance or $10, whichever is more. If you just make the minimum payment every month, it will take 292 months (24 years and 4 months) to completely payoff the $1,000 purchase. In that time, you would also pay $3,726.01 in interest! Paying $3,726.01 in interest just for the convenience of buying something when you don’t have ready cash is huge price!

The moral of the story is that if you can’t payoff the complete balance at the end of the month, you should cut your credit cards in two. If you carry balance on your credit cards, you should try to payoff the balance as soon as possible (and don’t buy anything on that credit card until the balance is paid in full.) Any one, particularly students, who has no regular income, should never get a credit card. On the other hand, if you have regular income and are confident that you can completely payoff your credit card balance at the end of the month, it is okay to use credit card, however, you should always remember your limit.

It is not always possible to go completely credit card free. For instance, many hotels and rental car companies won’t make a booking or handover the keys of the car/hotel room without first having a valid credit card. To take care of such situations, or to make an online purchase, there is no harm to keep a low-limit credit card. But, always remember your limit!

Note: It is estimated that in USA, about 40% card holders carry balance. In 2008, the average credit card balance was $11,000, which was about $4,000 15 years ago. Figures for Canada are quite similar to those for USA.

Visit to Shri Ram Sharnam, Toronto

Like most Canadians of Indian origin living in Canada, we too usually visit temples once a week, normally on the Sunday morning. (Six days for me, one day for God!) Our temple, called Shri Ram Sharnam is located about 30 kilometres from our home and it takes us about 45 minutes to reach there on the Sunday morning when the traffic on the roads is very light. Shri Ram Sharnam looks quite different from a typical Hindu temple, as you won't find statues of the Hindu gods and goddesses. On a typical Sunday morning, about 25 to 50 people come to Shri Ram Sharnam. These days, Swami Eknaamdev Ji Maharaj from Kurukshetra, India comes to the temple every Sunday, therefore, the attendance is on the higher side. The program, which starts at 10am and ends around 12pm, is quite predictive — Amritvaani sung for about 45 minutes followed by bhajans. Most people sing along with the lead singers, however, I am usually not able to do so. My mind starts questioning the validity of quickly singing the same rhymes every week without even bothering to stop for moment to understand what is being sung. Within no time, my mind starts wandering all over the planet and then stops at the wall-clock to check how much time is still left. When the program ends, people have parsaad, tea and light snack. Unless other Hindu and Sikh temples in Toronto, where free lunch is served every Sunday afternoon, Shri Ramsharnam devotees get lunch only once in a blue moon.

Shri Ram Sharnam Temple, Toronto

Sometimes I wonder — why do people visit temples? When I ask this question, I get all sort of reasosns, such as

• We must go to temple, at least once in week.
• To do darshan of bhagwan.
• To find peace/happiness.
• To see ancient Indian history and arctitecture.
• This is how we can teach Hinduisum to our chidren.
• Social gathering — to meet our friends and realtives.
• Don't need to cook lunch on Sunday (particularly applicable in Canada/USA)

I heard the most interesting reason for going to temple from a barber, Haridwari Lal in Moti Bagh, New Delhi in 1972. While I was waiting for my turn for haircut in his shop, Haridwari Lal, who was around 55 at that time told his client that when he was young in his teens, he used to go to temple almost everyday in the evening because a lot of young girls used to visit temple around that time!

Is going to temple the only way to find God? As per Hindu believe, God is everywhere (kan kan mein bhagwan), so one should be able find God everywhere, in every person, including your wife/husband and parents. One can find find God while singing/dancing in temples, but also while painting a picture, writing a song/poem, creating music, raising children, doing work in a factory or growing food in fields. As God has created this world, when we do something creative, it becomes easy to see God in that creation. If Kabir can see God while weaving cloth, why can't we do the same while doing our work?

School Life -- Now and Then

My younger son, Anuj is in Grade 12. These days, he is trying his best to maintain or improve his marks so that he may get admission in the university of his choice. His school is about 3.5 Kms from our home. I drop him at his school in the morning around 8.30 am in my car while going to my office. After finishing his school, he goes to Milliken Mills Public Library and studies there until 9 pm when I pick him up and bring back home. These days, competition to get in a good university has become quite tough as so many Indian, Chinese, Sri Lankan and Pakistani families live in Toronto and surrounding areas and they want their children to excel in higher studies.

When I look back at my school life in Moti Bagh, it is in total contrast to the school life in Canada. My school was just across the road from our home. I would run to the school after hearing the first school bell. And, in the afternoon, when the school finishes, I would be at home before the bell stops ringing. After eating the lunch, I would quickly finish whatever home work was assigned by the teachers, and then its playtime in evening. I don't remember if I studied long hours even during examination days, at least not until in the last year in the school. There were hardly any extra-curricular activities in the school. The school library was nothing more than a show-piece. We used to have one library period of 40 minutes once a week when our class could visit the library. Even during that period, we were only supposed to sit quietly on the floor; at the most one student used to read a story book to the class. We were never encouraged to look at the books or get a book on loan for reading. For sports, we were assigned a peroid once a week and a class of 40 students would just kick a soccer ball in any direction — there was no concept of teams. Most of time during those soccer adventres, I would not get a chance to touch my foot to the ball even once!

The teachers in our sarkari (Government) schools were generally good in teaching the syllabus. However, there was never any discussion or counselling about what a student could do after finishing the school. Since we lived in a typical babu colony, there was no guidance even from neighbours — all of them were clerks in Central Government Ministries. Many students and their parents did not have clear idea about the true cost of studying a particular course, and if they could get loan for higher studies. (There was no Internet in those days! ) I think, because of the lack of information on the part of the students as well as their parents, some of the students could not have reached their potential.

Now let me go back to my last year in school. As I mentioned earlier, I just used to finish the home work and go to bed by about 9.30 pm. One day, my classmate Rajan, asked me if I studied until 11 pm or 12 am. I told him that I go to sleep at 9.30 pm — that all. He was surprised by my answer and suggested me that I should study a few hours during night, preferably until midnight or even later. Thanks to Rajan, I started studying for one hour in the night, which I slowly increased to two and half hours, and this helped to improve my marks in the final examination.

Why are we getting taller?

Have you noticed that generally children are taller than their parents? According to an article published in Scientific American, in the last 150 years, the average height of people in industrialised countries has increased by about 10 cms or about four inches. The change could be due to several reasons, such as better food we eat, evolution and changes to our genes. All these reasons appear valid; however, what I have noticed among my family cannot be explained by these reasons. Most of my cousins are about 5 feet 2-6 inches tall and their wives are close to 5 feet 1-3 inches tall. However, all their children are over 6 feet tall! So much of evolution in one generation! What could be the reason for this sudden increase in height? Is it due to the genetically modified food and meat we eat? Only God knows what kind of hormones, steroids and other stuff the cattle grower feed to their animals so that these animals grow at the fastest possible rate. And when we eat that meat (or for that matter even vegetables), it is bound to affect us. In this context, you would recall that the mad-cow disease that first attacked cows also started affecting people who ate from the affected animals.

What are your views on this topic?

107 Years Old and Still Going Strong!

107 years old and still going strong! No, I am not talking about my grandmother; she died just before completing a century. In fact, I am talking about a light bulb that has been burning continuously for more than 107 years in a Fire Station in Livermore, California, USA. This 5-watts bulb was installed in 1901 and was never turned off. The bulb has appeared in several editions of the Guinness Book of Records book. The bulb is so popular that it has its own website.

Light Bulb on since 1901

Isn't it surprising that when most electric bulbs don't last a few weeks, a bulb has been burning on for over 107 years? Some people claim that the bulb did not burn out because it was was never switched off. You might have noticed that most bulbs burn out when these are turned on. I feel that this is not the primary reason for the long life of this bulb. Two main reasons are - first, this is a low wattage lamp and second, they created almost perfect vacuum during he manufacturing process before sealing the filament in the bulb. Due to these two factors, the filament never gets too hot to evaporate and does not oxidise due to lack of air in the bulb. Well, whatever is the reason of the extraordinary long life of this bulb, it is amazing! You might be wondering, why they can't make long lasting bulbs these days. Well, if bulb manufacturers start making really long lasting bulbs, they will go out of business very soon!

If you look around in your house, I am sure you would find a few old things. Usually some memories are attached to these old objects. For instance, I have a scissors that I bought in 1970s to trim my moustaches after facial hair appeared for the first time on my face. And I have a jacket that I bought in 1987 during my honeymoon. I also have a few 1, 2, 3 and 5 paisa coins that have gone out of circulation. I remember that in 1960s, I used to get 3 paise as pocket money and it was used to buy peanuts or channas from a hawker who used to visit our neighbourhood in the evening. We had a lot of old interesting things in our house in Moti Bagh, New Delhi; however, hose had to discard because we moved to Canada in 1997 and could not bring them here. One thing that I always remember is a Vacuum Tube Radio set built around the Second World War time. This radio had excellent sound quality and could work on 70 - 400 volts AC or DC.

Please feel free to share your views about any old interesting thing that have or had.

The Story of India

Last month, I watched an amazing six-part series on TV — The Story of India. In this extra-ordinary six-part series, produced by PBS and BBC, Michael Wood talks about India, the most ancient surviving civilization and its history spanning over 10,000 years. The program, which was telecasted in high-definition, had excellent picture and sound quality. Don't worry if you missed the series, as I am sure it will be telecasted again in future — just keep an eye on local schedule of PBS/BBC/WNED. Meanwhile, a lot of useful information about The Story of India is available on the PBS website. The website contains synopsis and several short videos about the program. It also contains a very informative interactive photo gallery. Another useful section on the website is Ask Michael Wood, where he answers questions asked by the readers. In brief, the website contains a lot of useful and authenticated information about India.

If you are interested to know about the history, mystery and diversity of India (and lots of pictures), I may suggest Kamat's Potpourri. The site contains over 16,000 pictures and thousands of other postings.

Happiness is Real when Shared

Last weekend, I watched a movie — Into the Wild. This movie is based on the true story of the adventures of a young man Christopher McCandless. This movie is completely different from a typical Bollywood movie, which touched my heart. Christopher has just completed a college degree, but is not happy with his parents and the materialistic world. He donates all his savings and leaves the house without telling anyone. Over the next three years, his adventures take him to several parts of USA. During this time, he never calls back his family. In the end, he goes to Alaska to live alone in nature, where he dies because of illness and starvation. Before dying, he writes — Happiness is real when shared.

If one wants to be happy, he/she need not run away from family. One need not go to Jungle or Himalaya to find peace and/or happiness. Happiness can be found everywhere including in one's home. Mahatma Buddha also said once that what he found after leaving his wife and kingdom could have been found while living in his home.

So let us try to be happy wherever we are and whatever we are doing...

Life - Destiny or Coincidence?

During our life span, we experience several unexpected events, which sometimes significantly change the course of our life. For example, every day you go to your office by 7.30 am bus, but one day you decide to go by car and later you learn that the 7.30 am bus met with an accident. Or, as they show in Indian movies that a boy and girl bang into each other, fall into love and eventually get married. However, the one incident that changed their life – was it coincidence or their destiny? Whatever happens in our life — is it coincidence or destiny?

In 1981, I used to work in Televista Electronics, New Delhi, and one of my colleagues, C T Subramanian was from Chennai. In 1982, I left Televista to join Department of Electronics, Government of India and C T Subramanian too left the company and went back to Chennai to join some company there. In 1990 or 1991, I went to Bangalore for some training, and in the evening I went to a shopping centre. And to my surprise, I find C T Subramanian in the same shopping centre. He was also sent by his company to Bangalore for some official work and he also decided to visit the shopping centre in the evening. Was it a coincidence or destiny? What are the chances of two persons from two metro cities having population of over 100 million each going to a third large city on official duty and deciding to go to the same shopping centre on the same day at the same time! I remember another incidence — I was going with my wife to Chandigarh from Delhi in our Maruti car for a short vacation and we stopped at Karnal at a restaurant for breakfast. There we spotted one of my old friends, who was also going to Chandigarh with his wife for vacation, and they had also stopped at that restaurant for breakfast! Was it a coincidence or my destiny that wanted me to meet my old friend?

Many people, particularly those who don’t understand or accept the supreme power, usually do not believe in destiny. They either believe that whatever happens in life is coincidence or they control their destiny. However, when I look back at my life and unexpected turns it has taken, I have no doubt that whatever is happening in my life is my destiny. Just a few examples: After passing Grade 8, when it was time to choose subjects for high school, I was asked by my parents to choose commerce instead of science, though I got third position in Grade 8 in my school and I was very good in science. One day, one of my classmates of Grade 8, Ashok Sexana comes to my house and convinces my parents that science stream will be better for me as it will offer more avenues later; and, thus I shifted to science. Was it coincidence or destiny? Did the God send someone to convince my parents? Or, did the God himself come in the form my friend to help me?

Another example: I started publishing articles in Electronics For You magazine in mid-1980s. In 1987, I started developing a five-part series of articles about dBASE III, and while working on the project I decided that the series would look better in a book form. (Electronics For You also used to occasionally publish electronics books.) When I was about to hand over my typescript to Electronics For You for consideration, my colleague and friend, R Ravi Chandran asked me to try Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, the largest publisher of technical books in India, to publish my book. I told him that I being am unknown young boy in twenties with no credentials, how can I even approach them to publish my book. Ravi Chandran asked me to just send a copy of the typescript to Tata McGraw-Hill besides sending it to Electronics For You. I followed his suggestion, and my first book, dBASE III and III PLUS - A Hands-on Approach was published by Tata McGraw-Hill, and then they published several more. (Electronics For You did not take any decision about publishing my book!)

Now one last example — I saw an advertisement from Canadian High Commission, New Delhi in a magazine that I usually don’t read about a seminar about immigration opportunities in Canada in 1996. At that time, I was holding a respectable position of Joint Director in Department of Electronics, Government of India and was a popular computer books author. My books also used to provide me enough royalty income. In other words, I was happily settled with my wife, two children and parents, living in a nice south Delhi neighbourhood. However, I don’t know why I attended the Immigration Seminar, applied for immigration, resigned from a respected permanent Government of India job of 15 year and moved to Canada. After two years, my brother, who also had a very good job with JP Industries, immigrated to Canada. And, then in 2001 my father died and my mother also immigrated to Canada. Thus the entire family, who did not even have faintest idea about moving to Canada some time ago, is now in Canada.

The more closely I look at my past life, the more convinced I become that our destiny is a kind of pre-determined. We may feel that we can influence our destiny a little bit by our actions, but can we change it? I don’t think so...