Un-Wiki'ed

I did it some days back and though I should be feeling happy about it, I am not. I am talking about Wikipedia. Last week I edited a page on it where I found a mistake and then I found some more mistakes on it and edited it more, even added some stuff. Now the very purpose of my visiting Wikipedia is reduced to finding mistakes on the page and correcting them. I want to get out of this obsession.

Moreover, this has shaken my belief in the authenticity of the content posted. Though I always knew that wiki pages were editable, I had never done it. Now that I have, it seems like there can be a lot of pages with plenty of mistakes. Moreover, a person can edit the existing content and make it look entirely different from what it initially intended to be. Wiki has the features of 'discussion' , 'edit' and 'citation needed', but I really doubt if majority of people pay attention to them.

Where to go in such a scenario?? Earlier whenever I came across a fact, I used to verify it from Wikipedia. Many times, it turned out the facts were lifted from Wikipedia itself. On one particular occasion when I wanted to counter check the fact, all the other sites quoted essentially the same content as on Wikipedia and gave its reference as well. What if the content on Wiki is wrong in first place?? Wikipedia authorities should come up with a solution where the content which is authentic and is not going to change in future can be made uneditable. For the rest I guess, people are doing a good job and modifying the content wherever and whenever necessary(for this I give myself a pat on my back...:) :P ;)).

Happy Birthday :)

So here I am again, Single and not yet ready to mingle on this yet another Valentine's Day. Another year has passed at the end of which I find myself still searching for the same goals as last year. Still trying to find a place for myself both in and out of me. A few disappointments, some joys, a new life and a new world have marked this year. Though I find myself learning many things a little late on every frontier, not all of which can be put down into words (at least not by me). And love or a relationship is certainly not a priority on the list. And I am quite certain that by the time it becomes a priority, I will be late for it as well. I wonder if it ever will be.

On a serious note, I for one, never found the need for a relationship a very compelling one. Don't we have our friends and family to love already??? And why forget old relationships for new ones. I simply detest those who do it. Not all are guilty of this crime but I have lost some very good friends because of "Pyar vyar and all that". Love grows as we spend time with those with whom we like to be. So why raise such brouhaha over getting into relationship with a member of opposite sex and call it commitment/love etc. Aren't we all already committed to preserve the relationships and friends we already have. I thought I was in love once. "I thought" because I am not any more now, neither was I then.Though I must admit that it felt great at that point of time, living in a dream world. It was infatuation that came and went. Love stays. And I don't understand why people who want to get into relationship are so offended when someone says that "I love you but as a friend". Isn't friendship one of the greatest forms of love. Besides, I seriously wonder that people who constantly jump from one relationship to another are ever in love. I believe they are insecure, insecure of being alone, insecure of being devoid of attention,always seeking assurance that someone is there for them. I may/may not find a girl with whom I would like to spend the rest of my life. But I know one thing for sure, if I do find her,she is going to be a great friend above anything else. I do hope I find such a girl :) :P.

By the way, my blog celebrates its first anniversary. I remember writing my first post on this blog on 14th Feb 2009, when I had come back from a quiz, a little sad for not clearing the written rounds, suffering from mild fever and wondering if the number of entries would cross single digit. Well, here I am, writing 61st entry on this blog, special thanks to all those who cared to read and comment despite it being full of horrendous grammatical mistakes and absolutely meaningless posts.

Happy Birthday My Dear Blog and Happy Valentine's day by the way :) :P

Fact for the Day 12

The most beautiful city in the world i.e. meri apni Jaipur was founded in the year 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The names of the rulers of Jaipur is preceded by the title Sawai. This tradition began with the founder of Jaipur, Maharja Sawai Jai Singh himself.
At the age of 15 he defeated Marathas in a war in the year 1701 and captured the fort of Vishalgarh. Thus Aurangzeb conferred upon him the title 'Sawai' which means that he was a quarter more than a man (Sawa= 1.25). Sawai Jai Singh was a patron of Science and Astronomy and he went on to build the observatories called Jantar Mantar at Jaipur, Delhi, Mathura, Benares and Ujjain.

Game, Set , Match...

As a kid, I always used to wonder why in a pack of cards, the Ace values more than a King. I mean, it always seemed illogical to me that why in should '1' have more significance than a king. I got my answer a couple of days back.

The word Ace comes from latin word 'As' which means 'a unit'. In earlier times, the ace had the least value. Then something happened. This something gave birth to the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. "Something" established the rule of the peasants over the ruling class. The ruled became the Ruler. This "Something" was The French Revolution of 1789.

Quoting Wikipedia "The lowest number card was changed to the highest card in the deck ostensibly to represent the victory of the common man over King Louis XVI(citation needed)"

A French Revelation indeed....:)

The Idea of Indianness

It's a strange world out there. Somehow, everybody seems to be there for his/her personal gains, caring for nothing whatsoever. And still one person stands out.....Shahrukh Khan. I am not a huge admirer of Shahrukh Khan the actor or Shahrukh Khan the businessman. But I like this guy as a person. If not anything else, this man is at least honest. There might be some arrogance in this honesty but there is no hypocrisy for sure.

So it was nice to hear him say that he won't apologize to Bal Thackrey/ShivSena for backing Pakistani cricketers. What he said might be for his own motive, for his own gains as an owner of IPL team. But he refuses to back down from something he stands for fully aware of the fact that this could cost him and his upcoming movie heavily. At the same time one wonders, why are Marathi people not coming out in support for this man. Why can't we see actors like Ritesh Deshmukh, Nana Patekar voicing the same opinion as Sachin Tendulkar did a few days back??? Or probably they have sold the sense of National pride along with their souls.

And then we have people like Amitabh Bachchan. He might be a great actor but somehow I have lost all my respect for Amitabh Bachchan, the person. He does not seem to be affected by the plight of artists or his fellow actors in Mumbai. Instead he praises the biggest goonda who virtually rules Mumbai with an iron hand. He was only affected when Raj Thakrey was coming out all guns blazing against him. But since he is friends with probably the most influential family in Mumbai, he won't utter a word against them, even though they are doing almost similar to others what had been done against him a few months back by a relative of theirs. Probably...probably the fact that now he has lost his backing in Samajwadi Party (Amar Singh is now thrown out of party) has forced him to show the true colours of this "farmer". Seems like he himself is playing the role of Jai Malik(his son in Rann) in real life.

It's strange that the central government is not taking any strict actions against these goons. How long will they keep on running from such issues remains to be seen. Democracy does not mean letting loose people who are a threat to countrymen just because they have a backing of a minuscule percentage of population. It's amazing that a man(Manohar Joshi) who used to occupy an extremely prestigious position of Speaker in the Lok Sabha opines that Mumbai is only for the Marathis. How low can one stoop for petty gains???

I remember in my school days, we had a teacher who used to say that if our country follows what Bal Thackrey says, we would be on top of the world. Fortunately we didn't pay much attention to her (the fact that we didn't pay attention to anything else taught in school ever otherwise is a different story) I wonder if she thinks the same now.

Somehow all this was going to happen someday or the other. First we'll hate people of other religion, then of other state, then of other caste/community, then of various sections of the same caste and then we'll hate our neighbours. It's high time that we stop being patriotic only when it comes to cricket matches or publicly bashing Pakistan. We are bringing about nothing but our own downfall. Let's be Indians first and everything else later...Time to wake up fellow countrymen....All RISE