Tagged!

This is the first time I have been tagged... Kanan you will repent I tell you :-)


1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.
Infosys ;) stock is trading at 300 rs lower than the price I bought ... big scar ;)

2. What does your phone look like? List your reasons to buy it?








got as a gift... didnt have to buy... ;)






3. What is on the walls of your bedroom?
Asian Paint ;)

4. What is your current desktop picture?
hehe... Windows XP Professional standard wallpaper ...BLISS ...too lazy to change it :)

5. Do you believe in gay marriage?
Law of my land doesnt and I believe in law of my land :)

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
Work... ;)

7 . What time were you born?
02:27 AM (GMT +5:30)

8. Are your parents still together?
haha what a question.

9. Last person who made you cry?
no .... havent cried in long time now... cant remember!

10. What is your favorite perfume / cologne?
Park Avenue

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?
Black

12. What are you listening to? Why?
Yeh Jo desh hai tera from Swades.. excellent music ...meaningful lyrics

13. Do you get scared of the dark?
hmmm let me switch off the lights..... ah... i guess no !!

14. Do you like painkillers?
Yes, laughter is the best painkiller ;)

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
Was. Not now... if you happen to be a girl.... what are you planning to do this weekend BTW? ;)

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
Dal Dhokli ;) (Does anyone know how to prepare??)

17. Who was the last person who made you mad?
Haha.. no need of a person ...;)

18. List one habit you have that has the potential to annoy people?
Silence.

19. Who was the last person who made you smile?
A minute ago - a colleague of mine... 2 minutes ago - a friend of mine, 3 minutes ago- another friend of mine ..;) And Shahbudding Rathod since the time I learnt to laugh!!


And I am going to tag Kanan back. But this time you will have to reply in one line only.. That is your punishment for tagging me ;)

I-Don't-Know-Gujarati syndrome

Veteran Gujarati humorist and columnist Shahbudding Rathod states in one of his cassettes that amongst all the ethnic groups in India, Gujaratis have the least respect towards their mother tongue. I have come across numerous such incidents where I have seen this being true time and again. I decided to go into the problem and find out the causes. Here is how I see this problem and my suggestion to improve the situation. Please leave your comments if you happen to agree/disagree :)

Agreed that we live in a free society where everyone has a right to choose - choose what we learn as well. And if someone chose not to learn Gujarati even after it being his mother tongue that decision should be respected. But you just cannot allow people to take pride in saying that they don't know their mother-tongue (read Gujarati); that they are not good in it; that their children cannot speak in it. There must be a sense of missing something precious if you happen to not know your mother tongue. Which sense is totally missing in utterances of such statements. Which is a real pity.

So why we Gujaratis are such careless bunch of people? There is no denying that English is must in today's "Flat World". But can it take the place of mother tongue? Will it help save our priceless heritage? Many Indian languages (including southern languages, Marathi, Bengali) are doing good even in today's heavy English influence. But the abysmal situation that Gujarati is in right now only spells doom's day for our mother tongue.

I want to end this by quoting one of my favourite dialogues from the movie Troy. When Romans attack Troy, The prince of Troy addresses his army in a decisive tone.

"All my life I have lived by a code. And the code is simple. Respect the Gods. Love your woman and protect your motherland. Troy is mother to our soul. Protect her..."

Lets pray that god give us wisdom to protect our mother tongue. In our endevour to serve this beautiful language, we have started an all Gujarati blog. I invite you to visit it here. And if you think you can contribute, leave us a comment there.

The ABC of alphabets!!

This thought had first come in my mind long back when I was in high school. Stayed there with me at the back of my mind and suddenly popped up whilst discussing about different languages in a family get-to-gether. Thought of sharing with you all.

Right. Is there any similarity between English and Gujarati? Apparently not right? But have a look at the following.

ક ખ ગ ઘ ઙ
k kh g gh

ચ છ જ ઝ ઞ
ch chh j jh

ટ ઠ ડ ઢ ણ
T Th D Dh

ત થ દ ધ ન
t th d dh

પ ફ બ ભ મ
p ph b bh

ય ર લ ળ વ

શ ષ સ હ ક્ષ
sh SH s h

Rings the bell? OK. I wouldn't be surprised if my gujarati friends here would have forgotten their mother tongue and its alphabets. ;) So let me tell you what I have written here is the Gujarati alphabets in their correct sequence. Below each alphabet there is a direct transalation in english as per its pronunciation. Look how each second letter is connected with its predecessor with an extra 'h' !! Clearly this arrangment of alphabets is too perfect to be a coincidence. What say? Eureka?? :-)

Alright, and since we are talking about mother tongues, I thought it would be nice to end this post with the following poem. Enjoy!!

મળી હેમ આશિષ, નરસિહ મીરા
થયા પ્રેમ ભક્ત દયારામ ધીરા
સદા સૌમ્ય શી વૈભવે ઉભરાતી
મળી માત્રુભાષા મને ગુજરાતી
મળી માત્રુભાષા મને ગુજરાતી.

(The language which has been blessed by jain saint shri Hemchandracharyaji. Which has been served by great poets like Narsinh Mehta, Meerabai , Premanand, Dayaram. Which always radiates with courteous elegance. I am proud that that Gujarati language is my mother tongue.)

Cheers.