JVPD BABA

Apne Dharm Par Chalo. Sabse Prem Karo

Here’s a tale of an extraordinary man who is doing his bit to spread peace, smile and remind us of right path. Amid pollution, noise, traffic, heat and some cases of road rage on the busiest intersection of JVPD, Juhu Circle (Mumbai) this man stands strong with his smile & simple message of peace & harmony.

JVPD BABA’s birth in our virtual / social media world:

Not sure who is he, is he taking this initiative on his own or he is doing it for someone, I think he is from Isckon temple but I may be wrong. Don’t remember how long I have been noticing this man but whenever I did, which is almost all weekdays, I have seen him. Dressed in white dhoti kurta with rosary in his one hand and white placard in other which is painted with message ‘Apne Dharm Par Chalo – Sabse Prem Karo’, the literal English translation would be ‘Follow your righteous duty or virtuous path and love everyone’.

Inspired by him, I decided to update my facebook status to let everyone on my network know about this great act. So wrong of me to consider that I was only one who was noticing him, one of my friend and business contact, Imran too notices him everyday, waiving at people, smiling and spreading the simple but important message of peace & harmony.

The next step was us to name this unknown (not any more) – unsung hero and again Imran’s contribution (he clicked this picture) turned out to be very valuable ‘JVPD BABA’ … between Smiling Baba & JVPD BABA, I thought JVPD BABA will work well (arguable, though it’s fine).

So here’s our JVPD BABA standing at the JVPD signal post every morning trying his best to spread smile and peace in our city.

‘Apne Dharm Par Chalo – Sabse Prem Karo’ that’s all we need to make our life and this world beautiful place to LIVE.

Spread the word & his message with your beautiful smile.

 JVPD BABA ‘JAI HO’

Message in a bottle

Spin the Bottle

Very interesting article – must read for everyone. You get to read viewpoint of both sides -

Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle

Obama sips it. Paris Hilton loves it. Mary J. Blige won’t sing without it. How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?
—By Anna Lenzer

Fiji Water spokesman Rob Six has posted a response to Mother Jones story at the company blog. Anna Lenzer who broke this story replies to Rob Six -
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/08/mother-jones-responds-fiji-water

Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign

Hi,

I want you to take a look at : news & features > Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign”>afaqs! > news & features > Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign

KING OF POP

King of Pop

La Loba Esta Circa!

La Loba

Inspired!

I am back…I took some time for this new post. 1 week 1 post agenda is not happening. Not that I was super busy but guess being lazy. Also this happens when you have to take effort to write or better way to put it across is – if it does not come naturally you will struggle and avoid writing more.

Now here’s the fun incident and the incident which makes me feel very proud of myself and it is overwhelming. I actually inspired 2 of my very good friends to write / start blogging. Isn’t it amazing? It’s a feeling of satisfaction & worthiness. So I decided to dedicate my post to these two friends of mine –

Kabir Chandra aka…RJ Kabir

http://rjkabir.wordpress.com/

Within few hours he got 71 views for his random thoughts (wow! That’s awesome traffic for your 1st post – 1st day.) 8 comments (5 of them he got on gun point … hehehe … Kabir, pls don’t mind – I picked it up from your confession, till I read that I thought it was only me on gun point

I only hope that he consistently updates his blog – Which he is not doing.

All the best my friend and thanks for acknowledging me.

Nisha Menezes aka Niche

http://cozyniche.wordpress.com/

Now what can I say … our very hot sizzling mix of Ciara & Beyonce (she hates this comparison, not sure about Beyonce but Ciara yes…) got inspired by me. Isn’t that cool? offcourse it is for me!

And I am more proud of it cause she is very active on vegetating her thoughts on her little patch called cozyniche. 6 posts in 1 week…not bad at all.

Great going niche…you are awesome in your writing and look forward for more.

Chinese Democracy

TANK MAN - The Unknown Rebel

Chinese Democracy

No, I am not referring to the Guns N’ Roses title track from their 6^th studio album, Chinese Democracy. My thoughts are loosely based on same concept. I am not pro or against China. Undoubtedly China is one of the largest, strongest and powerful, yet most oppressive countries and governments in the world. And that certainly makes me feel that I am very fortunate to live in moderate democracy.

THE JUNE 4^TH INCIDENT – 20^TH ANNIVERSARY

Recently when I saw the news of racist attacks on Indian students and footages of Australian (Melbourne) cops punching, stomping and dragging the peaceful protestors who rallied against these attacks made me think if these protests were to happen in China? Or would anybody even dare to have one? I bet! The thought itself is very scary.

All of us know the Chinese June 4^th, 1989 incident which is also dubbed as Tiananmen Square massacre. I decided to put together a brief note on June 4^th incident to pay tribute to thousands of students, ordinary people and workers who were brutally killed or injured during this massacre, exactly 20 years back.

Series of demonstrations took place starting from April 14^th in and near Tiananmen Square, Beijing and few other cities. These protests were sparked by death of anti-corruption, pro-market, pro-democracy leader, Hu Yaobang. The unrest was driven primarily by need for economic and democratic reforms in People’s Republic of China (PRC) government (outlook).

These protests lasted for 7 weeks till PRC government decided to use People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) severe military force to clear the protestors from Tiananmen Square with tear gas, indiscriminate firing and tanks crushing people and vehicles, which were used to block the entry of the troops.

The massacre was immortalized by one of the famous video footage & photographs of ‘TANK MAN’, a lone unarmed man who halted the progress of the tanks by standing in the middle of the street (remember the Airtel commercial?). Time Magazine dubbed him The Unknown Rebel and named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. No one knows what happened to TANK MAN after that incident, some believe that he was executed by China’s secret police.

Till date no one has confirmed the no. of deaths and casualties caused during this suppression, various agencies have provided fluctuating nos. which ranges from hundreds to thousands. This is very evident to China’s fascism regime.

China has banned online and social networking sites such as Twitter, Flickr and Hotmail on anticipating the people’s growing need to discuss the event openly in the days leading up to the 20^th anniversary. Chinese media is also banned from reporting or mentioning any events related to Tiananmen massacre.

In The Simpsons episode Goo Goo Gai Pan when the family visits Beijing, there is a plaque reading, “On this spot in 1989, nothing happened”, in Tiananmen Square, a reference to the Chinese Government’s denial and censorship of the protests.

I end my post with big sigh of relief … thank god, I am in India.  

ja@grun

Reference URL :

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2009/tiananmen_20_franklin/

The World’s Biggest Canvas

Writing on the wall

Postcard: Ramallah – editorial feature from TIME magazine inspired me to write this blog post.

 

I am sure many of us are aware of the ongoing dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. This conflict has given birth to too many controversial outcomes and one of them is the ugliest monument – Israel’s West Bank Barrier commonly dubbed by Palestinians as ‘Apartheid wall’ or ‘Berlin Wall’ and also claim that the wall can be seen from outer space, not sure if it is accurate.

In 2002, Israeli government started building the barrier – part concrete, part chain-link fence to prevent suicide bombers crossing over from the West Bank. This project is massive as it is expected to reach at least 640 km long in length and as high as 25 feet (8 metres) in height, zigzagging deep into Palestinian teritory. Sections of Israel’s Separation Barrier additionally include electrified fencing, two-meter-deep trenches, roads for patrol vehicles, electronic ground/fence sensors, thermal imaging and video cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sniper towers, and razor wire.

However, all that bare concrete is too great a temptation to resist for graffiti artists. This barrier has become the ultimate challenge for members of the global street-art subculture and has inspired many artists to spray the wall with many of their ironic & iconic creations.

What’s worth mentioning is about the group of Dutch and Palestinian activists who have started ‘The Sendamessage Foundation’ (www.sendamessage.nl) and the Peace and Freedom Forum (PFF). People can now immortalize their words on the wall without a passport or a spray can. For INR 1,500/-, you can compose a message at www.sendamessage.nl, and a trio of Palestinian graffiti artists will spray your words on the wall and e-mail you a photo as proof. The only restriction: no messages of hate or anti-Semitism. This project has inspired over 800 individuals worldwide to have their personal message sprayed on the wall and has raised INR 9.25 lacs so far. As per the website – some of these funds are destined to help set up a laundry service for students in Bir Zeit, Palestine, and a small amount of the money will go to the execution and setting up of the project which receives no external funding.

 The longest letter is their 2^nd mutual project, which has been set up and managed by volunteers who rely on individual sponsorships and our contribution to make the project successful. They have commissioned Farid Esack, a South African religious scholar and former antiapartheid activist, to write a 1,998-word letter, in English, to Palestinians urging nonviolent resistance to the Israelis. The work is now being painted in 60 cm high letters along a 2.6 km stretch of wall near Ramallah. The writing will consume more than 400 cans of spray paint.

 TIME quotes, Dutch theatre director Justus Van Oel, one of the founders of Sendmessage

 “The South African was chosen, says Van Oel, because Esack gets beyond the anger. He is a reconciler.”

The letter, in part, reads: “Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? In your land, we are seeing something far more brutal, relentless and inhuman than what we have ever seen under apartheid.” The writing is on the Palestinian side, and the only Israelis who see it are soldiers patrolling in humvees. Spray painting of the longest letter will be completed by May 2009.

The money raised through this project will go towards funding of small social projects in Palestine which will be selected by Farid Esack, PFF and Sendmessage Foundation.

Do read the FAQs (http://www.sendamessage.nl/the-longest-letter/popups/?faq_eng) on the website which has one of the questions – will the money raised be used to buy weapons?

For Palestinians this letter, in both form and content, is a sign of hope and proof that they have not been forgotten. The letter is an inspiring example of non-violent resistance and helps to keep hope alive.

I am very much motivated to have one of my messages immortalized on this barrier wall. Not sure whether I should go with rebellious, mordant or mushy love message…I am sure I will make up my mind soon and have the picture proof uploaded on my blog.

Cheers!

ja@grun

Reference URLs:

http://www.sendamessage.nl/

http://www.vtjp.org/background/Separation_Wall_Report.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_bank

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_barrier