Have you heard the latest Christmas Song?

Then why wait... watch this one........ really hilarious!


And if you wish to sing the song. Here are the lyrics


Aee Peter what happen man?

40 years I have removed
Waiting for the fat man in red hood
England to Poland he will roam’
But Santa he don’t come my home? (REPEAT STANZA)

What man santa why you do this?
Why don’t you come peter home?

Ask the Padre, Ask the postman
I invite him every season
But Santa won’t come no rhyme no reason

Give one kanfaad man

What man Santa what you up to?
Why don’t you come Peter home?
What man Santa why you do this?
Why don’t you come Peter home?

All my hair has become grey
Waiting for the sound of the sleigh
Every Xmas I miss mass
But Santa he never come paas

What man Santa why you do this?
Why don’t you come Peter home?

Ask the Padre, Ask the postman
I invite him every season
But Santa won’t come no rhyme no reason

Give one kanfaad man

What man Santa why you do this?
Why don’t you come Peter home?

Are What man Santa.. What man Santa?
Why don’t you come Peter home?
What man Santa.. What man Santa?
Why don’t you come to Jimmy’s home?
What man Santa.. What man Santa?
Why don’t you come to Johnny’s home?

Now I will stop.. I have no hope
Next Christmas I am going to invite the Pope!

Merry Christmas!

I remember these lines from the beautiful song

 "In his time"

IN HIS TIME, IN HIS TIME
HE MAKES ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL IN HIS TIME
LORD, PLEASE SHOW ME EVERYDAY
AS YOU'RE TEACHING ME YOUR WAY
AND I'LL DO JUST WHAT YOU SAY
IN YOUR TIME
THERE'S A TIME, THERE'S A TIME
BOTH FOR SOWING AND FOR REAPING THERE'S A TIME
TIME FOR JOY AND TIME FOR PAIN
EVERY PURPOSE UNDER HEAVEN HAS A TIME

Stuck while a boredom attack
Time stands still all the while
Thoughts piled up the memory racks
Imagination has taken me miles

From the present to future and past
The days of sunshine and storms
The episodes flashed by pretty fast
I never envisioned this form

The roads I travelled
The people I met
The occasions I marvelled
Moments never to forget

The times I was insane
The Overwhelming joys and inner despairs
Come to the mind again and again
And the heart fills with humble prayers

All That time made the difference
When I see the transformation
Priceless time it is for me
that brings new hope and resolution

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."

I know I haven’t been taking out time regularly for blogging since long and here begins my list of excuses. The monsoons have just started, drenching in the rains and the frequent travels put me on bed with cold and a mild cough. It ruins your plans when you have to put on a blanket and rest whole day even more when it's a weekend. You should have got used to the list by now. Thanks to the people who have been regularly refreshing this site for new posts.

To keep up with my interest all I could remember worth putting in my blog is a sermon I heard last week.

Once a teacher asked a group of children to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World”.

Though they were slight differences, most of them answered
 1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
 2. Taj Mahal
 3. Grand Canyon
 4. Panama Canal
 5. Empire State Building
 6. St. Peter's Basilica
 7. China's Great Wall

The teacher noted that one child had not finished her paper.
So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many.“ The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe I can help".
 "The girl hesitated, then read: "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:
 1. To See...
 2. To Hear...
 3. To Touch...
 4. To Taste...
 5. To Feel...
 6. To Laugh...
 7. And to Love.“

The room turned quiet. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!
Many a times we forget to admire the wonders around us. The most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.

The difference in the answers was just a difference in the thinking. Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not logical; it's psychological.
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Isn't this ture? “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.”
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

If you happen to visit Stockholm the overnight cruise journey connecting two beautiful Scandinavian countries Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland is something you must not miss. Both these countries have the typical European look. It was the first time I had traveled by ship and I always thought the journeys would be quite boring as you get to see only the waters on all sides, contradictory to my perception I never thought I was traveling. As we entered, the crew welcomed and guided us to our cabins. We placed our baggage in the cabins and walked out to have a view of the cruise. The cruise ferries are well designed. A quick glance made me wonder how the massive buildings with 10+ floors with all facilities float on water with such high speed just as a paper boat. You get almost everything inside. There were shopping malls, restaurants and bars, casino games and several other activities organized for each age group that kills your time till you reach your destination. We sat spectating as the old couples and children danced, tried our luck with the casino games until all the Euros we got exchanged were swallowed slowly by the machine. We attended the music orchestras done some shopping in the malls, sat chit-chatting pulling each others leg by then it was already dawn, got ready took our baggage and landed beside the heaps of snow forming a fence separating the Baltic seas from the land at the Helsinki harbor. Despite of the unconditional weather we threw snow balls at each other. We visited the museums nearby, done some window shopping, for shopping Stockholm is a better place. Oops when you travel to a foreign country how can you return home without gifts & sweets. The ferry had all varieties of chocolates from Europe especially the famous ones from Switzerland.  Nokia Company is of a Finnish origin; we visited the Nokia manufactures at Helsinki and were back with mobiles in gift packs. By then the clock stuck 3 and it was time to get back to the cruise which was all set to leave at 4:00 PM. The view of the Scandinavian cities from the cruise was just mesmerizing. On my way back I spent time watching the beautiful small landscapes that passed through my eyes walking up the photographer in me. I tried clicking a few pictures. The time we traveled was January and the temperature was -18° Celsius, the unbearable cool breeze from the Baltic seas froze my hands as I clicked a few pictures, added to that my choosy nature when it comes to food made me survive with just water and a desert for the whole trip. A few pictures are added to the gallery, they are displayed at the end of this page.

In the morning dew drops
Engrossing waking eyes to stop
In the silence of the breeze
The rhythm of the humming bees

In the calmness of the night
The reflection of the moon light
In the countless stars that shine
Amidst the darkness in haphazard line

In every tiny drop of rain
That seasons a harvest grain
In singing of flock of birds
A sequence of unknown words

In the pastures of the country side
The rise and fall of every tide
In a ray of light that glare
You paint a rainbow in the air

In every beam of the rising sun
You shower your blessings on loved ones
In every sprouting tender leaf
You send your message as relief

In the fragrance of the flowers
You spread the magic of your powers
God I thank you for everything
For this life & joy your creation brings

The mysteries in Deception Point are around NASA. As in all other Dan’s
books the characters in this book are also copies of encyclopedias. I
wonder from where he gets all smart people who solve big mysteries with
small clues. Rachel Sexton the daughter of a Presidential nominee an
intelligence agent is called to verify the authenticity of a meteoroid that
NASA discovers in the depths of the icy Arctic Ocean. The discovery proved
that there exists life on planets other than on earth as there was a fossil
of an insect buried on the rock. Everybody was proud of NASA’s victory.
Experts proved that the rock is extraterrestrial. Just before they are
about to share the results Michael Tolland a famous oceanographer and
Rachel discover a deadly deception in the discovery. In this novel Rachel
plays the role of Robert Langdon. Rachel and Michael go hunting for the
truth. Some of their friends who were involved in testing the authenticity
of the rock lose their lives in the trial. There are lots of twists as to
who is behind the plot at every turning point. The motive behind the plot
is fame and political gain. Towards the end all the missing piece of
information is intelligently arranged at the correct places. Rachel and
Michael cross all the big hurdles and finally put forth the truth before
the public. The genius brains with all the information they have about
outer space, earthly object, oceanology, blah blah blah decipher each code.
The book was quite thought provoking.

This book is woven around the Masons and Noetic Science. Dan tries to
explain that religious implications of miracles are possible through
Science. Science and religion are the same however religion teaches
mankind, Science does not teach one to be a good human being. Dan describes
Masons as not a secret society but a society with secrets. At certain
places I found the description quite scary with lots of skulls and bones.
Malakh the villain in this story also looked dangerous. The book mainly
talks of ancient wisdom as the hidden treasure and through science we are
rediscovering the lost knowledge that our ancestors already possessed. The
story is about one family “The Solomon’s” who are considered as one of the
wealthiest family. Solomon is a freemason with a 33rd degree. Katherine his
sister is a scientist and her area of study is Noetic science. She conducts
and documents a number of experiments in her highly sophisticated lab
presented by her brother. Through an experiment of a dying man she proves
that there exist soul and is different from the body and the soul has mass.
The illuminati in the story is a prodigal son of Solomon who accepts wealth
for wisdom and choices his own way of living, later realizes he has made a
wrong choice and kidnaps his father to gain access to the ancient wisdom.
In this trail he cuts the hand of his father and displays it in a museum.
Robert Langdon is called to decipher the symbols and Katherine joins him in
tracing her missing brother. There are a lot of references to religion,
numerology, ancient history, Noetic science and physics. Freemasonry is
highly explained. The whole story is around Washington DC. Dan describes
Washington as not just a capital city but a place with hidden secrets.
This book held more suspense, than the other books I read. I didn’t like
the way it ended. When the secrets were revealed there were quite ordinary
things, there was nothing much surprising when compared to the plot to
acquire and safeguard it from going into the wrong hands. First half was
quite interesting. The religious term sacrifice is well explained. This
book is the third in Robert Langdon Series a continuation of Da Vinci Code.
This book was initially named “The Solomon’s Key” and was later renamed to
“The Lost Symbol”.

Angels and Demons was the first book written by Dan Brown that has invoked
conspiracies within the Catholic Church. The story is featured around Rome
and the Vatican City and focuses more on explaining the relation between
science and religion. This book also begins with a murder investigation of
Leonardo Vetra who was a catholic priest with an interest in science.
Leonardo Vetra along with his adopted daughter works on a life changing
experiment Big Bang in which they create a substance called Anti Matter
(opposite of Matter) which could become a powerful weapon. I found the
existence of Anti Matter quite ridiculous; however it went well with the
story. Verta was killed by illuminati and the canister containing
antimatter was stolen to destroy the Vatican City followed by a treat to
kill the four cardinals of the church one by one who were the most eligible
persons to become the Pope. Robert Langdon is called up to solve the puzzle
and to stop the disaster. In this book also we have an intelligent women
Victoria who wants to avenge her fathers death. It’s a suspenseful thriller
with lots of mysteries. Solving the mysteries require expertise in Art,
Science, Religion, Symbology etc. They are a few characters who creep in on
time, share critical information that help deciphering the codes and moving
the story forward. The regular Dan’s style of writing novels only the
puzzles and situations differ each time. Forgot to mention we have the
police also following right from the beginning creating hindrances to
Landgon’s move. This is also a part of Dan’s style of writing.

Da Vinci Code was the first book of Dan Brown that I read. It’s a
continuation of Angels and Demons though I read it in the reverse order.
The book begins with a brutal murder investigation and ends revealing the
secret behind the Holy Grail. There is good suspense hidden in the series
of puzzles, deciphering one opens a door for the next one. As you reach the
end the book Dan explains how Leonardo Da Vinci has hidden a secret of the
ancient times in his art “The Last Supper” to pass the information to
future generation. Sophia the main female character in the story learns
about her family line. The book was well written however it didn’t just
reveal the murder mystery instead was based around divine mystery that had
questioned faith of the multitudes. Hence it was not received well by the
critics and there are an enormous controversies raised as the story is
against the Roman Catholic faith. I diplomatically overlooked the
conspiracies it carried and considered it just as another story book. As a
friction thriller I would definitely rate it high. There is a lot of
research and intelligence that has gone into writing this book, there are
enough suspense’s to hold the attention of the readers till the end. Right
from the Fibonacci series to the truth the Holy Grail carried, the
deciphering of the code was quite interesting.  The description of the
places was awesome. Some simple things were well portrayed, in one
incidence Vernet the President at Swiss Bank while trying to help Langdon
and Sophie disguising himself as a truck driver get caught because of an
expensive watch on his hand. “Do all drivers wear Rolexes?” This was the
question asked by the agent; there had been many such interesting
conversations throughout the book. It has good references to numerology,
ancient history, art and literature. I enjoyed reading it. According to me
it’s definitely an interesting friction however far from facts and the
mistake done is presenting a friction as fact that to on a topic concerning
divinity a faith prophesied by several millions of people, over thousands
of generations reasoning the book being extensively denounced.

Recently I have read the book Digital Fortress written by Dan Brown. When
its novels I always have a Go for thrillers and Dan Brown is been my all
time favorites. I have read 5 of his books Angels & Demons, Da Vinci Code,
Lost Symbol, Deception Point and Digital Fortress. Here’s a quick review
about Digital Fortress. I will come up with the reviews of the other books
as well.

Digital Fortress was written during the outbreak of encryption/decryption in digital technology. To summarize the story goes
this way; the US National Security Agency NSA develops a code-breaking
machine called TRANSLTR that could break any code. NSA does not reveal
TRANSLTR's existence to the public. "Who will guard the guards", Ensei
Tankado a former NSA employee who was displeased with NSA for its intrusion
in people’s private lives develops an unbreakable algorithm called Digital
Fortress. The code somehow bypasses the NSA security firewall and TRANSLTR
runs for hours trying to break the unbreakable code. Though this was kept
as a top secret, the code running in TRANSLTR for more than 12 hours did
create chaoses among a few staff and each one start spying to find out
what’s happening. There are enough suspense’s and new twist as to who is
behind the plot as you turn your pages.

Important characters in the story are Susan Fletcher, David Becker, and
Strathmore. Employing a language professional as a detective agent to find
the pass key has been quite different and interesting. To know the exact
struggles involved in searching the pass key, breaking the unbreakable
code, what the code for Digital Fortress was actually meant for, the threat
it carried to NSA etc you must read the book.

It’s an excellent techno-thriller and the mysteries would keep holding till
you reach the last page. Like all other books of Dan this one also has deciphering
of code. There are references to technologies especially the network
security, firewalls, encryption/decryption and a slight reference to
history Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A techy who loves thrillers would enjoy
reading this book.

Here’s a collection of some interesting facts about Steve Jobs and Apple
Inc.

-Steve Jobs was born to Abdulfattah John Jandali and Joanne Schieble (later
Simpson). He was a Syrian origin by birth who was adopted by Paul Jobs and
Clara Jobs.

-Steve’s biological sister, Mona Simpson, is the famous author who penned,
“Anywhere But Here” — a novel about Simpson’s relationship with her folks.
He had learnt a lot about his biological parents through his sister. He had
never got a chance to meet his biological sister until the age of 27.

-Steve never wanted to meet his biological father, though his father yearned
to meet his genius son.

-Steve was a Zen Buddhist and once thought about joining a monastery.

-Steve was a college dropout.

-He was a millionaire at the age of 25.

-He was offered an internship with Hewlett-Packard in his eight grade, As an
eight grader he called William Hewlett co-founder of HP to inquire about a
missing part from a frequency counter he was assembling. Hewlett reportedly
offered him a bag of parts and a summer internship.

-Steve Jobs first worked in an Apple Farm. When he decided to start his
business, he joked with his friends that if they did not suggest a name for
his company he will name it as ‘Apple Computers’. Obviously his friends
could not come out with a name and hence Steve named it as ‘Apple
Computers’.

-The apple logo bite/byte has a fitting reference for a tech company

-After Jobs and Wozniak founded the company with Ronald Wayne, the initial
Board of Directors decreed that every employee need to be issued a name
badge and an employee number based on their date of hire. Wozniak got
number one and Jobs was left with two. This made Steve unhappy. He made so
much of stink that the number two badge retired and was issued a new badge
with number zero.

-Steve was known for his aggressive personality and erratic management
style.

-Fortune magazine once wrote that Jobs was “considered one of Silicon
Valley’s leading egomaniacs.”

-Jobs was fired from his own company in an internal power struggle.

-He eventually stepped back as the interim CEO and served as the CEO till
August 2011.

-When Jobs resumed control as Apple’s CEO in 1997, he stopped all of its
philanthropic programs, saying, “Wait until we are profitable.”

-Even after rising to the top to become a $40-billion company, Apple still
doesn’t donate to charity.

-As the CEO of Apple, Steve earned $1 a year, 50 cents for attending the
meetings and 50 cents for his performance.

-On August 24th, 2011 Steve Jobs resigned his position as Chief Executive
Officer of Apple before his long battle with pancreatic cancer took his
life on October 5th 2011

-Jobs stake in Disney was twice as big as his stake in Apple

-He was the 110th richest person in the world when he died

-Today, Apple is the largest technology firm in the world, with annual
revenues of more than $60 billion

The novel “Only Time Will Tell” had killed two days of my time and here’s a
quick review of the book. The story revolves round two families, "The
Barringtons" and "The Cliftons" through some generations. It begins with
Harry Clifton’s, childhood around whom the entire story is bound who in the
beginning chapters says “I was told my father died in a war”. Time reveals
Harry, his own identity, How his father died? And the fact whether he was
his father or not? I am not going to put the entire summary as I wouldn't like
to reveal the suspense of the readers the author had hidden in his book. The
narrating art Jeffrey has used was quite impressive where each part of the
story was told by a different character without much of repetitiveness.
Each coming up with their point of view and also driving the story forward.
I loved the character of Old Jack throughout; all the other characters were
also equally good. Towards the end I felt the story ended abruptly, some of
the characters have gone missing, leaving the readers ambiguous on the
conclusion. I felt there should have been something more. This book is the
first part of “The Clifton Chronicles”. Hmm… need to wait for the next book
in this series.

Change is inevitable in this world especially when the talk is about technology; the world has experienced a rapid transformation. There is nothing astonishing if I put forth the transition I have witnessed in the digital world in a timeframe less than two decades. Black & White TV’s have got replaced with color ones, and now we have LCD’s. Radios and Tape recorders to walkman and walkmans to new iPods, Postal service & Telegram offices have become relatively free as most of the letters and information is been passed through emails, Telephones & Fax. Decades back having a computer of 256 MB RAM had been a talk in the town and now personal laptops with 8 or 16 GB RAM and Tablets are quite ordinary things. In schools and colleges blackboards have got replaced by projectors, lesson plan goes as presentations, I am not sure if there’s a trend of emailing the progress report cards to parents. Thank God this was not there when I was in school. The schools bags which carried huge text books got replaced with laptops. Rough notes are taken in Notepads, exams are written online and results are declared on spot. Joggings are done on Treadmills, Gossips are converted to online chats and emotions are sent as smileys. What’s on your mind goes as status on Facebook? Diaries are archived online in blogs. Group discussions happen on forums, shopping & shipping can be done sitting at home, money can be drawn anytime, anywhere. Meeting schedules and To Do’s go as reminders. A 3 year old is busy with computer games. Group conversations happen over Skype, project work is shared across location and firms. Acquiring the latest gadgets is become a fashion. Bills are paid online. No more queues and waiting. Two people sitting side by side talk on gtalk or instant messenger. Images are taken, uploaded and shared instantly. Beware your boss can spot you from his mobile on Google Earth if you try to escape from office (Google Earth features are advancing). Mobile is become a substitute for most of the electronic devices. The progress in technology had bought in several comforts to our lives at the same times they have made us lazier than never before. The joy of acquiring the latest gadget does not last long as by the time you show your friend and rejoice exploring the new features, the competitor is out with a better piece and the whole crowd around you has it. If the revolutionary speed of earth is 18.5 miles/sec wondering what would be the speed of technology revolution?