Who is my Santa Claus? (First Anniversary Blog)

As I celebrate Christmas this year, I have one question in mind which I can’t resist sharing. This question has been there since my childhood but I never really cared more than the gifts I was expecting. If Santa is real, he must be a child, with dreams and fantasies as vivid
as the ones I used to have when I was a kid. Else how'll he know about all my wishes.

Here it goes – Who is my Santa Claus? Can he be a child?

A name that fills up the heart of every child with joy, who else could it be but not a child. So, did Santa get all the gifts he wished for, if he is really a child?

There are gifts that people all around the world are giving to us every day, through their prayers, blessings and love. We just don’t know about them until the time comes. So what we have and what we are, is a gift from the Santa in every living being. That Santa for me is the child inside all of us who wants to share everything and in return wants just one thing as a token of gratitude – A Big Smile!

This Smile is the gift Santa wishes for, all the time. So the next time someone does something for you, consider it as your Christmas gift and feel grateful to the one who gave you that gift. I’m sure this will motivate you to give more gifts to others and become their Santa. And if you are looking for gift suggestions, here are a few of them.

To your enemy, forgiveness and respect.

To your opponent, tolerance and a fair chance.

To your close ones, gratefulness in the form of love.

To your customer, the best service.

To everyone else, your prayers.

And to yourself, belief!

I completely agree with the words of Mary Ellen Chase –

“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.”

This is the state of mind we should be in, all the time and not just one day. So, what I’ve realized this Christmas has helped me enhance my last year’s statement (read “My First Blog”).

If life is a box of gifts, and all of them are within me, then the sole purpose of my life is to open those gifts and share them with everyone. And the best way to share them is to gift them, because the more I’ll give, the more I’ll get. As long as I do this, I’ll be able to satisfy him - the child within me!

The One!

This is a tale of its own kind

With energy that completely took over my body and mind,

The moment when all lies reflected back as truth

And I saw someone with a unique fire-filled look,

Vanquishing all evil and sparking a new life

Angels, Gods and all Divine beings alike,

It was the day I saw someone else in the mirror

It was the day I met Him Face to Face forever!





Of all the generations and millenniums

Of all the people and religions,

Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence

It was an instant when it all made sense,

This was the moment and this was the place

When my every birth flashed upon my face,

It was the day I saw someone else in the mirror

It was the day I met Him Face to Face forever!





The clouds and skies with their thunder and lightning

The nightingales and peacocks with their singing and dancing,

The oceans and springs playing and clapping with water all around

The mountains and hills joining hands to bless the world surround,

The stars, galaxies, nebulae across universe

All twinkling and shining in the rhythm of a verse

It was the day I saw someone else in the mirror

It was the day I met Him Face to Face forever!





I could see blossomed flowers of every color

A light bringing upon a wave of new fervor

The heaven and the hell, all merged as one

I could see everything without any lights on

All the troubles gave way to a mysterious smile

I could feel the wind of change blowing from a mile

It was the day I saw someone else in the mirror

It was the day I met Him Face to Face forever!





I then realized…that it was never about what I could,

It was always about what I should!

And all I’ve been searching for, my only goal

Is Peace and Happiness within my Heart, Mind and Soul.

It was the day I cried the most

It was the day I laughed the most,

It was the day I saw someone else in the mirror

It was the day I met Him Face to Face forever!



It is my belief that there are some unfilled promises and unseen miracles that have been assigned to each one of us. Every birth, we try to accomplish some of them as per the will of the One. It’s our duty to submit to this will and understand the purpose of this life. The Mantra is within us, known only to the One within us.

Let’s try to connect with ourselves, with the ENERGY that has been creating and driving our soul through eternity.

Let’s try to learn from the lessons we’ve learnt across ages.

We are all One and will always be One. Our Lives are not just to be lived, they are to be lived for………. the One within!

Amwe! Amwe! - How can we help the Haiti Earthquake victims?

It's been just a few days, that a 7.0 earthquake devastated a million lives in seconds. The poorest nation in world's Western Hemisphere, Haiti is now in ruins.


This blog is not meant to criticize but to guide and request everyone to help the Haitians at this most critical time of crisis in centuries and also how we can be better prepared for any similar catastrophe in future. This is a time when every blogger or writer should write about ways to contribute to the relief efforts, every new way can bring in help not only for Haiti but also help the international relief organizations to prepare themselves in a better manner for future, ensuring a quicker response. Though we may not be directly impacted by this but it's our brothers and sisters who are in pain and turmoil and crying out for help. It's difficult to ignore them even if we try to!


The PM of Haiti says death toll may exceed 1 lakh with people still buried around the Capital Port-Au-Prince and waiting for someone to rescue them out of the debris. While the Haitians are digging through the rubble to get as many of their people out, all other nations are yet to decide how they are going to help. Celibrities, corporates, non-profit outfits and governments from various nations have come forward with their contributions but all they have done is assure money and items. Help is coming - but it's coming too late for some of those still buried and shouting for help ("Amwe! Amwe!" in Creole, meaning "Help me").


U.N. has taken responsibility for co-ordinating the rescue efforts with teams from various nations. But is there any chance of survival of those who are buried for more than 3 days. Time has already run out for most of them and it's just the few lucky ones who may be able to get out and see the light. Within four days, 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will be in the quake zone. By Tuesday, three more U.S. Navy ships carrying 2,200 Marines and heavy equipment will join them. By Saturday, about 5,000 to 6,000 men and women dedicated to supporting the relief effort will be in Haiti, military officials say.


A third of Haiti's 9 million people may be in need of aid. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the World Food Program was providing high-energy biscuits and ready-to-eat meals to around 8,000 people "several times a day." "It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," spokesman Paul Conneally told The Associated Press by phone from the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo.


Why despite of all our advances and achievements in technology and with Scientists having long warned about a major earthquake in Haiti, no major steps were taken to plan and mobilize resources for a faster response?


Why is it that every time a major calamity like this happens, despite of our political establishments, agreemens and treaties, we are unable to offer help and save those buried for days?

The U.N. seems to be doing the best job right now even though it has been hardly hit by the earthquake with it's own U.N. Chief Representative Hedi Annabi and 150 others missing from their headquarters.

But still 'hope' is something we all need to stick to and expect U.N. and all member nations to come up with a plan which makes it possible to fly in trained personnel, advanced machinery and useful resources within 24 hours without any political/transportational hassles. A better planning would've surely helped in saving many more lives.


The first and best way to contribute is to donate money to any of the following organizations who are working day and night to mobilize resources in Haiti and help in every way possible.


The American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/

The United Nations World Food Program
http://www.wfp.org/

The Salvation Army
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Action Against Hunger
http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/

Project HOPE
http://www.projecthope.org/

Partners in Health
http://www.pih.org/

Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/


Doctors without Borders
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

The second way is to send an SMS (Text "Haiti") to 90999 (only in U.S.) to donate $10 (billed to your phone)


The third way is to pray for the dead to Rest In Peace and their families and other survivors to have strength to re-build their lives and infuse every heart with the ever-enduring human resilience.


It's the second biggest devastation I've witnessed in my life after the 2004 Tsunami and with scientists predicting even worse calamities in future, the best we can do is to pray with all our heart that nothing like this happens again and even if it happens, we are better prepared to save our people.

2010...here we go!

Wait...is it 'two thousand ten' or 'twenty ten'?

The second decade of the 21st century brings with itself lots of hope and excitement and for me it's nothing short of living in the future, as I remember myself telling my friends in high school in Y2K, that we'll have so so many advanced things happening by 2010. May be I had no idea about laptops, mobile phones and I had just heard about Apple and Google from an online tech article never knew these names would shape my life entirely and guide me to a world of knowledge and information far beyond imagination.

And how can I forget Wikipedia, the biggest non-profit concept I can think of providing quick trustworthy information at my fingertips, what would I do without a 'wiki' today (from the Hawaiian word 'wiki', meaning "quick"). And finally, Salesforce.com - a name I had just heard of a decade back and my job now depends on it ('Cloud Computing' to be precise).

The last year was no exception, despite incredibly tough economic conditions, the tech industry delivered new and bold technology innovations, some of which are now integral part of my existence. Overall, this was the year when online social media sky-rocketted.

Following are few of the events which I consider really worthy of mention due to their importance to me:

- Apple's launch of iPhone 3G S
- Escalation of Google-Microsoft rivalry
- Launch of Open Source Google Chrome OS
- Launch of Windows 7 with Aero, Shake, Peek, Snap, Jump Lists
- Launch of Kindle 2 by Amazon and Barnes & Noble's Nook - I'm still looking forward to a coloured Ebook reader from both these Corps.
- Bing Search Engine gaining 10 percent of the search market by the end of the year
- Launch of the first 'All Aluminium iMac'
- Launch of Netbooks by Nokia, Samsung and others
- Launch of IE8
- More than a billion app downloads
- Smart Phones became smarter making social life much more simpler
- Online Gaming going mobile, big-time
- Exponential growth of Twitter and Facebook
- Susan Boyle's amazing rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream"
- Recovery of Global Economy
- The word 'Namaste' gaining huge popularity in search engines
- Indian General Election for the 15th Lok Sabha being the largest democratic election in the world to date with 714 million voters casting their vote.
- Commercial launch of Android

Following are few of the events which I consider really worthy of mention for their lack of importance to me, as I thought these could've happened in a much better manner or not happened at all:

- Slumdog Millionaire (8 Oscars)
- Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize
- Tiger Woods' fall from grace
- Michael Jackson's death
- Compenhagen Summit
- Pandemic H1N1 (Swine Flu)
- 'affect' being the most searched word in online dictionaries (When to use affect vs. effect is still the biggest puzzle for English speakers)
- Telangana Issue
- The end of scooter manufacturing in India

And in 2010 I expect a lot to happen, my small wishlist being:

- Google OS netbooks
- OLED TVs - Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology is poised to oust LCD just as LCD stuck the knife into the CRT.
- Products based on Wireless electricity
- Cloud Computing being offered for personal use
- 4G (LTE) and Wimax technologies being implemented by all carriers
- Successful 2010 Commonwealth Games hosted by India, the largest multi-sport event in India

I may have been a bit more technology oriented in this blog but that's not something very much unexpected from a technocrat like me.

I'm sure that this decade would witness decisions that will change the way of existence of the human race. Have a safe, fun-filled and prosperous 2010, 'two thousand ten' or 'twenty ten' whichever suits you the most :)