Oh My India! Air India!!!!***

A Horrible Flight Experience #Air India AI968# Sharjah To Thiruvananthapuram

We boarded AI968 unusually 45 minutes late from Sharjah International Airport.
The delay in the flight aroused a lot of insecurity as we were all aware about Ockhi cyclones lashing Trivandrum.
As the wheels started rolling down the runway, the cabin crews started demonstrating how to use the life jackets.
In all my previous flights; I never used to give a slight eye to those instructions; but after watching the hindi movie *#Neerja#* my instincts asked me to concentrate more on the safety exits and the life jacket instructions. To my dismay the cabin crew demonstrations were so fast that lay-men like us could hardly make out the exact steps properly.
I closed my eyes and said my prayers *God please keep us all safe throughout this journey. We all have many dreams and families awaiting us at our destinations. Please take care of turbulences especially the ones caused by the cyclones*
As it was 45 minutes past twelve I was drowsy and fell off into a short nap..shortly i opened my eyes to realize that i was sweating and feeling suffocated unable to breathe properly.
The flight was high up in the air but it was damn hot..all people were restless and the cabin crews were running here and there. I thought something was wrong but after 15min the cooling came back.
Then the crews started serving soft drinks; beer and liquor.
I took for myself a glass of 7up and the man beside me took one can of beer then in two minutes he gulped it and took more again.i was wondering whats wrong with this person.
In 10minutes the crew approached us with black garbage backs to collect the glasses. My 7up glass was almost over but 1/4 was left which I couldn't finish as I was full and uneasy.  The airhostess gave me a nasty look and said you have to finish this.!!!
I remembered myself instructing my son to finish his cup of milk.!!!
I felt so awkward and i explained to her calmly i don't need more its enough. She did not take it instead she said keep it with you. gave a nastly look and said keep the cup with you. And the same thing happend to the man who consumed the beer she ordered him to finish the can.
Then after 5minutes dinner was served  and later lights went off and we went to sleeping mode.
I was trying to grab a sleep when again the cooling went off and we all began sweating! Then the man who drank three bottles of beer was hitting at the ac outlet above the head and the worst ever could happen (as I feared) he vomitted all over the seat and himself..i jumped out and called the crew. They were least bothered and just passed on a cover for him to vomit..they were not even bothered to clean up the mess or about the fellow passengers.
And the flight was smelling pretty bad.
There were families with new born babies also flying with us. What an unhygenic situation anyone can ever imagine of!
Then the hot temperature inside the plane.
I felt that I was trapped inside a garbage bag unable to escape. I wanted to shout and scream my heart out. But I just prayed and held on.
The seat belt signs turned on as there was turbulence due to  cyclone.
My heart clinged. OmG! I was going to meet my 4 yr old boy after one year what if something happend to the flight and i would never be able  to see him ever again. Tears rolled onto my face.
I stood firm in my prayers and closed my eyes and just waited for the landing. Finally it was landing time. We hit the runway! It was raining heavily and the ground was so slippery due to the rains. My heart was still beating faster. Then we slowed down the captain thanked all the cabin crews staff etc.
But he forgot to mention one name.
*THANK GOD**
 Anything could have happend in the nick of a second. He didnt thank God. I felt very bad. I wanter to grab his microphone and announce:
THANKS to God on behalf of all the passengers for reaching us safely at our destination. When I got out of the flight and I felt so relieved. I had never experienced a trip like this before.

My humble request to all aircrafts round the world.
Kindly stop serving alchoholic beverages to the passengers on board.
There are many cons for it:
(1) persons consuming them create a mess of themselves and for fellow passengers
(2) in case of any emergncy landing how would these people save their lives when they are not in their senses?*
(3)During a  flight journey 100% of the time we are in a sitting position so digestion is difficult so its always well and good to keep stomach light .

And last but not the least all flight announcements should call the name of God before take off and should Thank God after landing.

Tons of Gratitude!

There was a man; a father of three sweet girls and a lovely wife who went on a vacation to India during a hot summer at Kuwait in the year 1990.
They landed at India on July 31; 1990.
After two days full family was devastated after hearing the news through the radio :- that Iraq invaded Kuwait. (2 aug 1990).
A middle class family with three little children left with absolutley nothing underwent through shockwaves with a very tiny hut to live in.
This man didnt breakdown. He hid all his fears and began life from a 0 level.
The way he faced his life and caught back life into a track often inspires me when I am down in tears and struggling.
Its none other than my dear father.
I owe you gratitude beyond words dear PAPA.!

TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD FROM UNEDUCATED TO EDUCATED - BUT ALSO FROM HEART FULL TO HEARTLESS!!

Motivated by the #Dubai Fitness Challenge#; Myself residing at Sharjah decided to spend 30 minutes on walking daily. Last day; I was walking hastily across the SHARJAH – DUBAI border where I saw some police cabs stationed in the deserted area just before the footbridge. And a huge crowd of people had gathered there. I feared some accident must have taken place and slowed my steps down.  I was trying to figure out what was happening.

After few seconds my heart sank. Beside the police jeep were some boxes full of fresh vegetables and fruits . The vendor was not there. I guessed it. He must be inside the jeep.

Shocking part was when I saw the happy faces of well-dress executives and make up worn faces grabbing hastily at those veggies and fruits as though they won a LOTTERY (as if Santa Claus left a package of gifts for free ). They were not content even when their hands were full .  They were searching for bags and covers to grab more. Pathetic educated working class people.

Yes I agree ! It was illegal for that person to sell vegetables and fruits at a non-registered place!  But maybe he was illiterate.  He couldn’t afford to get a job. There are millions of jobless people in UAE. He would have taken a lot of effort and hard work for doing this, Maybe he was starving that he had to find some way to make some money for food. He sought a way to survive.

But what hurt me the most was the plight of the other people!  Heartless Merciless ! How could they just like that be so happy on the sweat of some others? They were going to dine the tears and sweat of a poor soul who was still out there in distress.

Did anyone who grabbed those veg and fruits think in one or other way to help that man who was caught or to guide him or help him in finding a job or a support?  Never because they were so happy to get something for free.  Selfish educated beings!

Pathetic I cried my heart out silently. Tears came in to my eyes and started rolling nonstop! I wanted to go and talk to the police and tell them to let him go but it was against rule!  I wanted to help that man by giving some money but I myself was struggling for money.  A moment in my life I felt so helpless and tied up.  I cried and prayed to God to take care of that vendor.

IMAM or HARAM?

An incident happend today at my work place which left me bewildered with a heavy heart and wierd horrible headache...

I felt i need to share this to the public as an awareness..

I was having lunch with my colleague at the mess room in the yard area behind our office.

The Imam of the nearby mosque normally comes daily to dine @ our office yard messroom.
*** An Imam (/ɪˈmɑːm/; Arabic: إمام‎‎ imām, plural: أئمة aʼimmah) is the name of an Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque ).

There was another elderly employee of our company a chacha who was also dining there.
This chacha commented something to the IMAM. (In a funny manner...but something which the Imam didnt like)

The IMAM immediately jumped from his place removed his slippers in an action to beat the elderly person fiering with rage.
Moreover whatever words that were coming out of his mouth were cheap and fully indecent hindi words abusing the chacha.
For a moment I was shocked! !!
I couldnt believe my ears or my eyes.

The chacha also felt angry and they both were almost literally fighting holding hands.

A worship leader or an imam is supposed to be the leader who should respect others; respect fellow beings; correct the people following wrong path; respect the people having food with him; moreover respect women and the surroundings.

It is justified as a human anyone can get angry. The chacha is almost the age of the imam's father.
He should have shown respect and even if the comments hurt him he could have spoken softly and made him understand that what he was saying what not right rather than behaving this way.
I can't beleive that the UAE govt.is paying huge salary; good accodmmodation and free food for this kind of ruthless imams.
With the same toungue they praise Allah on the other side they are doing this..

I respect all religions but this act by an worship leader is very unacceptable. Religions should not be manipulated in this way.
I was shocked and still not out of it totally.

A normal human being would have behaved in a far better way  than this IMAM who acted just  like a local street goon.
Its a pity that people go to the same mosque where this Imam recites the holy Quran.

God please forgive these people as they do not know what they are doing !!!!

Feeling so upset..! Heavy hearted!-- 13.09.2017

My Plastic Pot of Fishes

My Plastic Pot of Fishes

It was my first day of work and I found something strange!. NOBODY in the office smiled to each other. All faces  looked like they were carrying 100kilo bags of hatred and enemity that prevented them to smile.
I 'm normally a happy go lucky kind of girl. I cherish childhood and by God's blessing I have got a bright smile (Birth Defect may be!). I don't like seeing others gloomy nor do I like to sit myself.
I really felt a lot suffocated adjusting to the new atmosphere of unsmiley and rude faces. I just walked around my cabin area. Moved up some shelves here and there . I found a window which was closed for years with a curtain. I pushed the curtain blinds and Opened up the window  there came in some sunshine and some breeze. On one corner of a cupboard I found a small plastic pot containing 2 small plastic fishes. One colored orange and another blue. I named the orange my name . I filled in some water in the pot. And removed the rusted batteries on the bottom and put new batteries and there...the fishes began to dance in the water. At one glance; anyone would suspect they were live fishes.
And i kept this pot right in front of me.
The light from the window which was closed for ages and the dancing of the fishes brought some happiness and positivity within me.
The office is visited by suppliers and customers daily.
Every one visiting our entrance counter would be awed by this fish and would smile and ask me many questions..
Wow! its so nice ..? How does it work.!
Its so cute..! Where did u purchase it from.?
One day I forgot to turn it on! The Aramex courrier boy who regularly visits our office said to me:: -**Oh!  Mam please turn it On! It looks nice when they are alive and dancing it makes us even feel happy to see them on a tough sunny day. I visit 100's of offices around daily but never have I seen such a beautiful thing.!**** I smiled and replied "sure" and turned it On!

Many of the staffs passing by my cabin started to smile and say wow did we actually have a window over ther??!!!
We have never seen it in our entire lives..
It looks so bright now..!
People started talking smiling whenever they passed by me. I felt good to finally see some smile. Some asked about the fish some about the window.! At least they smiled.

After few months; my boss came out of his cabin and he was searching some documents from a file located beside me.
He said hey you...close that window..you are letting all the flies in!
And he looked at the pot of fishes that were dancing in my table for a moment and he said : It's annoying!!**(those fishes make a tick tock sound).

I was like 😊 and became😢.! I closed the windows and switched off the fishes. They went back to their dead state. And my smile too faded away.....

Now i realized why all the people in this office were looking like bulldog faces.

Because if the person(light) who leads you (manager or management) is bright and  smiling; and  encouraging we can have a ton of  bright ; smiling; positive and energetic followers/team/staff else it will be the other way round!**

LOST IN THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

A DEEP WELL NAMED THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

                                                             (Inspired by Sadhguru)

Weren’t we all born so HAPPY into this world after nourishing those sweet 9-10 months in our mother’s wombs?  Unfortunately, after that what happened?

We all fell into a deep well named “THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS! “

v  From School to College and graduation:  - The biggest happiness was considered scoring the highest grades at school then achieving a good job and earning good figure  salary. STILL NOT!

v  From College to Family: We thought that when we marry and start a family with children; we would be the happiest.  Building a house and buying a car would be the biggest happiness.  We felt we would be complete and totally HAPPY! STILL NOT!

v  Finally when we reached 50s-60s:- We often wished we were young and had a good health like before because lot of money was being spent for the medicines for different ailments like sleep deprivation, psychological issues, diabetes, cholesterol etc.,

SO TO CLIMB THE SO CALLED WELL NAMED THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS ----- We all forgot to our day to day lives  and enjoy the little and precious moments spend with our dear and near ones and what not! We even forgot to just turn around and glance at our beautiful mother nature!  Isn’t it weird?

Therefore, there is no stage in life where we will attain 100% happiness and satisfaction as such as!

So let’s climb out of those deep wells!! 

FACT: Ultimate happiness can be achieved only if we learn to live in the moment.

REALITY: The most sophisticated gadget on earth the human minds are synchronized in such a way that it keep repeating the same cycle generations after generations.  Let’s think on how to bring a –change- to at the least the new generation - yet to be born.!

ENLIGHTENMENT - FIRE- POSITIVE ENERGY

In Indian tradition, we normally light a lamp or candle before we start any auspicious events, functions like a new beginning, a marriage function, inaugural function and much more. Apart from a normal cyclic ritual, I never gave it a second thought until yesterday when I saw a Malayalam movie; in which #Renji Panicker# (An Indian journalist, script writer, producer, actor, and director) gives an insight about this topic to a little girl. 

As per VEDAS; FIRE is the strongest among the 5 elements of nature (PANCHABHUTAS – EARTH, WATER, AIR, FIRE AND SKY).When we begin something auspicious; a witness (Sakhshi) is an essential element.  AGNISAKSHI (FIRE IS THE WITNESS). When we light a fire for example a lamp; the lamp reflects YOU and the wick reflects the spark that will enlighten your mind. You will be energized and filled with lots of energy and positivism.

This thought did enlighten me. So I thought to share it ! Have a nice day!

SHORT STORY - AN ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY LIFE

AN ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY LIFE

It was a beautiful morning of a Spring Season in the year 2030. The normally expected blue sky was no longer blue but dark reddish in color. The sun hadn’t showed up since years. Birds no longer chirped nor there were any greenery in the vicinity. Parks and beaches were filled with heaps of wastes and neither children played around nor elders walked in the pavements. The air smelled of toxic with fumes making it unable to breathe. All the people sealed their windows and doors to prevent the toxic air from entering into their apartments and were very busy in their works at their workstations and those at home hooked on to the TV, Mobile Phones, Internet. Kid were engrossed into video games. Few people could been seen outside the houses wearing masks and rushing into their cars.

Zenith, a lean 12 year old boy somehow managed to drag himself out of his bed and peeped out of his window. He was sick to due to inhaling the hazardous toxic air and his body was weak to fight it and he was in bed since past two weeks under deep medication. He was feeling very lonely and sad. He decided to search some books to read and climbed to his attic and started searching when he surprisingly came accross his grandfather - Mr. Zurich’s diary and got his email id.  

He had neither seen his granddad nor spoken to him after his parents broke up when he was just a  baby and he was living with his mom and stepdad far far away. He logged into his gmail account and sent an email to his grandfather. He didn’t expect any reply but he was overwhelmed and exited when he saw his inbox with “New Message”. He asked his grandfather for chat id and began chatting with him.

His grandfather shared with him the old snaps and told him many stories at his age. Zenith was exited to hear them and started visualizing them. Fresh air, lots of greenery everywhere, open parks, clean beaches, beautiful gardens, chirping birds, and laughing and enjoying bonded families. Heart broken and grief stricken , he went to his bed and sat there for few  minutes and cried and prayed to God. O God! Why wasn’t I born long before I could have enjoyed so much in life and in a much healthier environment. Life has become so cyclic now moreover so electronic. The world had advanced too much that people lost their valuable time. He cried and cried and cried………

Tick tock tick tock!! The alarm started ringing at the bedside of Mr. and Mrs. Zurich’s residence. Mr. Zurich jumped from his bed and sat for a moment and was pale and bewildered. He ran to his front door and checked the date on the newspaper. It was 01.12.2014. Oh!!!! Thank God!!! So It was only a dream. Then he started explaining to his wife about his dream and how the future generation was at stake. He said that this dream was an indication to him to take some initiative to save the future generation and  their valuable childhood.

Immediately he called up some of his friends started campaigns on Saving the Environment and also he expanded his garden by planting more trees and flowers. He said to a TV reporter “Let the media world wake up and enlighten the new generation to save our dying earth; no matter how small an initiative each one can contribute, it will indeed make a huge difference to save our world for tomorrow”.

Binu Rani Albert

CHANGING WORLD AND TOMORROWS INDIA

Changing World and Tomorrows India

“A change is essential for development and growth and it’s relevant only if its effects are positive on the society” –A.P.J. AbdulKalam

Sweeping changes are afoot in the world. Over past two decades, the world witnessed drastic changes in all fields such as economic, politic, environmental , medical and much more. We are today a part of a process of unprecedented global transformation. Threats to human security and prosperity is increasing. The geography of extreme poverty has shifted from low income to middle income countries.

Adding to the difficulties of emerging from this global anemia in the growth process are a series of complex longer term challenges. These include:

·         A need for emerging economies to continue to attract global capital for investing in infrastructure

·         Possible commodity constraints due to soaring demand and prohibitive prices

·         A growing incidence of jobless or job-poor growth as technology displaces labor moving into higher technology

Failure to generate a more equitable and sustainable form of growth comes at high cost. Any growth model that does not properly address growing inequality will ultimately force a crisis of legitimacy and erosion of trust.

The word “change” can imply positive or negative change. The world has advanced very much in developing new medicines, cure of various illness, making life easier with new electronic technologies but the ultimate question is these positive changes have caused people to become more lazier, and think lesser and people often complain “I don’t have time”.

At the turn of the 21^st century, India emerged as an important global player in terms of manpower exporter and remittance recipient. The exceptional growth of remittances has augmented India’s foreign exchange reserves and provided funds for savings, investments and capital formation. In the Asian economic, political and strategic integration India is said to “have acquired a global status” as its role extended beyond South Asia.

India's low-cost Mangalyaan spacecraft entered orbit around the Red Planet on Wednesday, September 24, after a 10-month-long journey. The success of the mission represents a milestone in the country's space program. The question of change cannot be measured by a mission to the moon. India is a poor country: per capita income remains below $2,000 (£1,206) at actual exchange rates, and there is still widespread destitution. About 95% of all workers are in informal employment, and roughly half are self-employed. What's more, the recognized and paid participation of women in working life has actually been declining in a period of rapid income growth.

If we look deeper into India, some of the things which we have make us a great country - a vibrant democracy, flexibility, religious tolerance, youthful demography and a great desire to succeed. We still lack the combined vision on several fronts including infrastructure, anti-corruption drive, and competitive positioning. Be it water, electricity, roads, ports, or airports we need several times improvement over what we have. Corruption is absolutely undesirable but it is everywhere in the world. Poverty is decreasing, but at a speed that is far insufficient. We need to bring depth to our reforms process so that it seeps to the poor man in terms of education, jobs, and an increase in per capita income, etc. One of the ways to expand job opportunities to the poorest is the growth of sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and fisheries. Unfortunately we have not done so well in this area, compared to countries like China. Without the infrastructure basics like roads and ports, even if you have world-class manufacturing or farming, it is not going to be possible to have the goods reach at the right time at the right place. Global markets are too tough and there is no scope for error. But the growth rate of infrastructure in India is still dismal. India is getting too expensive for comparable quality of goods, to the exception of labor. Equivalent hotel in London or Tokyo cheaper than it is in Delhi or Bangalore, and so on.

Anywhere in the world, Indians stand out as exceptional people with their intelligence and work ethics. We just need to work on some of the things at our end to make India one of the most competitive and powerful forces in the world. Eradicating poverty to a considerable extent and removing the stigma of ‘corruption’ are important.

This basic failure helps to explain several other failures of the development project so far: the persistence of widespread hunger and very poor nutrition indicators; the inadequate provision of basic needs like housing, electricity and other essential infrastructure; the poor state of health facilities for most people; and the slow expansion of education. Growing inequalities do mean that a rising middle class is emerging, but this should not blind us to the lack of fulfilment of basic social and economic rights for the bulk of people.

Over the past decade, India has added local roads and highways that prioritise the speed and efficiency of vehicles with no consideration for human safety. The World Health Organisation reports that the death rate in road crashes in India has been consistently rising. Approximately 134,000 people died in traffic crashes in 2010.Until India begins to value the lives and needs of all its road users, and move away from its current middle-class aspiration of car ownership, in my opinion, India's growth is backwards and inequitable.

To understand the real India, we need to look at many other indicators, such as health and education too.  As far as India is concerned, we might score very highly in terms of growth of physical infrastructure, but most of the public places are inaccessible to people with disabilities. As per the 2011 census, India has about 2.7 million people with disabilities, and only a handful of those enjoy education and/or employment. We are spending less than 4% of our GDP on important areas of education and health. Almost 12% of our children (between 5 and 15 years) are identified as child labour, and we have about 2.4 million people living with HIV/Aids.

Almost 25% of my fellow Indians are poor – in the same India where millions use smartphones. Within India, there are many different countries. One is high-flying and tech-savvy, [with people] driving flashy cars in and out of top-starred hotels and clubs. Another is white-collared middle class. And another is still struggling to survive. There is no doubt that in some areas we are a developed country and, as far as people with disability are concerned, we have created facilities and a support system. But in many areas we still have long way to go.

                                                                                                            Binu Rani Albert

A memorable day in my work life - Dr. Salem Alhajraf presenting me a gift before I leave for my Wedding

It was indeed a memorable day in November 30, 2011 when I was surprised by my colleagues and my manager; Dr. Salem Alhajraf when; they all  clubbed together and gave me a gold bangle as a wedding gift. I was awed to know that my manager had taken the initiative for it because he was a kind of person who smiles once in a year; who follows strict military rules on timings on works etc.
This proves that there resides one side in every human which we aren't even aware of. (A bright side and a dark side):-).