अरसा हुआ जब रोका था खुद ही को जन्नत की राह से ; पर क्या खूब है आज़माइश , क्या खूब है इक़रार ए ज़ीस्त !
- Mahesh Bissa

food for thought

JP Morgan once said, "I do not want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do. I want him to tell me how to do what I want to do." Once I started thinking over it, the thought process went on & on. Well, good food for thought at least.

Happy New Year !

I am not afraid of tomorrow, because I have seen yesterday, and I love today. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

"When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam.

When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters। The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."

- Time Magazine

आओ, मन की गांठें खोलें ...

bliss

bliss is the first word that comes to mind after seeing this pic

(राजस्थान पत्रिका newspaper, online edition, 11.07.08)

Paramvir Chakra

Param Vir Chakra winners so far:

1. IC-- 521 Major Som Nath Sharma, 4 Kumaon Regiment, November 3, 1947, Badgam Kashmir (posthumous)

2. IC-22356 Lance Naik Karham Singh M M, 1 Sikh Regiment, October 13, 1948, Tithwal Kashmir

3. SS-14246 Second Lt Rama Raghobe Rane, Corps of Engineers, April 8, 1948, Naushera, Kashmir

4. 27373 Naik Jadu Nath Singh, 1 Rajput Regiment, February 1948, Naushera, Kashmir (posthumous)

5. 2831592 Company Havildar Major Piru Singh, 6 Rajputana Rifles, July 17/18, 1948, Tithwal, Kashmir (posthumous)

6. IC-8497 Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, 3/1 Gurkha Rifles, December 5, 1961, Elizabethville, Katanga, Congo (posthumous)

7. IC-7990 Major Dhan Singh Thapa, 1/8 Gurkha Rifles, October 20, 1962, Ladakh, India

8. JC-4547 Subedar Joginder Singh, 1 Sikh Regiment, October 23, 1962, Tongpen La, Northeast Frontier Agency, India (posthumous)

9. Major Shaitan Singh, Kumaon Regiment, November 18, 1962, Rezang La (posthumous)

10. 2639885 Company Havildar Major Abdul Hamid, 4 Grenadiers, September 10, 1965, Chima, Khem Karan Sector (posthumous)

11. IC-5565 Lieutenant-Colonel Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore, 17 Poona Horse, October 15, 1965, Phillora, Sialkot Sector, Pakistan (posthumous)

12. 4239746 Lance Naik Albert Ekka, 14 Guards, December 3, 1971, Gangasagar (posthumous)

13. 10877 (P) Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, Indian Air Force, December 14, 1971, Srinagar, Kashmir (posthumous)

14. IC-25067 2/Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, 17 Poona Horse, December 16, 1971, Jarpal, Shakargarh Sector, (posthumous)

15. IC-14608 Major Hoshiar Singh, Grenadiers, December 17, 1971, Basantar River, Shakargarh Sector

16. Naib Subedar Bana Singh, 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, June 23, 1987, Siachen Glacier, Jammu and Kashmir

17. Major Ramaswamy Parmeshwaran, 8 Mahar Regiment, November 25, 1987, Sri Lanka (posthumous)

18. IC-57556 Captain Vikram Batra, 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, July 6, 199919. IC-56959 Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey, 1/11 Gorkha Rifles, July 3, 1999, Khaluber/Juber Top, Batalik sector, Kargil area, Jammu and Kashmir (posthumous)

20. No 2690572 Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, 18 Grenadiers, July 4, 1999, Tiger Hill, Kargil area

21. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, July 5, 1999

Bharat Ratna

India has produced a legacy of brave hearts since times immemorial. Probably there is not enough space to measure their sacrifices. However, we cannot close our eyes to those people who have made our country proud by excelling in their own fields and bringing us international recognition. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour, given for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature and Science, and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order.

1. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1954
Second President, First Vice President, Philosopher.

2. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari 1954
Last Governor-General, Freedom Fighter.

3. Sir C. V. Raman 1954
Nobel-prize winning Physicist

4. Bhagwan Das 1955
Literature, Freedom Fighter

5. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya 1955
Civil Engineer

6. Jawaharlal Nehru 1955
First Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter, Author.

7. Govind Ballabh Pant 1957
Freedom Fighter, Home Minister

8. Dhondo Keshav Karve 1958
Educationist, Social Reformer, Awarded in his birth centenary year.

9. Dr. B. C. Roy 1961
Physician, Politician, Former Chief Minister of West Bengal

10. Purushottam Das Tandon 1961
Freedom Fighter, Educationist

11. Dr. Rajendra Prasad 1962
First President, Freedom Fighter, Jurist

12. Dr. Zakir Hussain 1963
Former President, Scholar.

13. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1963
Indologist and Sanskrit scholar

14. Lal Bahadur Shastri 1966
Posthumous, Second Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter

15. Indira Gandhi 1971
Former Prime Minister

16. V. V. Giri 1975
Former President, Trade Unionist.

17. K. Kamaraj 1976
Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu.

18. Mother Teresa 1980
Nobel Laureate (Peace, 1979).

19. Acharya Vinoba Bhave 1983
Posthumous, Social Reformer, Freedom Fighter.

20. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 1987
First non-citizen, Freedom Fighter.

21. M. G. Ramachandran 1988
Posthumous, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu, Actor.

22. B. R. Ambedkar 1990
Posthumous, Architect-Indian Constitution

23. Nelson Mandela 1990
Second non-citizen and first non-Indian, Leader of Anti-Apartheid movement.

24. Rajiv Gandhi 1991
Posthumous, Former Prime Minister

25. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel 1991
Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, First Home Minister of India.

26. Morarji Desai 1991
Former Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter.

27. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1992
Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, First Education Minister of India

28. J. R. D. Tata 1992
Industrialist and philanthropist.

29. Satyajit Ray 1992
Film Director ,Oscar winner

30. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 1997
Former President, Scientist.

31. Gulzarilal Nanda 1997
Freedom Fighter, former Prime Minister.

32. Aruna Asaf Ali 1997
Posthumous, Freedom Fighter.

33. M. S. Subbulakshmi 1998
Classical singer.

34. Chidambaram Subramaniam 1998
Freedom Fighter, Minister of Agriculture (Father of Green revolution).

35. Jayaprakash Narayan 1998
Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Social Reformer.

36. Pandit Ravi Shankar 1999
Classical sitar player.

37. Amartya Sen 1999
Nobel Laureate (Economics, 1998), Economist.

38. Gopinath Bordoloi 1999
Posthumous, freedom fighter

39. Lata Mangeshkar 2001
Play back singer.

40. Ustad Bismillah Khan 2001
Classical Shehnai Maestro