Mearl Colaco

Go Mahabaleshwar    I’m just back after my short trip to lush green Mahabaleshwar and all that I want to do right now is to share the stuff I did while I was on this vast green plateau (of about 150 sq. kms) on which you can guarantee yourself bouts of clean and non-polluted oxygen 24x7, 365 days a year. This was not the first time I visited Mahabaleshwar…but perhaps I made merrier this time because the timing seemed just right. I must say, that visiting this heavenly hill station in the winters is more rewarding that any other season of the year.  Feels like heaven Our tour from Mumbai towards Mahabaleshwar enroute Pune started on a dark cold Wednesday night via road. The journey was smooth but the cold hilly dark weather almost sent shivers down my spine leaving my set of 32 teeth trembling. It was chill chill really chill with temperatures touching 3-4C in the night and about 8-10 C in daylight. We almost fell in love with the hot sun during those cold days in Mahab...

Many things happen at the blow of a whistle. The policeman brings traffic at a halt, military personnel are warned of infiltration, motormen are able to communicate with each other, and boys signal their girlfriends...all this achieved at a simple blow of this small piece of instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air, which we famously call a 'Whistle'. Well, this loud-mouthed whistle has varied and pretty interesting roles to play…Isn’t it! Even more, when recently whistleblowers have come out to blow the whistle upon the diplomatic world to expose the not-so-good deeds of dishonestly and unfair practices by global governance. Changing the course of diplomacy Yes, you are right; I am precisely referring to the leaks from the secret Wikileaks website that has been making headlines since the past two weeks. Fearlessly exposing the vicious policies made by diplomats, the 39yr old Dean of Wikileaks, Mr. Julian Assange is causing a stir across the globe. Perso...

♫♫♫Oh! You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town! ♫♫♫ Okay, let me quickly clarify, this is no music class lessons that I’m taking you through, neither have I lost my marbles to believe that Santa Claus has preponed his visit to India during the current festival season of Diwali. This is the song that India is singing along, as they welcome the most powerful (gentle)man of the world, Mr. Barack Obama during the auspicious season of Diwali. Well indeed, India is celebrating the festival of lights, “Diwali”, and people all over the world especially people in India are making the most of this festival season by sharing and spreading happiness all around, savouring home-made delicacies, burning oil lamps, and lighting up the sky with fireworks during Diwali. Ho ho ho...says Mr. President Coming to celebrate Diwali with the people of India is the supposed apostle of change, Mr. Barack Obama, who gets air-d...

The Common Wealth Games (CWG) 2010 shockingly started off on a downbeat mood, not feeling like the largest international, multi-sport event that New Delhi, India was hosting, but rather it felt more like a sham that the Indian Crime Investigation Department (CID) was busy unearthing, to hang the culprits trapped in the string of frauds exposed during the preparations of the games. Shut-up Mr. Suresh Kalmadi Suresh Kalmadi, who supposedly is the face of all scandals exposed at the CWG, may be walking around with a sullen face today, weeping over his misdeeds and maybe even hoping to use his political clout to emerge out unscathed from the several shams that he instigated and was party to. But, we need to remind our government servants that the law is equal for all, and come what may no one will be spared. I don’t seem to understand why this fraudster called Mr. Kalmadi, was even given the privilege to deliver a speech in the opening and closing ceremonies of the C’Wealth Games. Tha...

On a regular brighter Friday morning, everybody walks inside office rollicking and rolling towards their cubicle, looking forward to a great day at work and more importantly, the weekend which is staring and smiling back at them. The feeling on a regular Friday of the week is admittedly radically different from any other working day and it indeed is the day everybody longs for. This undeniably is my ideal Friday. But again, what if, on that very grand Friday evening, at about four past forty-five minutes, a letter is placed on your desk which rattles off details of how you have been a burden to the organization after over 10yrs of service, and getting even more humiliating…the letter orders you to leave and vacate the premises at the very spur of the moment. Feels like a slap on the face After running your eye balls through the violent and ruthless letter addressed to you, you almost go out of breath…desperately throwing your hands to grab the air pump to calm those tensed and straye...

Time to think-and-do beyond The recent news conference bash organised and delegated by the President of the supposedly most powerful country of the world, US of A, and attended by the media, undoubtedly shocked the world including economists and corporate honchos who criticised Obama’s administration for employing a protectionist and uncompetitive ideology. In his socialist speech, Barack Obama passionately stressed on the urgent need to eradicate the incessantly rising unemployment in America, essentially jobs lost due to the great recession and those lost in the name of “outsourcing” to European and more importantly Asian countries. Rightfully and bravely following the Gandhian-like ideology, the Obama administration is trying very hard to provide equality of opportunity for all sections of society. The Democrats in fact plan to tackle the concern of rising unemployment in the country, by withdrawing tax breaks to corporates that outsource to countries outside the American soi...

If given an opportunity today to interview the heir of the Gandhi family and Congress General Secretary, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, my first question to him would be about his seriousness to assist the Tribal’s in Orissa and those isolated in different parts of the nation. Additionally, to ask him whether he honestly strives to give Tribal’s and the under privileged their right to freedom of living with dignity and equality…or is it some kind of empty promises that politicians have been making since India’s independence. When we talk about Tribal’s in India or anywhere else in the world, we visualize poor, hungry, ancestral and primitive people who do work that slaves would do. We categorise them as people who wash our cars, who live in shanty homes, who are illiterates, who wash our vessels, clean our homes, and people who officialdom label as “grass-eaters”. These are people who we exploit because they have nobody to glorify them and have no one to empower them to fulfill their basic needs a...

Everybody makes mistakes, isn’t it? And some great scholars and philosophers even justify saying that mistakes are a stride towards achieving success. Like Albert Einstein himself says that, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new ". Well said, isn’t it? So, does that mean we forgive and forget the string of accusations that our not-so-respected Minister Mr. Kalmadi and his troupe face today? After all even Mr. Kalmadi along with his working team who form an important part of the Common Wealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee was managing it for the first time. And why only the Organising Committee (OC), India herself is playing host to the CWG 2010 for the first time…so should we be forgiving these first-timers huh! Well, Well, Well…I wish we could! Provided these first-timers slipped-up in areas related to the actual operations or preparations of the games, it was pardonable. But goofing up with tax payer’s money and doctoring the balance sheets of th...

Expose the oppressor, give voice to the voiceless Wouldn’t you want to speak & listen to the truth and deal with honest people 24x7/365 days a year; wouldn’t you want to expose intelligence and unlawful information, for public scrutiny so that the guilty are punished; wouldn’t you want to see the world as a peaceful place where every human being enjoys their constitutional rights of freedom, equality, and justice. Just wished a big-hearted genie would be generous enough to grant me my three wishes…I would have surely asked for these three wishes, provided people in the whole wide world mirror the same principles. Can I keep the commandments in the real world? I don’t think so! A lone individual cannot obey the commandants of ethical behaviour all by herself while the rest of the world does what pleases them. And even if he decides to be undeceiving, he probably would be tricked and duped and be taken to his grave even before his time comes. They say, “When in Rome, do as the ...

Think FIFA 2010 and it becomes quiet impossible to do a rundown of the 2010 Football World cup tournament without discussing or describing the bang-on predictions made by the slimy fortune teller— Paul the Octopus. Octa-Paul surely won a million hearts while the FIFA matches were spinning out, but even today Paul is competitive enough to give all human fortune tellers a run for their money. The talk of the town Who does not like to be famous? It is human nature after all to love and to be loved. If you ask me, I wouldn’t mind getting featured in an online encyclopedia and would love to have the whole world to recognize me for my craft. But not everyone who is good at her craft gets to that pedestal of acknowledgement just like that. It involves a lot of hard work, meeting the right people at the right time, a leader with leadership qualities to look up to and to follow, and a little bit of luck can get you there. Look at Paul today, with his 100% perfecto prophesies, he has be...

I'm not mocking anyone when I say this....I'm actually serious when I say that I need an oxygen mask to guarantee safe and healthy passage across some places in the once mesmerizing city of Bhopal. Bhopal or the City of Lakes is the second largest city of Madhya Pradesh which is a famous tourist’s destination for its artistically built and exquisite Laxmi Narayan Temple, Taj-ul-Masjid, Moti Masjid, Shaukat Mahal, Upper lake, Lower lake, Van Vihar (Zoo), to name a few scenic and mostly visited and liked tourist spots. But along with this awesome scenic beauty that this capital city of Madhya Pradesh exhibits, it also carries a “black spot” with its name, for being listed as a place which once dealt with and is still reeling over the worst industrial catastrophe in the world – “The Bhopal Gas Leak” – which killed a staggering 15000 people and paralysed and maimed thousands in Bhopal then. The question is....what did we do about it then? The dreadful Bhopal gas tragedy is som...

6 Apr 2010 , Naxalites in a cold blooded ambush killed 76 and wounded 50 Indian soldiers who unknowingly were making their last trips travelling in a security convoy towards Dantewade district, a Naxal stronghold area of Chattisgarh. Later, on 17 May 2010 , a landmine blast triggered yet again by Naxalites destroyed a bus killing up to 44 civilians including a few police officers. Subsequently in another recent unpleasant and gory incident on 28 May 2010 , a train from Kolkata to Mumbai was sabotaged by Naxalites killing at least 150 innocent civilians. The agony and emotion expressed in all the above incidents which happened in quick successions of less than a month typifies the brutal and ruthless hearts and minds of the so-called radicals who mercilessly killed innocent people.....people, who neither directly nor indirectly are responsible for the distressful and pitiful conditions of the Naxalites today. I can see eye to eye and can put myself in the place of the painful and defi...

Did I waste my time while I laughed, cried, screamed, shouted and tweeted my way in exhilaration, as I watched the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 season 3 cricket matches this year?? This is indeed the question I ask myself umpteen numbers of times, since the rotten affair of the IPL has been brought to light by the media and by the governing council of cricket in India. And why only accuse the 58 matches this year (minus two matches which I ignored after the IPL scam broke out) for killing our time over doctored matches and inadvertently contributing towards filling deep pockets of the governing body. In fact, we have been duped for not realising this way back in year 2008 when IPL was baptized as a new “fatafat” (quick) cricket format. This was in fact the same year when planet earth was hit by recession and every business, investors, public sector companies, consumers, and those doing something for a living, was feeling the pinch of the recession....except, IPL Cricket which was...

What happens when two celebrated sportspersons, one playing for India while the other playing for Pakistan, fall in love and decide to tie the knot and be legally called husband and wife? You surely will have scores of fans and the general public congratulating the two sportspersons and wishing them a good luck charm for a happy married life. Conversely, there are sections of society and political groups who defame the couple for even thinking about marrying a person from a rival country, especially in the current scenario when tensions are brewing between India and Pakistan…. eventually politicizing a simple love story between a young boy and a girl. Now let’s add some spice to the story by introducing an unknown Muslim girl, a self-confessed size 10, who comes from nowhere and claims that she is married to the Pakistani sportsman and come storm-or-rain, she will not permit him from saying “Kabool Hain” (I Do), until he does not give her a divorce and sets her free. The entry of th...