August 15 2008- Independence Day Thoughts

On the eve of the India's 61st Independence day, nothing would be more apt then to read the thoughts of our freedom fighters and saints. Every citizen should sit back and cherish the free India. We should energise ourselves with the famous speeches so as to take India to greater heights in the years to come.

Mahatma Gandhi on Freedom
The spirit of political and international liberty is universal and, it may even be said, instinctive.The attainment of freedom, whether for a man, a nation or the world, must be in exact proportion to the attainment of nonviolence by each.....


Tryst with Destiny-Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 14-15 August 1947
Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still
larger cause of humanity...........


His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati on 15 August 1947
At this moment when our Bharata Varsha has gained freedom, all the people of this ancient land should with one mind and heart pray to the Lord. We should pray to Him to vouchsafe to us increasing mental strength and the power for making spiritual progress. It is only by His Grace that we can preserve the freedom we have gained, and help all begins in the world to attain the ideal of true happiness...For a long time our country has striven for freedom; by the Grace of God, by the blessing of sages, and by the unparalleled sacrifices of the people, freedom has come to us. Let us pray to the all-pervading God that He may shower His Grace so that our country will become prosperous, being freed from famine-conditions and the people will live united and without any communal strife.


Give Me Blood, and I Promise you Freedom - Netaji Subash Chandra Bose
We should have but one desire today- the desire to die so that India may live- the desire to face a martyr's death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with the martyr's blood. Friend's! my comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of you blood. It is blood alone that can avenge the blood that the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom.Give me blood and I Promise you freedom.....

Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached- Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda is widely considered to have inspired India's freedom struggle movement. His writings inspired a whole generation of freedom fighters.Many years after his death, Nath Tagore had said: If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative.

Where the mind is without fear- Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Recent AAR ruling has bad news for Joint Ventures in India

Joint ventures with local taxpayers in India could become more expensive for overseas companies after the decision by the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) in the Geoconsult case.

Austria's Geoconsult argued that income from its joint venture with Rites and Secon, an Indian construction group, should be taxed as fees for technical services as it did not have a permanent establishment (PE) in India.

The tax authorities contested that the consortium arrangement between the Geoconsult and its Indian partners was an Association of Persons (AOP) and should be assessed on a net income basis.

The ruling shows the existence of an AOP is determined by the tax authorities on a case-by-case basis and that it is something that should be considered by companies entering into a joint venture.

"When two or more persons join in a common purpose or common action, with an object of producing income, profits or gains then such association is assessable as AOP," said Ankita Maheshka of BMR Advisors in India.

"This ruling brings out the key ingredients required to be assessed as an AOP," Nayak said. "Although the ruling is only binding on the applicant in respect of the transaction, it does have persuasive value and the Indian courts, revenue authorities and appellate authorities do recognise the principles and ration laid down by the AAR while deciding other cases," he said.

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Would you like to know if your mobile is original or not

Press the following on your mobile *#06# and the-international mobile equipment identity number appears. Then check the 7th and 8th numbers:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 th	8 th	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Phone serial no.	x	x	x	x	x	x	?	?	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 02 or 20 this means your cell phone was assembled in Emirates which is very Bad quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 08 or 80 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Germany which is fair quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 01 or 10 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Finland which is very Good

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 00 this means your cell phone was manufactured in original factory which is the best Mobile Quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 13 this means your cell phone was assembled in Azerbaijan which is very Bad quality and also dangerous for your health

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO
Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for
survival. Check out the things that you can do with it: -

Emergency

* The Emergency Number worldwide for **Mobile** is 112 ..* If you find yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. **Try it out.**

Have you locked your keys in the car? Does you car have remote keys?

This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock.

Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: *It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'*

Hidden Battery power

Imagine your cell battery is very low , you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # .A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. when your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

Support Chennai's "88888 Lights Out Campaign"

Recently we have been hearing a lot in media about Global warming and need to hasten our acts together to arrest the current trend. But let us see how many of us really bother about these things and leave it to government to deal with it.

A international survery conducated shows that 24% Indians do not feel global warming is a problem, 30% like to wait and watch and 19% feels that immediate steps should be taken to arrest the trends. 27% did not have any comments to offer.In order to bring out a change in perception, such campaings will definitely play a major role.

After Sydney, London and more recently Mumbai, it’s Chennai that’s heading for the ‘Lights out’ campaign — their way to fighting global warming. How? The Lights Out campaign aims at creating awareness about the dangers of global warming has arrived in Chennai, the the campaign is gaining momentum ahead of the D-day on August 8.

In Chennai the campaign has been christened ‘88888 Lights Out’ as citizens are expected to turn off their lights for 8 minutes at the 8th hour in 8th month of the 8th year of the millennium. The campaign, incidentally, is being spearheaded by the Exnoral International’s Civil Exnora unit.

One may wonder what is the impact a 8 minute lights off campaign can have in terms of energy conservation.To all those the aim is to spead the awareness among the general public to start utilising the energy efficiently.

It is also a good time to read the recently unveiled National Action Plan on Climate Change and contribute Chennai's might in combating Global warming.

Be a good chennaites and support the campaign by switching off your power for 8 minutes.