Republic Day Special

National Anthem 

The National Anthem of India is played or sung on various occasions. Instructions have been issued from time to time about the correct versions of the Anthem, the occasions on which these are to be played or sung, and about the need for paying respect to the anthem by observance of proper decorum on such occasions. The substance of these instructions has been embodied in this information sheet for general information and guidance.

The National Anthem - Full & Short Versions

The composition consisting of the words and music of the first stanza of the late poet Rabindra Nath Tagore's song known as "Jana Gana Mana" is the National Anthem of India. It reads as follows:

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.
Tava shubha name jage,
Tava shubha asisa mange,
Gahe tava jaya gatha,
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

Download National Anthem (817 KB, 0:52 Sec.)

The above is the full version of the Anthem and its playing time is approximately 52 seconds.
A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the National Anthem is also played on certain occasions. It reads as follows:

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

Playing time of the short version is about 20 seconds. The following is Tagore's English rendering of the anthem:

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

The occasions on which the full versions or the short version will be played have been indicated at the appropriate places in these instructions.

Playing of the Anthem

1. The full version of the Anthem shall be played on the following occasions:
   
   1. Civil and Military investitures;
   2. When National Salute (which means the Command "Rashtriya Salute – Salami Shastr" to the accompaniment of the National Anthem is given on ceremonial occasions to the President or to the Governor/Lieutenant Governor within their respective States/Union Territories;
   3. During parades – irrespective of whether any of the dignitaries referred to in (ii) above is present or not;
   4. On arrival of the President at formal State functions and other functions organized by the Government and mass functions and on his departure from such functions;
   5. Immediately before and after the President addresses the Nation over All India Radio;
   6. On arrival of the Governor/Lieutenant Governor at formal State functions within his State/Union Territory and on his departure from such functions;
   7. When the National Flag is brought on parade;
   8. When the Regimental Colours are presented;
   9. For hoisting of colours in the Navy.
   
   
2. The short version of the Anthem shall be played when drinking toasts in Messes.
3. The Anthem shall be played on any other occasion for which special orders have been issued by the Government of India.
4. Normally the Anthem shall not be played for the Prime Minister, though there may be special occasions when it may be played.
5. When the National Anthem is played by a band, the Anthem will be preceded by a roll of drums to assist the audience to know that the National Anthem is going to be played, unless there is some other specific indication that the National Anthem is about to be played, as for example, when fanfares are sounded before the National Anthem is played, or when toasts are drunk to the accompaniment of the National Anthem or when the National Anthem constitutes the National Salute given by a Guard of Honour. The duration of the roll, in terms of marching drill, will be 7 paces in slow march. The roll will start slowly, ascend to as loud a volume as possible and then gradually decreases to original softness, but remaining audible until the seventh beat. One beat rest will then be observed before commencing the National Anthem.

Mass Singing of the Anthem

1. The full version of the Anthem shall be played accompanied by mass singing on the following occasions:
   
   1. On the unfurling of the National Flag, on cultural occasions or ceremonial functions other than parades. (This could be arranged by having a choir or adequate size, suitably stationed, which would be trained to coordinate its singing with the band etc. There should be an adequate public audition system so that the gathering in various enclosures can sing in unison with the choir);
   2. On arrival of the President at any Government or Public function (but excluding formal State functions and mess functions) and also immediately before his departure from such functions.
   
   
2. On all occasions when the National Anthem is sung, the full version shall be recited accompanied by mass singing.
3. The Anthem may be sung on occasions which, although not strictly ceremonial, are nevertheless invested with significance because of the presence of Ministers etc. The singing of the Anthem on such occasions (with or without the accompaniment of an instruments) accompanied by mass singing is desirable.
4. It is not possible to give an exhaustive list of occasions on which the singing (as distinct from playing) of the Anthem can be permitted. But there is no objection to the singing of the Anthem accompanied by mass singing so long as it is done with due respect as a salutation to the motherland and proper decorum is maintained.
5. In all schools, the day's work may begin with community singing of the anthem. School authorities should make adequate provision in their programmes for popularising the singing of the Anthem and promoting respect for the National Flag among students.

General

1. Whenever the Anthem is sung or played, the audience shall stand to attention. However, when in the course of a newsreel or documentary the Anthem is played as a part of the film, it is not expected of the audience to stand as standing is bound to interrupt the exhibition of the film and would create disorder and confusion rather than add to the dignity of the Anthem.
2. As in the case of the flying of the National Flag, it has been left to the good sense of the people not to indulge in indiscriminate singing or playing of the Anthem.

Source: India 2009 - A Reference Annual

Blogal Warming

Introduction: With the number of blogs increasing exponentially, the blogosphere is under a severe threat. The writing has always been on the wall (and I’m not just talking about facebook). Too many blogs and too many heated discussions have led to the inevitable – Blogal Warming.

Of course not everyone is aware of this affliction, but it is all around us. Its tentacles have already engulfed our community and it is only a matter of time before it squeezes the life out.

As a responsible citizen of the blogosphere, I consider it my duty and privilege to inform the ignorant of this great malady.

Blogal warming broadly refers to the increase in the average temperature of systems the world over, in the past decade, caused by excessive blogging, mindless link forwarding, blog whoring, blog rolling etc. The more specific problems associated with BW will be discussed later on.

Reasons: Studies conducted over the past few days by this astute observer have helped in identifying the root of the problem. As can be readily imagined, the trouble starts when a layman decides he should start a blog. There are various reasons which can be ascribed to this.

1) Green House Effect – Sidin Vadukut says “Everyone and their mother-in-laws think they can write”. A statistical survey conducted on young bloggers has brought to light the reason for this belief – Almost 90% of the subjects admitted that this belief stemmed from having won a prize for creative writing in some inter-house competition at school.

Since the majority of our subjects happened to represent the “Green House”, we’ve dubbed this the green house effect.

In anomalous cases, winning a second prize in flower arrangement in 5th standard has also been deemed as reason enough to start writing a blog.

2) CFCs – The mere feeling that one can write would not have generated so much blogal warming. There had to be a secondary reason. This is of course well known to all of us. The glitz and glamour and the charm of blogging is a feature called comments. The number of comments obtained on one’s blogposts has become a status symbol of sorts. CFC or Craving For Comments is the major driving force behind increased BW.

Effects: The effects of Blogal Warming can readily be guessed. Some of these have been discussed.
1) Temperature Rise – As discussed before, the major effect of BW is the rise in temperature of systems. With the increasing number of blogs, the 35th tab of Mozilla Firefox (a feat once deemed impossible) has become the standard for an average browser. This devil-may-care attitude towards browsing has put immense strain on the system, causing it to heat up more than usual.

2) Holes in the Awe-zone layer – About 5% of the blogosphere consists of readable material and among this close to 1% of the bloggers are particularly awesome. This one percent, called the Awe-zone, occurs at the top of the Blogosphere. Its function is to keep out aspiring bloggers by instilling a feeling of inferiority in them.

However the rapid increase of blogs coupled by inactivity of some bloggers in the awe-zone layer, have caused holes to start appearing in the awe-zone layer. The gap between the awe-zone layer and the rest of the blogosphere has reduced.

This in turn has caused more people to take up blogging as there is someone (whose level) they can relate to in the blogosphere. (The analogy is similar to a person setting out to buy a phone for 6000 rupees. The salesman convinces him that if he can afford 6000, he can afford 7000 and get a much better phone. Once the customer agrees to this, he convinces him that he can get an 8000 rupee phone…. Finally the customer ends up buying a phone worth 13000.)

Holes in the awe-zone layer cause skin trouble. The most commonly observed affliction is an itch to blog.

3) Blogal warming as defined in the Oxford dictionary, also has a secondary meaning – “The delusion that Blogs can be used as a way to warm up to hot chicks”. The first casualty of this delusion was Paul George Tharian. Given below is the photographic evidence of this claim- a screenshot from the Orkut Scrapbook of a blogger. Start reading from the bottom and proceed to the top.

Although this can at best be defined as delusion, it is only fair that this should be included at least as a theoretical effect of blogal warming. We will call it Paul George Tharian’s ice-breaking with girls or simply melting of the Paul-ar ice ;)

Remedies:
1) The only way to combat Blogal Warming is by restoring the Awe-zone layer and putting the rest of the blogosphere way out of reach. You can all help this cause by pouring out your unbounded admiration for this blog.

2) Some people out there think that they can land chicks by blogging. It is of vital importance that we prove them wrong. This can be achieved if all girls out there fall for a single guy and tell the rest of the world that they are not available. To save the blogosphere, I’m willing to take up the cause of being that single guy. :D

FUN : Faceoff between Pritish Nandy and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on Twitter

Hell broke loose on Saturday when the Faceoff between Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (@jhunjhunwala, Not the real one silly )  and Pritish Nandy (@pritishnandy, who was sporting enough to take part) took place.  Some serious issues and some jokes with Pun intended were traded off between the two of them. The official moderators for this faceoff were @surekhapillai & @netra and @ashumittal voluntered to make a quick poll to know who survived the knockout. For all those who missed the tweets and the conversation, here is a select few in the Q and A form picked up for your convenience.  This Faceoff was for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to hurt anyone. Take it with the right ’spirits’ guys!

@jhunjhunwala
And here we go. ITS ON BROTHER. We start now. …………………………………………………….

@pritishnandy
I am here. Dont make me fall asleep …………………………………………………….

@jhunjhunwala
You called me FAT.Is this publicity to promote your upcoming film Fatso? ………………………………………

@pritishnandy
My apologies. You are not fat. You are linearly challenged. But you are cool. I like cool. Fatso is cool.

@jhunjhunwala
Everyone is on twitter including Out of work actors.Why then is Mayawati not tweeting.I smell a conspiracy.Is this your fault?

@pritishnandy
No, there’s not enough space on twitter for Mayavati, you and Jayalalitha. You have to get a bigger server.

@jhunjhunwala
You were a Rajya Sabha MP,that’s the upper house.Is there a lift in Parliament from the Lok Sabha to the Rajya Sabha?

@pritishnandy
No, we just strolled across. But since neither LS nor RS worked more than 60 or 70 days a year, we were largely unemployed.

@jhunjhunwala
If you wanna say ‘Cattle Class’ U should probably say it now.Not saying it implies you disrespect cattle.

@pritishnandy
I love cattle. I love all species barring corrupt politicians n celebs who say Yo bro.

@jhunjhunwala
Free porn is available all over the net,still people are searching for the ND Tiwari Sex Tape. Don’t they need a psychiatrist?

@pritishnandy
They want to see the gumption of a 84 year old man who can take on 3 (or was it 4) babes before a camera. I confess I cant.

@jhunjhunwala
Did you know that Pritish Nandy rhymes with ‘Free Dish Handy?’

@pritishnandy
You have missed your true calling, Firaq Gorakhpuri. You are blessed with a sense of rhyming

@jhunjhunwala
The WELL-ness partner of Raat Gayi Baat Gayi is Moksh,3 idiots has a song = ‘All is WELL’.Why are U film guys lovers of WELLS?

@pritishnandy
@jhunjhunwala I grew up watching Citizen Kane by Orson Welles.  …………………………………..

@jhunjhunwala
Our government keeps saying Pakistan must act,Kasab says he came to India to act in films,hmmm,what’s going on?

@pritishnandy
Kasab began as a villain. Is now pretending to be a Marathi manoos. He has learnt his lines well.
His handlers have played their role badly. They are no actors. Just plain jokers.

@jhunjhunwala
Why are Indian filmstars more interested in premiering their films abroad, instead of premiering it first to us,the Indians?

@pritishnandy
Coz Indian films sell almost 3 times more theatre tickets in a year than Hollywood films. Amazing but true

@jhunjhunwala
Your company is called PNC but many Indians urinate on roadsides.So they basically Pee & See.Will the Peeing&Seeing ever stop?

@pritishnandy
Only voyeurs pee n see. Normal folks pee n go. Get your habits checked out, mate. 2 much watching is psychologically damaging.

@jhunjhunwala
I just made you say ‘Pee’. ………………………………… …………………………………..

@pritishnandy
And I shall soon make you pee in your pants, hot shot fake stock broker.

@jhunjhunwala
I’m not for the politics of sport but 10 Pakistani players aren’t picked by the IPL.Their media raises a shitstorm
Why isn’t the same media outraged when they violated the ceasefire at the LOC 10 times alone this month?

@pritishnandy
Simple. Pakistani players are our rivals, not our enemies. The Pakistani army is our enemy.

@jhunjhunwala
Ruchika kills self after being molested.19 years later,case still in high court,Rathore still out on bail.Money+Power=Justice?

@pritishnandy
People power eventually ensures justice. Jessica Lal. Nithari. Rathore. You cant escape once we know what you did last summer.

@jhunjhunwala
This is THE LAST QUESTION:  Hemant Karkare’s jacket can’t be found,is it with you?

@pritishnandy
Karkare’s jacket is hidden by those corrupt people who made money buying such useless jackets. Its our shame.

The Best Twitter Apps for your Mobile Phone

If you try accessing Twitter from the browser of a mobile phone, Twitter will automatically serve you the mobile-optimized version of their site. However, if in case Twitter fails to recognize your smartphone, you can manually type m.twitter.com to directly access the mobile site of Twitter from your phone.

The Best Mobile Applications for Twitter

Now that’s one way to use Twitter from your mobile phone. You also have a wide variety of mobile apps for Twitter that not only offer a much better experience than Twitter’s mobile site but they also integrate with some of your phone functions like the built-in camera. Have a look!

1. Twitter Apps for BlackBerry

1a. OpenBreak – Originally known as TwitterBerry, OpenBreak is one of the most popular Twitter apps for BlackBerry. You can take a picture with your BlackBerry camera and directly post it to Twitter via TwitPic or yfrog using TwitterBerry.
The app will automatically recognize #hashtags in the tweets and a notification icon will show you the number of new messages in your Twitter timeline just like your BlackBerry displays notifications for unread emails or missed calls.
1b. UberTwitter – Another popular Twitter client for BlackBerry, UberTwitter is location-aware so it can automatically update your location based on the cell tower information even if your BlackBerry phone doesn’t support GPS (like Google Latitude). The latest beta of UberTwitter also includes support for Twitter Lists.
1c. Seesmic – With Seesmic, you can track all your saved searches and Twitter lists inside your BlackBerry phone. Just like most other BlackBerry apps, Seesmic can run in the background and notify you of new direct messages and @replies via the famililar notification icons.

2. Twitter Apps for Nokia Phones

2a. Tweets60 – As the name suggests, Tweets60 is a native Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones that is available in both free and pro versions. This application is primarily for users who just want to quickly update their own status on Twitter as well as follow what their other friends are saying on Twitter.
The pro version supports additional features like the ability to post images to TwitPic and follow search terms on Twitter.
2b. Gravity – Gravity is a hugely popular and powerful Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones. With Gravity, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts, save links from tweets to your delicious account, post pictures to any of the Twitter-friendly photo sharing site like TwitPic of YFrog and it obviously supports all the other Twitter functions like retweets, direct messages, favorites, etc.
You can download a 10-day trial version of Gravity from the Ovi Store.
2c. Snaptu – Snaptu is an all-in-one application that lets you manage your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and even your Google Picasa account from the mobile phone. Snaptu’s Twitter application provides all the basic Twitter functionality – status updates, direct messages, @replies – while their Facebook component lets you update statuses and you can also read and write messages using Facebook email.
Snaptu works with any Java-enabled mobile phone including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola models.

3. Twitter Apps for Windows Mobile

3a. Tiny Twitter – This is a free Twitter application for Windows Mobile that provides all the basic Twitter functionality. One of the unique features in Tiny Twitter is that you can temporarily suspend a Twitter user so that his tweets won’t appear in your timeline though he would still remain in your follow list.
3b. PockeTwit – This is another popular Twitter client for Windows Mobile with support for multiple accounts. You can take a picture from your camera and post it directly to Twitter via PockeTwit. The application features a nice sliding interface so you can drag the tweets to the left to see all the actions that you can take on that tweet. PockeTwit is free and open-source.
3c. Twikini – The app integrates with Windows Media Player so you can tweet the name of the song that you are currently listening to. Twikini can shrink URLs using Bit.ly or TinyURL so you have more space for text and it also displays Twitpic images inline. If you have a GPS enabled mobile phone, you can also add your location to the tweet with Twikini. The app costs $4.95 though a 14-day trial is available for free.

4. Twitter Apps for Android Phones

4a. Twidroid – This is probably the most popular Twitter app for Android phones – the basic version is free but you’ll have to get the PRO version in case you want to manage multiple Twitter accounts from the same application.
Twidroid supports all features of Twitter including Twitter lists. You can shake your Android phone to fetch the latest tweets but this again requires the pro edition.
4b. Seesmic – With Seesmic for Android, you can capture photos or record videos and share them on directly Twitter via yFrog. The app will also let you share you current location on Twitter. You can configure Seemic to notify you with a custom ringtone (or a blinking light) when there’s a new @reply or direct message for you on Twitter.

5. Twitter Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch

5a. Tweetdeck – TweetDeck is a brilliant application that you may use to manage both Facebook and your multiple Twitter accounts from the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The app will automatically sync with TweetDeck Desktop so if you have created any custom search columns on the desktop, they’ll also become available inside the mobile app (and vice-versa). Just shake your iPhone to check if there are any new updates.
5b. Tweetie – This $3 app is one of the most popular Twitter client for iPhone with a very impressive UI. There’s an offline mode so you can do things like reading past tweets, following new people, replying to tweets, etc. even without a data connection. You also get a bookmarklet that lets you post links from Safari directly to Twitter via the Tweetie app.
5c. Twittelator – One of the unique features of Twittelator is that it lets you record and tweet both audio and video clips from your iPhone. You can even tweet the name of the song that’s currently playing on your iPhone. The basic version of Twittelator is available for free on the iTunes store.
5d. Echofon – This is light-weight Twitter client for the iPhone that is free and supports nearly all the basic function of Twitter. The $5 pro version of Echofon supports push notifications so you’ll get an alert when another Twitter user sends you a direct message or mentions you in his or her tweet.

Screenshots of Twitter Mobile Apps

More ways to use Twitter on mobile phones

If you can’t find a decent Twitter application for your mobile phone, you should check out Dabr. This is like an improved version of Twitter’s mobile site.
Dabr will display a more detailed profile of Twitter users so you can quickly decide whether or not to follow a particular user. It will auto-convert Twitpic and other picture URLs into thumbnails so you can view images directly in your Twitter timeline without having to click the click. And since Dabr is a mobile website, you can use it from just about any mobile phone, not just a smartphone.

Another option is email. Just associate your Twitter account with Posterous and then you’ll be able to post updates on Twitter by sending emails to twitter@posterous.com. Whatever you put in the email subject will be converted into your Twitter status.
This email to twitter option will be quite handy if your phone plan allows unlimited email but you need to pay for every extra byte that you download on the phone (lot of BlackBerry plans are like this).