The silent plea...(in memory of those who lost their lives in Uttarakhand)

I cannot harm you
Nor can I help you
I am sleeping silently
With hundred others like me,
Swept away by the sludge
Now buried under the mud,
There are also thousand others
Probably waiting just to join us,
If you call yourself a man
Try to help some if you can,
And for humanity's sake
Please give politics a break,
We saw that all our live
Now give us some respite,

From under the heap of debris

This only is our silent plea..

---Dr Makhan Lal Das (23rd June, 2013)

A Collection of Limericks

A collection of limericks

Silence….

I thought

She would say something

Probably she had been thinking

I would say something.

In the silence that flowed

The two banks that had become inert

And who could never meet

Kept on gauging the difference in time....

Translated by Dr Makhan Lal Das

From a Hindi poem originally composed by Rafat Alam

Father to Father

No one trained me

How to be a father

No one does..

I know I am not best

Probably am worst

Than the rest..

My father did not

Live long..

Early life

To me

Became a sad song..

The values he taught

Still linger on

The memories of his

Worth a million..

But the best Father is HE

Whom we cannot see

Isn't it proper

To lead my child

To Him

The Father

We ought to be?

==============
---Dr M L Das. (16/6/13)

A Forgetful Bhola Bhala Professor:..

His mobile internet pack validity was expiring on 29th April.. He went to a nearby shop and asked the person to recharge with Rs 199/- a pack for 2 GB... he received an sms ..did not read it... then he recharged with Rs 149/-, an STD pack, since he does STD calls more often...he already had a balance of about Rs.230/-.....He paid Rs 350/- to the shop keeper and continued using his mobile internet happily.. mostly facebook...
After three days, he found, his internet did not work and his balance was also zero...
He was surprised.. how could it be? 
He checked the two recharge sms and found that the first sms actually told him that the recharge for Rs 199/- internet pack had not been successful... Without reading that he paid the money also and by using internet heavily he had finished off his remaining balance also..
Only a forgetful bhola bhala Professor can be so callous...

The day passed off nicely today....

The day passed off nicely today
No girl was raped
At the street corners no girl was teased. 
No one maligned any one
No m.m.s. was made on anyone 
The police also did not slap any woman
On the road no demonstrations were seen.
The day passed off well today
The corrupt officials were caught
Also leaders busy in worldly pleasure
And sadhus watching blue movies... 
It had been a fantastic day today
The price came down dramatically
People could have a meal peacefully
There was no accident on the road
Even a child could cross the road safely.
The day passed off really well
I have dreamed a dream today
The day...

============================

Origin (Hindi) Girish Pankaj

(आज का दिन बहुत अच्छा बीता)

Freedom at midnight in Chennai….

The MTech classes in IIT, Madras started from 19^th July.  I was late by a week because of my sickness.  I was allotted a hostel called Alakananda.  It was the usual practice of  the institute to put the students of a particular class in the same hostel, as far as possible.  Almost all of my class-mates were in a hostel called Tapti. I was the lone flag bearer for my class in that remotest corner of the campus. As I was from Assam, I also felt out of place for various reasons.  

My first class in IIT, Madras was a nightmare.  It was on a subject called Reactor Theory.  Our BE syllabus did not have a full paper of Reaction Engineering.  It was only a  part of a subject called Thermodynamics  and  kinetics. Only two questions were used to be asked from that topic and one can easily ignore that part of the subject, which I also did since there were plenty of choices in the question paper.  So, practically I had no knowledge on reaction engineering.  Reactor Theory was a subject of a higher level and without basic knowledge it is impossible to understand a single concept of the subject. 

The teacher was a very well known professor who came to teach us the subject as a visiting faculty.  What he spoke in the class was all Greek to me.  After the class was over, he distributed an assignment sheet. It contained about ten problems to be solved and to be submitted within a week. I just glanced through the sheet and there was another great shock waiting for me there. Most of the problems dealt with a mathematical concept involving DELTA FUNCTION, a term I had never heard before in my life. I felt terribly depressed and didn’t know what to do.  I knew no one from among my class-mates who could help me out to understand some related concepts. 

I had no time to lose. I started searching for books in the library desperately.. I had to learn the basics of the subject, then the topic itself and then the mathematical concept called delta function and its application and finally I must solve the problem using all these concepts. I started spending all my spare time reading in the library.. It was a race against time..

About four days passed in the process.. I was doing some progress but Delta Function was still haunting me.

On that fateful day, I headed towards the library after my dinner with a disturbed mind. I took few books from the rack in the reference section and sat down to study at an empty cubicle .slowly but steadily the mystery called Delta Function started unfolding… things started getting clearer and clearer…I gained some confidence to try solving the problem using the concept of Delta Function..I tried and after few attempts , suddenly the problems started appearing simpler to me and with some more effort I could solve them one by one…withing an hour or so, I could solve all of them.

I was so excited that I felt like shouting then and there.. I looked at my watch. It was exactly 12 midnight..I congratulated myself.  

All of a sudden I remembered the book I had read few years ago.. FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT..the whole expression had a new meaning to me.. since it was my Freedom at Midnight in Chennai..

I never looked back after that hard earned freedom..

We'll find out

How many persons lost their lives, we'll find out,

Some eye witnesses for the same, we'll find out.

Where numerous people shiver in cold winter nights,

Warm comfortable place there in, we'll find out.

 

Here exists hunger-thirst-famine everyday,

There how do people enjoy accolades , we'll find out.

 

In this atmosphere of  love and brotherhood,

Who has spread these rumors, we'll find out.

 

In the neighborhood where message of love exchanged,

How this agony and pain have entered, we'll find out.

 

The river that has been flowing for ages,

Why has it stopped here suddenly, we'll find out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Origin: (Hindi) Dr Raghunath Misra

Translated by: Dr Makhan Lal Das

Come, Let Us Forget...

Come, let us forget

Which things of whom

Should we remember,

Come, let us forget everything,
There will no longer be bitterness in mind

Nor  will there be any suffocation in mind

It would be good if we remember nothing

Come, let us forget everything.

.......................................

चलो भूल जाएँ / * अशोक लव 

------------------------

Origin (Hindi): Ashok Lav

Translated by : Dr Makhan Lal Das

Even the storms will make way for you..

Don’t lose heart; this storm will make way for you,

You’ll see tomorrow, it will give your life its meaning.

The one who is afraid of pain, how can he move ahead?

When courage is the companion, thorns will also make way.

Tell me friend, is there any ,not laughed at by this world?

Tomorrow, those who mocked, will give your life its meaning.

Go ahead singing your own song, not listening to others,

Even the dusts of your feet will direct the paths of many.

This is the rule of this world; it takes side with the winner,

People of this world someday will give your life its meaning.

 

--Dr Yogendra Nath Sharma Arun

Translated by: Dr Makhan Lal Das

Little Commom Sense..

I had returned home after a gap of about four months. My son grimly declared that my favorite PC was out of order. 

"What's the problem?", I asked.

"It simply doesn't start', he replied. 

I felt bad since surviving without the PC would be difficult. 

I am not a computer expert. I cannot repair it.

" Have to call my trusted computer man Bikash", I thought.

Before calling Bikash I just wanted to check the problem. And one fine morning, when I was alone at home, I started my job. I switched on the UPS, then the computer which gave me the indication that the PC had started but the monitor does not work. 

I checked the monitor whether it was switched on. It was. 

"The problem is somewhere else", I talked to myself. I started checking the connections one by one. All connections seemed alright. At last I checked the power supply to the monitor and I could find that the connection from the adapter was loose. "Probably, this is the problem", I assured myself and reconnected the cable to the adapter. and low and behold, the monitor started working.

My son never checked the connections and just had declared the computer to be out of order. If I were not there, he would have called some experts who would have charged him few hundred rupees to fix the BIG problem....

Some times common sense is what we require most.

Convinced after a long time..

My friend Dhanalakshmi Ayer belongs to South India but did her schooling in Guwahati, Assam, my home city. We are batch mates in the sense that we appeared in our High School Leaving Certificate examination in the same year. Some of her school friends became my class mates in Cotton College, Guwahati and we became good friends. After the Pre-University examination in 1978, we went in different directions, some became doctors, some engineers, some professors and many went abroad.

My contact with most of them were restored , only a few years ago, through a yahoo group created exclusively for us, the 1976 batch mates in Cotton College. Old memories were relieved, we became virtual school children again and new friendships were also established.

This is how I and Dhanalakshmi Ayar came to know each other through internet. It was about 5 years ago and the contacts were alive through yahoo and face book.

Only recently, I along with my wife and son visited Chennai and went to meet my friend at her residence at Adyer. We came face to face for the first time. It was a short visit and after a satisfying meeting and breakfast, we left for Assam.

The other day, my wife called me excitedly to inform that Dhanalakshmi Ayer had called her from Chennai and they had a very long chat…

“Internet friendship and face book is not that bad...” she commented.

Forgive and forget...

Two words we come across very frequently. Both these words demand some conscious action.

It is said "To err is human." Human beings will err, someone will hurt us , knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally. Even our near and dear ones do that sometime.

We forgive our dear ones for such mistakes in most cases.

We are taught by religious books to forgive others. Forgiving means not holding grudge against the erring person. But, the real struggle starts when the question of forgetting the incident arises.

It is easy to say that we have forgiven so and so for his /her wrongdoings against us but it is difficult to forget the incident totally.

Sometimes, we remember the incident and take pride in the fact that in spite of the wrongdoing, we had forgiven a particular person.. so we are great..It pampers our ego.

That is why, true forgiveness demands forgetting of the whole episode.

A strong lady...

She is a  house maid ,  a middle-aged woman. She talks very little, comes on time, cooks my meals and leaves silently. 

She is a widow, her husband died four years ago. She has only a young adopted son. She is educated and can read, write and speak English. Her husband was a rich man and she has lots of property but after her husband’s death some other people are enjoying the benefits of that property and she had been fighting it out in the court of law.

The other day, I overheard her speaking to some one over phone, most probably the person against whom she had had the legal fight. I understood from the conversation that she had won the case and things were to be settled officially in front of some government authority the next day. I was amazed at the way she spoke over phone. 

She was saying something like this:

“I’ll come alone, only my lawyer will be with me. 

I just know two things, you give me back my papers, and I’ll pay you the money then and there…. 

Don’t worry, I am an educated woman. You write in English or Hindi, I’ll follow… 

I have won the case, and now you have no other options

And don’t shout like that.. I can also shout.. etc.. etc..”

I just kept wondering, how education can give confidence to people irrespective of their gender.. Also, how circumstances can make a strong man even out of an Indian lady....

A win win situation?

Read this story somewhere and found it very interesting…

A devout old lady was asked by her young grand son,

“Grandma, you believe in Jesus Christ. Are you sure that he is going to save you? What if his promises turn out to be false?”

The old lady smiled and replied,

“I believe whatever Jesus says.

As far as your question is concerned, I see it this way:

If what Jesus has promised becomes true, I am going to be the gainer, since I have trusted in Him and I’ll be saved. And even if his promises turn out to be false, I have nothing to lose since I am leading a good life following Him and I’ll have no regrets.

But, my son, if what Jesus says is true, what will happen to you if you do not trust Him now?”

A very interesting logic indeed….. I have no idea what the young man did.

Something is seriously wrong..

I have interviewed many people from many states and have developed this impression that something is seriously wrong with our education system. Most of the candidates I interviewed could not answer simple fundamental questions.

The other day, a candidate who is a mechanical engineer could not even define the term “WORK” or “Mechanical Equivalent of heat” .

The next day’s experience was even shocking. 

A candidate came to face the interview. His academic records are excellent: 90% in High school (State Board), 86% in Higher Secondary (CBSE) and 80% in BTech.. I felt happy to get such a brilliant young man as a teacher for my students.

I started with the question: 

“How or why does a body float in water or in any liquid?” 

He replied, “Because of buoyancy force.” 

“On what factor does the buoyancy depend?” I asked…He could not answer. 

I asked back, “Why does a needle sink in water but the ship float?”  

And to that his answer was, “The needle has lesser density as compared to the ship.”

I asked, “What is the density of steel/iron, approximately?”

About 1.4 kg/cubic meter, he replied

“And density of mercury?”, I got curious to know his answer.

“1.2 kg/cubic meter” was his reply

“And the density of water?” I asked not losing my cool.

“1000 kg/cubic meter”, he replied correctly for the first time.

So, according to this brilliant mechanical engineer, water is 1000 times heavier than steel.

I could not decide whether to cry or laugh... 

Saving that drop…

Some one commented, “The next world war is going to be fought over water.” Water is going to be the bone of contention.

Some people have already been suffering from water scarcity and it will affect more and more people if we do not take appropriate steps.

The other day I saw a newly installed beautiful bath tub in a friend’s house. It is a luxury, no question about that. 

I have read somewhere that it takes about 70 gallons of water to fill a bathtub, so, obviously, showers are generally the more water-efficient way to bathe. And , if we use a low-flow shower-head , we can save 15 gallons of water during a 10-minute shower.

To, me, not using a shower is even better. I still remember my IIT, Madras days. 

It was during the period 1987-89. Chennai was passing through a situation where water was considered to be precious.  Our hostel bath room shower connections were cut off. One had to carry a bucket of water inside the bath room to take bath. It saved lots of water, no doubt. It was not very convenient though. There was no water tap inside the bath room. Otherwise, some one might have wasted water by keeping the tap running while taking bath. As the water tap was outside, one had to satisfy oneself with whatever water he carried inside the bath room. It was a very good step taken by the authorities, no doubt about that.

This is just an example.. 

We can save plenty of water by some simple judicious steps like that

Dousing the fire...

A driver was asked after he had won the best driver award in some competition,

“What is the secret of your success as a driver?”

He replied with a naughty smile,

“It is very simple. Consider all other drivers in the world to be insane while driving your car.”

Sounds too simplistic, but it carries lots of weight and meaning.

It is true, as some advertisement says, “The roads are full with idiots.” 

One will face the challenge to control one’s temper and patience while driving. But, we do not gain anything by losing our temper while driving.

Road rage is a common phenomenon in any country these days. Just a fit of anger can ruin our entire life.

Before I start driving my car, I tell myself, “You are going to control your temper. Do not come down to the level of the street fighters.”

After all, the way we drive, reflects our personality.

We may not have control over others and over some situations, but we can definitely control ourselves. It is easier said than done, though.

Here are some tips on driver courtesy from http://www.racv.com.au

Be courteous and share the road:

• Allow other drivers to merge or change lanes easily.
• Only use your horn as a warning sound and do not use it out of frustration.
• Always try to stay relaxed and concentrate on your own driving and safety rather than the behaviour of others.
• Don't gesture to other drivers or engage in arguments.
• Be forgiving of other drivers’ mistakes.
• Don't take your personal frustration out on the road.
• Be aware of the needs of other drivers, and all other road users like pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and heavy vehicles.

Two honest boys..

One of them is physically challenged. He was accompanied by his friend. They are from Bihar, recently admitted to our college. They entered my room after politely taking permission.

One of them started, "Sir, we want your forgiveness."

I got confused and asked them, "Why? What happened? What have you done?"

"Sir, without taking your permission we have booked our ticket to go home since it is difficult to get reservations during this Diwalee season.", one of them replied.

"What is wrong in that? The college will be closed for Diwalee vacation, you are allowed to go home.", I assured them.

"No sir, we made a mistake.. we booked our tickets for tomorrow. There is some function at his house. He cannot go alone since he is physically handicapped. So, two of us are also going with him. Our vacation starts next week only. We are going tomorrow.. Please forgive us. If you do not allow, we'll not go." The other boy said pointing towards the physically challenged boy.

I was amazed by their honesty, simplicity and moral courage. I just looked at the two boys with a smile in my face.

And I coolly replied, " Don't worry, you go home tomorrow. I'll tell your warden."

They thanked me and left my room happily.

Just love such honest and bold students.

Keeping the fire burning..

My seventy four year old friend from Nagpur, who visits our college regularly to deliver lectures to the students, never stops learning.  He had been a brilliant student and had retired as a successful geologist and officer from the Geological Survey of India. Even at this age he is as sharp as a razor. He keeps on reading books on various subjects. 

The other day, he asked me, “What is the full form of CDMA and what is GSM?” 

Mr R N Padhi

The two terms are familiar to me but I could not answer him immediately as my knowledge was very very limited. I had to refer to Wikipedia to get some information on these two mobile technologies. Telecommunication is not my field neither his. But I had never bothered to read about them till my friend asked me that question.   

As I was reading about CDMA and GSM in the net, few teachers entered my room at the right moment and came to my rescue.  One among them was an expert in that area and explained the technologies in simple words. My friend kept on asking him related questions and the teacher answered them all. 


I just kept wondering, how can a man at this age remain so inquisitive like a four year old boy!

Suddenly I realized, probably that is the reason why his memory is still so sharp, why he is still so active and enthusiastic, why he does not have ailments that can hamper his movements across the big country like India.

I also read in the net what researchers had found that "Cognitively active persons in old age  2.6 times less likely to develop old age related disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than a cognitively inactive person.

Keeping the fire alive is the key, I concluded

Theory and Practice..

I have never been an athlete. I cannot even think of running a marathon. I have nothing to show as achievement in sports related activities, although I keep lots of interest in them.

I have always encouraged my sons to take part in all sports activities. They have not achieved anything great till now. But, in the process I have learnt a lesson or two from them.

One fine morning, my elder son approached me for permission to join the open marathon to be held in their school that day. It was to be a seven kilometer run open to all students. My son was about eleven or twelve years old at that time, not an ideal age to take part in such type of events as told by an expert to me later. My son was eager, so I gave him the permission to join the race.

I was not qualified to give my son any advice since I had never taken part in marathon race myself. But, as a father I had to encourage my son and give some tips based on whatever little knowledge I had about the event.

Behaving like an experienced athlete, I told him, “Just enjoy the run. Take it easy. After running for about 100 meters you’ll have a strong urge to stop since you’ll start getting tired. But do not stop. Once you stop, you may not be able to run again. Just keep going and going.” 

My son nodded and left for school.

He returned from school in the afternoon very much excited. Before I could ask anything, he declared, “Daddy, I secured fifth position in the marathon and I’ll get some award for that.” 

I was surprised. 

He continued to narrate his experience, 

“Almost the whole school participated in the run. Initially most of them were leading, but after sometime, many of them stopped and started getting into the bus that had been following us. I kept on running, remembering your advice not to stop. I started overtaking others and after sometime I found myself almost alone on the road. After taking a turn suddenly I saw our school building looking at me. When I entered the school compound students and teachers started cheering and clapping for me. Some one of them was shouting, Fifth, Fifth.. Arpit is Fifth…”

My son put into practice my theoretical knowledge however limited it may be. The mental strength he  had shown by not stopping halfway made him successful.  

In the process, he taught me a valuable lesson too.

Love thy neighbor

“Love thy neighbor”, says one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible. 

Love is patient, it overlooks the shortcomings of others, it forgives and it covers everything. When we love someone, we would never do anything to harm him/her, rather would try to do only the best for the person.

The principle is applicable in our day to day lives. 

When we park our cars, do we consider the inconvenience it might create to others?

If we love our neighbors, we would think many times before creating that noise pollution while celebrating our cultural functions using unnecessarily noisy sound systems that rob many a person of their sleep which is their natural right. 

If we love our neighbors, we would not throw that garbage on the road, on the roadside. The Principle becomes more important for people living in Flats sharing many common facilities. 

The list of examples is endless.

The change must come from within. Such a change in attitude can only change our surroundings, our society and our world.

A Little Personal attention..

My son had never joined any coaching classes nor had any home tutors. I encouraged my son to be self-reliant in his studies from the very beginning. He used to come to me for help only when the situation turned desperate for him, otherwise, he studied everything all by himself.

He had been very good in social studies, science and English but could never do very well in mathematics. It is strange, since usually students who are good in science are good in mathematics also.Whatever may be the reason, he was never comfortable with his maths. My initial response was to get angry with him and rebuke him for his poor performance in that subject but it made the matter worse. Finally, I decided to take it easy and advised him to work hard and come to me whenever he feel like clearing any doubts. He hardly came to me and continued to study all by himself. 

When he reached the tenth standard I started getting a bit worried as he could score only fifty something out of hundred in the first two tests in maths. I encouraged him to work even harder. He did. Then came his third and last test before the finals. One fateful day, he returned from school totally downcast. His maths papers had been returned and he could score only 61 out of 100. I could sense his feeling of depression. The finals are only about three months away, time was running out. I knew, it was time for me to take charge of the situation.

The next day, I gave him a model question paper to solve in a simulated examination. He took the examination in right earnest. I checked the papers and his performance was in the expected line. I conducted few more examinations and found out his areas of weaknesses, sat down with him to sort out the related problems in those areas. He fully cooperated like an obedient boy. I continued to conduct examinations for him and he started showing improvements. After about fifteen tests, he scored 96. I knew, he had gained confidence.

The final board examinations started on schedule and the D-day arrived, the day for maths examination. He was very very nervous. I drove him to his examination center and could see him gulping frequently. We did not talk on the way. I had the confidence deep inside me that he would do well to score at least 80% in that subject. And he did. 

A little personal attention to find out the weak areas and to help him improve in those areas did the trick. 

I wish, all the schools did that for their students.

Thinking differently...

It is said, "Morning Shows the day", meaning, morning gives the indication about the day to follow.
In a lighter vein, I put this question to my friends: " Which part of the day is Morning and which part is the actual day?"

I received few very interesting answers, some of them are witty too.

"For me morning starts when I leave bed and ends when I put my signature in my office. Worst part of the morning session is to prepare and drop my kid in his school.On a holiday morning never happens/dies", answered Sanjib Deuri.

And Tarakeswar Das was pragmatic, "Jab Akh Kholey Tabhi Savera....Good Morning...." When you open your eyes, it is morning.... 

"Jab jaago tabhi savera". to me the DAY begins with the start of first responsibility accomplished in any platform based on the age ." commented Subhralin Thakuria. 

For Soumendra Bandopadhyaya morning and day were almost synonymous.

Batukeswar Datt Khandelwal was at his poetic best to comment,

“MORNING” is a good time to “REMEMBER
all the sweet things & all sweet persons in your “LIFE
so wake up with your “SWEET MEMORIES” 

And Vishwamani Seth summarized in two words, "Wee Hours. 
                                         

Shankar Tayung described poetically, "I think morning ends the moment you wash your hands after breakfast! Day begins when you cross the gates of your house.
Evening begins when you take a muna and go to the vegetable market!
Night begins with a peg of Royal Stag and ending up in sleep! 

Really interesting responses, aren't they? 

Festivals.. random thoughts.

People celebrate many religious festivals all over the world. Huge amount of money is spent in the name of such celebrations. How does such celebrations affect the characters of individuals? Does it help to make the people better? Honest? Less corrupt? It is an important issue and very interesting response from people from various backgrounds was received. 

Sri Ashok Kumar Jain frankly commented, " No idea sir..." Biswajit Sutradhar was blunt enough to comment, " I don't think so."

"Great thought, Sir. Faith is glamor", commented Rupam Goswami.

"A relevant query ,  the answer to all these may be NO", thinks Vishwamani Seth.

According to Pradipkumar Chakrabarty, "Celebrations of festivals in massive way is wastage of money,it could be deployed some other activity.Of course celebration of festivals are part of life, we cannot ignore it, what we can do minimize the unnecessary expenses.."

Sanjiv Goswami writes from Australia,  "I think it is useful .. it helps to keep religious fanaticism away .. that is why though we have communal riots (always due to political reasons), we do not have the sort of fanaticism that is seen in many countries (of all religions) .."

"I don't think so that festival inspires to be honest or less corrupt ,its just done traditionally with minimal moral impact.Today its just show off and spending money lavishly whether he earns or not", opined Shreekumar Gudhiyari Menon from Raipur.

Purushottom Bajpai of Mumbai was frank enough to write, "I think, festivals are now, only formalities... and a source of get together , and also many time a competition of expressing the superiority either by showing money power or by showing art power(music, decoration or arrangements and comforts)...people are coming with big Bhog to distribute the visitors, and the visitors... specifically go to those pandals , where more and more ppl r there with home made Bhog for distribution ... recently I observed in GANESH MANDALS IN MUMBAI."

 
"Festivals has many merits. It cause a family reunion, a break from regular routine, few days of relaxation spent in community activity social events. More important it cause a rotation of large amount of money ,benefiting almost vast section of population", Soumendra Bandopadhyay from Kolkata said.


"Festivals make people joyous.it makes man festive.i never go into the question like someone's betterment of character and personality through celebrating fsvls.religious occasions may be considered something different since there remains the question like spiritualism,salvation,ancestors rituals etc.and also there is no question of lessening or increasing corruption excluding black part of donating", was Milan Gogoi's view.

Subhralin Thakuria commented, "These days celebration on any day irrespective of some occasion or auspiciousness, is actually be taken as a show-business." 

Hare Krishna opined, "To corrupt it offers opportunity to be more corrupt; ..they make offerings(=bribe) to even god... for furthering corruption..."
 
"Nah! Piousness has nothing to do with uprightness!" Shankar Tayung commenetd.

"No chance... now a days people follow rituals for ritual sake." Thinks Cheenu Srinivasan.

And Arun Kumar Verma said, "Celebrating festivals necessarily do not make people better , honest or less corrupt. Even hard core criminals before executive any crime do performs religious rituals . For most of the people it may b joyous moments celebrating with family get together, for spiritual peoples they go along with respective gods , faiths can b developed which gives rise in their determination for doing in that respective field and it may depends from person to person - I do not know having much knowledge on this subject."

Majority of the respondents do not think that festivals do not have effect on our moral side. It is just an occasion for celebrations and get together.