What’s So Special About ‘GHANA’?

Cyber Exploration of this West African country ultimately made me realize.

‘The Gold Coast’ achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming one of the first African nations to do so from European Colonialism.

‘Ghana’ was adopted as the legal name for the ‘The Gold Coast’ post independence.

The word ‘Ghana’ means ‘Warrior King’ and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire which once extended throughout much of West Africa.

Country hailed as a solid democracy with nine government-sponsored spoken languages, English being the official Language with four major religions, Ghana is a diverse nation and one of the best growing economies in Africa.

The number of individual languages listed for Ghana is 79. Of those, all are living languages.

Ghana has a population of about 24 million people and Christianity is the country's largest religion practiced by 69.1% of the total population.
The Ghana Stock Exchange is the third largest stock exchange in Africa after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Football is the most popular sport. Ghana became the third African country to reach the quarter final stage of the World Cup after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. The app store has a special app available by name “what my name in Ghana’ which tells your name in Ghanaian languages.
With over 95% of its children in school, Ghana currently has one of the highest school enrollment rates in all of Africa.

Lake Volta in Ghana is the largest artificial lake in the world.

Remember ‘Kofi Kingston’ from WWE Raw Brand, is a Ghanaian Professional Wrestler well known for his feud with ‘The Viper - Randy Orton’.
Rappers from the same soil, ‘Dizzee Rascal’ and ‘Tinchy Shryder’ today are well known Rap & Hip-Hop artists in USA.
Now the most fascinating part of the story: ‘Store Business Names’ in Ghana.
Ghanaians consider their country a Christian nation and it’s visible all over the country.

Stores in Ghana have religious names for no unobvious reasons...

• ‘Bride of Christ’ Aluminium Works
• ‘In God We Trust’ Fast Food
• ‘My God Is Able’ Plumbing Works
• ‘God Did It All’ Fashion Centre
• ‘Anointed’ Fashion
• ‘In Step with the Spirit’ Enterprises
• ‘Anointed Hands’ Furniture Works
• ‘Blood of Jesus’ Electricals
• ‘Lord Is My Shepherd’ Hotel
• ‘God Will Provide’ Supermarket
• ‘God First’ Carwash
• ‘Lord J’ Clinic

Store names that are simply funny...

• ‘Cut and Roll’ Beauty Centre
• ‘Together As One’ Welding and Fabrication
• ‘Don't Mind Your Wife’ Chop Bar
• ‘Korea Man’ Electronics
• ‘Look and Take’ Electricals
• ‘Yogaman's’ Haircut
• ‘Lady Diana's Memorial Shop’, Dealers in Mineral Water and Soft Drinks
• ‘Gina Pee Pee’ Communication Centre’

 

‘Only Jesus can do it’ Shoe Shop

(Is this a reference to ‘walking on water’????)

 ‘I Shall Not Die’ Motors!!!!!!!! (‘Immortality Guarantee!!!!’)

As Ghana mourns with sudden demise of their President John Atta Mills on July 24^th, 2012, it will always be ‘The African Exceptional’.

May be that’s the reason why ‘Bournville’ promoters have chosen Ghana as their best cocoa brand ambassador although it is the ‘second’ largest Cocoa producer in the world.

Something special, isn’t it??

Roll Back The FunTastic Times

I am sure you remember the times when all members of the family used to come together to watch Chitrahaar or Circus on Doordarshan?

Glued to my seat, I used to watch various exciting series, turning a deaf ear to my mother's call, sometimes ignoring invited guests at home who used to keep on asking me all sorts of nerdy questions about my studies. Sunday evenings were the most awaited for ‘Only Movie of the Week’.

The ones who ain’t aware of this, have missed a lot of, how Indian Television came up the old blues and how our society used to operate with Doordarshan? The jingles of ‘Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya’, and patriotic song such as ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ became popular on TV taking over every household by storm.
TV Shows such as Shanti, Buniyaad, Hum Log, Nukkad were the drama entertainment back then while children enjoyed watching Mowgli and Pingu.I enjoyed the most popular song of those days ‘Chaddhi Pehen Ke Phool Khila Hai’ and the most interesting part was the opening line ‘Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai, Pata Chala Hai’. It is still so refreshing.
The ticker before each show with the Doordarshan logo and its ‘Signature Montage Tune’ became hugely popular. Remember that ‘aeeeeeeee-aee-aee-aee-aee-aeeeeeeee’. I can never forget the faces of the news readers at the news hour in my life.
Few Classic Doordarshan shows:
- Hum Log
- Buniyaad
- Nukkad
- Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi
- Shaktimaan (India's first superhero!!!)
- Bharat Ek Khoj
- Chanakya
- Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne
- Mr Yogi
- Karamchand
- Chitrahaar
- Superhit Muqabla
- Vikram Betaal
- Potli Baba
- Tenali rama
- Circus
- Fauji (starred Shahrukh Khan)
- Alif Laila
- Rajani
- Wagle ki Duniya
- Lifeline
- Shrimaan Shrimati (My Fav)
- Tu Tu Main Main
- Zaban Sambhaal Ke
- Dekh Bhai Dekh
- Shanti (featured today’s sizzling Mandira Bedi)
- Surabhi
- Stone Boy
- Chandrakanta
- Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show
- Commercials like Laxman Sylvania, ECE, Frooti, Gold Spot, Lijjat papad, Complan Boy (Shahid Kapur) & Complan Girl (Ayesha Takia), Parle G, Breeze, Moti Sandal, Rasna and many more.
How many of you remember these shows? Ahhhhhhhhhh, those were the days!!!
What is wrong with today’s generation?

‘kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’.....ufffff....thi toh thi… what the %#&$ ... ?

* The son is elder than the parents.
* People return after death, and I'm not talking about Reincarnation.
* The never dying ‘Ba’ can discover exclusive column in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for her limitless age and enthusiasm to thrive for more, and I guess no granny died before watching the 4th generation of the family.
* Everyone lives in a super luxurious house but no one goes to work.
* The superjealous vamps, ‘Nanand’ and ‘Saas’ can even give a run for the money to the FBI agents.
* And the perfect bahu is probably ‘Adidas Ladies Shoe’ because for her ‘Nothing is Impossible’.
* Expect a Twist?? which originally never existed.
* A ladies ‘Shopping Mall’ in itself.
* ‘Pehli baar Bahu ke haatho ka bana halwa’ is always out of the world.
* Every new guest entering the house, never actually leaves, and gets settled for ever.
All I like is ‘The Ramu Kaka’, who actually looks like ‘Ramu Kaka’!!!!

I am amazed to find some young people in our cities who regularly watch these series. Some like me would always reject these soaps on grounds of feminism. Most would simply not want to sit at home voting for this nonsense domestic politics. We would rather be out having fun and enjoy life. Not thinking of anything more heart sweating than the latest bicker with our girlfriends/wife or boyfriends/husband.
Who has the time for these boohoo stories? By the way….. 

Roll back the ‘Fun-Tastic’ times for us and end the ‘Tele-Fornication’ meltdown of today.                                                                                                                      

Indian Kids, English Parents

English language has become such an important aspect of our life that the makers of Bollywood movie ‘Roti, Kapda aur Makaan’ today would like to rethink and add it as a fourth ask for ‘The Mango People’.

Many would have noticed and written on this, but I realized when I was speaking to one of my school friends, a few days ago, as how she has become ‘Mommy Bolt’ running around her kid asking to do things against his wish and that too in English.

I remember, being a kid, I used to keep myself real busy with comics, gully cricket, Duck Tales, Mahabharata, trying to do Mowgli adventures and WWF acts. My parents on the other hand never realized the need of speaking in English with me at that time. I used to laugh on the very fact as I grew older. But times have changed.

Now, I have stopped laughing at parents who desperately try to speak in English with their kids. Because it’s not funny anymore.

I understand that they feel totally substandard that they were born in India and try to compensate by being ‘English’ in and out.

“Rinku ... I can’t be able to take you for playschool today!!” is not funny anymore.

Because, “You gave audition in Indian Idol for fun, no?” 

“You don’t use ‘Olay-Total Effects’ to look young, no?”

If you like the language, learn to construct basic sentences.

I have a strong desire to blame it on English speaking countries for this. However, I believe they possess good promotional skills. I have nothing to take away from the Chinese, Germans, Japanese and French, though. We Indians, often called as ‘Suntanned Asians with Napolean Complex’ by the western countries, unfortunately have always followed them to the speed of light than to lead.

It is not over yet. Because I recently heard software IT parents speaking English with their kids and trying to eat Dosa with spoon and fork. I would have ignored them for speaking in English; but the meat here is, eating Dosa with spoon and fork ???!!!

‘F.I.V’ Positive in Mumbai Rains!!!!

Everything I know about Mumbai stalls to the very fact of heavy rain it gets during the season. I was visiting the city for a few days. It rained and rained. And not for a few hours, no, some scattered showers to dampen Mumbai’s otherwise sunny humid afternoons. It rained all day. Remember the night is not to be spared at all. I did not see a single ray of sun for nearly forty eight hours. I spent awake, each moment characterized by long, dramatic looks out of the window and a growing sense of discontent. I like the sun. I didn’t realize just how much until I had lost it, naturally. It’s a frank look at what I did during those interior hours, which I’m now happy to say can be summed up: just nothing. And it was glorious.
As they say Mumbai never sleeps. If my time here has proven anything, it’s that everyone is arguably insane, rushing from one destination to another with barely an opportunity to breathe. That’s the nature of a city, I guess, and it’s a sad reality of life that the average Mumbaikar handles as best as they can: running, moving, surviving, until the inevitable occurs. The trains come to a halt, waters outpouring, thousands marooned from daily routine. The sleep debt will accumulate, mounting higher and higher as the day progresses, and then that average Mumbaikar will drop into bed after half a day of straight snoozing. They’ll catch up over the next few days, dazed, but powerless to do anything other than what the city demands: Move. Keep moving, keep working, keep pushing yourself to your limits until everything comes crashing down.
I’m not trying to pick on the citizens of this city, honestly. The exhaustion I see all around is not unique to this dot on the map, though I’d like to think it is, as anyone ensnared by the endless need to be productive can probably agree. The worst part, I think, has nothing to do with the burnout. I’m concerned, instead, by what comes after the slow dawning guilt and regret over all of those ‘wasted’ hours. I felt like I was stuck inside, killing time I didn’t want to kill, as the rain pattered merrily. I could feel the restlessness growing. Below it, I felt the regret coming on even stronger, the little voice whispering “you just wasted an entire day!” in my ear. It wasn’t pleasant. You don’t have to be productive all the time. But what about those days that it rains?
The first half of my rainy day went a little like this:  
1. Peer out the window. Bemoan the lack of sun.                                        2. Stretch myself to drink-in plenty of tea.
3. Turning into Mr. Grumpy Pants, whenever I don’t get any sun.
The biggest hurdle, I think, was my inability to do anything. I wanted to be walking, to be exploring the city, to go to coffee shop and crank out some of the work I’ve been pushing off. I’d spent the day, hammering out words like nobody’s business, but I didn’t want to stop just because the sky had decided to be a gloomy jerk.
I realized, I was dosed with F.I.V – ‘Freedom Injected Virus’. Was that a chance?? It was awesome. That’s not hard to accept, I bet, based on my own experience here a few years ago, the day when it rained fleshy. Holiday declared all around, moving with friends in the street filled with three foot high liquid, to have a cup of tea to near by tea-stall. I watched TV all day and let myself do every single thing that I know is not at all that productive. I sit quietly, do nothing, rain comes and the grass grows by itself.
Recharge against the Burnout…
There must be time to reignite — time to recharge. That might be a few straight nights of sleep, for our resident Mumbaikars, or it might be a day doing absolutely nothing of value as the rain streaks down the glass.
The point, in any case, is simple. You need time to recharge. You need time to rekindle the fires — creative or otherwise — that keeps you moving, and you need to realize that what gets you going won’t always be the most productive thing you could be doing. Most importantly, though?  
You need to stop feeling guilty.
You need to enjoy the occasional mindless romp. 
You need to enjoy sleeping in, for once, instead of lurching out of bed to do more work. You need to remember how productive you are; most days of the week (provided that you actually are). Where there’s burnout, there needs to be a chance to recharge. And whatever form that might take, you need to enjoy it, because otherwise you’ll force yourself back into the cycle of productivity feeling even worse than before.

 











It comes down to balance, in the end. Only you know how to tip the scales, but don’t forget that you’re the one in control of weights. As always, keep it simple. And try not to beat yourself up for the occasional moment of mindless entertainment, would you?
You might need it more than you think!!!!!!!!!!!