Namecant B. Blank

Planecrazy. RT not Endorsement. Profile pic : All credit to photographer.

[Shazia Ilmi @shaziailmi]

Landing in Geneva, one is reminded how quick we are to romanticise “the West” and run down our own systems in India.

Geneva is beautiful, efficient in many ways, no doubt. But at the airport? No lifts or elevators where you’d expect them, confusing baggage belts, barely any signage or help.
A lady with crutches had to hobble down the stairs because there was no elevator!
It made me think of our own airports — from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to Indira Gandhi International Airport, Rajabhoj International Airport, Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport and Jolly Grant Airport — where navigation, accessibility, and passenger support are so great . Such amazing service and aliveness !

We in India often complain endlessly about how bad things are at home and how “great” “abroad” is. Travel teaches the opposite too: every system has its flaws. And sometimes, back home, we are doing far better than we give ourselves credit for.
👏
@narendramodi @GOI_MoCA @MoCA_India @BJP4India

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@FabricioGo60127 @surajit_ghosh2 I've been in the 7.9M quake in Kutch, India Jan 26 2001. It felt like a hundred freight trains were rolling under your feet. Not silent at all.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

@Subhaji11545852 A civilisation that cooked in ghee for thousands of years without an obesity or cardiac crisis is the evidence. The tin arrived and the crisis followed.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@james_xond Yes

[Minhaz Merchant @MinhazMerchant]

India’s “can’t-do, never-will” cohort is this country’s bane. Roll up your sleeves & get to work instead of moaning.

[Giorgia Meloni @GiorgiaMeloni]

Io e l’Italia non imploriamo mai.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@suspect_mel @madversity It's "Satyameva Jayate" not "Satya meva jayate".

He seems contagious.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@madversity Not "called". He is still Pappu.

[The Sacred Scroll @SacredScroll]

📅 JUNE 18 DAY 24 | YOGENDRA SINGH YADAV 19 YEARS OLD, 15 BULLETS, TIGER HILL

The youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra was just 19 years old.

He was shot at least 15 times on a vertical ice wall at 16,500 feet. He was temporarily left for dead. He woke up, kept climbing, killed four enemy soldiers in close combat, and silenced a vital bunker. He had volunteered to be the lead climber, securing the ropes that allowed his elite platoon to follow him up into the frozen darkness.

He survived to tell the story. But his survival was such a miracle that his medal was originally announced posthumously.

The Young Soldier
Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav was born on May 10, 1980. He enlisted in the Indian Army at just 16 years old. By the summer of 1999, the 19-year-old was assigned to 18 Grenadiers one of the infantry units tasked with the impossible: capturing Tiger Hill.

The Night of July 4, 1999
The Tiger Hill assault was assigned to a Ghatak platoon of 18 Grenadiers a small, elite unit of highly trained commandos.
The assault began before dawn on July 4. The approach required scaling a 60-foot, nearly 90-degree cliff face with ropes, in the freezing dark, under heavy fire. Halfway up, Pakistani forces detected the team. They opened fire, killing the team commander and two leading soldiers. The assault was in danger of collapsing.

Yadav was hit by multiple bullets in his groin, shoulder, and arm. Believing him dead, the enemy temporarily ceased fire. Instead of falling, Yadav ignored his shattered body, climbed the remaining distance, and lobbed a grenade into the enemy bunker. He then charged the position, killing four soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and securing the foothold.

He shouted down to his platoon to follow the ropes he had secured. They did. The assault was renewed, and Tiger Hill fell.

After the Battle
Yadav’s wounds were so catastrophic that the Indian Army officially announced his Param Vir Chakra posthumously, unable to fathom that anyone could survive that level of trauma. It was only later discovered he was fighting for his life in a military hospital.

Against all odds, he recovered to receive the PVC in person one of only two Kargil veterans, alongside Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, to live to see their award.

He went on to serve a full, distinguished career in the Army, eventually retiring as an Honorary Captain. He carries the scars of that cliff face physical and otherwise every single day.

When asked about his actions, he insists he didn't do anything special. He says he just did his duty.

A 19-year-old boy, shattered by 15 bullets on a frozen cliff at 16,500 feet, who simply refused to stop.

That's not ordinary. That's not even extraordinary.
That's something for which we don't quite have a word.

🇮🇳 #Kargil27 #KargilVijayDiwas #ParamVirChakra

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@md_deepesh How do we know SIPRI is correct? Could be just another speculative assertion.

[महावीर, ಮಹಾವೀರ, Mahavir @Mahaveer_VJ]

He is one of the richest people in India — Anand Deshpande. He recently entered the list of billionaires with billion-dollar wealth. He is the founder of Persistent, a multinational software company. The company, which has 53 offices across 18 countries, recently did a ‘Griha Pravesh’ / housewarming at yet another new location.

When you hear “software company”, what comes to mind is usually ‘Western culture’. But Persistent is an exception. See this photo. They entered the new place by performing a Satyanarayan Puja in the traditional Indian/Hindu way. In this company, holidays are given only for Indian festivals — meaning Hindu festivals, and specifically Marathi ones. So the New Year holiday isn’t on 1st January, but definitely on ‘Gudi Padwa’. No holiday for Christmas, but there _is_ a holiday on both days of Ganesh Murti Sthapana and Visarjan.

In Hinjewadi, Pune, the office has 4 towers named after Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda. The 2 towers of the office near Nal Stop are named after ancient Indian scientists Pingala and Aryabhata. The office building on Senapati Bapat Road is named Bhagirath. And inside the buildings, references from the Vedas are displayed on the walls at various places.

Just saying “Hindu culture is great” doesn’t achieve anything. To uphold its greatness, you have to send that message through action — and this company has done that, time and again. I’ve experienced the work culture here closely (I worked there for 2.5 years). Let me tell you a small thing: even though it’s an IT company, the women members here celebrate traditional customs like ‘Haldi-Kumkum’ with great joy. Even Satyanarayan Puja is performed properly. And despite all this, Persistent stands at a completely different peak in the IT sector. Last quarter, revenue was a whopping ₹1,491 crore.

The people working here aren’t called ‘employees’ but ‘members’ of the Persistent family. With over 15,000 members worldwide, this company’s turnover runs into hundreds of crores. We know Ratan Tata for “simple living, high thinking” — but Marathi Anand Deshpande Sir is an equally inspiring personality. (By Deviprasad, an ex- employee of Persistent)

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@Chellaney If they were dealing with Iranian oil while sanctions were still in place and ignored 50+ calls to turn back......

[🇺🇸 🦅Simple Man 🦅🇺🇸 @Soaringeagle45]

Words Of Wisdom From Children. These Are
Brilliant.

1. Never trust a dog to watch your food. Patrick,
age 10

2. When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?* don't answer him. Michael. 14

3. Never tell your mom her diets not working.
Michael, 14

4. Stay away from prunes. Randy, 9

5. Never pee on an electric fence. Robert, 13

6. Don't squat with your spurs on. Shelly, 13

7. Don't pull dad's finger when he tells you to.
Emily, 10

8. When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. Bridgett, 11

9. Never allow your three-year old brother in the same room as your school assignment. Traci, 14

10. Don't sneeze in front of mom when you're
eating crackers. Mitchell, 12

11. Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic lac. Andrew, 9

12. Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the
same time. Timmy, 9

13. You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of
milk. Jeffrey, 9

14. Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. Kellie, 11

15. If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a
horse. Naomi, 15

16. Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.
Lauren, 9

17. Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat. Joel, 10

18. When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she's on the phone. Amy, 13

19. Never try to baplize a cat. Jason, 8

[Minhaz Merchant @MinhazMerchant]

India’s rise unnerves the West & China because it’s a democracy that’s risen from colonial ruins to #3 and is growing faster than #1 & #2.

India’s rise discredits America’s rise through slavery, land theft & wars & discredits China’s rise over genocide of millions of Chinese.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@adi10on10 @rsankaras A surprising number of people have no idea about go arounds. but they are expert in their own field.

[Race @multiplanet1]

Elon Musk got rejected by Netscape. He walked into the lobby, was too shy to talk to anyone, and walked out. Never got the job.

At his first company Zip2, the board demoted him. Twice. They refused to let him be CEO.

He got fired from PayPal as CEO while flying to his own honeymoon. The board voted him out mid air.

He almost died of malaria in 2000. Ten days in intensive care. Lost 45 pounds. A day from death.

His first child died at 10 weeks old.

His first rocket exploded. Falcon 1, flight one. Burned on the pad.

His second rocket exploded.

His third rocket exploded. The last of his money was nearly gone.

Tesla nearly went bankrupt in 2008. The closest he ever came to a nervous breakdown.

Both companies almost died on the same Christmas Eve.

He was sued by investors. Mocked by the people who built cars before him.

His childhood heroes, the astronauts who inspired him, testified against his company to Congress.

The Cybertruck window shattered on live stage in front of the world.

He overpaid for Twitter by his own admission and watched its value collapse.

He was beaten unconscious as a child and thrown down a flight of stairs.

He has said he goes to sleep alone and it kills him.

He failed in public, over and over, for thirty years.

He is the richest man in the history of the world.

The difference was never the absence of failure. It was the refusal to stop after it.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@marcthor @James366748 @acathleen5 @GodlyNations @elonmusk Read your own headline. Founding a company takes just paperwork and a little capital. Making the models S 3 XY was all Musk's doing. Musk just bought the basic company. He built a castle from a garden shed.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@James366748 @acathleen5 @GodlyNations @elonmusk The 2 old men registered a company, Musk made the cars.

His mother left an abusive husband when the kids were little.
He designed the rockets and guided the engine design.
He overpaid for Twitter. Didn't "scam".

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@James366748 @acathleen5 @GodlyNations @elonmusk On the contrary, he designed the Falcon rockets himself. Obviously he had a team to put his design together. He sketched the basics of the Merlin engine in an airplane after the Russians flipped him off as a little boy. And he put in his own money in till the 4th rocket orbiter

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@rakan_b777 It's AIR INDIA. Not just India.

[Namecant B. Blank @planeSSM]

@WolfgangRichtEU Without an obsession for Rockets, he wouldn't have vapourware Trillions anyway.
It's not that he has a Trillion or even a billion in his bank account.
If you confiscated his shares, what would you do with them? If you sold 15% of his stock the price would collapse dramatically.