Hi Friends,

Today is April 1st i.e. April Fools' Day, one of the several days that I enjoy a lot. I think nobody needs to know what people do on this day. But I feel everyone should know history behind this day to celebrate it to the fullest. So I am sharing the history of April Fools' Day and the reason why it is celebrated on this very day with all of you.

Previously, many cultures such as Hindus, Romans and Europeans used to celebrate the New Year's Day on sometime between March 20th and April 5th. This is generally the period of vernal equinox i.e. spring-period when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator and when day and night are of equal length. In the Julian calendar, April 1st was designated as the New Year's Day. This was followed till 1582. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the adoption of the new Gregorian Calendar, which specified January 1st as the New Year's Day.

However, communications being what they were in the days when news traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more obstinate crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. To support the previous statement, here are some examples: Scottish adopted the new calendar in 1660, Germans, Danish and Norwegians in 1700 and English in 1752.

The general populace labeled people who resisted the change as 'fools' and started playing pranks on them. They started sending them on 'fool's errands', sent them the fake invitations for parties and tricked them into believing something false.


Thus, April Fool's Day originated and was popularly celebrated in England and in the American colonies. It evolved and was caught on quickly throughout the world to trick each other and have fun. People play pranks on each other on this day in the memory of those tradition-obsessed 'fools'.


Following is perhaps the Best April Fool's Prank of the 20th century:

Alabama changes the value of Pi: The April 1998 newsletter of New Mexicans for Science and Reason contained an article written by physicist Mark Boslough claiming that the Alabama Legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant 'Pi' to 3.0. This claim originally appeared as a news story in the 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.


Following are the top two pranks played by websites in 2008:

1. YouTube's RickRoll: Every link on the YouTube front page linked to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video.

2. Google's Virgle: Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Virgin founder Richard Branson introduce a joint venture, Virgle, to explore the surface of Mars.


History always requires revision and can change each day with newly found proofs. But I hope all the above given information is, at least, close to the exact one.


External Links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day

2. http://www.thefoolsday.com/

Hi friends,

I know last Fiscal Year was quite tough for most of us. I only know little bit about the share market and therefore I am not going to carry out any post mortem for this economic crisis. Instead I want to discuss the basics of Fiscal Year.

Fiscal Year is a 12-month period over which a company budgets its spending. The fiscal year is the established period of time when an organization’s annual financial records commence and conclude. This period may be a calendar year but can be any 12-month period. A fiscal year accounting period should coincide with the operating cycle of the organization.

The fiscal year is referred to by the date in which it ends. For example, if a company's fiscal year ends October 31, 2006, then everything between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009 would be referred to as FY 2009. Not using the actual calendar year gives many companies an advantage, allowing them to close their books at a time which is most convenient for them. Thus Fiscal years vary between organizations, businesses and countries.

One such example is that many universities have a fiscal year which ends during the summer, both to align the fiscal year with the school year, and because the school is normally less busy during the summer months.

Fiscal years are typically numbered using a calendar year and quarter thereof. A fiscal quarter is 3 months (1/4 of a year). The tax year for a business is governed by the fiscal year it chooses.

Period of Fiscal Year as applied for given country:

• India : April 1 to March 31
• US : October 1 to September 30
• UK : April 1 to March 31 (Government and Corporate Tax)
• Canada : April 1 to March 31
• Hong Kong : April 1 to March 31
• Japan : April 1 to March 31 (Government and Corporate Tax)
• New Zealand : July 1 to June 30 (Government)
• Australia : July 1 to June 30
• Ireland : January 1 to December 31

Hi to all my dear friends,

Today I want to discuss with you the biggest event that's going to take place today. It is none other than '60 Earth Hour'.

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.

60 Earth Hour is organised by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund). 2009 is a critical year in terms of the political decisions that will be made at global climate negotiations in December 2009. Earth Hour aims to highlight the voice of the people of the world and represent a visual mandate for meaningful policy on climate change.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. In 2009, India joins Earth Hour for the first time. New Delhi and Mumbai are among 825 cities across 80 countries and territories that have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009. This number is growing everyday.
Even many of my friends from Pune are going to actively participate in this event.
Noted film actor and icon Mr Aamir Khan will be leading the campaign in India. Many companies such as HP, HSBC and Wipro are also supporting the campaign.

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

Hi friends,

Today I will tell you something about Gudi Padwa Festival celebrated all across my state Maharashtra.

Gudi Padwa is the first Holy festival which marks the beginning of the New Year, new month and new day for the Hindus. This day falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada as per the Indian lunar calendar. This festival is supposed to mark the beginning of Vasant (spring). According to the Gregorian calendar this would fall sometime at the end of March and the beginning of April. This is one of the 3 and a half days in the Indian Lunar calendar called "Sade-Teen Muhurt", whose every moment is considered auspicious in general to start a new activity.

On this very day Lord Brahma created the Universe. Therefore for Hindus, this day carries special importance. The day is celebrated with an auspicious bath, followed by decorating the doorway with a ‘toran’, performing ritualistic worship and hoisting the Gudi. Gudi is a symbol of victory. Amongst the various qualities of God, 'Being Victorious' is one and it symbolizes that God has achieved victory at the outset and at various levels. To symbolize this, a Gudi is hoisted. The Gudi is raised next to the main entrance of the house. The spot selected should be on the right side (when sighted from the house) of the entrance. The right side symbolizes active state of the soul.

On Gudi Padwa, the waves consisting of the fire element (Tej tatva) and the creative element (Prajapati tatva) are activated on a large scale. The divine consciousness emanating during sunrise, if absorbed at this time, lasts longer. This consciousness is stored in the body cells and used as required. Therefore it is said that within 5-10 minutes of sunrise one should perform ritualistic worship of the Gudi.

The prasad of Gudi Padwa is the bitter leaves of the neem tree with jaggery. There are special foods prepared for this festival such as shrikhand (a fragrant yogurt dessert), with poori (a fried puffy bread) or Puranpoli (Yellow Split-Chickpeas & Jaggery/Sugar mixture stuffed inside poli, which somewhat resembles a Roti) with ghee or milk.

So friends, I wish all of you

" Happy Gudi Padwa and a Prosperous New Year!!!! "

Hi friends,

This is my first ever blog post. I know this picture is not very clear and many of you must be wondering why I used this one. My reason for this would be: This is the view of Sunrise over Mount Hikurangi.

I really appreciate General Knowledge of people who understood my reason already. But for those of you who do not know anything about Mt. Hikurangi, here is the explanation:

Mount Hikurangi (or Te Ara ki Hikurangi) is a 1754 meter (5755 feet) peak in the northeastern corner of New Zealand's North Island, 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of East Cape. It is North Island's highest non-volcanic peak.

Isn’t it great? No, the interesting part is that the peak is traditionally regarded as the first land in the world to catch the rays of the new day's sun. Both Fiji and Tonga are to the east of this place, therefore, above claim is not completely true. Certainly it is not true at any time of the year other than the southern hemisphere summer. In summer, however, because of the tilt of the Earth's axis, it does receive the sun's rays earlier than these places. Still it does not receive them earlier than the Chatham Islands (or, of course, Antarctica) and in mid-summer, some of the hills of the southeastern South Island receive the sunrays fractionally earlier. But this does not stop this mountain gaining world prominence in the celebrations for the New Year.

New Zealand is one of the first places in the world to see the new day, 12 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). In summer New Zealand uses ‘daylight saving', with clocks put forward one hour to GMT+13. Daylight saving begins on the first Sunday in October and ends on the third Sunday of the following March, when clocks are put back to GMT+12.

Because of this reason I thought this would be the topic of my first post. Hope you all like this post and will visit my blog site in future as well. Feel free to comment on any of my posts.


More information about Mount Hikurangi:

Coordinates: 37° 55′ 1.07′′ S, 178° 3′ 36.08′′ E

5 to 7 hour walk and climb from the car park on the Pakihiroa station Raukumara Forest Park.


External Links:

1. http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=34830

2. http://www.newzealand.com/travel/sights-activities/scenic-highlights/scenic-views/scenic-highlight-details.cfm/businessid/63608.html