blip on the screen

Why KCK was good ?

2010-03-09T19:57:00.001+05:30

A simple truth - It’s better to jot down thoughts when they are fresh in memory because it is not covered in the dust of sub-optimal amnesia and the cloak of forgetfulness
A movie is good when it holds on to the string of logic especially when climax approaches. It is even better when the climax gives you a perfect sense of satisfaction that lives up to the value of every penny spent. Unfortunately most Bollywood movies lose their logic when it forces masala to thrill a billion masses. Logic in a suspense movie is as important as an idol in a temple. And fortunately KCK is not a typical Bollywood movie. It is a good movie. And I was perfectly satisfied after watching it an hour ago. Why? Because at my age I am exposed to so many experiences that a perfectly logical ending starts sounding clichéd. I know the reason behind any strange twist. So, after watching the trailer you try to guess why it happened for what it happened. And if you can find the answer before watching the movie without sacrificing logic then you win. And if the movie gives you the answer before you can come up with one especially after having seen so many things in life then the story-writer wins. You lose and still there is a strange sense of satisfaction. Man hates to lose because he thinks his opponent is worse than him. He loves to lose if he thinks that his opponent is a worthy player. And he derives satisfaction from it. KCK’s story-writer won because I could not guess the true reason of Karthik’s behaviour (of his imaginary brother, phone stuff) and got carried away in the fantasy of magic. The story made me lose reason and came back at the climax with a strong reasoning (The reasoning is not new, I have seen it so many times in movies). The ending might not have been a masala one but for a person who is de-addicted to Bollywood it is a well made stuff.

The importance of the building and the unimportance of maintaining

2009-04-16T11:56:00.002+05:30

Lately I have been noticing that my broadband speed has slowed down to such an extent that it appears like a narrowband. At early morning though say at 3:00 am the broadband starts working at its usual capacity. It was not the case earlier when I installed it 6 months ago. My guess is that the network is clogged up and things are going back to where it started.
A couple of years ago when NH2 was being four lane as part of Golden Quadrilateral scheme I was very happy. Now I am not. The highway like all other infrastructure is becoming clogged up and things are becoming as before.
Not to mention of the mobile networks at peak hours. The network is simply not available.
What does it point to?
If we are bad at building infrastructure then we are dismal at maintaining them. So, as my fixed capacity gets quickly filled up by a rapid pace I am unable to invest more in adding extra capacity.
The graph becomes something like this

I think for a country to develop the time taken should lessen as is the investment to increase the perceived capacity increase. This will require even more improvement in real capacity which means huge funds need to be allocated. For the time to decrease the productivity and the efficiency should be extremely high. Is it possible in this scenario?

Judge

2009-03-13T11:41:00.001+05:30

Yesterday my friend commented about one of our professors being lazy because he gave questions from the book. And I started thinking not about the professor but the ability to judge.
We seldom judge when we are in school. But as we grow up we start judging. Judging in my view is an inherent ability of maturity. The ability to judge decides your mate, your job, your life. You judge because you start thinking of alternatives and benchmark the alternatives with reality. For e.g. - when you think of changing a job you start thinking of best alternatives. In a B-school there is a term I have learnt – it’s called opportunity cost.
The point is simple actually. In schooldays your parents judge for you and you consider your parents as God (I can even relate to something in Gita session here). So you take their words at face value but as you grow up you take your own decisions and so you need to judge.

What is the difference between talking and talking in writing?

2009-03-02T22:44:00.003+05:30

Let’s rephrase the question. What is the difference between writing in writing and talking in writing. Regardless of whether you get it or not just carry on reading.
The difference can be easily noticed when you read a written piece. There is a person in my current batch of MBA who is a good orator. Words come to her mouth like air comes to the lungs.
The most noticeable thing about oratory is the seamless combination of spontaneity and depth. The more spontaneously the intellectual thoughts come out of you, the more you are perceived as a good orator. But there is another way to be a good orator. You have to connect the dots (i.e. gather ideas from other places) and present it in an eloquent manner. The person I mentioned above belongs to the second category.
There has been a timeless debate on content vs. presentation. If you are good at any one of them then you can be called a good orator. It is universally acknowledged that good orators have the capacity to move audiences.
Now, intellectual thoughts can emerge from three means:

From your imagination (start from the scratch type)

From other people’s imagination (books, movies etc)

A mixture of both (reading a book generates new ideas which can then lead to original thoughts- in our RM subject that original thought is taught as a gap)

In the first method merely the content will suffice to show your calibre. In the second event you have to be creative in linking the dots. The third method is an extrapolation of dots into virgin territories.
Getting back to the discussion on reading in writing, I once saw a write-up from the lady. Reading the document felt as if the lady was talking!!! When you write something on paper then you mean to write and not talk. Isn’t it? Words are meticulously put to arrive at a “proper” conclusion. The thought might be spontaneous but the way it is presented is not. In an oratory the way of presentation is spontaneous. Notice the examples below:

No one doubts the fact that good orators have the capacity to move audiences

Good orators have the capacity to move audiences. No one doubts that!!!

Which one conveys talking in writing and which one conveys writing in writing?
I think that when you mean to write something then you should stop talking. The two mediums are sacrosanct mediums and they should be mutually exclusive. I am disregarding the fact that you are preparing from a prepared text. I do not like that either. That one is writing in talking.
So, in my view let there be a ban on prepared speeches. Let there be a ban on talking in writing.

18 January, 2009

2009-01-18T19:56:00.003+05:30

Today, I had a unique experience. I participated in the Mumbai Marathon. Dream Run to be precise. But that does not negate the significance of the marathon because I had a lot to see while running and walking. When you are running a half marathon or a marathon you tend to concentrate on yourself. But when you walk 6 kms you concentrate on what goes around you. And the fact that I did not have the camera to capture the euphoric and enthusiastic moments makes this post all the more significant. In fact, if this post comes even closer to the actual thing on the ground that is captured by a camera then I will call it a hugely successful post. I had wanted to run the Mumbai marathon for the sake of experience. I was curious about it and registered pretty early. Frankly speaking I had not done any preparation for it because the race did not need one. But then I look at the positives. And the best way I could have enjoyed the Mumbai marathon was to actually enjoy the sheer experience of running with a huge contingent of free human spirit. And the dream run (as it is called) went like a sheer dream. I reached the place at the scheduled time and saw a huge gathering. Seldom have I seen such gathering being managed in a disciplined manner. Kudos to the organisers!!! Learning curve at its best!!
I saw gatherings of people propagating different causes. Some were pretty esoteric, some were contemporary, and some were frankly silly. I saw pretty girls from high society of Mumbai espousing the cause of tribals. I saw dancing troupes carrying placards, I saw different companies showcasing themselves, I saw old people aptly advertising LIC, I saw body builders, I saw handicapped people. Some causes were relevant. Like girls from poorer neighbourhood exhibiting the cause of the girl child. School children promoting Literacy, patients from Dyslexia, AIDS and hug campaign, rock show. It was a huge jamboree with different colours. The dream run signified the wide variety of choices and being an individual who stubbornly supports free choice the sheer variety was as mind-boggling as satisfying. I saw Mumbai enjoying in that one moment of the year. The free spirit was in complete harmony with nature. Man at his best!!! This was the day when you could do anything and everything without being ridiculed. I believe that this must be the most satisfying day in the life of Mumbaikar. Can money replace the happiness that was in full-show today?
Like blood passing through the body enmeshing it with life the crowd ran in a continuous spirit enlivening Mumbai. Yes!! This is what I wanted to see.

The nature of propensity

2008-09-01T18:22:00.000+05:30

A lot many times we deviate from things that are obvious to something that seem obvious but are not. Considering the fact that a guy circulated a mail in our college regarding the apathy towards the winner of second Olympic gold medal. This news was highlighted in the media and I don’t blame the media for that. It is their duty to highlight all sort of news. My problem is when the media starts playing the advocate as well as the judge. The thing is the news that an Indian had won a second medal was not highlighted as much as our apathy towards her. Why do we have to be castigated by the media everytime ? Again, there are a hundered of things happening in a nation of one billion. Will the world come to halt or have we committed a serious error. India is a nation of extremes. So, when sports are considered or especially when the topic of cricket versus others is considered we tend to take extremes. The problem with this approach is that we push ourselves away from solution with that kind of an attitude. We keep crooning about our apathy, blame cricket and so on and so forth but nothing actually happens on ground. The fact that India is a democracy worsens the scenario. That is because with a plethora of opinions available we ultimately don’t get to a solution at all. We hear only opinions.

Blasting away..

2008-07-27T10:25:00.002+05:30

The series of serial blasts seem to be producing two prominent reactions among the masses. Some people seem to have accepted it as a part of their life, they have stopped caring, started taking them for granted and others seem to have accumulated some more revulsion, disdain and frustation at the current situation. Feeing that the state is hostage to some sinister plot they might blame the Government, blame themselves ( mostly the people who belong to the first group) and most definitely blame the terrorists.The Government keeps on repeating the same message - "calm, peace, communal harmony" but for both groups of people these phrases seemed to have lost their meaning.
There is also a subgroup among these groups- people who believe that things were so much better earlier. They fail to accept that the world has changed. They lead a life of hopeless existence.
Reactions apart, another aspect that has come up is the stagnant nature of democracy.It goes something like this:
Blasts !!! ----> Panic ----> Government asking people to calm down ----> Forensic experts to site -----> ISI, Jem, LeT etc ------> opposition attacks Govt about policy failures -----> Government attacks opposition and reminds them of Kandahar, Somnath, parliament attack ------> Attention diverted, Govt fails to undertake newer policy measures--->Blasts !!!....(cycle continues)

Individuality Vs Collective Enthusiasm

2008-06-27T14:39:00.001+05:30

Basically this post has been divided in the manner mentioned above because MBA students who are at the beginning of their two year course will find a lot of common stuffs..
From an individual perspective Mumbai has been a revelation to me..This place is cooler in terms of environment, people mind their own business and an easy going attitude prevails.. This might be because I am still to see the busier parts of the city like Dalal Steet and so forth.. But when I tend to make a comparison then I am obviously taking Kolkata as a frame of reference.. The roads are broader and the per capita cleanliness is better.. I might be wrong since opinions are always subjective.. The fact though is Mumbai is expensive..
I have been in SPJIMR for the past 10 days and predictably the days are loaded with quizzes, lectures, assignments and group works.. But something tells me that this is not what I had expected..I thought that it would be painfully hard.. Maybe 4 years of experience has got a lot to do with it.. i am still chilling if not basking..and MBA I guess is a way of life .. You just have to manage yourself..4 years of office work has taught me just that..If we draw the graph as pressure and comfort then there is no better place to experience both than in a B school.. You just manage the two

Roadies and relationships

2008-03-17T10:30:00.000+05:30

I had first thought that I would ramble about my perception on Indian reality shows, how
marketing has taken over every aspect of our lives, how presentation has become more important than concept, about how choices have become more important than morality et al. But I decided against it. I have been watching MTV Roadies 5.0 and am totally hooked to it ever since. Today’s challenge was the 4th one and one more contestant was voted out. For people who are confused with what I am talking about, Roadies 5.0 is a reality show that judges the survival capacity of a contestant. There are 13 contestants and people are voted out in every episode. The roadies are given two tasks-Money task, in which they have the opportunity to earn cash and Immunity task, in which they are given the option to save their skin and move to the next episode. Every roadie is given the opportunity to expel another roadie. The most unpopular roadie is voted out.
So what is special about roadies? Is it somehow different from other reality shows?
What's its USP? From my point of view practically everything is special about it. I haven't been fortunate enough to watch the previous series of Roadies but the fact that it is popular enough explains its longevity. The auditions are held in which nice people, mundane personalities are shunted out. The auditions are held with extreme importance because the judges want people who are deceptive, ambitious, and diabolic. They have traits which are out of the ordinary. Expecting a 3rd degree treatment in auditions is very common and judges are pretty good at their jobs. Once the people are selected the real journey begins. The contestants belong to the 18-21 age bracket because people are not mature enough to understand the complications of relationships. Since it is a reality show there is no need for script-writers or directors. But the creators are smart enough to judge the feasibility of the tasks to be performed. Another interesting aspect I liked about the show is the way in which the creators have handled the marketing. For the first time I found that advertisements could be less irritating. The products are used by the contestants. What can be a better advertisement than that? Though the creators overdo some aspects but then there is nothing called perfection in life. The error might well be my perception because finer things in life tend to be very subjective. Poetically speaking, the show has a slice of task, a pinch of emotion, a dash of animosity and you have the perfect cocktail that keeps one glued to the TV set. All in all the show is a balanced one which perfectly juxtaposes with my own view of a reality show.
I will now talk about relationships. Relationships can't be defined in a box. Neither can it be too abstract. Some relationships are defined by nomenclatures and some are undefined. So relationships can exist between living and non-living things, a man and a dog, two men, six people, even strangers. Sometimes we call it friendship. Enmity is a relationship too because there is always one more person involved. Since roadies is a microcosm of real life things like deception, trickery is as much a part of the game as is love and affection. Trust is used very loosely and personal equation is contextualized. Surprises are a part of the game and that makes it very interesting because it complicates relationship. Some relationships can be institutionalized but floating relationships decide the survival of a roadie. Unlike the laws of physics or chemistry human relationships are not guided by fixed equations. A lot of known and unknown parameters play various roles. Context is one major aspect of that equation. Facets of human character like affection, jealousy play important roles but they change in depth and length. They change with situation. Sometimes people are guided by reason, sometimes things are unreasonable. Humans are still learning about nature and in that process they are also learning about themselves. But one thing is constant. People want to win and they can go to extreme lengths for that. That length is again difficult to ascertain. As far as roadies is concerned I haven't been able to figure out who might win the challenge because of reasons I mentioned above. But then, the creators have done a wonderful job of keeping me guessing. Since I have watched a couple of shows I can say to some extent that
the person who keeps a low profile, is friendly and task-oriented have a good chance of
gaining a little mileage. I like studying people and I agree with MTV Veejay Nikhil Chinappa's view that Roadies is more about life. We all come across challenges, we all try to win them. In the meantime we meet people, find love, create enemies and move on. Roadies too is a journey. Hat's off to the creators who have understood the definition of life and tried to map it into a TV show.

uneasy coincidence

2008-02-04T17:40:00.000+05:30

The racket involving Dr Amit Kumar bought out some uneasy coincidences between him and Mr Moninder singh Pandher

1. Both exploited poor people for their own purpose

2. They lived in and around the vicinity of Delhi

3. Both were influential people with reach within the administration.But Amit's case was esp severe because ultimately a mole helped him escape

and without official complicity this guy who had a well known but infamous track record could not have continued his operation across three continents involving 100 of crores of rupees.

Ideas unbounded

2007-09-28T10:50:00.001+05:30

1. Looking at the overcrowding in the streets which has not undergone any proportionate

development as compared to the development of IT in the area I thought about something which

was already there.
Leadership is required at every level.
Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is rightly bringing in a lot of companies to the area but what is

his juniors doing?
Sleeping ? Till the increasing congestion leads to immobility.

2. The victory of the young Indian team has led me to the widespread belief that youth

infuses freshness to the whole context.But a major aspect of democratic life where freshness

is still a distant dream is The film industry(Politics is not on the same platform for me as

politics is not democratic.Meaning that people cannot force the youth to take charge.Only

influential people like Sonia or Atal can encourage to take charge.).Good movies are hard to

come by.Why?
I think that offbeat movies are made in India like Dil Chahta Hai,Omkara,Page 3(by young

directors) but they do not get widely appreaciated.Becoz we tend to undermine the diversity

of opinions and likes in this country.So people still stick to formula movies like Dhoom or

Kaho na Pyaar Hai and we still keep hoping for Oscars

We care for environment

2007-09-27T13:38:00.000+05:30

Today during lunch when I asked for a napkin from the caterer he said that napkin has gone out of stock. Suddenly an idea crossed my mind
He could well have said that “Giving due consideration to the environment our company is following a policy of using less paper for the preservation of trees”
And lo!
Deprivation of service becomes an opportunity to publicise ur environmental concerns..
Since you don’t pay for a napkin no one is going to complain either..

It is a win loss situation with the loser not even aware of his status!!!

The number gain-A case of glass half full

2007-09-18T13:06:00.000+05:30

Everybody loves a good number no doubt. Particularly the people involved in marketing. These days the focus of advertising has drastically shifted from the typical middle class family mindset to the youth. It has been discovered that the holy grail of consumption lies with the young, the yuppie, the urban middle class youth who is earning, happy and ready to spend. To seduce children with poisonous Chinese toys is an altogether different matter and I am not going to discuss that.
People keep pointing to the fact that 54 % of the population is below 25 years of age. Suddenly a large population becomes a boon. The results follow. Mass marketing on television with the youth as the theme. Delve a little deeper and the picture becomes clearer. I came across Rama Bijapurkar’s site and came across a few figures. She writes
“I have written several times in this column that the euphoric ’gen next’ stories that the media proliferates, ignore the scary facts that the demographic data reveal. IRS data (Hansa Research, Media Research Users Council) shows that of the 122 million 20-to-25-year-olds in the country, 70 million are rural and poor, 35 million belong to the lowest socio-economic (SEC) class of R4 (i.e., kuchha houses and chief wage earner has not got past Std 9, mostly illiterate or literate but with no formal schooling). The remaining 35 million are SEC R3 (i.e., semi pucca houses, and about half the chief wage earners have finished SSC). Incomes and exposures are closely correlated to the SEC. The most high risk for social tension, Naxal movements, etc., would presumably be the 20% of the age group (25 million, 10 million urban and 15 million rural) who are HSC/SSC passed, and have been raised with the aspiration, but no access to economic opportunity. “
I also did a Google search and came across with a few more figures from a site called
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/everybody-loves-a-good-number-93-77-54-33/

It is written that

90 per cent: The Asian Development Bank said two years ago that “at least 90 percent of people” live on less than $1 a day in India, China and some Southeast Asian countries.
77 per cent: The columnist Praful Bidwai said in Bangalore this week that 77 per cent of the population lives on less than Rs. 20 a day, or half a dollar.
54 per cent: In May this year, Newsweek reported that in 1985, 93 per cent of India’s population lived on less than $1 per day; by 2005, it was 54 per cent.
52.5 per cent: The Washington Post, quoting the same World Bank, said in August 1997 that 52.5 per cent of Indians earned less than $1 a day.
50 per cent: Ramtanu Maitra wrote in Executive Intelligence Review in December 2006 that 450 million Indians (or a little less than 50 per cent) lived below the World Bank’s old definition of $1 per day per persion, and that 700 million Indians (or almost 70 per cnet) lived below the poverty line based on the World bank’s new definition of a minimum earning of $2 per day per person.
Nearly 50 per cent: Seven years ago, Mary Motta asked if India should be so hung up on a moon mission when nearly half of its population lives below the poverty line.
33 per cent: Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad writes in the latest issue of Prospect that 300 million Indians (roughly 33 per cent) live on less than $1 a day
33 per cent: The International Herald Tribune, quoting the World Bank, said in Janaury 2006 that one in three earn less than $1 a day, i.e. 33 per cent.
30 per cent: The Christian Science Monitor, quoting the Indian census, says 30 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day; 78 percent on less than $2.
26 per cent: Social anthropologist Diana Wells, quoting the 2001 census, wrote in 2001 that the number of people who earned $1 a day had declined from 36 per cent to 26 per cent.
25 per cent: Xinhua news agency, quoting India’s minister for rural development and poverty alleviation, reported in 2002 that 260.25 million people earned less than $1 a day, which was a marked decline from 1993- 94, when 320 million people were below the poverty line.
25 per cent: Union Minister P. Chidambaram told Charlie Rose two years ago that the number of Indians earning less than $1 a day was 250 million, or slightly short of 25 per cent of the population.
20 per cent: A World Food Prize winning high school essay pegged the number of people earning less than $1 a day at 200,000,000 or 200 million, or a fifth of the population , i.e. 20 per cent.
From a personal experience I knew why I was always targeted for being a young urban professional by telemarketers, mobile phone companies, credit companies etc..

It is always seeing the glass half full and using the water to drench the customer.

Things Fall Apart-Interpretation

2007-07-28T11:26:00.000+05:30

Finished Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” today. I would like to interpret the book in my own way.
The book, first of all, is a wonderful illustration of tribal customs in the heart of Africa, the Niger delta to be precise. The tribes, where tradition is steeped in customs and rituals where rules have been followed for generations, where respect for ancestors is as profound as death for heretics. If I were an anthropologist I would be delighted to have such a treasure house of information loaded in an eighty three page novel.
Things fall apart is the story of a man and his family especially his three wives, his children and the tragedy they encounter in the final pages. It is the story of a man who values tradition to the hilt and wants to make a mark in his clan while holding his tradition aloft. The protagonist had a deep down abomination for his father who had no respect in his village and which propels him to earn that very respect the traditional way. He is banished form the village because of an inadvertent fault but accepts his fate. But things turn topsy turvy from thereon. When he returns he fins that things have changed. He wanted to get back his social standing in the clan but the clan is itself on the verge of being destroyed.
On the other side the weak and those who can’t gather respect in the traditional manner sides with the Christian missionaries to gain respect. Here, a war situation arises but the point is that it is better to be a weak man in a strong clan (read missionaries than being a strong man in a weak clan. Ultimately Darwin is right.” Survival of the fittest” as the saying goes.
The point is the protagonist fails to adapt to the changing times and kept clinging to old values. Was it good? Was it bad? Without being subjective I would like to draw a critical conclusion.
Things change and when u fail to adapt to changing theme you end up getting massacred. Nostalgia is all right but clinging to old thoughts and dying with it is a natural consequence. Since the voice of Christians were more profound and powerful than the clans which had created their own restrictions, might won and rights got redistributed. The Christians bought education and winds of change to an otherwise rigid society.
The book is a beautiful illustration of how Christianity spread in Africa thus heralding the death of old value customs.
But, why the sane never happened in India which too follows the oldest religion in the world. Why Christians failed to make headway in India in spite of British dominating India for 200 years. It is because Hinduism is a very flexible religion. And it has survived centuries of invasion. It is a pacifist religion and even has a place for heretics like me.

draft

2007-07-23T11:56:00.001+05:30

make it more realistic
incorporate daily cultural habits

dilute the president part and the views

Diary of an unknown soldier

2007-07-21T12:36:00.000+05:30

This is my story. I am posted in a place called Kandahar in Afghanistan. I work as a private in the US Army. I am 19 years old. I have graduated from high school and look forward to complete higher studies. I have been living here for the past year and a half. Most of my friends call me an intellectual, a thinker, who is unable to pen his thoughts. So here I am, making a last ditch effort to salvage my reputation.
My name is Sam. My mom raised me because my father had died when I was 11 years old. But she is unable to fund my education any further. I think I am a fighter. Because I had told my mom that I could take good care of myself. My job in Kandahar,as my leader says, is to keep fighting evil .The Taliban is gaining a lot of sympathy here and my president considers that evil. Everyday I go out early, looking for suspicious looking men or group and liquidate them if necessary. I had thought that my family was the poorest in the world. But people here are poorer. They don’t have food,money,facilites.Epidemics are very frequent.But the locals even consider us as a disease.I don’t know why I am here.Here,the people are involved in something the whole world considers illegal. They cultivate poppies which are used to manufacture opium. I have never tried drugs but still, being so close to the river I feel an instinctive urge to take a bath. Also, they are cheaper. I am clean though. I was raised a Catholic and my religion dictates my morality. I hear that my leader is a devout Catholic. So why did he send us in the far flung barren region to kill people? Jesus had said “Hate the sin, not the sinner”. I feel so confused. Is it patriotism? Are we fighting a battle to soothe someone’s ego? I am a realist. Even though I don’t like killing people I have to fund my higher education. I hear that my people want us to return home. They even elected Nancy Pelosi to the Congress to hear our case.Nancy.What a sweet name? She must be a good woman. I once had a girlfriend who had a nice name too. Angela. These days the fighting have subsided a bit. Our chief keeps motivating us. That we are doing a good job. I know what he means. The Taliban have temporarily run out of supplies and once they procure that they will jump on us once again like hungry wolves. They keep feeding themselves with religious thoughts. Our leaders do that too. Oh I forgot why we are here. I think the name Osama still rings in people’s ears. But where is he?
I don’t know when I will be back but does it matter? I will have to serve the military for more than a year so that I can save enough to fulfill my dreams. Even if I die in this battle I know that I won’t be a loser because if I go back now, I won’t be able to get into college which is as good as death. A bigger death.
We do have friends here, among locals-Wazir,Usman,Gul etc. They take good care of us in terms of information. But they have to be fed with money. You know there are two types of people in this world.Some are fed with copius amount of religious hatred and some are fed with love, love for money.The first kind generally have leaders like Osama and the second one have poverty.Besides the locals we have German friends from NATO. I have met one recently.His name is Gunter.He teaches me his native tongue which I find a little rough.But I am more fond of German curse words because I need to use them often. My mates often use curse words but I am unable to retort. Since I have to keep up with them I hurl some German bullets down their throat. They don’t mind. We enjoy a lot here because we are in the same situation. In this aspect camp life is funny. The terrain sometimes looks incredibly beautiful, better than the deserts of Arizona. But sometimes they look obnoxious. My British friend says that it depends on perception. I agree. I think man has three eyes- only two are visible. We had a beautiful bonfire tonight with the British people where we sang Bob Dylan,Elvis,Beatles even Madonna.But no patriotic songs. The British inspite of fighting in a gloomy terrain behave like gentlemen. Every one of them. One of them gave me a book written by PG Woodhouse on Christmas. I will read it later. On my part I narrated the story of Arms and the Man by GB Shaw. He became very emotional after hearing that. I don’t know why. He might have taken me seriously when I had concluded that there is nothing called eternal idealism in this world. He might have confused that with patriotism. We celebrate our patriotism on July 4th. They have nothing. I am a realist. I am a Catholic but I have come here to fight. I gave you the reason earlier. There are a lot of people over here-some are lonely, some have kids, some are engaged, some are extremely talented and some extremely are boring. And as the leaders put it all of us have come here with a common destiny. To fight. Everyone has his own story to tell. And I, on my part have come clean on it.
God bless the superpower!

Game,Set,Match-The final showdown

2007-06-10T23:35:00.000+05:30

I had never doubted it. But the presence of superstars like Thierry Henry, Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce and others simply confirmed it. It was the French Open final and it was a mouth-watering showdown. For Federer, it would be the path to ultimate glory. Many people accept that Federer is the greatest tennis player ever produced but the French territory was still to be conquered. Only two male players have completed the career Grand Slam, the conquest of English, US, French and Australian territories. And according to my ill-fed mind only one woman player in recent memory has completed a golden slam in the Open era, Andre Agassi’s better half. Till date the incredible clay had been a red signal for Federer who had to look for green signal at the Wimbledon to reclaim his might. And so for Federer, Gaul had to be won. For Nadal, who is proclaimed as the king of clay it was also an incredible moment, albeit a lesser one. It would complete a hattrick of the French Open which again is a rarity. On the previous day a thin woman who had recently divorced her husband, suffered an emotional breakdown, had showed us how to do it. The greatest thing about any sport is that champions produce an incredible amount of motivation among the lesser known folks, some of whom might just produce an article on magazines and newspapers like this one. In the hundred year history of the French Open the first and second best players have met only five times. And regardless of who won and who lost it was going to be a historical occasion.
Some of tennis enthusiasts, both Federer and Rafa fans, had been waiting for this occasion with a bated breath. Both of them had won their places in the finals after the gruelling schedules and unbearable heat and the situation was worthy of celebration. The match started with a lot of expectations. The crowd were overwhelmingly in favour of Federer and as one commentator noted, it was only in Australian Open that one gets to see such a nationalistic fervour. I agree that the Swiss champion with a cheesy elegance and confident precision is a fluent French speaker but Nadal too is not a stranger to France. He is a next door neighbour to the French like Federer. He comes from the land of bull-fighting and tomato splashing and a place where manhood is held dear by all men. Clay is like a second home to him where, like a true-blue Spaniard, he loves to get dirty. And like Spaniard he shows every bit of passion.
The match started and the French predictably came wearing fashion on their sleeves. You just have to be at the French Open to know why Paris is called the city of fashion. The women had a perfect make-up and even the female chair umpire looked like a former fitness model. The match started. Even after being top ranked for three years continuously Federer looked nervous. I am a Federer fan and my only solace was that three weeks ago Nadal had been beaten by Federer on the clay surface of Hamburg Masters. But Federer floundered on his break points. Not once, but twice. His first serve conversion was a pathetic 25% which was a third of Nadal’s. And despite his typical brilliance and elegance he failed to convert his chances. Nadal got his opportunity and made the best of it. He won the first set. Not everything was lost for me. I still wanted the city of fashion to be conquered by an elegant Swiss. “The two would be a great combination. He knows German too and half a century a German had conquered Paris. He is one of the most hated figures in the history of mankind, the father of Holocaust.” In the second set Federer changed his strategy and started attacking Nadal by coming to the net. The commentators complimented it and the points followed. For me, a tennis match is like a beam-balance. The more number of points you win, the heavier your stakes become. But it is like a constantly moving balance. If you ever lose your concentration and fail to gather points you end up being lighter and are ultimately off-loaded by your heavier opponent. Meanwhile, the cameraman tried to be creative. He superimposed faces and even tried to produce an image of the magnificent clay on the glass of a photographer’s camera. His camera kept focussing on Federer’s long-time girlfriend. I must admit that I had been watching her all these years and it seemed that all of his boyfriend’s match winning trophies had headed straight to her stomach. She is a former tennis player who now works as Federer’s accountant. The typical French ‘couture’ had touched her too and she looked good. Federer won the second set and he had to fight really hard for it.” Good”, I thought,” An hour and forty six minutes later the match was now even. Federer can now win” When you win the first set the confidence that pumps the adrenalin just shows and Nadal had started trying to be bold but after the second set it was even-Stevens. “How was I to know that the real brilliance would come just now!” By the time I figured it out Nadal was ahead by 4-1 in the third set. It was as if Federer had given up on winning the third set and was concentrating on the fourth.” Might be a strategy”, I thought,” Why waste energy when you are destined to lose in a set?” So he was not afraid to take risks.The linesman and the wrong calls of the umpire kept becoming worse as time went by."Gosh",I thought,"The French are so lousy.They make such late calls." But it was not just a figment of my imagination.I had facts to back it up.The French are notoriously slow.They were the last to give equal prize money to both genders and unlike Australian Open which proudly displays technologies like Hawk-Eye or closed roof play the French had nothing to show."No wonder that the French clay court is also the slowest among the four Grand slams".In the fourth set Federer tried hard with all his brilliance but it was as if all his much talked about serves, slices, drop-shots, accuracy had deserted him. I wished for once that Federer would be a Nadal and Nadal would be a nobody. I must admit that after Shahrukh Khan I had seen another bundle of raw energy. The Oxford could well define a term ‘Nadal’. The commentators described him as a warrior and I thought that I had found a weakness in Federer as far as energy levels go. By the time the fourth set was over Federer was looking for a greener pasture which was an English Channel away. “So what if he did not win the French Open.” He must have thought like me that he could not have everything. He is not God. Perhaps something that has taken us sixteen years to realise about another star called Sachin in this one-dimensional country of ours. A small consolation lay in the fact that apart from Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver most of the great players don’t have French Open in the résumé. But the French Open was a journey of discovery for me .I had been partial to Federer since the time I set my eyes on him four years ago. Now I have discovered Nadal. He might just be a clay court wonder but he too like Federer is no God.

MSM and the hype

2007-03-28T13:49:00.000+05:30

The press is called one of the four important pillars of democracy. In India, since independence barring a case or two the press has enjoyed unbridled freedom. Freedom of expression is an important fundamental right. But there is a caveat. With freedom comes responsibility. That responsibility has not been codified and that is where the breach of intent takes place.
The press these days tends to shift towards tabloid journalism. Yet the subject has been there since time immemorial. Whether a side subject in Citizen Kane or a manifestation of Gail Wynand's popularity in Fountainhead, the subject is an oft-repeated one. The upcoming engagement and marriage of Abhi-Ash or the intense cricket hype created by the media seems to have brought the subject to the forefront again.
Medium Purists like me may frown at the over-indulgence of press in matters that are less important for 1 billion people. Last year the coverage given to "Prince" was a glaring example. And there is a definite bias. How? The same incident may occur to another individual with somewhat tragic consequences but they are consigned to minor 4-5th page columns. Why? Because the news may not interest the public anymore. Perhaps a sensationalist like Rajdeep Sardesai summed it up best. He hinted at "What you see is what you want". News is being generated or created from thin air because the public wants it. Prince got a lot of coverage and what happened. The public got involved and started praying collectively. Praying is not a bad thing but was the news worth the hype.
Ditto with cricket. People held yajnas, prayers etc because the public wanted India to win. Regardless of the performance of the Indian team in the last six months people expected india to win. And then what happened. After the crash the opinion swung to the other extreme like a pendulum. People attacked houses, visually murdered the idols. These threw up a lot of side questions like Are we short of heroes? And important ones like what is the general attitude of the common one? Why the same thing gets repeated again?
I support Rajdeep (though I dislike his sensationalism).I support the admen and broadcasters.
"We get what we want". It is the rule of free market. Perhaps it is us who need to grow up !

MSM and investigations

2007-03-23T23:16:00.000+05:30

was watching the frenzy about Moninder Singh Pandher's clean chit from CBI.

The man has been beaten publicly,got unconscious and faced a lot of flak..
I am not defending him.Just that the public seems to be more volatile with him than his servant.
Amit put it beautifully.

Singur and Nandigram-How politics works?

2007-03-14T21:29:00.000+05:30

14 people were killed in a violence that was about nothing..

No work had started and CM was categorical that land won't be forcefully acquired in Nandigram..

But villagers were incited into strange rumours..

Now what ?

CPIM is very vocal in the centre and Congress finds a way to point fingers at West Bengal..
SEZ will be stopped,Industrialisation might get affected

At the end of the day development loses out..
Something which politicians are paid to bring about.
Strange !!!

Update 1: Something seriously wrong is happening over there.They put up a layer of children (first),women(2nd) and men(3rd) against police.Who is inciting them ? And how did they develop a strategy ? Is it a mini civil war ?

Update 2 : Finally I am in a position to throw my hat into the ring.The Nandigram issue.
Just after the Singur frenzy the Government decided to go for land acquisition in Nandigram.Around 30000 acres.It involved roughly 3000-4000 livelihoods.Singur was still hot.The news was that the Government is grabbing land from poor people in the name of development leaving them in the cruel clutches of 'nobody to take care of' destiny.Nandigram erupted.The very first officials who came to survey the place were lynched.Suddenly the situation turned explosive.There was an all out war.People organised themselves pretty fast and a policeman was killed.Then the police left and a status-quo situation prevailed.Meanwhile Buddhadeb categorically spoke that no land would be acquired unless the people consented.And judging from television footage the people would not part with their land at any cost.So in high probability Nandigram would be left alone and an adjacent area,much smaller, was considered.
But nobody knows what happened in the middle ? I used to frequent the newspapers and saw that at a political level the skirmishes were continuing .Women were raped and people with certain political affiliations were being driven out. The situation was not normal and the Chief Minister kept behaving arrogantly.He once again forgot the people in his rapid-industrialisation frenzy.The CM being an intellectual (as the reputation goes) must be aware that the most important thing that people love to hate is change.But how did he try to manage this problem ? By ignoring them altogether ..Bad politics and bad diplomacy.Nit everything can be told to people but the point was he should have taken people into confidence.Development can't be bereft of people ..And 3000 at the least is a big number.The Chief Minister being an elected representative and a educated soul should have behaved appropiately.Now things have started exploding on his face from his own people and virtually everyone let's see how hw manages this situation.A majority is calling for his resignation but I would personally prefer him to learn and remain a CM. Fortunately or unfortunately we have no alternative.

user generated content-implications

2007-03-13T21:49:00.000+05:30

Just today I came across the news that Viacom is going to sue youtube for a hefty amount because of copyright violation.I think that it highlights a bigger problem,the use and misuse of freedom.
A couple of years ago Napster got plastered because of copyright violation.Youtube is much more than that.It actually allows users to be a greater part of the internet.
Plagiarism has haunted mankind since time immemorium.On the internet P2P sites etc etc play a bigger role.But with user generated content things seem to get worse.Boils down to the fact that whose interests are being exploited.

Another aspect seems to be authenticity.Wikipedia is the largest online encyclopedia in this world and it is unique.People can actually add and edit it.But people come with preconceived views and sometimes truth is lost in fiction.This is the main disadvantage of Wikipedia.

Billionaire's list

2007-03-11T15:10:00.000+05:30

Such hoopla just proves that "india shining" is an oxymoron after all.
What use it ?
What about Gini coefficient ? and Human development index ?

International Women's Day

2007-03-11T15:00:00.000+05:30

I noticed one issue with the International women's Day.That they were short of issues after all.And there was lack of initiative.People talk of gender discrimination in offices.My belief is that this thing is more or less being phased out naturally and diversity is given preference and merit rules in a highly professional work place.But then the media focussed on such aspects as well aspect of domestic violence and female foeticide.A major component was missing.The rural women and women from slums.Day in and out I see women working hard,be it walking miles and carrying water or crossing heights and carrying loads of cements for the nearby uder-construction buliding.They do build lives and they don't live happy lives.My point is how much weightage do they get.The blue collar moms !!!

Blood Diamond

2007-03-04T21:33:00.001+05:30

Sometimes, amongst the niceties of life we tend to forget that behind some glittering and radiance lays painful history. And sometimes, conflicts and struggles tend to add brilliance to dullness. Let us take the case of Diamond. Raw diamond is dull. It is after cutting and polishing, sometimes at precise angles that diamond glitters in the way that appeals to our eyes. But then there might be some painful history attached to it. The diamond you are wearing might well be a conflict diamond.
This was the point of the movie “Blood diamond”. According to facts presented in the movie, nearly 15 % of the diamond in the market have their origin in conflicts, wars, devastations. All man-made. The movie also presents a bitter picture summed up by an African. " Thank God we have no oil”. In place of diamond it could well have been oil, gold, and platinum. Even uranium. Mao said “Power comes from the barrel of a gun”. But then power can also be bought from the object of desire. An in his quest for power man often tend to use such valuable objects as diamond. It comes as no surprise that most regions that have abundance of oil are today major points of conflicts. Nigeria,Iran,Iraq.You name it.
The movie starts with the devastation and catastrophe caused by Sierra Leonean rebels,the RUF and a poor African fisherman being at the receiving end of their wrath. People are killed and butchered like animals. The violence is so extensive that sometimes it tends to shake the audience. Yet it is unrealistic. Even though the gun blazes every 3 minutes on an average the three main actors tend to remain unscathed. The movie has made a good point though. It is good because it has cleverly woven every point of conflict which is very real in Africa into an amazing story.
The performance of Leonardo DiCaprio,Jennifer Connelly and especially Djimon Hounsou is something to watch out for.However the emotions are a bit overdone and tend to take the film to a Karan Johar like theatrics.
The conflict is very real. War still rages on in Africa and people still buy diamonds unaware of their origin. But an awareness has been created. The movie is worth a diamond. A conflict-free one!!!

The Dixie Goofup

2007-03-04T10:34:00.000+05:30

Epilogue: I have decided to give views on both sides of the coin.It gives a wholistic perspective on things.Plus a good lawyers can side from both sides of the fence and I like lawyers :-)

In 2003 while I was at college Mr George Bush decided to attack Iraq.America was polarized with the minority criticising him.Dixie Chicks were one of them.She criticised her president on foreign soil.What happened ? They were maligned,slandered to the worst possible extent.Last year they came out with an album that was meant to be an avenging melody.I was right,Iraq is in shambles,I owe an apology and am still waiting.That was the message.Now I will be continuously crossing from one side of the fence to the other and giving opinions.

Arguement: They criticised the first man on foreign soil
Counter arguement: Britain is an ally of US and they never sided with enemy

Arguement: How could they criticise ?
Counter Arguement: Freedom of speech

Arguement: Country music is closer to the soil.They betrayed the soil.
Counter Arguement: Freedom of speech

And there were some subtle reasons too..

They are a celebrity too.They are heard and reheard and fans take them to heart.What image will America heart,if they, as celebrity,as core of the "Daughters of soil" mentality betrayed their own soil.
No answer !!! Might well have been freedom of speech !!!

I understand that most of Natalie Maine's songs come from her heart but atleast she could have been diplomatic about her opinions..
I call it a goofup
For three years they stood by that 11 worded statements and kept talking from heart.They took various firefighting measures.

And then at Grammys they won the accolades.

What would have happened had George Bush successfully managed the war ?

Conclusion: They should have been diplomatic..

George bush and the War

2006-12-22T17:41:00.000+05:30

I always believed that humans have the power to create an issue in hundreds of millions of ways. Or perhaps more!!
Creativity distinguishes us from all other life forms and when we want to express an issue opinions come flying from all around the corner. It is not like 2 sides of a coin. It's more like a coin with a million sides. Or I would better put it like considering the coin as an issue and keep looking at it from a million dimensions. However, George Bush single-handedly made the issue of terrorism and freedom into a "coin-faced" issue.
"With Great Powers come great responsibilities". This phrase has become clichéd. But somehow or the other we keep twisting it or at best ignoring it. Freedom, Democracy, human-rights is not a new subject. Centuries and millenniums have been spent on its discussion. But the worse part is we still don't understand it.For example:We still fail to realise that one man's freedom is not another man's oppression.
Hail George Bush. The neo neo con. Or was it Rumsfeld. Cut the chase, It was "us versus them" That's coin-faced.
After the 911 desecration of American freedom (as usual freedom has colour too) George Bush pounced upon whoever he could grab his hands on. He built upon public anger and went on a hunting spree. Unable to grab Osama, he went after Saddam and threatened much more. He and his "Us" group wanted to turn the world into a giant cauldron of calumny. I was against his invasion of Iraq from the very start. Why should a sovereign nation be held hostage to the collective paranoia of neocons or the brainwashed American public. Those who opposed the war were castigated. I remember the Dixie chicks more for their views than their performances. But look now.
"Responsibility with power" Freedom, oppression Us versus them. No idealism works in the face of human deceit and selfish motive.(On that count even communists are capitalists)
And the end of the day I can proudly proclaim that George Bush, contrary to popular beliefs is not a loser. Nor his "us" group. He successfully brainwashed the public. It is the "them" group that lost. They failed to convince people. and history will keep repeating. Meanwhile the ideals can go to hell

The essence of jeans

2006-12-22T11:25:00.000+05:30

I look at my closet and find a couple of jeans tucked away in a corner reflecting the somberness of the situation. Jeans have their own personality and they should match with my personality. I have only 3 jeans tucked in my closet but all of them reflect the personality I choose to wear on a particular day. Jeans for me is not like any other garment. Jeans is a manifestation. I normally prefer to wear formal clothes but on someday when circumstances demand I prefer to put on jeans and render them a breath of fresh air. I guess that happens to a lot of us. When I look at people around me-both young and old wearing that much adored fabric in a variety of ways, I tend to think that jeans do render a personality to their self in a way no other garment can. But when I see that the "wearer" is not giving proper respect to the "wearee" I get a bit irritated. People tend to use jeans just as a fashion accessory. Jeans is much more than that.
People say that when they wear jeans they look cool, hip. True. But for me jeans are much more than that. Infact I don't wear jeans for the cool thing at all. I wear jeans because I feel comfortable in them. The reason is very simple. There are a variety of jeans available in the market today. In terms of colour, cut, fabric, and a myriad of other attributes jeans are everywhere and anywhere. But when I tend to look for a jeans I look for something that will be give a long lasting satisfaction rather than ephemeral gratification. I start off with logic. Jeans are supposed to be tough yet smooth.(Rough on the outside and smooth under it),jeans for me signifies flexibility. Jeans should be elastic to some extent. That's it.
No amount of styling influences me. I prefer "straight jeans". And most definitely when I go on to buy a jeans I prefer to slide into them and sleep in them for a night to judge the comfort level. Of course I can't return them even if I don't like them but it gives me a strange joy to sleep in new jeans. It also increments the "oomph" factor though!!!
What are the kinds of qualities I find appealing in a jeans. Well jeans give me the confidence to face the world on a perfectly bad day. I have noticed that people do get a little intimidated when I wear my jeans. Maybe because I also wear my attitude with it. Jeans epitomizes my soul. I like to play in jeans because I am not worried about dirt. I am not worried if my jeans go old or the colours fade a little because like vintage wine the latent quality of jeans comes to the fore with age. Jeans give me the freedom to break rules within moral limits. I set my own limits but jeans give me the freedom. I admit that jeans lend a little bit of colour to my personality. When I see people wearing jeans still feel shy I find it really amusing.
For all that I have said I have just 3 jeans in my wardrobe. This is because they go well with my personality. Being jeans crazy and just 3 jeans!!! People may laugh but I am not embarrassed. Jeans give me the flexibility to be me. And not impose anything.

back after a long time

2006-11-23T08:20:00.000+05:30

As I listen to evergreen "Brick in the world" I am contemplating on changing myself..
"Evergreen change" might sound like an oxymoron ...
But what the hell!!!
Let's see how it pans out

Caste and the illusion of identity

2006-08-25T10:55:00.000+05:30

While coming by the auto rickshaw this idea hit my mind about the tradition of casteism in India. Now we normally associate a person by his caste. What we really mean is that we tag an individual with a particular identity and associate all the customs and rituals of that tag with that individual. It is like a parent-child concept in Software. The characteristics of that parent completely overshadows the individual. The Hindu society and its peers is divided into a a hierarchy of caste and classes. This, I am told was propounded by Manu and he did this according to the principle of division of labour. But what I don't know is when we started developing prejudices and bias towards individuals of different castes. We should have left the individual scot free and let them do whatever they like.

Grunge scene

2006-06-15T10:08:00.000+05:30

Seattle in the North West is famous for another thing apart from it being the home of the world's richest man..

It is the cauldron of grunge music..
Grunge or transcendental music are abstract themes so you have to delve deeper into the picture
than rock or Pop
(I don't consider Britney Spears or J-Lo as musicians.they are glamour artists)
Anyways,
Nirvana was one of the finest proponents of grunge music..
what is it ?
Lemme explain.

Kurt Cobain,the frontman of Nirvana grew up in a lonely amd hopeless environment..
He had a lot of angst,frustation while growing up
He was depressed and his only companion was the guitar..
He grew up expressing his frustation of life thru music..

A lot of people don't undertsnand his frustations..
They think he looked dashing so he was glamorous
Which led others to take to drugs etc etc

Sure he took drugs to relieve his frustations but that was not his message..
His message was against injustice and unfairness..
to life..

He wrote so many beautiful songs that xpressed his angst like
"About a girl","The man who sold the world","Polly","Dumb","smells like a teen spirit" etc etc
but many songs were misinterpretted too..
like the song "Polly"

It starts wth "Polly wants a cracker..."
The message is not that..
But an incident occured where a rapist raped a girl when he was listening to that song..
this disturbed Kurt so much that he stopped playing it..

He was an eternal pessimist and the fact that he was married to a 3rd class woman did not help..
He had a boy with her..but then one day in depression he committed suicide...
Depression is a strange thing..
U cannit live with it throughout ur life..
Either u become hopeful or u commit suicide !!!

Kurt started a new cult and that has made him immortal !!!
I used to listen to him a lot in college !!
But most of his songs has foul words...
That doesn't deny him a great place in the music hall of fame..

Politics and Leadership

2006-06-06T12:20:00.000+05:30

Politics is a much despised word today. And all the words and forms that closely resembles politics have become equally despicable, like politicians, policies etc.
One of my friends had argued a few days ago against the backdrop of the quota controversy about why educated people don’t come to politics. My view is that education does not make you a good or bad politician. The attitude does. And a politician’s attitude is always to garner the maximum number of votes. So he plays at the hands of populism and vote bank mindset. His convictions are not as important to him as the collective convictions of a group of people. People translate into numbers and politicians attain majority. If a>b then you have to go with a and so you have to agree to everything that a denotes even if it is less logical than b. So in the next time if a part of a combines with b to become c and what remains of a is d then c>d. And then the politician has to change his views and go with c.
A politician is good at adapting to circumstances and he must be good at numbers. Of course logic and rationality have to left at the altar of politics because he understands that only by jettisoning his beliefs can he set his eyes on governance.
I am reading “Mein Kampf” by Hitler and he says (Chapter III)
“TODAY it is my conviction that in general, aside from cases of unusual talent, a man should not engage in public political activity before his thirtieth year. He should not do so, because up to this time, as a rule, he is engaged in molding a general platform, on the basis of which he proceeds to examine the various political problems and finally establishes his own position on them. Only after he has acquired such a basic philosophy, and the resultant firmness of outlook on the special problems of the day, is he, inwardly at least, mature enough to be justified in partaking in the political leadership of the general public.
Otherwise he runs the risk of either having to change his former position on essential questions, or, contrary to his better knowledge and understanding, of clinging to a view which reason and conviction have long since discarded. In the former case this is most embarrassing to him personally, since, what with his own vacillations, he cannot justifiably expect the faith of his adherents to follow him with the same unswerving firmness as before; for those led by him, on the other hand, such a reversal on the part of the leader means perplexity and not rarely a certain feeling of shame toward those whom they hitherto opposed. In the second case, there occurs a thing which, particularly today, often confronts us: in the same measure as the leader ceases to believe in what he says, his arguments become shallow and flat, but he tries to make up for it by vileness in his choice of means. While he himself has given up all idea of fighting seriously for his political revelations (a man does not die for something which he himself does not believe in), his demands on his supporters become correspondingly greater and more shameless until he ends up by sacrificing the last shred of leadership and turning into a 'politician; in other words, the kind of man whose onlv real conviction is lack of conviction, combined with offensive impertinence and an art of lying, often developed to the point of complete shamelessness.”
What was he talking about then?
Politics or leadership?
Definitely leadership. Because a leader on the basis of his beliefs have confidence on himself. He is firmly rooted to his ideology that is reasonable. And when he thrusts this on his people he does it with firm convictions. And he has logic to support..
He also said that leader should have a good memory and a deep knowledge of history.
So true.

The story of Timothy

2006-06-01T09:49:00.000+05:30

Sunk into oblivion Timothy went underground

He tried hard and concentrated into himself

He was afterall pretty much sufficient

What he needed was the will to concentrate

and concentrate.

"Salvation lies within" goes the saying

Timothy started working,working hard

Oblivious to the people around him

And he tasted the sweet fruit of success..

Timothy was not alone..

Timothy was with him !!!!

celebrityhood,convictions,irresponsibilty,laxity

2006-05-26T12:19:00.000+05:30

Any premise can be supported or opposed based on how one feels about it. It can also be ambiguous for which both supporting and opposing stands exist. The basis on which Mr. Aamir Khan got embroiled in a cause, the NBA cause calls for a discussion. My perception is one of ambiguity and the controversy that has hounded him coupled with his views has instigated me to come up with a post.
Let's start with how it all started. On a fateful day Mr. Khan was venturing out in the busy streets of Delhi when he chanced upon a movement that had gathered in Jantar Mantar. The victims of the movement spearheaded by the irrepressible Ms Medha Patkar were demanding justice from the Government and opposing the decision to increase the height of Sardar Sarobar project. Mr. Khan, bubbling with his enthusiasm of "Kucch Kar dikha ne ka" on the lines of "Rang De Basanti" whole heartedly jumped into action. He joined the morcha and gave a message to all the parities concerned that he was against injustice to the masses. It is another thing that he had no idea about the timeline, duration, history and geography of the movement. He had no idea of the fact that what he saw was only one side of the multi-faceted story. He later admitted it. Which means that he got carried away with the plight of the people and his "dariya-dil" got swamped in an unending deluge of human trauma. After that Mr. Khan went into a verbal spree and NBA got more glamorous. The perception about Mr. Khan was that he was a serious actor, a perfectionist and an idealist. But it was totally uncalled for that he would get so carried away in such a manner. Beats me totally.
After that Mr. Khan gave interviews after interviews in various platforms, forums. He had to handle uncomfortable questions regarding his endorsements etc... When a public figure like Mr. Khan gets into a controversy for the sake of his ideals or his unabashed enthusiasm I can't help but think about the reason they should be doing it in the first place. It is because, two days ago his film "Fanaa" was banned in Gujarat for hurting Gujarati sentiments. Having introduced the topic I will come directly come into the pros and cons of his actions. Through his actions I would generalize it, i.e. the role of a public figure in a campaign. My stand is neutral.

For the motion.
A public figure is much more than a normal next door neighbour pretty much busy with daily chores.A public figure carries the burden of the public because he has been made popular by the public.He is a simple human being otherwise,is made of the same flesh,blood and bones that other humans are made of.But he has rissen above the levels of normalcy and given us something.He might have qualities that others might not think of achieving.He might be better,greater like the eternal motto of the Olympics "Citius,Altius,Fortius".That has made him a public figure.His talent surpasses the normal boundary of ordinary and he has created a new pinnacle which other lesser individuals might aim for.Since ordinary individuals cannot reach his level he is deified.But then that brings an added responsibilty.He has to act like a God.He has to come good on our expectation.All in all he should not do something that may hurt us.There comes the problem of his idealism amd beliefs.The public in a free and fair democracy is fairly divergent in views and beliefs.And so the path of idealism becomes pretty much constricted.That is the problem with Aamir Khan.In life we call it a compromise.And aamir fails to value that because of his selfish interests.
(to continue)

Ankahee -The movie.

2006-05-20T19:09:00.000+05:30

The theme of the movie is not new. The subject of passionate love, insane love leading to devastation has been discussed in the Hindi movies for decades. Love is a complicated subject. "Love" in itself is quite simple. Having feelings for one another is how we define it. But the baggage that love brings with itself for e.g. the relationships, the responsibilities, tend to complicate matters. The movie "Ankahee" deals with love in a forbidden zone. The movie deals with extreme love, on the verge of insanity. Insanity can be fun. It brings a thrill to our moribund lives. But continuous insanity practically vitiates the atmosphere. Human mind is complex. And we tend towards complications most of the time. We fall into love as easily as we fall out of love. It is a delicate balance. And love has different meanings. It can be motivating as well as distracting. Human perception is when love tends to demand most of our time it is more distracting than motivating.
In the movie Esha Deol , the reigning Ms World falls in love with a doctor Aftab Shivdasani.To complicate things Aftab is already married to Amisha Patel who plays the role "Sati-Savitri" "24-hour" housewife with finesse .Esha is suffering loneliness and looks up to Aftab as the only source of her sustenance. She falls in love with Aftab in a manner that drives her towards insanity. Aftab falls for her charms, leaves his family and starts living with her. But the excess baggage that love brings,most notably possessiveness, drives Esha towards insanity .Insecure in her own world she feels dispossessed all the time which finally drives her to suicide. Aftab returns to his wife, only to be disowned and rejected. And the end of the story he dies too leaving everyone devastated.
Someone once said "Man is a social animal". Humans prefer to live in a web that is their life and each human tends to be interrelated points. So when one point goes awry the whole web tends to crumble. The points closer to the affected point tend to be affected the most. That is what happens to Aftab's life.
We always look for balance in life. Balance between stability and insanity is one such instance. We seek peace in stability and thrill in insanity. When we tend to lose control of our lives we lose that balance and lose our lives.
The most memorable aspect of the movie is the music. Directed by Pritam the music is a soothing manifestation of the emotional upheavals each character undergoes.

Zindagi ki sacchai aab maine paii

2006-05-20T19:07:00.000+05:30

Life is more of an exception than an equation for a human mind. But the irony is that life is guided by equations at each and every step which tends to lend stability to life itself. Then one equation tend to get unstable we tend to compromise with another equation. Like if we tend to get late for something we tend to compromise on something that is desirous.
On a clearer note if we have diabetes we tend to compromise on our greed and abstain from sweets... We look for balance all the time.

The brain is the most complex organ in the world. It is perhaps more complex than the universe. Humans might try to comprehend the universe with the brain but can they comprehend the brain itself. The emotions and feelings associated with it, the complex chemical reactions associated with it. Ask any human...

Happy Orkutting..

2006-05-17T17:52:00.000+05:30

Orkut is a great tool.
Specially in terms of networking and building contacts..
I realised it really late but I plan to make up for it. Somehow I convinced some friends to join orkut without actually realizing the full potential of it.The most important thing about orkut is it is a compact all in one. And like different colours of a flower it is multifaceted. Each colour with it's own importance. But the most important is the fact that one can seamlessly traverse from one domain to another.It is like a never ending maze and limited only by unlimited human intellectual capacity. When you chance to attach yourself to a community it is highly probable that you catch up with some old school buddies. I am just giving an example. And once you start scrapping you get pretty addicted to it. Now, with power comes responsibities. So one better control oneself before embarking on a journey.
Meanwhile happy orkutting

The rose and the star..

2006-05-17T09:40:00.000+05:30

The rose cried below the heaven..

With the sky staring down and the stars peeking..

The rose bemoaned the misfortune

Pain was a fact of life..

Giving in to circumstances

The rose cried from deep within

Its brothers had wilted under the sun

The pressure was too much to take

The rose simply cried at night

The star asked "Why are you crying ?"

the rose said "I cannot handle life "

The star explained "Look,don't take life as it comes,

Be strong,be hopeful

Take control of your life and fate will smile on you.."

The rose asked "Who are you ?"

The star said "I was a rose who aspired to be a star"

The rose asked "Then what happened ?"

The star said "I enjoyed my life and when I died I became a star"

Past..

2006-05-14T21:42:00.000+05:30

My belief is that the past always holds you back..
Now tho events always happen in life that can be commemorated
1. Sad and painful occurences.
2. Happy days..

Tell me that neither evokes pain in you !!
Sad days remind you the pain you endured
And happy days remind you of wondeful moments.
Painful isn't it ?

Connotation to last post..

2006-05-14T21:37:00.000+05:30

As a connotation to my last post I think the obstacles to development are removed if people have a developmental attitude..
I came from Durgapur on GT Road and like everytime I am enthused by the mindset..
The additional factors are free flowing logic like
planning--> convincing farmers and subsequent land acquisition (the most diff part as changing mindset happens here)--> building stuffs
Meanwhile Buddhadeb has got elected on a reformist plank
Let us see

Calcutta-The alter ego (Kolkata ?)

2006-05-10T15:17:00.000+05:30

While going through Rajabazar area in Kolkata I was lost in a stream of thought.
People say that Kolkata is undergoing transformation.But all these transformations are taking place in the already developed parts of the city..Places where flyovers ,multiplexes etc etc are being built are the already developed parts of Kolkata..Since they are pre-planned ,it is easy to tinker with the existing structures of the city to create new facilities..Like widening of roads etc etc..Places like South Kolkata,Park Street,Salt Lake etc etc
But what about blighted parts Rajabazaar.Can The Government create a new flyover over there without widespread opposition ?A couple of days ego a lot of brouhaha was created in the news media over the demolition of a religious place..
The question is what is the point in developing an already developed place..
What is the point of raising objects to development in the name of religion etc etc when we want allround development ?
Why is our policy so skewed ?
And at the end of the day..
Are we visionaries ? (At least in Kolkata)
Another interesting aspect about development is that a developed place creates a base for further development i.e you can develop and redevelop an already developed area.
It is a never ending process.On the other hand when there is any oppostion to development there is always resistance to a change that is for the greater good rather than individual benefit..Is the Communist Govt listening ? Individual benefit !!!
Development is a mindset..If we have a stubborn attitude we can never aspire to develop.So in the name of development you create shelters that ultimately lead to slums and there is a total absence od real development.
Where is there is a will there is a way ?
The Delhi Metro and Konkan railways are shining examples.
Where there is no will ,there is hypocrisy and existence of extremes.
The shining malls hiding the dark realities of Razabazar are befitting examples.

Hope floats

2006-05-09T12:59:00.000+05:30

Over the shady face of the world

Where delusion reigns supreme,

Hope floats with a fluttering grin.

When the mind just gives up,

Gives in to situtions,

Hope takes over and bliss runs amuck.

When humans repent for Pandora's sins,

Hope shows them the light,

Gives them reasons to fight.

You lost something which was dear to you

But why repent when hope is around ?

Take care of things that still remain..

You for one.Never give up to sadism..

Pandora wanted you to die..

Yet you lived and so did hope.

Shawshank redemption: "Fear sets you prisoner,Hope sets you free"

Writing..

2006-05-06T22:08:00.000+05:30

kaleidoscopic thoughts run through ur mind..
When u jot it down it becomes a piece..

The first thing people might say about writers is they are alone.They love to be in melancholy and let random thoughts take over their mind..I have to disagree with the melancholy part because if u r a thinker then u need melancholy,solitude.But u don't necessarily have to be a lover of solitude.
Ideas are like abstract patterns.When they take shape people like us get into a lengthy overdrive with surging adrenalin..But u need not write ideas.U can discuss that with friends..That becomes a vocal manifestation...
The beauty of writing is that with an intricate pattern of words you can put ur thoughts in somebody else's mind without getting the slightest of opposition..Writing is like moving in a car without brakes in an empty road that leads to nowhere..It is the driver who actually decides when the road has to end and the car has to stop..
My belief is that there are infinite was to express oneself..And looking from an angle (there are infinite angles) I feel that one or supreme is same as infinite..It is a complex thought..
The other thing about writing is style..People have different style of writing..The choice and use of words,the use of examples,poems and quotations are all part of style..
Another thing about writing is the art can be acquired..And the best way of motivation is reading...(One of the best sources of ideas)

A tribute to Mahajan

2006-05-06T11:00:00.000+05:30

Unflinched in his route to glory..

The stone remains crushed waiting to be dusted..

For a man borne out of him..

had broken all the obstacles with tenacity..

A man born without silver made himself a jewel..

Rallied against problems and became an achiever..

Shy he was, he went on to be an excellent orator..

With managerial skills par excellence he became unsustainable..

So God called upon him to manage heaven

Doling out amidst doldrums..

2006-04-29T09:28:00.000+05:30

I was amazed at the propensity of Tamil politicians towards doling out generous quantitites of individual benefits to garner votes...Polticians, we tend to believe work in the collective interest and not towards private benefits..But the extent to which people like Jayalalitha,Karunannidhi etc etc promise benefits like 25 kgs of free rice,TVs etc etc made me think whether the people have no better aspirations from these poilityicians ??
When we think of development and implementation in governance we tend to think of good amenities,roads,sanittations,employment etc etc but I was lefgt wondering whetrher Tamil Nadu is so rich as not to demand theze things rather thian 2 kilos of rice or 3 kgs of sugarcane ?

Freedom and choices part 2

2006-04-23T20:00:00.000+05:30

What defines democracy and choices ?
An aspect of democracy is where the number of choices varies from more than one to infinity..
Of course freedom should be profound so as to exercise those chioces.
This is because as we see from the events unfolding in Nepal the King in his greed dismissed an elected Govertment a couple of years back and latches onto power till date in a vague hope.
He believes that the tag of Bishnu incarcination has given him the divine right to act in whatever manner he can..
This is just an example of dictatorship where there are no choices.In a dictatorship there is only one choice but the nature of that choice might vary from regime to regime.The choices might be bad for the people which implies that either the leader is cruel to latch onto power or he is living in a schizophernic world ...Nepal is such an example.Conrast this to China..That too is a dictatortship..But the Government there is relentlessly working towards making it developed..I don't know if it is for their own benefit or for the benefit of people..But whatever it is doing is elevating the profile of China to some superpower..
Poor or rich nation,good or bad results..whatever it is as a consequence of decisions
taken by autocratic nations I will still go by democracy because it gives me choices and we alone can decide what is good for us..No one else..

Fair and Unfair

2006-04-13T18:40:00.000+05:30

In the wake of controversies that throng the daily headlines nearly everyday I feel like writing on what constitutes fair and what constitutes unfair.
Nearly everyday we make hundreds of judgments that affect us in some way or the other. And on the wider scale Governments make judgments that affect the general public and in a fair democracy their longevity as a direct consequence.
A couple of days ago the word reservation came into the limelight for the umpteenth time. And there was a lot of discussion for and against this raging controversy. Since it directly affects the lives of general public in as valuable a filed as education the controversy was widespread in which practically each and everybody had a say.
Today while returning from office I was thinking about the words fair-unfair in this context. As I write I am going to approach to a particular conclusion. Let me see.
“Logic” is something that every sane human being on this planet understands. On a particular topic like say “Nuclear –conflict” or “Reservation” there may be many views for and against it. And in a peaceful democracy where only logic constitutes the dividing line between fair and unfair my proposition would be something that is logical is fair and vice-versa.But nothing can e in its entirety.It means that if something was completely illogical the need for bringing that topic would not have arisen at all. If there is something against which we are unequivocally consensual why would that be spoken in the positive context ?So we can actually slice the comprehensive argument into a number of points.And the more the number of points win the argument, the more logical that side of the argument becomes.Hence that is defined as “Fair”. The court of justice runs on precisely that argument.

Freedom, choices, culture and morality...

2006-04-09T15:38:00.000+05:30

No matter how much George Bush touts the values of democracy and the need to spread it throughout the world, be it Iran, Iraq or Polynesia I won’t vouch for him. This is because I have a choice to disagree with him. I have a choice to evaluate him, respect or reject his opinions on the “War of terror” or ridicule him on the colour of his cat. This is exactly because of the word he chooses to profess throughout the globe. Freedom.

India is a democracy and democracy is the best thing that can happen in contemporary times. It is because democracy gives us freedom to exercise our opinions. It is as if the whole body has been divided into subatomic particles and power has been vested with these particles. Democracy gives us the choice to think about democracy itself. If society needs to move forward democracy is an essentiality. No doubt. But for me, an individual how much does this virtuous word matter? Why is it significant to me? The answer is freedom. I am not bound by the rules and regulations of society that does not give me enough rights to exercise my freedom. At the same time I have not chosen to be a hippie.

What relates democracy to choices?
An aspect of democracy is that the number of choices varies from more than one to infinity. Of course freedom should be profound so as to exercise those choices. In a dictatorship there is only one choice but the nature of that choice might vary from regime to regime. The choices might be bad for the person which implies that either the leader is too cruel to latch onto power or he is living in a utopian world ...Nepal is such an example. Contrast this to China. It too is a dictatorship. But the Government there is relentlessly working towards making it developed. I don't know if it is for its (read: the Communist party) own benefit or for the benefit of people. But whatever it is doing is elevating the profile of China to a superpower.

When we use the word freedom we obviously associate responsibilities with it. So, there is a caveat. Presently freedom is a misused or much maligned word. One man’s freedom can become another man’s bane, the use of loudspeakers for example. So, when anyone objects to the use of loudspeakers at 3'o clock in the night someone else might just yell at him and utter "Freedom". In recent times the world has been gripped in a controversy that questions the very essence of unlimited freedom or using freedom with responsibility. Like the Danish cartoon controversy. Europe on the one hand justifies the use of violating a religion and people’s beliefs in the name of freedom and the opponents cry for restraint. For me, an individual, that controversy is more of a cultural issue than a religious one.
People have different beliefs and views and I choose to go with this view. It is a matter of choice. The choice of whether we commit anything as blasphemy or satire, the choice of whether we are expressing opinions or hurting the sentiments of the masses of a certain community, the choice of how we interpret freedom and imbibe the values that comes with us while maintaining dignity.

Here I must mention the issue of conflicts and debates. When choices, opinions on an issue vary there is a debate. The choices with solid logical foundations and/or quantitatively better end up as universally acceptable.

What really matters to me as an individual is the plethora of choices that exists today – be it foods, clothes, houses, opinions or entertainments.

I will now touch upon the negative aspect of this “choice” mentality.
The subject of freedom and its misuse (or overuse as you see it) assumes a colourful dimension in the world of entertainment. The best example is music in general or music videos in particular. Music is entirely borne out of human imagination and human imagination knows no boundaries. But for an individual like me remixed videos are a bane because they pick up on other people’s compositions. Similarly for me, an individual, showing vulgarity is obnoxious too (Please note that the very notion of vulgarity varies from person to person) We as a society have been swamped with so many options and choices that it is increasingly becoming difficult to judge morality and profanity, the line between good and bad has become fine and increasingly becoming blur. We are unable to decide what is wrong and what is not. If for me, wearing something in a particular way is not vulgar, then, at the same time is wearing anything at all unjustified?

We, as a nation, can only move forward and as we move forward we are going to have more and more choices. We are going to be further swamped by external influences (choices from globalization) and what some Bengali politicians might say “Apasanksriti”. In that case should we shut our eyes and ears to those choices? Should we decide to follow a Taliban lifestyle and take a retrograde step? For me, an individual, the answer would be no.

Agony of a helpless fan

2006-03-25T13:51:00.000+05:30

Reactions have started pouring in about the way India lost the final test. A lot of introspection, analysis, in depth discussions on what went wrong went throughout the media and it is high time that I give my own view. A lot of hype was generated over this match because it was Tendulkar’s 132nd and Dravid’s 100th one. The irony of the fact as one television viewer put it was the way the team showed him due respect with a 100 all out in the final innings. There are a couple of reasons involved with this abysmal show and I would come across one by one.
First of all, the toss. Winning the toss and then electing to field was as good as losing the toss. One error of judgment probably cost the match. Someone said that had Dravid batted first the result would have been opposite. When Srinath was asked about the reason for fielding first he was diplomatic in answer and came up with a reply that Dravid had full confidence on his bowlers. What a way to show parochialism!! I wonder why some of it was not reserved for Ganguly when he was being crucified in front of the whole country. But in the post match press conference Dravid tried to defend his decision saying that had he lost the toss what would have happened? That’s a poor explanation considering the fact the importance of toss would be lost and we would always prefer to lose the toss so that the captain has complete confidence on his players? What an argument? Common sense dictates that when you decide to let go an opportunity you are either extremely brave or extremely dumb. It was not the first time that Dravid had shown the tendency to sacrifice. He opened in tests against Pakistan and we lost badly.Dravid, we all know is an extremely nice guy. So nice, that he would rather prefer to be a sacrificial lamb himself than sacrifice others for the team. Time and again he fails to realize how valuable is he for the team and how to preserve himself for the best of situation. In short he is an extremely poor man manager. It did not help that to preserve the top order batsmen from the onslaught he bought Kumble to bat in the top order. Predictably Kumble managed just 8.
Now comes the batting. Before the beginning of every series the media goes into a top drive and declares that the batting line up is the best in the world. Even before the Indians bat for themselves the media starts batting for them. Is it a fable? As Geoffrey Boycott pointed out the Indians might be the maharajahs of flat pitches but they are beggars elsewhere. Who is to blame? The media which creates hype or the batsmen who fail to live up to the hype and prefers to divert their energies to advertising pursuits. If I am to put it bluntly then except Sachin and Dravid other batsmen are not genuine batsmen but a bunch of entertainers.
Next is Sachin Tendulkar. My only prayer to the media and the idol-starved Indian public is to leave him alone. For 16 years you have put piles of pressures on him. He never proclaimed that he was God. You made him God. And when he starts acting like human you start treating him like Satan!!! The fact is he is human. And humans are mortal. The problem with Sachin is people shoot up their hands in air in a mild symbol of resignation and say the same thing over and over again when confronted with the question of what is wrong with Sachin. “I am too small to comment on him. He is the master of his own destiny.” People start reciting the famous lines from William Henley’s Invictus.
His dilemma then is, whom should he ask for support and direction at this fragile point? The only two people who come to my mind seem to be Ramakant Achrekar and Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, the first little master.Sachin has undergone so many surgeries owing to back spasm, tennis elbow and wrist injury that his batting style has undergone major changes. Age does not help and the changes are noticeable in his battings. He has cut down on playing hooks and pulls and his reflexes are not as razor sharp as they used to be.
Returning to the final test what worsened the situation was poor fielding. A captain should be a great motivator on the field.Dravid is not. He dropped catches. That might have been justifiable because he is after all human but to undertake the burden of captaincy and show your true worth as a leader you have to rise to the occasion. It does not help that Dravid is not an aggressive captain. India had discovered the great art of aggression with Ganguly and perhaps that art has died with him. Dravid should realize that to lead by example all the time one has to be a superman.
Finally the fact that the team has gone through a lot of restructuring and overhauling. Too much of everything is bad. And the fact that Chappell is bringing in personal egos by not bringing in experienced players does not help the cause. Ganguly might not be a good prospect for the World Cup but at least he could have been played in the final test. If experience counts for a lot of value in life then why not in cricket? Cricket is a major part of our lives too. Every Indian’s life.

A Bohemian affair

2006-03-17T21:34:00.000+05:30

I got my hands on yesterday’s newspaper, researched a little bit on the television and came across a conclusion after delving into my inner consciousness that still instills a lit bit of sanctity and sanity to my inner self. The headline grabbing news that students were on fire in France because of a controversial law that empowers the employer to hire and fire at will within two years of first appointment. The feeling was not about the law or the justification of the protests. What led me into thinking was when the media related it to the protests of the 60’s,the counterculture, the “rebel without a cause” mindset and how different people came together to protest on a plethora of issues and that the justification of protest lay in the numbers. Protest, I thought, were merely for the sake of protesting, some way to vent the anger and frustration simmering deep down the heart or trying to find an outlet for youthful enthusiasm.
Some days ago when Bush came to India different parties went into protest and it was the not the issues that mattered as much as the protests. Protests, I thought, were merely for the sake of hogging the limelight. To create a impression in a circle or to enter a wider canvas. JNU, I think is a leftist bastion and the simmering cauldron of what I think is the “rebel without a cause” mentality. The PM went there once and faced protests on the issue of Iran and for once I was left wondering what was the point in protesting for a cause that was as alien to us as the rise of global warming to Sourav’s exclusion. And then I came across the conclusion that somehow has solidified over a period of time. The fact that India is a free country and a vibrant democracy where protests are means to glamourise the protestors. It is always glamorous to think differently, to rise against cruelty and oppression. In a nutshell to show heroism. It is another thing that the meaning of the words heroics and antics have been mixed up in the plethora of protests. Long live JNU.

Happy Holi

2006-03-14T11:34:00.000+05:30

Humming the tune of Silvertown Blues while shaking my feet in sync my mind goes back to...
No. It is not going to be off there on again “one of those” boring posts.
Welcome home. Today is Holi.A chance to take rest. A chance to make a mess. To take some time off the hectic hara-kiri, mechanical, robotic, devoid of humour, devoid of sense life has become. In college there was added reason to celebrate holi. Most of the time was spent like a holiday which conserved all the energy to perform any Sadomasochist act during Holi. My last big Holi was as wild as I had seen in my life. People were at each other’s throat, tearing shirts and acting as if the laws of jungles were applicable to tigers, deers and us equally.
This Holi is going to be a lame duck affair. I am plain not interested. I have grown up.
I have grown out of it..

The sniper-Lord of the trees

2006-03-11T09:16:00.000+05:30

Perched high atop a tree
the sniper simply waits
Seconds pass by,then minutes and then hours
the tiger never comes
Despair belittles expectation
Hope turns gloomy
Perched atop a tree
the sniper simply waits...
He fails to see the writings on the wall..
He waits and wastes..

Insecurity..

2006-03-09T20:40:00.000+05:30

A couple of years back a college senior whom I silently admired as my mentor and looked forward to learning a lot of lessons from him died in a street accident.As the story went he tried to cross a busy railway line unaware of the fact that a train was approaching.He ended up dead and I was left shell-shocked
Even in his death I learnt a lesson of not crossing a busy street or a junction without being aware of the consequences that lay ahead.That is to make myself sure that the street is perfectly safe to be crossed.Today while returning from office I thought of a old primary school science lesson which instructed us to look at both sides of the road before crossing the road.Now according to the instruction which I vividly remember we have to look at our right first,then left and then right again.And I was left wondering that why we should be looking at the right for the second time.This is a question that I never asked my primary school science teacher but I was forever left wondering as a consequence.
If the answer is an ambiguous one I would love to ask the replier that why should we not look at the left again after right,then right,then left and be stuck at the same place forever.
Was that a trick our teachers played out so that before we come to a conclusion the green signal flashed before us to cross the road..
I am still confused..

The aftermath..

2006-03-07T23:04:00.000+05:30

A few days ago Mr. George Bush pronounced that India is home to 2nd largest population of Muslims and they live in complete peace. Those made my chest swell 3 inches with pristine pride.
Cut down to the fact that India has a Muslim president, a Sikh PM and a Christian leader of the majority party. It further makes me proud that the Muslim president is the father of one of the most advanced sciences India has produced indigenously. And that Sikh PM with his omnipresent blue turban is the father of India’s reforms that are still the pillars on which the success stories of India’s reforms hinge and the world applauds.
That is not all.
A Gujarati Muslim (Azim Premji) is one of the richest Indian and a Parsee (Ratan Tata) heads one of India’s biggest industrial empires that is built on the sweat and blood of his Parsee fathers.
All these in a country which has a Hindu majority.
But we do not take pride in the opportunities our nation provides. We do not take pride in our tolerance and our impartiality.
Because had we taken pride we would not have killed fellow Indians in the name of externally inconsequential factors like Iran, US, nuclear bomb, Islam and cartoons.
How do they affect us directly that we are so agitated?
How then we not justify the saying that:
Religion is the opium of the masses...
Where are we heading?
Written below is a dialogue that must have taken place between the two terrorists before they blew up Sankatmochan temple. Note that terrorists have no religion. They have fellow brothers worldwide who blow up the Golden mosque (the holiest shrine of the Shias) with equal passion as the Sankatmochan temple. They are the enemies of humanity.
Let us say they are Islamic terrorists bent on creating trouble. Their “forefathers” have already created troubles in IISc, Palika Bazaar, Charaar-e-Sharif and so on and so forth.

Yakub: Inshallah brother. How are things moving?
Razzaq: Fine. In two hours the bombs will be ready..
Y: Good. Let us blow up this temple (Sankatmochan) and create panic..
R: Yes, afterall this is fun isn’t it? Today we destroy a temple. Tomorrow they destroy a Mosque. It is a chain reaction. A biological reaction like an uncontrollable nuclear fission. Ha Ha.
Y: Why the Sankatmochan temple?
R: Because it is in the holiest city of Hindus. Because saint Tulsidas himself created it. Because it is where he wrote part of Ramcharitamanas.Because it has a long legacy. Because of which they are more passionate and show blind faith. On Saturday and Tuesday the crowd is at its peek. The destruction will be maximum..
Y: Just one explosion?
R: No.After the explosion people will run in panic and empty the temples. They will rush for the railway stations. That is where we are going to plant the second bombs..
Y: subhanallah !!!
R: I am told that God lives in the hearts of these believers. I think these people do not know that
Y: Temple is where the heart is.Ha Ha Ha...
R: What will happen next?
Y: Some political parties will rake up this issue. Blame fellow countrymen of another religion and thus stir up a communal atmosphere. They are our friends actually..
R: Just the way a rival party tried to stoke up Muslim passion over a Danish controversy and Bush visit. Pathetic souls. They destroy their own people...
Y: Don’t say that. They are our friends.
R: So are the communists. They flare up Muslim passion in the Ramlila Maidan and try to create an inroad in the vote bank..
Y: They call themselves atheists. And they believe in equality.
R: We realize their hypocrisy. The people don’t.
Y: I can’t wait to see the country destroyed.
R: Me too. Then we can create a big mansion for Osama..
Y: We already have followers here.
R: Cheers, brother to our future
Y: Cheers..

Those who respect their religion don’t do it at the expense of others.

A movie

2006-03-05T22:33:00.000+05:30

Just saw a movie of Russell Crowe. I can’t recall the name of the movie bit it is based on a true story on the boxing days of Jim Braddock. Basically his rise to glory under adverse circumstances amidst the great depression.
Normally movies are meant to be dramatic and they glorify some aspects so much so that they appear to be unrealistic. But then those are what movies are for?
Inspiration.
Jim Braddock was a boxer in the depression era. I caught up with the movie when he lost the fight to a fellow boxer and a powerful man; probably the owner of the boxing federation took away his license. Without his primary source of livelihood he was destined top rot in the great depression. Times were hard, jobs were scarce and it was a “dog eats dog”situation.Jim had no many and he had a family to take care of. He had a wife and three children. The worst part was his little daughter was sick and hid house was on the verge of being sealed. Somehow his wife bought time from the owner. They were on the verge of a break up as Jim was unable to take care of his family. But his wife persisted. Jim had to beg to buy medicines for his sick little daughter. But then his former coach cum motivator cum friend,( basically last two words define him aptly) came with a proposition to fight. His right hand which broken from his last fight was still recovering. He took the chance because either way he was dying. Boxing is a game that holds a lot of potential. It can run into a draw, someone can end up dead, someone can end up writing history and a lot many things. Jim took the chance and went for it. He was hungry before the fight, he was weak and he had a family to take care of. But he had talent, he had a fire under his belly, he had determination and most of all he was not a lady’s man, he was a man’s man. So he went for the kill. He won.
You can always debate on how good is the acting, how quality is the movie but the best thing of the movie is to sit back and enjoy the movie, to understand the true meaning of the movie, to understand the circumstances portrayed in the movie. To look beyond technicalities like acting, direction, plot and cinematography. For once leave it to the critics.
BTW my belief these days is that any Hollywood movie has to be good on technicalities by default.

The story of Monty Panesar

2006-03-04T13:30:00.000+05:30

He is an important aspect of globalization..
An Indian (by origin) playing for his adopted country against India..
For those of you looking at him through the narrow prism of nationalism he may be a villain
There are a lot of instances before in cricket
But since it touched India and for the first time a Sikh is playing against a Sikh (Harbhajan Singh) isn’t that something...
Isn’t this the globalization of cricket?
Where meritocracy of cricket rules of nationalism

Wake up Australia first class cricketers
Professionalism ahs arrived
Zimbabwe is calling you

2006-03-04T13:24:00.000+05:30

What a good man is the Prime Minister..
His credibility shows it all for once. If a degree is the stepping stone to incessant success the PM has a lot in his kitty. A PhD from Oxford to show off perhaps...

As Barkha Dutt informed that trusted sources in the Government had told her how the nuclear deal almost came to a standstill. But it was due to the pragmatism of the PM that a deal was closed. According to her Condoleezza Rice who was adamant that either permanent safeguards need to be carried out or the deal be off. The PM took a hard line stand and preferred the second option. Even in airport when George Bush was shaking hands and patting his back it was not about shallow informalities or empty talk about the weather. It was about the final solution. Condi took him to a side and repeated the same thing which she had talked over telephone. But it was due to the personal insistence of the President that the deal saw the light of the day. According to Barkha,according to her trusted sources the President being an uncomplicated man told his security adviser straightaway that he wanted the deal .The officials from both sides burnt the midnight oil and clinched a deal that was a win win..
That was the gist.
Now we do have to trust the Barkha, the President and most of all PM
Or trust no one at all
I take a hard line stand and choose the first

Leave him alone

2006-03-04T10:52:00.000+05:30

The war continues, unabated.Deliberately or not Mr. Chappell has again fired a salvo. We may put it down as his “Unputdownable” Aussie approach ,his straight talking no-nonsense attitude or in your face mannerisms but to even think of firing salvos at a wounded tiger belies all sane thinking.For a moment let us agree that Ganguly was a bad man,Ganguly played dictatorship but then we cannot deny the fact that he loved India. We cannot deny the fact that all he did was for the benefit of the team. We cannot belie the notions that for a game as dynamic as cricket you are not allowed to keep position until and unless you show results.Ev the much revered Tendulkar lost his job when he could not show results and Ganguly had to take reins. Every person has his style of leading and what ultimately matters is the output he shows.Neverthless even if we consider Ganguly a villain with sinister intentions why did we treat him and continue to treat him like this?
After Ganguly failed to retain his lace in the team he shut his moth off and made an intelligent decision. He let his bat do the talking. After all he knew that all these months of complacency have left him nowhere, he was sinking and it was better to shut up. Disregarding all this Mr. Chappell kept on firing salvos. The Aussie in him simply won’t shut up. Or may be it’s the devil. Or it is personal vendetta
Whatever it is Mr. Chappell should understand like a sane man what good is he doing by mincing those words time and again before the media?
Why we, as hapless, emotional fans being made to vacillate from one position to another. Why are our emotions being thrown into wilderness?
Why doesn’t he just concentrate on the job he has been invited to do?
Why?

The pragmatist and the idealist

2006-03-03T00:55:00.000+05:30

George Bush is talking to Manmohan Singh:

Mannu Mannu
Yes papa
Eating sugar
No papa
Telling lies
No papa
Open your nuclear facility
Ha Ha Ha

This is what the opponents are portraying about the relationship. When Manmohan and Georgie are bent on creating a path breaking bonhomie between India and US. Prime among them are the leftists. I just don’t understand them. When it comes to taking a stand on something that benefits India they bend the argument in favor of universal morality. Its high time they realize that shallow intellectualism, shoddy ideologies and empty ideas will not lead to any fruitful benefit. Benefit if they understand as India’s benefit. These people are steamrolling any argument in favor of universal brotherhood as if India is going to act like a referee and shout foul whenever there is any match between the US and the rest of the world. Well if something happens to the referee will anybody care?
Why do they object to something that will make India a bigger player in the world arena rather than playing a passive judge?
When will they look beyond the transparent film of morality to India’s side of the story. Why are they living in the beliefs of Leninism, Stalinism and consigning pragmatism to the dustbin. Nehru played the non-aligned card and when it came to defending the nation he faltered at the pedestal of nationalism. We cannot sacrifice our integrity at the expense of so called brotherhood or morality.
It is a cut throat world out here where every dog has to fight for the bone. Rather than going for it why are we still keeping hungry and fight for others. When will we start thinking of ourselves? Or have they consigned the idea of Indian nationhood at the altar of Leninist brotherhood

Ingresol Da Abrasol

2006-02-27T22:55:00.000+05:30

Why am I writing something with a funny heading?
Something that means nothing.
The answer lies in something that America cherishes wildly and propounds vehemently.
Freedom !!! Freedom!! Freedom!!!
Something that is very close to my heart

But one person’s freedom becomes other’s bane. That is when the subject freedom with responsibility comes into effect..
According to the index of freedom USA will come at the top and by that kind of freedom I mean constraints on individual restrictions.
And when freedom comes into the picture where does that leave us.
Politics is so deep rooted in our society that people just see the negative aspect of freedom. Ours is a negative society and freedom is more of an exception than a norm. Freedom to be unconventional, freedom to be mad and freedom to be justified.
According to a survey Indians are the most conformist in the world. That same survey points out that Indians have a misconception of calling themselves unconventional.
I went through some snaps of Google’s office called Googleplex a few days ago. The name says it all. If multiplexes are associated with fun, comfort and entertainment Google combines it with work. Treat work as fun and don’t be bound by conventional wisdoms. It is something everyone preaches and nobody follows. The hindsight should have been that giving fun opens up the mind to unconventional thinking.Thst leads to the flow of creative juice and ultimately work benefits. So many times have we come across management adages like “out of box” and “thinking on your feet” but when it comes to implementing those notions the same notions become “Pandora’s box” Nobody dares to open it.

Hypocrisy Part1

2006-02-25T11:01:00.000+05:30

I am posting this as part 1 because time and time again I see a lot of hypocrisy around us,the place where we live,the environment where we thrive,the society which is supposed to endow values but promote hypocrisy since there may be more to come in my posts about classic Indian hypocrisy I just thought of starting a count.
It is justifiably agreed that hypocrisy is the norm of the day.Morality in today's world gives us more pains than gains.But people do have morality which holds the structure of our society in a civilized dimension.Some things are built on traditions and morality for those comes by default.Morality is a singular and it gives us a feel good touch to our soul .In this age of cut-throat competition though morality has taken a backseat.Still we have not thrown it out of the car because morality or pretentious morality acts as a mask for the naked ambitions we breed among ourselves.Bottomline is morality or not there should be gain at the cost of the whatever.Morality is an ambiguous word and for me,an engineer morality is not like any formula that can parameterize people is more like fuzzy logic fuzzier than that.
But one thing is for sure and hypocrisy are the best of enemies..
A couple of days ago the bird flue virus was reported in India.People got scared and the media acted as a catalyst.Politicians being ordinary people banned chicken from the parliament canteens and were genuinely admissive about it what I fail to understand is the sloppy job they did to promote chicken in society.Society was chickening out in a massive dilemma .The chief secretary of Animal Husbandry Department gleefully ate chicken in a media conference to assure the public that everything is fine .It is another thing that half of the media persons present concentrated more on reporting that news than
getting to the heart of the matter i.e. eating the very thing they were working on.The Mayor of Calcutta tried to promote chicken in a conference but refused to eat it infront of the camera. Hilarious !!!
Day in and out newspapers come out with pictures of happy go lucky politicians enjoying a nice Chicken Tandoori.But as an Indian I am confused.Whom should I trust?
The politicians who promote it,the parliamentarians who refuse to eat it,the mayor who is not sure what he is doing or the happy politicians on paper.This perhaps leads to beautiful conclusion: "Democracy at its best here.because we have an incredible number choices"
But situations of indecision among leaders arise everyday:
On Iran,on nuclear issue,development,privatisation et al
And as a nation bred in true democratic fashion we are just as confused as to where we are heading.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears

2006-01-18T20:48:00.000+05:30

It gives me incredible pleasure to announce that I have not been duped.I have been saved from a bloody massacre and assured a graceful no entry into the kingdom of hell..
I believe this group should not only be used for bawali and addabazi but sharing genuine experiences so that we can aware and warn ourselves about what goes around us.And I invite you to share ur experiences.

Some 7 -8 months back a lady named Jonaki called me up.She claimed that she was from ICICI Bank where I have a salary account.
"I don't believe you "
Then she mentioned my account number,my address and my account balance..
"Ok Fine,go ahead"
"Sir,I have been looking after ur account.You have a decent balance.My name is Jonaki and I am ur personal account manager"
"Personal account manager",I thought."Am I Anil Ambani ?"
"Why don't u go for investment options?"
"No thanks.I am better off without it"
"I will call you up"
"Actually I will call you up when I need you"
I normally have allergy to females who try to talk too much.
Since then till now she called up 9- 10 times.And most of the time she would suggest me to go for investment options
She was adamant.I was too because I didn't need any advice on that.I can pretty much decide what I want to do.I mentioned her name to my friends and they asked "Who is she ?Your next girlfriend.."
"Actually my wife,she already manages my accounts" I shrugged off
Last November she called again and this time suggested me to go for recurring deposit.I declined again...
I did not notice any fraud or anything.Since ICICI is a new age bank they must be taking really good care of people like us,I was very sure.
I am not the guy who gets carried away by girlie sweet talk..
But two weeks back she called me again.This time she told me" Sir,go for recurring deposit.It is tax free transaction,with high interests and money will be automatically debited from ur Salary A/C."
Now this got me thinking.I did some research on recurring deposit and called her back.
Someone I haven't even seen.I trusted so easily.The ultimate mistake.
"Come up,I have made up my mind.Whats the rate"
"5.5%"
"So"
"But you can draw money time,no tax,you can start by giving a cheque of any other bank.From next month money will be debited automatically"
"What do I have to do ?"
"You don't have to do anything.I will send you someone and just sign a check and complete the formalities"
"This saturday,my house,3 o'clock"
"Tell me ur address"
"U should know it.U are my account manager na ?"
"Still ?"
I gave her the address.A guy came and I completed the formalities..Since I am careful with money I made the payee and the cheque as AC payee.Thats common sense.
Two days later she called.
"Sir,a mistake has occured."
"What?"
"I will be sending that person again"
Well,bondhugon.This time the person never came.Now I called her up to enquire about it.
No answer.I went to ICICI Bank.I told them my story.They haven't heard of Jonaki.
"So what should I do ?"
"Why don't you go for better investment options.they have 15-20 % returns and..."
"Abe *3@!!#.Bhar mein jaaye tera investment"I wanted to say
What I said was "Let me fix this first.I will make a stop transaction of that cheque.Thank you"
"Next time come directly to the office"
"Sure.And next time I will see the face of the person before I talk"
"You have seen my face na"
"Yeah regarding money you have to be...,."I gave a two minute lecture with a Vajpayee like pause..
I called up baba and got bashed up pretty badly.No fraud has occured till now but I have to be very careful from now..
And through this story I would like you to do the same if u aren't already
As for me I have changed the phrase Once bitten twice shy to once almost bitten and always shy
As my good old childhood friends I would really appreciate any good advice from U guys

U r "pathsalaar" guru and I am a gullible student

Melancholy

2006-01-18T00:34:00.000+05:30

"Turn off the lights
take a deep breath
relax"
--Enigma

The principle of peace is fostered in the ambience of solitude.The dark night subsumes a unique stillness that seems to consume all the noise and disturbances created during the day.
And when I come to think of peace and melancholy they appear as two sides of the same coin.Or like the chicken and the egg problem.
Yoga and meditation teach us the benefits of stillness,invoke silence and bring in patience that can literally transform a person.
I being a peace loving person consider home my ultimate destination because that is where I can be insulated from world of noise,pollution and things that lead to the 3rd law of thermodynamics.
Some of the effects that silence and peace have on my mind is the clarity of thought.It is because I am insulated from the world.No external factor can even come near me and influence my way of thinking.I am pretty much into myself and can delve into inner depths of thinking, practically sinking into a different world, a parallel world.A world every action and reaction is not guided by Newton's way of thought but mine.A world where I can think and sort out the trivialities and complexities of life with poise.A world where time does not run in seconds or not guided by the revolution and rotation of the earth.But then that will be a world that will provide answers to the all the complexities and the practical problems that life presents in its ugliest forms.A world where I can find answers without asking questions.

A wise suggestion..

2005-07-19T12:15:00.000+05:30

Well I happily deleted my last blog.Because someone just now reminded me that you don't write everything in a blog.Blogs can be potentionally dangerous because they display private thoughts in the public domain.
I was not aware of a code of ethics in blogging.For those utterly blissful souls who happpily write explosive things in their blogs I dare warn them about the life threatening implications one has to go through if it goes against certain individuals.Those who wear their hearts on their sleeves and can't even take a miniscule amount of criticism.
There are different individuals in this world.And most of you will agree about those individuals who live in an utopian world thinking that they have the world at their feet .The dictionary describes them as egoists and egotists.Beware of both of them.....

ho ha hum..

2005-07-17T10:12:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a normal day for me.No office!!!Anyway I made a long term plan to see a dentist and after much painstaking effort when we(me and my father) finally reach the dentist's door-steps did we come to know that dentist won't see me now.Well,an ugly shock.I had enquired about the doctor some 2-3 days back and was assured that Saturday would be fine for me.Now if my brother(the man with whom I talked) on the other side of the telephone had the little decency to tell me that he does not sit on week-ends life would have been a lot easier for me.Even the Sardarji whom we met at the doctor's door-steps helped us with all that he could.However,on my side I am going to be a little more careful....

By the way we took the metro to Shyam-Bazar,bought a navy blue jeans and happily went back home.
At night there was this normal fight between my mom and me about television.There was a picture called "Baghban" that mom has seen umpteenth times and mom started heaping scorns on me.Perhaps she was imagining that I was one of the sons on televisions..
She stared chattering,jabbering to the continuous irritation of mine about how Indian society has degraded,how I have degraded.Boss,when will my mom start seeing my good side.And as a matter of fact its me who lives with them not the other way round.
However the story is touching and the best part is AB's acting as always.It is said that boss actually practised the speech for 3 days.Mind boggling!!And thats the best part of the movie.
Its said the taste of wine improves with time.Who is a better example than Mr Bacchan!!!

Bereft of my seat

2005-07-11T20:29:00.000+05:30

The problem with my office and my work is that it is just too dynamic.You are never assured of a place,let alone some glory.You never know where will you end up the next moment.And I made the mistake of considering my desk or rather cubicle as my own.I had set up an emotional bonding with my seat.It was like me,my seat and my mail.But then I lost it all.Some one captured my placed.It was the other way round some days ago when I happily hijacked that seat and worked like a man satisfied with life.Eventually I lost my seat and my mail.The problem with lotus notes is that it is machine dependent and so once you are evicted from your seat you have to set it up all over again which is a tiresome procedure.All day long I failed to check my mail and was as restless as a thirsty man dying to have a drop of water.Anyway I have now configured it so that it can forward it to some other address.Again you cannot check any other mail from office.TCS is smart enough to block the last piece of enjoyment you can derive out of work.So I worked all day long.I do that everyday,just that the fun part was missing.The occassional mails some teasing some irritating and some plain ones had become an integral part of my life.My senses had become sensitive to the frequent sensible,frequent non sense mails that adored my inbox.My heart used to jump with joy whenever the pop up informed me of an incoming one.But then thats what life is.You lose the very thing you become intensely attached to....
My new place again being a temporary one I won't dare to configure lotus over there..

Old times

2005-07-10T22:04:00.000+05:30

I caught up with Shivpriye,an old pal of mine.I used to share most of my secrets with him in college and he remains one of my best friends till today.He has come all the way from Bombay to Cal on a tour which is going to stretch 15 days.I hope I have enough time to spend with him because all this year I have missed him so much.
He called me up in the morning.Said he was going to meet him.I caught up with him in the afternoon.We chatted all the way from Camac street to Victoria via Esplanade.He has cooled down a bit but otherwise looked every bit like last time we met.

Why sports is a test of character

2005-07-10T00:03:00.000+05:30

Whether it is golf where you are your only competitor or any other sports in which you are trying to excel, sports tries to bring the best in you if you are single-mindedly devoted to it. Its not that sports is the only competitive thing in this planet but whenever there is any spectacle where you get to see gut-wrenching stamina, incredible strength and mind-boggling will-power it must be sports. I am talking of outdoor sports.
My belief was suitably strengthened when I saw Roger Federer crush his opponent with the sort of spectacle only he can produce leading to the complete debacle of his unfortunate competitor. I am not here to talk about Roger Federer and his game. That can be the subject some other day. What fascinates me about sports are the inherent qualities that reside in sportsmen, I mean the best in the flock. Sharp mind, power, stamina, style and resilience.
Look at Venus.I can't stand the sight of her but the very fact that she produced quality tennis after a long absence speaks volumes of her character. Or Lance Armstrong who came back from a life threatening disease to win competitions after competitions of the hardest of them all, The Tour De France.
I am not a fan of all sports. But whatever few I watch, be it athletics or any other I get to understand that it is just a show of human endurance and character. Look at the motto of the Olympics.The Greeks realized that spirit thousands of years ago.
How many challenges have we seen all our life? Be it Formula 1, which is a trade-off between your life and driving prowess. Be it gymnastics, which is a test of your balance and artistry, be it swimming, be it any other sports. And tell me in which other aspect of life can you see a fine balance between your mental strength and physical strength to bounce back.
Today I saw a Joe Frazier vs Muhammed Ali match which was billed as the greatest ever extravaganza on earth. And the fight stretched till the last one. Both opponents persevered, looking for opportunities to grab the other one. And while their mind was working their body was taking vicious punches. Still they were able to "hook" each other to get the better of opponent. Where can you get all this motivational and educational entertainment if it is not sports?
By the way I don't count WWE or its peers as sports. They are simply a giant circus.

My first day out

2005-07-09T10:45:00.000+05:30

Blogging seemed interesting but I had never giving a thought of streamlining my thought process in such an experimental manner.Man you learn from your experiences.I can only say,as of now that that this thing is a prelude to the next big thing thats going to happen in my life.Someday I am going to publish my own book.Sounds too intellectual.Can't help it.Thats what I am,thats what I will be!!!!