Black day for Indian cricket

Yesterday (27.12.09) will have to be labelled as a Black day for Indian cricket, as claimed by reputed newspapers, news channels etc, in other words the Media. This time the dig on media continues because the way they projected this was really humorous.

Well, the exact reason was that one odd ball from an Indian pace bowler bounced way above usual height and the pitch was deemed to be useless and declared as unfit for play due to non preparation adequately.

This happened at the time when Indian's were removing the shit out of the Lankan's who were reeling at 83 for the loss of 5 wickets. One of the wicket included a really spectacular one handed throw at the stumps to get rid of a Lankan without the aid of the replay.

Suddenly, the spectators were bedazzled when players left the field after discussion by the umpires and then began this funny conversation between a news correspondent and an expert Saba Karim (former Indian player)



Correspondent (C): Saba ji, aapka swagat hai, yeh bataiye ki hua kya hai, aakhir kyon match ko radh kar diya gaya hai

Saba (S): Well aaa, match ke shuru mein yeh andaaza nahi laga paye the ki pitch mein kitna uchal hai, aurrrrra captains ko bhi iski ummeed nahi thi.

C: Toh is baat ke liye kise doshi maana jaye, BCCI (Board of Cricket control India) ya phir DDCA (Delhi district cricket association)

S: Dekhiye, ye toh kehna muskil hoga, BCCI ki alag committeee banayi gayi hai jo sirf pitch ko dekhti hai aur pass ya fail karti hai. etc etc fart fart...........
Par yeh kehna muskil hai ki dosh kiska hai

Not satisfied , the correspondent frames the question differently

C: DDCA pitch tayyar karne ke zimmedar hain, kya inhe doshi theraya jasakta hai

S: Dekhiye, DDCA ne apni taraf se pitch tayyar ki hai par BCCI ke jo adhikari hain jinhe "pitch committee" kaha jaata hai, unki zimmedari hoti hai ke pitch ka jayasa le aur sahi report pesh karen.

At this point, S is not aware of C's intentions to find the culprit and blame him solely. S is merrily being the expert and offering grey solutions to the problem. C is now wild at this point of time and will try once before giving up.

C: Kya action lena chaiye aapke anusar?

S: Dekhiye, abhi toh yeh kehna mushkil hai, aaaa, mere khayal se BCCI ko apni committee par dhyann dena chaiye aur system checks rakhne chaiye ke aisi galti phir na ho. Unko apna system fit karna padega. Jahan tak DDCA ka sawal hai, toh unko bhi khel ke niyamon ke anusar apna kaam karna padegaa.......blah, blah, fart...etc.

Now, I got really pissed and switched off the Television to look for better avenues like walking on a half moonlit street and enjoying the winter!!
Just chill, chill just chillllllllllllllll...........

Rejuvenation

Had a blast last week and watched "Avatar" at our very own multiplex in Gandhidham. But before that, had a nice massage and heartache while travelling from Mundra to Gandhidham. The experience was like never before, a raging bus carrying 20 passengers, one driver, one conductor, 6 tyres, one engine, one rear axle, one front axle, 50 ltrs of diesel in a shoddy container, around 1000 nuts and bolts, sheet metal moulded for seats and a grill which prevents passengers from reaching the driver.
Hell, wonder if the grill would not have been there, nobody would have spared the driver for the bumpy roller coaster ride.
Eventually, curses galore just could not prevent the experience. An amazing two hour ride for just Rs 30/-, wonderful isnt it?
Coming to avatar, I wish it would have been a true story, it is true in a sense but non nature lovers would make no sense of it. May be, James Cameroon should have included scenes from the cartoon "Captain planet" or the movie "the Matrix" to incorporate the dangers of losing precious natural resources. But, a commendable effort by him. Not everyone will be impressed by the movie but sooner or later, the theme of this movie will inevitably be the future.

The timing is just right, hope the swines negotiating a 'Climate change protocol' in Copenhagen watch this movie to justify how they want our future to be.
Folks, unfortunately, our future lies in their hands. Especially somebody like me from a developing country. So, this famous dialogue from the Matrix holds false for me:

Morpheus: "Tell me Neo, do you believe in fate"

Neo: "No, I dont, I am not comfortable with the idea that someone is controlling us"

Morpheus: "I know exactly what you mean"

Hail Copenhagen. Sayonara.

Scooby Doo, Where are you????

Scooby dooby dooooo was the instant reply to the question. Wish I could tell the same. Its been almost 2 months since the last blog post and suddenly, I am out of ideas regarding the subject.

No TV, no newspaper, nothing to speak about. This post is turning out to be such a rude one that people who read it will never visit this website again. But, have to take such risks and the mission should be accomplished.

So, started with reading other's blogs. Two of my favorites, one by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and the other by my IIT friend Amrit vatsa. Surprisingly, an avid blogger like Vatsa posted his last story after a 15 day interval. I dont see any blog updates by others too. May be, occassional writing is the mantra. But, occassional, not such a long interval.

Surely, will be back with more once I settle down (the one after marriage). Till then, as Sharukh said (Movie: Om shanti Om)

"Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost"

Palace of Mirrors

"History is so amazing & interesting". The problem with this statement if viewed mathematically is as follows,

Statement/Hypothesis - "History is so amazing and interesting"
test - whether the hypothesis is true or not
Result- Hypothesis is true when age > 15 if condition (stream chosen after 10th std is not arts) and
when condition (studied in state syllabus during childhood) is true
else hypothesis is false.

Reason - You never get to read history anymore after finishing 10th std in school unless you have chosen "Arts" stream. Also, central sylabus has been proven superior to state sylabus. Hence, people from the "central scheme" of things are more inclined to appreciate History.

Otherwise, rest is history!

Anyways, whateverrrrr!!

This post is dedicated to "history of Kutch", the barren lands which protect us from our friendly neighbourly enemy from invasion.

I happened to visit the so called capital of Kutch called Bhuj city, which is 60 km from Gandhidham. This place has so many stories to tell, but very little is now available(not even 10%, mathematically speaking).
The appreciation for history started with a visit to one of the palaces in Bhuj called "Prag Mahal".



Nothing much in it, except a vast hall which was supposed to be a "Diwan-e-khas" or the "royal dining table" where Kings and queens and various other gentlemen used to enjoy royal food and drinks etc. Now, all you can get to eat there is pigeon shit!



The passage to the hall reveals the condition of the palace now and how magnificient it would have looked earlier. I wonder if the entry fee (which is Rs 12) is being used for cleaning up the pigeon shit, the place (palace) really stinks. But, one must appreciate the history and forget the pigeons and crows for a while. In the hall, there were photos of Lord Mountbatten, our own Bapu, Nehru chacha & friends (Sardar patel, etc).

So what is especially so special about these photos, the trick lies in the place. One has to imagine how barren this land of Kutch would have been during the good old times and appreciate that this place had a 'Maharaja' to rule over the land and this 'Maharaja' had a good friend called 'Mountbatten' who was the last "Viceroy" of India, and this viceroy was the reason for "Independence" and "partition of India"
Marvellous, isnt it!

Now comes the real interesting thing, the "Aina mahal" or "Palace of mirrors". Unfortunately, no photos with me to describe the beauty of this palace. If one has watched "Mughal-e-azam" movie which recently released in color, especially the song "pyar kiya to darna kya", the palace becomes easy to imagine.

Else, One must imagine a rectangular hall full of small sized mirrors pasted on the wall, with a king seated at one end and damsels dancing naked.

Kyon, khada hogaya kya, read on,

The beauty is that the King's seat is in the middle of an "island of fountains" with mirrors all around. Legend has it that many damsels from the far east and west have in the past displayed their beauty to the Kings who ruled Kutch. Now, the hall also has a life sized sculpture of a "Lion" which was supposedly shot by one of the kings. Gives an idea that Lions existed even in such barren lands, superb!!

From this palace, I happened to visit the Museum which is just next to the lake in Bhuj. Here, I really appreciated the wordings on a cannon displayed outsite.



It said "This cannon was gifted by Tipu Sultan, King of Mysore to the Maharaja of Kutch in exchange for the beautiful Kutch horses"

The sentence above says it all, such beautiful links in History. Modern commuting systems and commuters must really appreciate this and feel ashamed.I mean, where is Mysore and where is Kutch, 2000 km separates the barren land from the land of dreams. That too in 1780 A.D, horses & cannons were transported so far off.

Not to mention the beauty of History, Tipu Sultan, alias the "Tiger of Mysore" allied with the French and fought four battles with the British which paved the way for other revolts and gave birth to the "First war of Indian Independence in 1857".

So much appreciation of history ends with history again. This expedition was carried out on a beautiful sunday of October 11th 2009, but written today Oct 21st 2009. History, can be really beautiful!!

Disturbia

It all started on the second day of October 2009, when I decided to watch a movie after travelling 80 km from Mundra to Gandhidham. All I wanted to do was to enjoy the movie, so, me being the punctual type of guy, started early remembering that "early bird catches the flight". On reaching the multiplex, I was glad I had 3 choices,
1. I could watch 'Wake up Sid' starring Ranbir "Romeo" Kapoor and thats all I know of the movie.
2. I could watch 'Wanted' starring Sallu mea with long macho hair and stuff. Since, I knew before that this was a spoof of the telugu hit "Pokiri", and I did not want to see Ayesha Takia's takias bouncing up and down (you know what I mean). So, automatically, this was a bad choice.
3. I decided to watch 'Do knot Disturb' which after glancing at the poster revealed a good mix of actors like comedian Govinda & Former miss universe Sushmita. Immediately, bought the ticket and fell inside the theater

Little did I realize, the star cast was completely different, this is wat it looked like
a. An obese Govinda obsessed with Shahrukh's bolti in the movie "Darr"
b. An obese and busty Sushmita
c. A skinny Ritesh Deshmukh
d. A medium sized medium busted Lara dutta
e. A horny Rajpal yadav
f. Out of nowhere, Ranbir Shorey who loves showing his undies.
Overall, directed by "comedy ka sartaj", the huge, the mega obese David Dhawan, check it out.



Well, to be honest, the movie started off on a good enough note, with good dialogues but the story is itself so 'ghisa pita' (about extra-marital affairs & nothing else). David ji should have transferred some of his weight to the film, kuch to wajan hoti film mein. But he chose to transfer his weight to Govinda & Sush baby (no longer a baby, she is now Grandma! ). So, one can expect to carry the burden of all these weights superimposed while watching the movie.

Coming to the dialogues, one top class dialogue which I can remember out of the many cheap mobile spoofs are " Woh dono toh aise lipte hue hain jaise ek hi mobile mein do do sim ghusaya hai" and many such spoofs like : outgoing shuru karo, sms bhejo and so on and so forth.

Now the part which every Bollywood movie is not complete without!, the song dude!!
Well, there was this song, Youre my bebo which really stinks of raw flesh from foreign prostitutes dancing in the background and Ritesh doing "Yo man, wassup" stuff. No complaints about Lara, except she is not Bebo, Kareena is Bebo man. Wat the hell!



Speaking of Kareena, wonder how she would have looked like if she would have acted in 'Dil bole Hadippa' starring skinny Rani Mukherjee
Here's an attempt to find out how she would have looked like, a BEBO Sardar




Well, needless to say, Hadippa would have been Hudi baba with a punjabi accent if we had Bebo in it, also, it needed to star Saif ali compulsorily.

Whatever!!

Only wonder when will another sensible film release, how much longer would the patient common man have to wait. Lets wait and see.

You are nasty

How would you react to the following situation:-
one gloomy morning, you open up your mailbox and recieve a mail from an unknown stranger, you do not know the guy and you reply saying that you are not the intended recipient. You feel your work is done and suddenly you get this freaky reply

"You are nasty"

But, here is the twist - you come to know from another source that the reply is from an 8 year old kid. Now what would be your reaction?

Although, the kid's reply itself was nasty, he must be appreciated for his knowledge of words, mailing knowledge and other general knowledge. The kid seemed to know how to reply to mails with a vengeance. One must really appreciate his attitude, here's a glimpse of it



Moral of the story: Never take panga with the new generation kids, especially spoilt brats with loads of cash in banks left over by generous dad's.

Korba chimney collapse! How does it matter!!!

This blog post is dedicated to the huge tall middle finger look alike chimney which could not stand any longer due to the weight of the injustice on it and fell like a dragon slayed by the avenger. Although, the chimney now rests in peace and is happily in heaven, on its way it awakened me into something even taller than the chimney! This post is dedicated once again to the "aam aadmi" or the common man who is as usual- an immortal creature.



Although the collapse occured at around 2 to 3 pm in the afternoon hours of 23rd sep 2009, the news started spreading only after 5 pm. Google showed links of previously collapsed chimneys all over the world until that time. Only after 5 pm, a daring news network dared to update its website to incorporate such a horrible incident. Me with the least iota of patience stopped checking google and wasted no time in waiting for the news report on major news channels such as Ndtv, star etc. Then a voice from above educated me, that I would have to wait until eternity for watching what exactly happened on such channels.

In fact, I wonder why such channels even exist. A big disgrace to the Indian population who do not fear public wrath. They just show people and places and metros especially. In fact, some channels have dedicated time slots for showing the junk fashion, happenings and 'this guy did that' in metros.

Such a massive incident occured but there is no news on it, ndtv instead showed famous reporter Barkha questioning our President's son on "why he was chosen as a Presidential candidate". Well, the Mumbai crowd seemed to have the right answer for it - "Uske paas Maa hai". This silsila (silly silla) continued till the wee hours of 10 pm until patience broke away and blood boiled so much that a night walk had to cool it down.

When I happened to google this morning, I found so many websites giving news related to the collapse, but revealed the name of the contractor who was constructing the chimney, instead the poor owner (Balco)had to bear all the criticism, which was not the practice earlier. Wonder if the Media has been fed properly by the contractor to keep it a secret.




This is not the only current issue. India is facing a Border problem with the Chinese and there is no news relating to such events which could threaten national security. Cudos to the media who is being fed by the Government also.

"Andher nagari, Chaupat government, Ghatia media, ab tera kya hoga India"

Seriously, there is a problem in the Indian media and it needs to be rectified fast and furiously. Media should move over from the metros to the villages and show the real India, not the 'India shining' wala India.

P.S: Acknowledgement- Sincere thanks to Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala for his guts and daredevillery. An inspiration for all bloggers to condemn any sort of injustice through the internet medium.

Anniversary to remember!!

This blog post is inspired by a friend whose gtalk message status was " eighth death anniversary of the marvellous twins"

One would be left pondering as to who left the earth exactly eight years back. The answer is hidden in the date itself.

I wonder how many more years will one remember such an event. Considering the fact that the atomic explosions at Hiroshima & Nagasaki were also very painful, but nobody remembers the date. Surely, 9 out of 10 people would not be able to give the date of the tsunami occurence in India or the recent Mumbai blasts.

I dont mean to critisize anybody, but this is the effect of being a human. That's exactly why I am now reminded of this sentence from the Bhagavad Gita - "Like how men shred off worn clothes, Soul shreds the worn off bodies, therefore do not grieve for death"

Well, so here I am passing another wonderful day and experiencing new things each day. Must be the same for others unless there is some zing in their lives right now.
May everybody enjoy the zing thing!!

P.S: Hopefully, people will take the right message from this post instead of getting confused.

Criminally incompetent in every office

This blog follows the article in Yahoo news dated 1st Sep 2009. It describes about the different kinds of people one can expect to find in an office environment and how the so called "master minds" get away. Below are some traits given by the News network followed by discussion

1. 'I'm disappointed in you' person
"Those sorts of people like to patronise people who are younger, like to lecture them and tell you you're doing it wrong. They actually do it for their own sake. They keep pesturing people on how to do work in their style.

2. The 'I'm actually really nice' person
The author says that this is one the most common office misfits, but also the most toxic.
"That's the person who sort of does something really nasty, like they'll send an email saying 'this person didn't' do their job' or 'this person took a can of Coke from the fridge' and they'll blind copy in all of senior management. Then in the next minute they'll organise a gluten free cake for this person," .
Only one suggestion if you happen to encounter people of this kind - "Bacchke rehna re baba, bachke rehna re, tujh pe khabar hai"

3. The 'I'm just so sick, but I'm too important to go home' person.
"the world with stop, there will be tumbleweeds rolling down the office corridor, the office will shut down," if they call in sick.
"They pride themselves on their work ethic but they cut the workforce participation by 20 per cent each year by leaving soggy tissues and coughing all over you," he said.
This sort of person brings memories from the scene in Main Hoon Na where the Prof keeps spitting pools and pools of saliva while speaking a sentence.

4. 'I know stuff before you do' person
such people feed off misery, fear of job cuts, and love spreading bad news.
"They kind of love the idea that things aren't working out, they love problems. They definitely thrive on a bad situation; they love the fact that hey might know a little bite more than anyone else," he said.

5. The 'I, I ... I' person.
such people step in at the last minute to swoop in, and claim all the credit, leaving shocked co-workers in their wake. People who claim all the success and cleverly distance themselves from any failure.
In short, the person who says "I am the man, without me, everything is in vain"

6. 'Let's have a meeting before the meeting' person
The writer says that such persons thrive in big offices, where they can spend their days going to meetings instead of actually working.
Reminds me of my brief encounter in one of the project sites, where the conference room was constantly engaged and God knows whether the machinery and labour were fully utilized or not, but the particular assets called "Projector" & "Conference room" were fully utilized during the project which ultimately met its doom.

Bhuj aala re aala

Some cities (or towns) are so compact in themselves that you can't reach them by any other route other than by our 'Indian railway' network or at worst by bus. Have been to a lot of such towns by now and can feel the place by intuition. Some examples of such towns in India are
1. Bilaspur, Chattisgarh - Mode- connected by train and bus, nearest airport Raipur (130km)
2. Rajamundry, A.P - Mode - Connected by train and bus, has an airport but no service right now.
3. Bhuj, Gujarat - Mode - Connected by train and bus, fully operational airport
4. Gandhidham, Gujarat - Mode - By train or bus only.
5. Mundra, Gujarat - Mode -By bus only, nearest railway station - Gandhidham or Bhuj - equidistant (70 km approx)

The compactness is due to the fact that these towns are so small, they don't need any intra city bus services as compared to big cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai etc. The radius is limited to 10 km and beyond this, one can only find agricultural land or forest land.

A trip to Bhuj confirmed this finding. Just half a kilometre from the bus stand, one can enjoy the beautiful fort entrance, a museum, a lake, a temple and a Cafe by the lake. A kilometer further would have led to the palace (Aina Mahal). Eight kilometers would have led to the airport and an hour of travel would have led to Mumbai.
So compact, isn't it!!

What was interesting was the crowd of Bhuj, an enthusiastic, standing by the lake and enjoying type-crowd. One Saurus crane kept the entertainment alive by swimming around the lake in the vicinity of the onlookers. A chat ki gaadi, popcorn wala, groundnut wala and a corn wala kept the crowd munching in their own world. A true representation of the saying " you don't have to travel too far to find happiness"

A traveller’s diary

It feels so exciting at first and at the same time, it feels so boring while performing the act. That’s the best introduction that one can give to the word ‘travelling’. One is always concerned with the end points or the destinations but not about “how well can one spend time while traveling”.

The point is that travel planning should always be a part of the agenda if one has been earmarked for traveling long distances. So, after realizing this, I decided to dedicate this blog post to the activity we almost perform everyday, i.e, travel.

It all starts from the good old nursery school days, when your parents drop you off to the school. People don’t realize this, but parents actually make best use of time during traveling on advising us about coping with school related pressures and how one should not weep when in company of the teacher’s and classmates. As we grow older, parents advise us to plan homework and attend classes regularly, etc. This way, precious time is not wasted.

Whether we travel by car, bus, auto or any other mode of travel, one always tends to gape at the neighbour’s. This is especially true in case of bus and auto. One can’t really help the auto rickshaw travelers because they are forced to pass time without making good use. The packed auto leaves no space for any other activity. But, smart children have found a way to beat the heat. Games like “inky, pinky ponky and Paper, rock, scissor to card games like Uno” have caught the attention of these toddlers. Travelling by bus can be really thrilling if one can play games like “antakshari” or similar games.

But, the question is, how a frequent traveler like me passes time in various modes of travel, be it bus, auto, train or plane. Tricky, but the answer is right here. Ya, I did write this post while traveling by train. On the way from Pune to Lonavala, this post has served as a good way to refresh and pass time on something productive apart from hogging and getting down at each station.

Apart from this, social networking is the best and oldest way of making use of time effectively. One never knows whether he will be fortunate enough to meet some personality who can be of great help, and the best part is that this experience can never be forgotten.

“Yahan wahan dekhun kahan leke jaane lagi bekhudi, aao mil jaaega, hoga jahan raasta”
“Hum jo chalne lage, chalne lage hain ye raaste, aha manzil se behtar lag ne lage hain ye raaste”

Interesting, isnt it? , well this song perfectly sums up everything related to travel. So, the next time you travel, be sure to open up your social networking skills and who knows, you could land up at Nariman point one day because you just met the General Manager of an MNC.

Written on : 12.07.09
Jeetendra

Blog 17.6

I chose to call this blog as 'blog 17.6' because it marks a new beginning, hopefully historic and reminds me of the long break from blogdom.
Feels good to be back
After an inertia break period of 3 months or so, resuming normalcy seems tough. Not just because of the resistance to change but also because of refreshing of the mind. It’s like pressing the ‘refresh’ button on the brain. Suddenly, all vocabulary and grammar has just vanished from the brain into thin air and the brain is searching for new topics, new things to discuss and start afresh.

So, for once, let’s not discuss about religion or politics or films or actors/actresses. Let’s not even discuss the ‘Shiney maid case’ and the frenzy media who has been covering the story like as if the case gives an illusion of impossibility. This time, let’s not even discuss about the common man of India who is the most fascinating creature and me being one makes me think hard about the upliftment of the common man all the time. But, let’s talk about something fundamental about blogging, about blogging itself.

Why does somebody blog? Or what is the meaning of blog?
Is it a personal diary that people want to share with others or
is it an opinion on something that someone strongly feels towards an issue or
is it a message that people want to spread or
is it a warning based on experience or
is it an advertising media for an idea or
is it an educating media
or finally, is it a combination of one or more of the above factors

Interestingly, when I look at my posts, the answer becomes more obvious, I feel I have touched all these aspects, all of them. This observation is in stark contrast with most of the blogs found on the net now. While some give daily descriptions of their lives, some educate and some others spread advertisements. But, not many blogs can be as diverse and one tends to settle on one of the above objectives in order to simplify life.

This is what a break does, it ‘refreshes’ the mind and leaves it pondering about how to start afresh. So, by the time I have posted this blog, I have already got an idea of what my next post is going to look like.

Hurry and worry

The month of February 2009 just passed like the swift falcon. Falcon because it reminds me of the shrude guy who stole my bread during the lunch break when I was 12 and adventurous to eat in open air. With no reaction time, one could not help but watch helplessly. Similarly, the month of Feb 09, one could not help but just watch the days go by, each day bringing new challenges and worries, some elements of joy etc. I must confess, it has truly been a roller coaster ride and I have more to go. Hope this time the roller coaster takes an up turn.

Having said this, there is no time to waste, every moment is precious and each task done is to be counted. The months are critical and one must really hurry to wrap things which started in previous semester of Aug 08. So, this post is really a love letter addressed to myself to start taking matters seriously and 'just do it'.

Another reason for this sudden 'hurry' mood is an article which appeared in today's newspaper stating that "in this Indian peninsula, even blog posts which carry hate messages or convey even slight message of hurting the sentiments of common people or against any organisation will not be tolerated". I must therefore, hurry up and delete any such blog posts failing which I can be branded as a traitor to the country which boasts of "freedom of speech" being a constitutional right.

One might argue that deleting is an act of submission, a disgrace to individual independence and ultimately a cowardly act. I too agree, no doubt. But, one must not try to become a superman and must always be aware of his limitations. It is my duty to hope, that some day people will gain true independence. Until that day, I can only be worried and helpless like the scores of others around.

I can be accused of not following my teacher's words, who used to say "hurry makes me worry". But I say, "hurry makes me worry but keeps me alive". For, the more I live, the more I can die another day!

Mood swings

I had read of the biorythm cycle which gives a simple and easy explanation about human's behaviour towards physical, emotional and intellectual orientations on any particular random day based on the date of birth of the particular person. It just draws a sinusoidal curve showing the ups and downs in the three behaviours. So, googled on the website which draws a free biorythm cycle and on this day, as per the cycle, I am high on intellectual and emotional behaviour but low on physical. Wat a combination, Huh!

What it means is I can feel disturbed and tranquilized and not do anything about it. In other words, my feelings wont translate at all into actions because of inert laziness for the next 15 days. What will happen then is even worse, I will have good physical balance but mentally lack the willingness.

How did I come to belive in this 'biorythm' stuff, its just that it matched perfectly with my mood today. But frankly, I wanna break dude! I know everything will come in line once I get home and come back, which I right now cannot do. All I can do at this point of time is believe and blame my biorythm cycle for the 'goings on'.

The Sorcerer within

A slow beginning after the Golden Jubilee extravaganza which promised a lot of take aways apart from free ounces of Red bull!. Nevertheless, a new and refined beginning to my favorite pastime after duly invoking the sorcerer within

Well, it all began with a dance-drama based on the mythological epic Ramayana, no one could have imagined a few hindi and tamil hit songs being danced upon by men (actually women) in mythological costumes. The perfection and the execution coupled with exquisite timing evoked a true spirit of Indian-ness at that moment. Just goes to show that innovation never dies, neither should we. Think out of the box and you might well be on the track to immortality.

Those who happened to attend the magic workshop just couldn't believe how they can be easily decieved. For there is nothing such as 'magic' and the first two lessons taught to an amateur are "you cannot vanish anything into thin air and you cannot bring alive something out of thin air", yet the illusion is so unthinkable and unbelievable that we feel its 'real magic'. In fact, the magician uses all his mind, body and soul into producing the trick. Each of his words are uttered with utmost tacity and deciet. The confidence of the magician in himself flows onto the observer like as if a calm river flows through parched land. He gains the confidence of the observer and 'presto' delivers the trick.

Would hope that everyone could do the same, imagine people invoking the sorcerer within to achieve great heights, even immortality!!

Lukewarm Response

Looks like the whole bunch of thinkers, editors and speakers are right now concerned with one issue highlighted previously, that of the creature called VIP. While a large number of people are annoyed at the large police force protecting a meagre number of VIP's, one particular author pointed out that in the process the VIP is protecting the common man by regularly visiting parts of the country with his army. The mere sight of this army is enough to scare any wrongdoer and keep him at bay. The author therefore suggests that such VIP's should be encouraged to tour more and more.

"One VIP visit can change the old bylane to a highway", is what the author feels, while it is true to an extent, the author was actually sarcastic in his message and therefore gave inspiration for this post.

Another inspiration is Justice N. Venkatachala, former head of Lokayukta (anti corruption squad), Karnataka, whose speech although directed at educating us of corruption, adressed the political ill will of the governments to tackle corruption and change the way things presently are. The number of VIP's is extremely high and in his opinion the law is different for all public servants above the rank of Deputy Secretary. If we are to bring about any change, we need to make law more stringent and same for all irrespective of whether one is a prime minister or a peon. After all, public servants should behave like servants to the public. Once this is taken care of, then automatically the problem of increasing number of VIP's can be curbed. This will work simply because, a former minister who doesn't enjoy the public office, still enjoys VIP security. So, once law is stringent, the former minister is reduced to a common man, not a VIP!

Working with the Indian Government Bureaucracy

We have seen lot many films which portray 'babudom' or bureaucracy, starting from the serious Gangajal to the Munnabhai movie which has a scene wherein a troubled penisoner deals with a babu in the best bureaucratic style. Yet, nothing has been done so far to improve anything. I wonder sometimes that things can never improve unless each one of us improve. It is a test of the values and principles and the social thinking of individuals.

But, seldom do people realize they have in the process dropped the axe on their own feet. I got enlightened on this issue when I experienced the wrath of a central Govt institute's bureaucracy.

The story begins with a happy scene, it begins with me fighting all the odds and managing to get a project which can be backed with so many facilities from central workshop, non destructive lab etc etc, you name the lab and the institute has it. All was well on paper, so much so that I never realized one basic prophecy : naked truth can be bitter.

After all, the 'babus' working in the institute are to be dealt with, not the paper. So, began a tearful journey of working for a project which is going to shape my career. I can't believe what just happened in the past two months, they just passed by saying good bye and each good bye took away its share of happiness from me, what was left over was a body of flesh without any soul.

How are we as common people responsible, well answer the following consciously and you will know
1. Would you pay any kind of donation to get your child admitted to the best school/college in your locality?
2. Would you vote for any independent candidate in a local election?
3. Would you hire an agent to get your driving license/passport?
4. Would you ever raise a complaint against a corrupt official?
5. Would you suppress a case against you by paying bribes?
6. Would you ever apply for a government job?
7. Would you like to be in the army?
8. Would you follow rules judiciously?

When all the 100 crore odd junta of this country have the same answers to the above questions, we can expect a change or a revolution!!
Till then, all one can do is suffer!

Old Mc Donald had a spam!

Arz kiya hai
Old Mc Donald had a spam ,eeya eeya oh
And in that spam he won a fortune, eeya eeya oh
From Discount printer ink to Free sex pills
From Madhumati Singh to Deborah Whitney
What else could he ask for, eeya eeya oh

Taaliyaan, Taaliyan

Well, this post is dedicated to all those mails which lie in the dark corner of your mailbox, also known as the 'spam'

Different spam filters work differently, i.e, in google and yahoo, the mails go in the spam folder and remain there for 30 days or unless one deletes them. Indiatimes had the worst mailbox (sometimes I wonder it had a mailbox with a hole!) which showers mails into the inbox, leaving the user to decide 'spam or not spam' which gave me a good reason to stick with only yahoo and google.

The point is that sometimes these mails feel so real that one might be taken for a ride if any button linked to it is clicked even once. Sometimes, people who trust these distress mails get duped of their online savings in their banks. Recently, a group from London operated in this way promising lucarative jobs in exchange for a service fee.

Other kind of spam mails recieved only during the festival season are also irritating, you know that the author doesn't care for you and doesn't really mean anything by the greeting, its just an eyewash, a business strategy, nothing else!
But, even after knowing this, we treasure mails in the hope that may be there is a 0.01% chance if the author really meant it. Here's one of them

Dear MR. JEETENDRA

As 2008 dawns to a close and 2009 beckons, I want to personally thank you for your continued patronage of Kingfisher Airlines.

It was an exciting year for Kingfisher Airlines. We launched our international operations and introduced Kingfisher Red, a new class of service that will redefine low fare flying. As we enter 2009, we will continue to raise the bar on India’s only Five Star flying experience with innovative service offerings, and will be adding new international routes starting with direct flights from Mumbai to London, Singapore, Hong Kong.

I am glad to inform you that Kingfisher Airlines now connects 70 destinations with 440 daily flights. I regularly receive feedback from valuable guests like you and want to thank you for your kind wishes, great ideas and suggestions on how we can offer you an even better journey with Kingfisher Airlines.

Here’s raising a toast to this festive season and wishing you a very Happy New Year.


Warm Regards,

Dr. Vijay Mallya
Chairman & CEO
Kingfisher Airlines Limited