Sunday well spent

Yea Ok me cramped and realized I am not cut out for active sport. But I competed.. hung in there till I could and generally felt like a winner...
That my friends were the winners in the cricket tourney (albeit defeating us) was a great cheer too..

And then this....
The man of the series got a personally autographed bat from Rahul Dravid... no less... me serious.. no kiddin and chek me holding on to it dreamily in that red teee.... Wow .. felt good..

Its all good....

Racism... R U kiddin me????

I have idli-wada every day of the week, well almost, and crib that south indian food sucks every fourth day or so. I can assure you that every Indian staying away from his home cribs more or less in a similar vein whenever s/he is reminded of " Ma ke Haath ka Khana". Are we racially irresponsible? Do we disregard the cultural and culinary heritage of different places?

Whats happening... In a world so biased and so very quick to pounce on any slip-up of any variety why the hell is media playing the role of an un-needed moral police that hypes any celebrity sneeze into a national catastrophe of epidemic proportions? Every sort of celebrity, real or otherwise, is subjected to this intimidating scrutiny based on the sole purpose that they would slip once in a while. And; humane that they are, they actually do. But are we then as aware, alert global citizens really supposed to condemn them to public hatred of the highest disregard?

What got me ticked is this recent issue regarding Gibbs, regardign Shilpa Shetty, Regarding Dean Jones and all and sundry. I agree Dean Jones was at fault but what about Gibbs. Here is a guy getting racial crap from spectators, gets agitated and blurts out something inapporpriate to his team-mates unfortunately picked by the stump mike. Now, cross your hearts and tell me that never once has anyone of you blurted out racially provocative statements in the heat of the moment... never ever has any north-south-east-west indian comparison passed your lips... never ever have you wondered the stupidity behind racially charged words or phrases used in the USA or pittied the corruption levels in countries you look down upon.

We humans are biased towards a lot of things; caste, class , creed, religion, gender, race and what not. Not that it is a nice thing to do but we all indulge it as some level or another. Honestly, it should be condemned and the guilty reprimanded. However, alert citizens that we claim to be; should take things in proper prespective. Media is tryin to convert any and evry tit-bit into a circus and we shouldn't be mere spectators. Raising the voice is a right and we need to exercise , lest we convert our very own power tool (media) into an all-engulfing inferno.

Nostalgia

Friday evening... friends waiting at the PG for our regular over dose of bridge; wondering why life meanders while enjoying that hot sip of chai and puffing away to glory. Oddly, its been such an eclectic bunch of people clubbed together that their hasnt been enough time to glance over our collective pasts. The abscence of a drinking bunch can be a contributory cause too.

Today, I am nostalgic. I dont want to go back to my friends and tell them about my day. I wanna ponder about old times... Times when the only weight I carried was my own and not my worries. Times when black coffee was as important as blood in my life-line, when getting 37 to touch grace marks mattered more than the GDP growth rate.

It was triggered off by that awesomely historic Monday. My school, The University of Florida created history. We became the only school to win both NCAA basketball and BCS championship in same academic year and that too in routs. We kicked some big time ass and we were basking in that glory. The whole week after has been orange and blue...

Friends in orkut, sports website all remind me of that proud fact.. I am a Gator alumni...I have decked my home page, desktop evrything in memorabilia.... But more than the games and the sports culture, I am reliving the moments spent sipping beer watching Gators bite dust against Miami or the job shifts in preparation of those games.. Times have passed and memories are fading...

But then someday, Magical Mondays happen and they spread fragrance all over your cobwebed memoirs....

Home.. away from home...

I was pondering over my routine; a schedule so deeply entrenched in me by now, that everytime I am on a vacation, the body initially fails to respond; as I sipped at my piping hot coffee. Well, except for the fact that I didnt have to handle the daily vagaries of my boring office life and no weekend rounds of bridge to look forward to, not much was different. Ofcourse, the food tasted way better but then food has stopped the existential motivation it used to be.

What was I missing then? Why did it feel incomplete even though the heart said this is much better? Since when did I start things about Bangalore? Sumthing was ticking me off but I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

As I downed the last sip of my perfect coffee; it dawned on me.... Things were just picture perfect. They were as I hoped they would be. The net worked fine and the channels shifted as I wished. Food was yummmmmmm and coffees just about right. There was no bungling in the washing of clothes or ironing either. Life was in order; sumthing unthought of when u stay alone.

I was missing Ram, our servant dude with attitude.... I was missing the saccharine sweet tea or extra large pegs he poured when we drank... Missed the dal which tasted like chicken curry and vice versa; clothes being bungled and sorted out with great difficulty has been an amazingly engrossing activity now for the past 2+ years. I was used to my ironed clothes never makign it back to my closet and the fights and scoldings to Ram that followed.

Coming to think of it, I was missing the chaos and the order that exists within one. This chaos is self-prophesised and is inborn in most people that stay away. Dirtiness is a constant companion... we feel incomplete without filth around.. CLothes and papers lying around provide a cushion. We detest great food....Maggi with eggs is divine. We dont watch TV for the entertainment it provides... rather we entertain ourselves based on what we see and the fights we have to watch something specific.

Staying away from home makes you a different person; for better or worse.... Its a whole new world. As Ronald McDonald says, " I'm lovin it".........

Wish-lists

Getting bored doing nothing can do strange things to people... To me, it gives a free license to Orkut and catch up with and on my friends... Reading blogs is another fun thing that I indulge in. Recently came across a sinfully wishful one: well what else can one expect from something thats tagged as a wish-list; wild fantasies and crazy out-of the world dreams. I thought," WOW!!! this should be fun"... SO heres my list.... in no particular order of relevance or reality:

1. I wish I never heard of all the possible vices that surround us and grip our zest for life. i feel everyone should get a chance and opportunity to do what they wish in life and make this world a slightly better place to inhabitate.
2. I wish I can have every falvor of ice-creams and chocolates available all across the length and breadth of this planet.
3. I wish I could play all my favorite sports with my all time favorite players evry evening (Cricket with Sachin, Soccer with Ronaldinho, Tennis with Agassi, F1 with Schumi, Basketball with Jordan, Badminton with the Chinese champs, Baseball with PEdro Martinez, Running with Michael Johnson, Golf with Tiger.... oh boy !!!! this list can keep running for pages)
4. I wish I can taste every available form of booze and be a big-time connoisseur and be able to distinguish spirits just for the sight and smell of it. As an aside, probably try evry known cocktail to mankind.
5. Make enough money to own a fleet of Ferraris and drive around town in a different car every day.
6. Slim down to great shape; by basic simplicty of Math- lose 4 inches around the waist and get 1.5 times of that in length.
7. Never hurt anyone physically, mentally or verbally even by mistake.
8. Have all the coolest gadgets that are invented till date and for once, have them and know the use of each.
9. I wish I can fly once in a while if I am too tired to walk or drive around.
10. I would like to be a major team man in whatever projects my team has to deliver; I like being a team leader than a contributor.
11. I wanna be able to be the most flexible guy in the world and be able to dance any known dance form known to mankind.
12. I wish I marry the girl of my dreams and have the most cutest adorable kids on the face of the earth.
13. I really wish point #12 comes true.
14. I wish I give up my procrastinating habits and be more responsible.
15. I wish I can meet/see every species of animals/birds/insects and play with them if possible. (hope the tiger never catches me in pakda-pakdi)
    
16. I wish I could be Spiderman for a few days... he is way too cool.
17. I wish to write the worlds most famous book on sher-o-shayari and wax eloquence on all big forums on poetry.
18. I wish to possess the most sensous touch any man could ever have.
19. I wish I can finally whistle better than my mom; possibly as good as Saroj Khan.
20. I wish the battery of my cells gets charged just by mere touch..
21. I wish to be well known as an asset to society(in real terms) even after my prescence has left the scene.
22. I wish to die on my own free will (like my mistake, in my sleep) rather than as a mishap effected by someone's stupidity.
23. I wish...........

And in conclusion, I just realized... If wishes were horses, main to umar bhar udte hi rahunga...

9/11 to 11/9

Of course, forgot to mention that we have to count a few years in between and then thank someone (some one if you dont blieve in God) that these were only a few years in between. Well, for latecomers... 9/11 unravelled the ugly face of so-called Jihad and 11/9 marked the first public defeat for the subsequent policies pursued by Dubya ever since in over a decade).

Bush ran over the middle east like a raging bull out to trample world peace to tithers cos the best looking building in US of A was screwed up; supposedly by people from the Taliban. At the rate that he was going.... trouncing Iraq and pointing his nukes next on the Iran and what not; soon there would have been distinct possibilities of really remote american states cropping up. I mean how much trouble is it really to create a few more stars amidst the stripes.

Whether this irreverent war was for oil supremacy or spreading Chrsitianity or just the superflous fantasies of a few crazed minds would never be known, atleast not officially. But carnage; it has been. Iraq burns everyday and american troops and locals and rebels all keep the fire burning. The world is definitely not any more safer :U K bombings followed by Bombay blasts and ever present Gazza strips troubles effectively rule out those arguements.

The only thing that has increased is hate. We are mroe aware of it now and at some point or the other we indulge in it. We hate Pakistani terrorists and they hate RAW. There is no love lost between Tamils tigers and SL admin. Palestine and Israel really are nowhere close to amiable solution. Americans hate the whole world; atleast tthose parts which do no generate any profits for them.

Whats the solution if any? Honestly, I would love to make a commentary on this but myself highly dwarfed and inadequate to comment on such a complex query. The only thing I can preach is something I practise. I do not hold prejuidices, definitely try to avoid biases and treat each individual as a friend. Though adopting a similar stance for a population with diverse concerns and interests is impossible; a sincere attempt to this effect might help.

Till then, I only dread we are not done with our golbal share of 9/11's.

To Bombay and the spirit of life...

Once a Bombaiitte always one... I have heard this more than N no. of times from various people and believed it from the depths of my heart. Yet, when time and again I am asked why is Bombay so special or different, I flounder to answer.

I fail to explain to people the romance of the touch generated from being cramped up in a train full of sweaty people; bodies brushing violently, bad breath causing havoc to your internals and maintaining the Maharaja smile as if this was the first perfect date of your life. I cannot explain why the pani-puris taste better in an inverse ratio to the cleanliness of the Bhaaiyya. Jostling under the burning sun, waging wars on the cricket battlefield for vada-pav and coke is un-understandable according to most normal logical reasonings.

So what exactly is this Bombay Spirit.. Is it only visible in face of a calamity? Is there something real thats kind of quanitfiable? Time and again, I read this phrase and get thinking....

And always the answers have been euphorically the same. Bombay has a different existence and it gets mixed in a lil bit with blood streams of evry individual tht stays here.. Longer the stay greater the influence... This is one city that teaches you the real value of life; not necessarily living. Every life that belongs to kith and kin is treasured and every thing else is expendable depending on the situation. Losses are mourned over but only till the time that they dont mix with your money-minting capabilities. There is a price tag attached to evry action, every person and happiness though not necessarily measurable is supposed to be a good enough ROI.

Thus, any and every individual lives in Bombay on the following principles.
I would try to be happy, enjoy my life and do what I please. If my family and friends are involved in this the happiness quotient is trigerred a bit further. All strangers by default are friends bonded by the sameness of the trains or buses. If they are in discomfort I would try to be nice to them; only if I dont sacrifice a larger chunk of my share of niceness and happiness. If the dangers are catastrophic or calamatic, then I wouldn't mind reducing my nicety to a bare minimum. I would compete and strive for greatness by hook or crook; only as long as others can avail the same degrees of crookedness. I would, at large partake in all religious activities with equal fervor; one as it lets me hang my hair down, simultaneously increasing my happiness quotient and also keep the economy bustling; again increasing happiness for quite a few businesses and business-people.


ALL in ALL... this is the essence of the BOMBAY spirit as I have known till date...

We love happiness and would go an extra mile to achieve that. We realize that true happiness stems from the fact that most if not all are happy and we strive for that as well. We are not super-humans and we are hurt too; but lying low and spreading melancholy would just enhance the spectre of gloom and hence we put a brave front to adversity.

Being HAPPY is being a Bombaiitte....

As rightly said: "Jara haske jara bachke.. ye hai bumbai meri jaan"...........

Nightmares come true....

Tuesday was like any other normal, mundane ultra boring workday; the likes of which I have endured countless times for the past 2-3 yrs. Traffic on the roads made me recollect my worst nightmares of being trapped in bottomless pits and staying put till eternity gobbles me away.

Finally, after yomen struggle and tugs and pulls, I landed at work... the dress looking evry bit as tattered as a crumpled love letter which the heart-broken lover couldn't tear apart cos it had his sweetheart's name. Hair disshelved; I turned on my PC hoping there was no work slated for the day so that I could go catch the Pak-SL match. However, by now, i should have realized that I am not the one chosen for small favors.

Work and crappy one at that was queued up. It was gonna be a long day. I started, grudingly sifting through files and updating the documents, gathering metrics and doing whatnot rushing through my work. Combined breakfast with lunch to avoid time wastage and kept an eye on the watch as the sun started it journey back to Darkness center. 7:15 was the last shuttle and I was not going to risk it. I had already paid the price for being too dedicated to the job the other night, shelling 200 bucks to get home.

Thats when the mail trickled in. One of my worst fears was unfolding thru those black letters. The VOLVO that carried me daily... riding more its luck than the wheels, teasing death not only for us but also the roadside commuters had finally cracked under pressure. What was always a what if kinda fear was finally a dark reality.

The mail read: 2 dead and 20 injured in a VOLVO bus crash at HAL. Irate mob burns down the bus. The road is closed.

Mob fury had reared it ugly head following this incident. Commuters were stranded on either sides of the city and a normal journey that takes 45 minutes was excruciatingly slowed down to a 2 hr experience. Poor commuters nd people on the road were subject to inconvinience for someone whose life -mantra might hv insipred folks @ Need for Speed (NFS) center. My travelling nightmare ws no more just tht...

Sleepy as Hell

I am so terribly sleepy that I may drop dead on the keyboard. Well, if you smarties out there are gonna suggest that I take a break or sneak a nap, you are getting a snare from me... Cause it would mean that you folks take me to be a dimwit who wouldnt have identified this most commonest of solutions and implemented it by now.

The problem is my boss doesnt sleep at work and consequently we assume we are not allowed either. Moreover, he inherits this Gandhian activity of walking long distances, especially after lunch thereby killing the iota of chance we may have had to catch a few winks.

Coming to think of it: Why does it always happen after lunch? I have always maintained that I dont hog. Kisika Chutta Kisiki Daulat syndrome u see... OK, I pig out on food but then on weekends when I am with friends I dont feel sleepy. Why does thus disaster strike only on weekdays then? GO figure...

Again the tastier the food the greater the urgency and urge to sleep. Wonder if theres any scope for a PhD to establish the hypothesis and relativity between tasty food and sleep... Also find the co-relation between unavailability of sleep when you really yearn for it. We can make it wholesome by adding components like global application of this phenomena.

OK, here are the queries tht can b explained:

Why does sleep strike more hard after lunch than dinner?
Who tells the brain that the tummy just had lunch and not dinner?
How does this sleep strike harder when its more tougher to get it?
What is the best way to prevent the happening of this occurence; especially if you are sure that the boss is gonna b strolling ard?
When shall we overcome our submission to this force of nature?

Am I done with the 5 Y's... Have I kept writing through my boss' trips to my cubicle....
I guess I did...

Till tomorrow; when the pangs of food strike me again and the snakes of sleep girdle ard my eyes.. Khuda Hafiz....

Orkutting. Am I Safe???

PS:
I havent gotten time to scan thru the books and Gandhigiri-Part2 would take some time to come.. sorry about that.


I am very sure most of you have been zapped over by Orkut at some level... most probably, you have landed on my blog thanks to it. So is it really what it promised to be... That divine intervention that made boundaries disappear and got you back with your old friends or is it a new threat to personal information and identitification theft.

The changes and subtle variations in orkut have been startling since the day I started using it (since a year almost). At first, they happened at an extremely slow rate and were hugely cosmetic in nature. However, today finally the true colors or atleast the most preliminary shade of it has come to light... Finally we see on the side lines stuff that gets GOOGLE (orkut ka parent org.) its bread and butter. Sponsored ads.....

Is Orkut as safe as before,,, anymore???? Was it really a very safe medium ever??? I mean there have always been threats like Cloning of Ids, spamming of scrap books, Invitation to weird communities etc... and now this...

This is like that preliminary question " Is science a boon or bane" taken to an even microscopic level.. Is Orkut a necessary evil or the likes...

It has definitely done for me what none of the communication mediums ever did.. Gotten me in touch with long lost buddies, my alma mater and my college memories have been refreshed. It also opened up my mind to a whole new gamut of friends who share my likes and dislikes and all this for free... Total cost; except for the net connection (which is free at work neways); zilch.. But this is about me...Sumone that treats it as an amazing communication bridge. What kind of power does it accord to spamsters and hackers who have devilish ideas on their mind? How safe is my identity and how secure my relations with friends (if sumone is hell bent on screwin it up)??? Where are the folks who may plan these dastardly acts???

ARE THESE NEW ADS THE FINAL STRAW IN THE BREAKDOWN AND CHEAP DISTRIBUTION OF MY RESERVED AND SUPPOSED TO B PRESERVED PRIVATE INFO???

AM I REALLY REALLY SAFE...