Nature's Balance

This post is intended to be funny but has a serious element too.

I am a thinker, and i think big and i think differently. So it is in my nature to think about all the problems that are bothering everybody but very few care about like, Pollution, Ozone layer, Poverty, Global Warming and finally the reason for all the above "Population Explosion". I came to a conclusion that instead of thinking solutions independently for each issue, if i can come up with a solution for the root cause of all issues then others get resolved automatically.

So if i can come up with a solution for "Population Explosion", and some how put a check on it, maybe everything else would come under control. Now solution to that isn't easy. Through ages humans have become powerful than any other species surviving on this planet. So if some one should control this, it is up to these humans or some one or some thing that is more powerful than humans.

Every human being on this planet working towards putting a check on the population and actually trying to reduce the number of people walking on this earth is not something that is going to happen. So it is in hands of someone more powerful than humans. Now who is more powerful than humans?

Being a very spiritual person i always considered that "Nature" is an all powerful and yet very delicate being that can control anything. Whenever humans tried to throw nature out of balance , it gave some severe jolts to the humankind and yet most of the humans concentrate on facing those jolts effectively than trying to preserve the delicate balance of nature. So if there is some one more powerful it is Nature and i always believed that nature tries to preserve the balance by some or other means when humans try to destroy it.

Nature has solutions for everything. Trees can't go in search of food so nature provided them with a process where they can produce their food without moving. All the animals and birds that are herbivores would finish up all the greenery soon, hence nature created carnivores that would keep the herbivores in check. There are many such examples on what nature has bestowed on each species giving them a chance to survive.

So i fixed my thoughts on nature and was thinking if nature has an answer to population explosion, and suddenly it struck to me that nature is already doing its part in putting a check on this problem. Nature has tried to use the elements against humans earlier but man had learnt to overcome those over a period of time. Humans have built technologies to avert disasters from volcanoes, floods, tornadoes, fires etc, etc. Then nature started thinking smart, and came with a solution that is not external to humans but is an integral part of humans.

If you are wondering what the solution is.. i will put it in a simple way

Man + Woman = More Population

But

Man + Man OR Woman + Woman = No Population

Humans may overcome this too but till then I am sure this is an effective solution and i am very happy about it....

If they do then i am sure Nature would find a solution for that too, because it is Nature's responsibility to maintain balance and it will.......

Crash

This is the movie i started watching without the intention of watching it till the end, but ended up watching it till the end. This is not an average movie aimed at entertaining the masses. There is no storyline for this movie, its just a series of events bundled together, giving a subtle message for those who can grasp it. No wonder it bagged 3 Academy awards including Best picture.
The film revolves around people who are prejudiced against a particular race. More than that it is about negative emotions and their influence on person's psyche, judgment. It is about how people perceive situations in their everyday life under the influence of these negative emotions turning them into what they aren't and making them do what they wouldn't normally do.

It is a very touching movie that sends out a message of being a bit more sensitive and tolerant towards others.

Now Its Our Turn

So if you didn't get killed either at lumbini park or gokul chat during the bomb blasts , don't worry we have setup a stage for your death cum funeral under solid concrete. This seems to be the punch line of the fly-over that is being built at the punjagutta intersection. I was about a Kilo-Meter away from the fly-over when one of the supporting beams that were holding a couple of slabs of solid concrete thought that the weight was too much for it to handle and let the passers by feel what it was like to support such heavy concrete slabs.

No it was not funny, not many people have died, this is what the officials say, but how does it matter to the family that has lost one of their own. How many lives should be lost before the incident was considered serious enough. There was a lot of give and take on why the supporting pillar has collapsed. Some say it is because of the pouring rain, come on was the foundation of a supporting pillar so weak, it is supposed to be built with international standards. Some say it is because of the diggings done by the Water Board that the ground supporting the pillar became very weak. Who ever allowed the Water Board to dig holes so near to the pillars? Whoever it is and whatever the reason may be, it is sheer negligence and lack of concern for lives of others.

Incredible Temples

I took a break from my routine and visited "Tirunelveli" a southern district in Tamil Nadu on the occasion of my friend's marriage.

During that time I got a chance to visit three temples. Now I am not a very religious guy and visiting temples to see God and cleansing myself off my sins is not in my nature. I have heard many stories about these huge temples and they intrigued me. So i didnt want to miss a chance.

I don't remember the names of all the temples i visited but i remember each detail of it. The largest temple i visited had a circumference of 5 KM. It had an outer wall and an inner wall and a wall around the temple itself. All the walls are about 40 to 50 feet high. Each wall has 4 entrances one in each direction. There were roads laid inside these walls and the entrances are large enough for buses and trucks to maneuver easily. The outer and inner walls have all kinds of shops and even big show rooms along their perimeter. The streets were busy with people who have come to visit the temple, who have come to shop, people who are just passing by and all kinds of traffic.

Then there is this huge entrance to the temple, and long corridor which takes you inside. This corridor is also occupied with petty shops on either side. Once you walk through the corridor and enter inside the temple.. you are lost. If you dont have anybody with you who already visited the temple you will not ahve an idea on which direction to proceed. There are numeroius shrines inside the temple and visitng each would take about 2 hours to finish. I was amazed by the architecture, the amount of planning, co-ordination and organized effort that would have needed about 1500 years back.

There were vast corridors , huge open halls, ventilation and drains were taken care of, in one corner there were small farms , that would grow different vegetables and pulses. In another corner they have cattle , that would supply enough milk and ghee. There were wells that took care of drinking water and ponds that took care of bathing and washing clothes. There were elephants too.

Every temple has a specialty, The entire ceiling of one of the temples was painted with episodes from different epics, Enormous paintings of symmetrical shapes. I hear a lot about the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, i would ask the people to come and see the paintings in that temple. In another temple pillars at the entrance of the main shrine are carved such that there are seven thinner pillars around one very thick pillar and placed such that when each pillar is tapped it would produce a musical note. Each temple has hundreds of acres of cultivated land donated by the kings. There are lots of other things that are beyond explanation and one should experience it to believe it.

Generally one would say wow thats really great and all, but being the cynic that i am, i thought what a waste of time and tax money. The kings were just show offs investing such huge time, effort and resources in building temples rather than improving the living conditions in their kingdom. why were these temples given hundreds of acres of cultivated lands.But i was proved wrong. When i met one of the main priests of a temple, i have put my thoughts into words.

He smiled at my ignorance and started to explain the meaning of temple. Yes a temple is built for God but did you notice the amount of space that is occupied by the shrines of the God, it is minimal, most of the temple consists huge empty spaces with pillars and corridors. I was like "exactly what a waste of space". He continued in those days, temples were the places for teaching and learning,practicing medicine, organizing festivals and cultural events, where people resolved their disputes before an authorized official and generally for any social gatherings. Most importantly a temple was a refuge for the people during natural calamities like flood, famines, wild fires and man made calamities like war. He said did you observe how high the walls are and how strong the doors of the main entrance are built. That is to save the people during floods and war. Have you observed how the temple is self sufficient with its water and food sources. The temples have big granaries that store grains, and pulses that would be distributed among the people during famines. He went on, explaining other purposes. It was more than enough to convince me that temples had real purpose and were important in everyday life of people in those days. Thats when told myself "Incredible Temples" ad made a mental note to visit all major temples and learn more about them.

Now as i cruise around the city looking at the temples that people just build without any purpose, i cant help thinking "Oh God, what has come to the fate of temples, there are roads in those temples and these temples are built on roads ".

WHY???

As the disturbing images of the Hyderabad bomb blast scenes and victims are being shown on TV, i was sitting there, watching in horror. Since then i have been asking myself one single question... WHY?
I don't see a rational reason for why people should lose their lives for something that they are not even aware of, then it occurred to me that the people behind these hideous acts are not rational beings...
However i found a reason.... the people behind these believe that their religion and the people belonging to their religion are being oppressed and that their God has asked them to wage a holy war against that. What war? Killing innocent men, women, children by secretly planting a bomb and remotely detonating it is not war. War is when both the sides fight against each other and these people who got killed are not even remotely part of any war. They were just spending their leisure time with their family and friends. This is neither a war nor there is any holiness in it. Some of the victims belong to the same religion as those who are waging the war. Now who is oppressing the people of their religion?

I keep thinking about this again and again, and it fills me with anger that these people are moving around freely, it frustrates me that no one could avert this disaster. I am engulfed in a fit of rage. Even if we find the people who did this and even if they are punished severely it is of no use, we are just punishing the instrument. The cynics who have planned, funded, and trained people to implement these cowardly acts will still be at large, in a different place in their safe haven. It is not just single person or organization, these are everywhere running pseudo governments and they will continue to exist as long as there are self-centered, power hungry lunatics who breed them for their own selfish purposes . These are not soldiers waging holy war for their religion, these are psychotic bastards who have no ethics, principles, nor value for other's lives. I am sure they value their own filthy lives and that is the reason these are always hiding living in constant fear of death.

I don't know how to end this... i guess there is no end to this... After some time we all will just forget that something of this sort has happened and move on with our daily lives.... until something else jolts us....

How many of us still remember the photographer who was brutally beheaded by al-qaeda? How many of us remember the forest officer who was shot , beheaded and burnt by veerappan? How many of us still remember the name of the airplane that was blown away by terrorists? I am sure after a couple of years even these will become one of those stories that will only be recollected when bad things happen, and when they happen everybody will take advantage of it, media will hype it and get higher TRP ratings, opposition parties will blame the ruling party, intelligence will blame the police, people will blame the government and then life goes on as usual.

Encounter with Innocence

Any one who thinks he/she is smart or intelligent has not tried to answer questions of a two year old.
Well following is the conversation i had with my two year old niece. The airport is nearby and i was showing her airplanes as they were landing and taking off.

Her : What is that?
Me : That is an airplane
Her : Where is it going?
Me : It is going to the airport.
Her : What is an airport?
Me : Airport is a place where airplanes land
Her : Why?
Me : People get into the plane at the airport
Her : Where do people go in the plane?
(Well she is from America and already knows that you have to take a plane to go there, so i thought that is easy to answer )
Me : People go to America in a plane
(That was a blunder, because the next question had me scratching my head)
Her : Why do people go to America?
(After some brain storming i recollected that she has been to America to visit her dad, so i asked)
Me : Why did you go to America?
Her : To see daddy
(I had a feeling of triumph, but it was short lived, she thought for a while and asked)
Her : Are they going to see their daddy s?
(it was a simple Yes or No question and a No would lead me into another labyrinth of questions)
Me : Yes
( I didnt expect the next question but yes there was)
Her : Are all daddies in America?

Well that was when i accepted defeat, because i knew there was no way out of it and tried to change the topic which was another blunder, it started to drizzle slightly...

Me : Did you see these water drops?
Her : yes but where are these water drops coming from?
(I knew where this was going to end but i didnt want to discourage her, so accepting the defeat before hand i proceeded )
Me : These water drops come from clouds in the sky
Her : What are clouds?
( I showed her the moving clouds in the sky and she was happy to see them, i was pleased with myself when the next lightning bolt struck me)
Her : I can't see water in the clouds
(Now if somebody can explain how water evaporates and forms clouds and then comes back in the form of rain and satisfy her i would happily give my paycheck)
Me : No dear, nobody can see water in the clouds but they contain water and when two clouds collide thats when the water falls from those clouds.
Her : How do the clouds collide?
Me : When there is wind the clouds move and collide with each other.
Her : Where is wind?
Me : It is everywhere
Her : I don't see wind
Me : Yes nobody can see the wind
Her : Then how do you know that it is there?
(This time nature came to my rescue and cool breeze passed by)
Me : DId you feel the air blowing?
Her : Yes
Me : Well that is how we know that there is wind..
Her : i like the wind, where is it going?
Me : Enough of knowledge transfer lets go and watch some cartoons
Her : Lets watch Tom and Jerry

That is my most memorable encounter with innocence.

(Hu)Man Hunt

Human beings, the most successful and thriving species that ever existed on this planet we call Earth. Human beings who had the gift of a much advanced Brain than any other species. Human beings who started with inventing technology to assist themselves in their survival. Human beings who mastered various technologies to travel by air, on water, through space, and control the climate around them. Human beings who became so powerful that all other species survive at their mercy. Human beings who have become slaves of the technology created by themselves. Human beings who destroyed the delicate balance of nature for their own whims and fantasies.

Some where between mastering technologies and becoming a super power and just before turning into a slave of those technologies , I guess the Human beings ceased to exist. Now i see people a lot of them. People People Everywhere but not a single Human being in sight. I see people who have turned into the machines that they have built. I see people for whom life is just a routine from waking up to going back to sleep, and the sole purpose of their life is to make more money.

I grew up reading about Men, Men with values, ethics and principles. Men who had the courage to stand up for what is right, Men who have lost everything but never parted with their morale and character. Men of Honour, who were known for their honesty, sincerity and commitment. Men with fire of passion in their hearts and compassion for their fellow human beings. Men who's selfless acts have made difference in the lives of millions . Men with thirst for knowledge. Men who have carried the torch of truth throughout their life and were never bothered by its scorching flames. Men who have achieved pinnacles of excellence in all aspects of life and yet are humble. One may say that those kind of Men exist only in books, but I was lucky enough to meet a couple of such Men. I have always wanted to be one among those Men.

But now i don't see those Men. I see people who are corrupted to the core, People who have gained worldly riches but have lost their character. People who live to earn money, by any means. People who attribute more importance to the buildings, cars they own than the fellow beings. People who are selfish, people who try to take advantage of others miseries, Greedy People, People who are hungry for money, for power. People who are so concerned with their rights that they have forgot their manners. People who have no respect for anything but money.

Amidst the ocean of these people I have been desperately searching for Men, and all i have found are shallow people everywhere. It bothers me most when i see myself as one amongst those people. But my (Hu)Man Hunt will continue......

Harry Potter

Spoiler Warning: Contains material that reveals the plot of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows". Don't read further if you have not read the book.

Long time since my last post, its not that i did not have anything worthwhile to write, its just like people say "I was busy".

So Harry Potter's last book in the series was released on 21st, and i was happy that The Boy Who Lived, Lives. It was a bit annoying that media and news papers have revealed it before i even started reading the book. I started reading the book and finished in two straight days, i warned everyone around me that i am not to be disturbed while reading... I don't know if i have the vocabulary to describe how it was written but i am sure it topped all the previous books, absolutely splendidly marvelously beautifully terrifically fantastic.

Some of you might roll your eyes thinking "its a story for kids", it was a story for kids till the second book and if anybody has observed it was no longer a fairy tale for kids.

I was very eager to finish the book because of the secrets it held and thought of completing it in one day. When i started reading the book i realized that it is going to be the last, then i slowed down letting every sentence sink into my memory and started visualizing the characters, their surroundings, their attitude, their emotions everything, thanks to the Harry Potter movies released till now.

Even though i knew he was going to live, at a point i thought that he actually is going to die and become immortal in hearts of his friends. However one thing i have been guessing came true. Since i have read the third book i somehow guessed that professor Snape was on Dumbledore's side and by the end of the sixth book i was sure that killing Dumbledore was part of an agreement between Snape and himself . I was not sure of the reason. I was actually expecting Dumbledore to reappear again, which he did but not in the living world.

Thank You JKR for the adventure, for the fantasy, for bringing an entirely different world to life which is more or less the same as our world. The memories of the journey with Harry Potter will live forever with me and millions of others around the world.

Memoirs

I started this blog site with a poem named "Memories" and didn't want to use the same for this one. So i am using the French version of the same title. Unlike the first one this is about memories themselves. Like many other things we don't realize the importance of them until we lose them.

Now you might wonder why did this guy even started thinking about them. No particular reason, i keep thinking and wondering about almost everything in life. I remember the landlady of the house we stayed during my UK trip asking me if i liked UK, to which i replied "yes its lovely and beautiful, but nothing like India". I didn't plan on saying the second half , it just came out.

Why did i even say that? What made me say that? There should be something back there that made me say that. What is it, that is not in UK and is in India that made me say that. I definitely know it is not the feeling of patriotism. To tell you the truth by the age of 14, my plans were to leave India, Finish my PG in USA, Get a Job and earn Dollars big time. Of course i thought i would return after earning enough , but if i didnt want to return i could have always used that bond movie title "The World is Not Enough". Things didn't go the way i planned and thats another story. So what i am saying is once my dream was to live in USA, now i have visited both USA and UK and i liked them too, and i got a chance to work in USA, but i turned it down.

If i start thinking i could go on and on about the plus points those countries have and India doesn't. Then what made me say what i have said. I remember a dialog in "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge". When one of the characters asks another character who has lived his entire life in UK and has returned to India. "What difference do you see in the pigeons that you are feeding over here and the ones in London?", to which the character responds beautifully. No i am not going to write it down here , go watch the movie. So when i think about the answer i realized how true it is, everything is great and beautiful and organized and clean and what not, but i don't have any memories attached to them. I can't relate those places with anything in my life, and then you get a feeling that it is not yours.

It is a different story back at home, i have loads of memories, i can relate everything around with every moment of my life. The street where i have learnt to ride a bicycle, my first accident, the terrace i used to hide from getting an evening bath, long walks on the railway tracks, running in fields, the friends i made, the reasons i broke up, lying on my back and watching shooting stars on warm summer evenings all the while talking to my friend about almost everything under the sun and finding solutions to the world's problems, my first punishment, the times i have spent in my dads lap, the times i wouldn't leave my mom's side, my first crush, my first fight, the schools and colleges i have studied, my first job, my first bike, everything. Now i know that though i have traveled thousands of miles i left my entire life back home, and it is those memories that made me say what i have said and it is those memories that will bring me back home no matter where i go.

I am not trying to say that those who have left the country and settled down elsewhere don't carry those memories in their heart. Everybody does, and it is those memories that bring them back home one day or the other.

Yes there are always exceptions, of those who wouldn't want to return, probably they don't have enough memories back home or they might have built some beautiful memories that they wouldn't want to leave. Even in that case my point holds good, India or USA or UK or anywhere in the world, it is your memories you are holding to. For those of you, with memories back home here is a link, enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxkodD_t8QE


and here is the link to the same song from the movie Swades

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-RFFIMXlA&mode=related&search=

Four Weddings and A Funeral

Yeah I know, that is the title of a Hugh Grant + Andie McDowell movie released in 1994. When my friend asked me if we should go watch that movie, I was like what kind of a movie is that!! Why would anyone name a movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral". I decided to skip it, giving in to my better (or lack of) judgment even though the movie became a big hit. Some how i was not convinced that "Four weddings and a Funeral" is a good enough name for a movie, and my point was if the director couldn't find a good enough name, i was sure the script wouldn't be good enough either.

I know, I know , now don't start posting comments saying you are such fool to skip a movie just because of its name or what is wrong with that name.... it happened in 1994 and i was a 19 year old stupid teenager like any other 19 year old stupid teenager, and this is not about the movie.


In the same year a movie named "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun was released which was a great hit too. I watched even though the movie was stupid. I know many don't share the same opinion, but i have my reasons . So when i watched that movie i thought maybe this movie should have been named,"Two and Half weddings, A Funeral and a Baby". Now don't try to tell me that it isn't funny, because if you can't see the humor in it, then you haven't got sense of humor, and this post is not about that movie either.

Now you would start wondering, then what is this about.... and if what i am about to mention makes you think that i am depressed or anything like that, then NO it is not the case.

So 11 years after the movie was released, I realized the how much meaning that name might have in itself , no, not "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun", i still think it is stupid. I am talking about "Four Weddings and A Funeral" . Now you may wonder why this change!!! Or why did you even think about the title after 11 years.

On the new year eve of 2006, i remember watching TV and somebody asking somebody else on some channel "How would you describe your life in the year 2005 in a sentence?" So with nothing else to do i was pondering on how i would describe my life in the year 2005. Brain is such a wonderful thing, and at times i myself am amazed at the results my brain produces. I didn't have to think for long before my brain popped the title of the movie i didn't watch just because i didn't like the name.

Ok now if somebody asks me to describe my life in the year 2005, I can say "Four Weddings and a Funeral". All happened in the year 2005. All the four weddings were of close family members (one of the weddings was mine) and all these happened in the first half of the year, mine being the last. The funeral happened in the second part of the year. So there you go, my life in the year 2005 is a movie title that released 11 years back that i didn't watch it then because i didn't like the name.

Oh Yeah i can see you rolling your eyes......

Happy Anniversary

So I survived two years of married life as of 18th... I know two years is no big deal. Well somehow two years does not sound significant enough. It does not get the same round of applause a one year gets or 5 years, or 10 years, 25 years and so on.
It is my principle in life that i don't go about digging old graves but, since i have achieved a milestone i thought it might be a good idea to just ponder over the last two years. In fact the last two years zapped past me and even though my wife keeps complaining that everything is happening fast, i am glad it is because if you think your life is moving slow then you are probably not living it up. so there were some ups and downs, I definitely don't want to try and count to see if i had more ups or downs. So here is a list of some important events...

1. Got married on June 18th 2005
2. Wife lost her job at Microsoft in July but got the job back in August at Microsoft with a better pay.
3. Met with an accident in August 2005 that left a scar on my forehead
4. Dad expired in October 2005
5. Moved out of the house and rented an apartment nearer to office in March 2006
6. Dad's sister's husband was admitted into the hospital for memory loss in June 2006
7. He expired in September 2006
8. Went on a vacation to Coorg in December 2006
9. Cleared my brother's debts partially in January 2007
10. My wife's sister got married in March 2007 and I involved myself in organizing the ceremony
11. Visited UK in May 2007 on a business trip.
12. Celebrated 2nd Anniversary in June 2007.

Now for the important events that I have plans for in the next two years

1. Upgrade to a four wheeler (Scorpio)
2. Add my share to the population

Multi Tasking

Recently I watched an Advertisement in the TV, it as an Ad of AMD processors inviting people who think they are kings of multi tasking. They will be evaluated and decided on who does the best multi tasking.

That kept me wondering what is considered as multi tasking as I believe that every human being is equipped with multi tasking. So I wondered if the following are considered as multi tasking.

1. I can comfortably chat with up to 5 people using instant messenger without them knowing that I am talking to others. All the while listening to Music.
2. I can write a document or code all the while listening to Music or listening to someone and replying them.
3. I can listen to two people at the same time and grasp what both of them have been trying to tell me all the while thinking about what to do for dinner.
4. Many of us read newspapers while sitting on "you know where" and doing "you know what" and some even smoke a cigarette at the same time. Is this multi tasking.
5. I once brushed while taking bath
6. I have seen people lighting a cigarette while driving, and there are some who drink smoke and drive at the same time.
7. I have seen people opening their door, spit whatever they have in their mouths and close the door "while driving".

The list continues, my point here is that the world is full of crazy people doing lots of crazy stuff at the same time so multi tasking is nothing all that great. I almost forgot, i can write with both my hands at the same time but they have to be the same alphabet or digit or shape. However hard i try i can never write two different alphabets or numbers or draw different shapes with both hands at the same time.

English Morning

So at last i have landed in the country that ruled India for almost 100 years. This is the second country i have visited till now, first one being USA. That is where this journey has began, it was October 2004, I was inspired by the idea of expressing one's opinions and feelings and publishing them and created my blog site and started publishing. Initially I didn't quite keep up the job of posting regularly but i should say i have improved lately. I know this has nothing to do with English morning, but these were the thoughts running through my mind on the very first morning i landed in UK.

We have arrived at around 6:40 PM , it was like midday, the queue at the immigration was very long with only couple of them working, slowly more officers arrived at the immigration counters which was a relief, and of all the immigration officers i was called by a lady officer. It is a jinx, i never get through with a lady officer. I was rejected student visa for australia by a lady officer, i was rejected a H1 and three B1 visas all by lady officers at US consulate, and now i am standing before a lady officer at immigration in London Heathrew airport. She interrogated me as if i was a murder suspect and let me through after what i thought was eternity, but technically it was a couple of minutes. I was glad that i broke the jinx, i was looking for happy moments ahead.

The next one hour or so was spent waiting and searching for my baggage which had its own mind and did not take the same flight i took to London from Dubai. Those were not the happy moments i was looking forward to. So we filled in a complaint and came out, our taxi driver was there waiting for us, he was sorry i didn't get the baggage and assured that i would get it in a day. I thought, "nice man". Then he drove us to Havant which is about one and half hour away and i kept falling in and out of sleep.

It was around 10:30 by the time we reached our guest house which belongs to an elderly lady. It was very cold and she offered some hot chocolate to which we thanked her and said that we really are very tired and wanted to hit the bed. She showed us our room. There were three of us , the other two shared a big room and i got a small cozy room all for myself.I was glad i packed couple of nightwear and inner wear in my laptop bag giving my wife a deaf ear. I changed into some comfortable clothes and got under the covers.

I woke up to the chirping and other melodious sounds made by birds, it was 7 in the morning and when i pulled the curtain off, the view was simply spectacular, a small garden in the backyard, lawn, garden chairs and tables, flowers blooming, lush green trees everywhere, birds singing in the trees, as if they are happy to see me, cloudy skies, cool breeze i just loved my first English Morning and then i was sure that happy moments are ahead. I am leaving day after tomorrow, and indeed these two weeks gave me a lots of happy moments to cherish.

BTW the luggage arrived that evening, before we returned from our London trip, yes the very first day after we landed the three of us went on a day long trip to London, to Portsmouth harbour the next day, and thats another story.

Optimist or Pessimist

I have always been a preacher positive thinking, and almost everyone who know me might have got lecture on positive thinking. I have been a positive thinker myself for some time now. So I was under an impression that i was an optimist and everything was going well until i started thinking about the acid test that would separate Optimists from Pessimists.

Everybody knows the test, An Optimist sees the glass as half full and a Pessimist sees the glass as half empty when they are both given half a glass of any liquid. Now I had to face this test to find out which category I belonged.

So i imagined myself sitting in front of half a glass of chilled Milk Shake on a hot summer evening. I was focusing to see how my thought process would be, half full or half empty. I was engulfed with a flood of thoughts which still make me wonder if i am an optimist or pessimist. Well the thoughts were along these lines....

1. Why is the glass only half full ?
2. Was i served only half a glass? If yes, why? Didnt i deserve a full glass?
3. If i was served a full glass, then what the hell happened to the other half?
4. Why am I sitting here and thinking whether the freaking glass is half full or empty, instead of drinking the remaining half before someone finishes whatever is remaining in it?

Now i will never be sure if i am an optimist or pessimist. What about you?

Burning Issues

The title is self explanatory.... A couple of weeks ago there were a couple of burning issues going around and incinerating almost everybody standing in the way. The burning issues were, India losing miserably in world cup, Sachin cutting a cake in the shape of Indian flag, mandira bedi sporting a religious symbol as a tattoo on her back, things like these.

These became the talk of the town, everybody voicing their opinions strongly on what is right and what is wrong and what should be done. Questions arised... Is it ok for sachin to cut a cake shaped like an Indian flag, Is it Ok to burn the Indian flag to voice your disappointments, How does sporting a religious symbol disrespect an entire religion. The media hyped it , they arranged discussions, they bring some famous pscychologists and they would analyse everything that could have been going through the mind of sachin when he was cutting the cake and its impact on socio-economic situation of the middle east.

Well I felt that i should be voicing my opinion too and that was the reason i ever started this post. So i saved this as a draft with the title and some text. Then i got busy for two weeks and finally i opened it , but when i look around none these are burning issues anymore, they are not even issues, people have moved on as if nothing has happened.

If people have stopped thinking about those after some time, then maybe in the first place these were not issues at all... if these were not issues, was it worth wasting your emotions , opnions, ideas, thought and time.

OCD

I don't remember when was the first time i have heard this term but, i remember one of my friends saying that he has this problem. Before someone starts wondering what OCD is, let me expand it for you Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Sounds like a serious psychological disorder, but is it! Like i have said my friend has this disorder but one wouldn't notice until he mentions it. The problem is he lives in a mammoth house and has to lock about 8 to 9 doors every day before sleeping. So his first iteration consists of locking each door. Second iteration consists of checking if the doors are really locked, when i say checking it means he unlocks the door and locks it again to make sure it is locked properly. Final iteration consists of just going around and seeing if he hasn't missed locking any door. There is something else, he has around 12 to 15 portraits of different Gods all over the house and every day it is his duty to pray to all of those in the first iteration and repeat the same in the second iteration so that he wouldn't miss anyone. Otherwise he is a very normal everyday person.

Is this really a disease? should you be admitted into a hospital and get treated or visit a shrink and lose your money and valuable time. I think everyone of us has an OCD , if you consider Disorder as offending then lets call it OCB , B standing for behavior or even better if we can say Challenged with Obsessive Compulsion. So i think every one of us have obsessive compulsion for doing something or other at different levels. When i say levels, i mean the levels of your obsession and compulsion.


Am i suffering from OCB, yes i am. I am obsessed with correcting other's (some times my own) spellings and grammatical errors to the point of frustrating/irritating the people around me. I have been consciously noticing this behavior for the past one year. In the beginning i thought it was not big deal but when i actually thought of resisting myself from doing that, i heard my inner me declaring "Resistance is Futile". That's when i came to a conclusion that its my OCB.

I am trying to overcome by closing my lips tightly, clenching my fists, and getting away from the keyboard when i am chatting or sending mails. There is very less success rate but i am on my way. I don't know why i do that ,Its not like the entire world has levied the responsibility of correcting spelling and grammatical mistakes on me, i simply cannot stand when people make spelling or grammatical mistakes. That does not mean i don't commit mistakes, i do but then i correct them. Do you know i read my mails 3 to 4 times before sending them.

Now how do i support my behavior! Oh yes this behavior of mine will only bring good to the civilization. Let us take a scenario. Suppose i have been sending mails to a bunch of people with a misspelled word very often. Lets take the example of Diary (personal log book). Suppose i have been spelling it as Dairy instead of Diary, some of them would notice but overlook it and i keep using the word Dairy very often in my mails and everybody will get used to it. After some time if any one of those reading my mails were supposed to send a mail to someone else and they had to use the word Diary(personal log book) would spell it as Dairy since that spelling was refreshed in their brain several times incorrectly by me. Do you see what happens...I started a chain reaction and this would soon spread everywhere and finally the webster's and oxford dictionaries have to swap the meanings of Diary and Dairy so that the usage is corrected.(People can't be corrected because they believe what majority of them believe and by then majority of them will believe that Dairy is correct spelling for personal log book). I am sure by now some of you are not sure what the correct spelling is.

So can you see the kind of calamity i am trying to fight. Now i can finally sleep peacefully that even though my OCB is frustrating/irritating to many, it is avoiding a great catastrophe.

By the way did i tell you guys that i have pointed out mistakes in our company's quality policy even though i knew that it was phrased by our CEO and Director. Well they had to change it and now i am not one of their favorites and they try to avoid eye contact with me when i am around. Don't blame me that's my OCD


So what is your OCD??

Famous Last Words

I guess i have convinced the readers of my blog that i am not depressed. To emphasize the fact I am dedicating this blog to my collection ("FUNNY") of famous last words. These are not actual last words that came out of actual people's mouths. For example if you watch cartoons or some really funny movies one of the character would ask "Whats this big red button here?" and presses and KABOOOOM blows out everything including himself. So on the similar grounds here is a collection of funny hypothetical last words. (Some of them might be actually true but nobody knows.)

1. Don't worry, I read somewhere that bears mostly eat roots and berries.

2. For my next trick I will escape from this flaming coffin while wearing a straight jacket and singing Eye Of The Tiger.

3. I'll get a world record for this.

4. Let me reach in and get your watch out of the printing press.

5. Hey there's no handles inside these car doors!

6. I will prove to you that this suit is fireproof.

7.What does this button do?

8. It's probably just a rash.

9. Are you sure the power is off?

10. The odds of that happening have to be a million to one!

11. Pull the pin and count to what?

12. Which wire was I supposed to cut?

13. I wonder where the mother bear is.

14. What do you mean its not possible ..I've seen this done on TV.

15. These are the good kind of mushrooms.

16. I'll hold it and you light the fuse.

17. Rat poison only kills rats.

18. It can't possibly rain for forty days and nights.

19. Give me liberty or give me death.

20. This rope is strong enough for both of us.

21. That birthmark on your head looks like 999.

22. Nice doggie.

23. I can do that with my eyes closed.

24. I'll just slip into the commuter lane for a second

25. And now that I'm running my life support equipment through Windows 95, I'll never have to worry about-- beeeeeeeep...


Funny aren't they....

Withdrawal

One of the readers of my blog ( there aren't many) has mentioned that she has noticed withdrawal in my recent posts. Seriously even after a good explanation i am still not sure what that word means. So we have substituted another simpler word for withdrawal... "depression". So i was sounding depressed in those posts.

I would like to assure all the readers (I KNOW.... there aren't many) that i am definitely not depressed nor pessimistic and not even thinking negatively. Reasons

1. I need to be inspired to write something even if it is crap (crap in a funny way).

2. How inspired will i be if i am depressed... i will not even be inspired to crap, let alone writing crap. (Again crap in a very very funny way)

I know it sounds a bit crude and dirty but you have to agree that it definitely puts things in proper perspective.

So the last two posts were written with very positive thoughts and happy feelings. Yes, they might have given a wrong impression and from now onwards i will remember to insert smileys to show that i am not depressed.

Again let me reassure that these are not Withdrawals... only Deposits if you know what I mean

That's All Folks

I am sure there would be very few who have not come across the above image except for those really matured guys who don't watch cartoons. I just love cartoons and the characters more for their voices than their appearance and antics.

I just love the way Bugs says "aaanh whatszzzup doc" and Tweety says "i thot i thaw a putty cat". But I have never wondered about the person who gave those characters all their voices. It was really amazing that both the voices were given by the same person. I was actually going through some famous last words and came across "Thats all Folks" quoted by Mel Blanc. Then I did some research on the name and found this genius of a man who gave his voice to almost every cartoon character. No wonder he was called "The Man of 1000 voices", although he confesses that he had provided only 850 voices. What a man!

There is more to this guy, he wanted his gravestone to be inscribed with "Thats all Folks". The sentence which was used by Porky Pig at the end of ever Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies show. When you think more about it you realize that those three words mean everything that anybody can say while departing. One could write long poems or paragraphs and still miss out something that could have been said but , this short sentence.. these three words say it all. Here is a picture of his gravesite marker in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.

That one sentence and all those voices had made this man immortal. If I ever have a chance to choose the gifts that can be granted in another life I would want to be born with the gift that this man has got. A gift that would entertain millions of people across the world breaking language barriers and live forever in their hearts. In this life, if I had to leave suddenly and if I didn't have a chance to say anything before I leave, and if someone wonders what I would have said to them if I had the chance, I would tell them "That's All Folks".

The best tribute this wonderful man could get was from the characters he gave his voice to and here is the picture of the characters paying tribute to this legend.

Friends

It has been three months since my last post and life just zapped by me with very little time to sit back and relax. That doesn't mean i didnt have idle moments, yes i did but didn't find much to write. Last week i watched a movie titled "Stand By Me" based on a Novella by Stephen King, which also plays the song "Stand By Me" by Ben King. It is the story of four 12year old boys and their journey to locate the dead body of a boy struck by a train. Nothing great about the story line but the film demands attention till the very end.

Its more about the freindship you have at the age of 12. The entire film is narrated in first person by one of the four friends who goes on to become a writer. None of the other three friends make it beyond young adulthood. The narrrator ends the story by saying he will miss his friends and he never will have the kind of friends he had at the age of 12 and asks "Does anyone?"

That took me way back into my memory lane to see if it was really true... at the age of 12 i was more or less a loner..... i have made a couple of friends... but didnt last long.... In those days i was really not sure on why i didnt have any friends or why i left many friends... maybe the fault was with me maybe the fault was with them.... eventually most of my friendships in those years used to end up with an argument or a fight. I would even attribute it to moving to different places and studying in 7 different schools in the 12 years of my schooling.

I guess i was in search of someone to spend some quality time.... i was in search of a person who is more or less like me, shared the same opinions and ideas. As time went by i realized if the person was more like me then there wouldnt be much to talk or share... I was out of High School and entered college and the same thing continued.. this time the problem was with the quality.. I became a strong believer in "you are judjed by the company you keep" and i have set some character traits which were very difficult to find in another person.... I have entered graduation and stopped my search to find a friend that would suit my requirements and started making the best out of the friends i already have.

Thats when the friends i would like to have in my life started happening to me. Friends with whom i could laugh,cry,share, discuss almost anything under the sun. Some of them parted (not due to an argument or fight), some of them departed and a couple of them are still around. These friends did not happen at the age of 12 (maybe i could have had some if not for the arguments and fights), they happened much later in life but, these are the friends i would have really loved to have a the age of 12. One could say what difference does make if they did not happen at the age of 12 and happened at the age of 20 or more. It wouldnt have made no difference except for the amount of beautiful memories i could have stored in the archives of my memory, the number of stories i could tell.

Finally i could sleep peacefully thinking that i was successful in making atleast couple of friends i would cherish my entire life. This is to those friends and the beautiful moments i have shared with them. Thank You for the memories...and the song below is for you

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FX--7gFHkU0

YAY - Yet Another Year

Ok so another year has passed by and it has become obligatory to bid farewell to the departing year and welcome the new year... and the only way 90% of the people do it is by getting drunk... In New Delhi alone 70 Crores worth of booze was sold out on December 31st .. I wonder why Guinness book of World records ignored it..... People partied all night at various locations and i was part of one of those parties where booze flowed more freely than water.... Why does anyone just celebrate a new year? Why not a new half year. quarter year... Why not a new month or a new day? We just need a reason to celebrate.....

Some say the year changes, but do they realize the significance, what happens after every 365 1/4th days, yeah a new year comes, but how many can actually say without thinking that the earth finishes one revolution around the sun. OK now we know the reason.. and thats why we celebrate... then what about earth finishing a rotation in 24 hours, shouldnt we celebrate that? How about moon finishing one revolution around the earth in 29 1/3 days... ok these happen too often and we cant celebrate things that happen too often and that's the reason we only celebrate New Year....

There are those who think its no big deal... well it is definitely no big deal for a lot of people, they are busy struggling to survive.. its just another day to them, same old life and same old struggle.... nothing changes except for the calendars....

I wouldnt say one shouldnt celebrate, one has to celebrate every moment of life, it is the greatest gift but what do we really achieve, we have fun, we lose track of time and the world around us for some time and then we are back to our busy lives.. those moments will linger for couple of days and then they become part of memories...

Did it make any difference to you or any one around you that would last long ? Did you change anything in your or someone else's life? Did you touch some one in a very special way ? Did you do anything new which would really make it really a NEW year and not Yet Another Year....

If you did... then.. A Very Happy New Year to you......

Priceless !!!

I have had the content for this post in my head for couple of months now. Somebody moved back to India and shipped their luggage through a shiment company. The shipment duly arrived at Chennai and the guy responsible calls up and says that the owner of the shipment should come over to Chennai with original passport and sign some documents for customs clearance and it was a half days job... He also mentioned that if the owner is not in a position to travel anyone can come over there with an affidavit and the owners passport. Now there is a lot of thinking and voicing of opinions after the phone call.... one thinks that it is a total lie and that the person would launder money in some form or other... another thinks that this was not mentioned by the shipping agency earlier so you can trust the guy.... and they dont see why that guy would needed the passport... so it was decided that nobody would go to chennai for clearing the customs and people start trying out different ways to get the shipment to home..

I was silenced when i tried to tell that it is the actual procedure and volunteered to got o chennai.....

A series of angry emails are sent to the shipping agency after which the agency tells that the guy who called is giving us the actual procedure. Now there is another guy who talks about knowing people everywhere and who could get it out of customs just like that... eventually that guy backs out giving a stupid reason....

Now the shipment is still in the chennai port,after couple of weeks the guy who called initially calls again and volunteers to do everything by himself. Now the people who initally voiced opinions are not around and there was no other go so the owner of the shipment finally agreed and that guy got the shipment home as promised within couple of days.... BUT

The cost of the flight tickets for that guy Rs 12,000
The customs duty for the shipment Rs 4,000
The rent paid for keeping the shipment in the port Rs 10,000
Miscellaneous expenses Rs 4,000

The lesson learnt for being ignorant and not trusting the right person ...... Absolutely PRICELESS !!!