Land of the living dead

I drag my life today just like any other day,
emptiness numbing my soul while feelings drift away
trying my best to express but words defeat me,
sentences fail to agree and thoughts evade me
shallow souls disgust me and make me want to scream,
wake up, wake up you morons from your dirty selfish dream
You can't see me suffering, you can't hear me wail,
you can't feel my pain, in your pursuit to prevail
Are you even aware that you are the living dead,
digging graves for others, in your greed to stay ahead
conscience buried deep under your bones and turgid skins,
you have committed much more than the seven deadly sins
filling air with bitter stench and land with rotting filth,
dumping toxic waste in water and no trace of guilt
now my anger seeks vengeance and rages storms of fire,
will scorch you all to ashes and it will then retire

*****************************************************
I had to vent it out. At times one feels like damning the humankind to hell and give the rest of the world a chance to survive. No i am not depressed

Then

I wake up
I exist
I sleep
then I repeat

I fight
I win
I survive
then I retreat

I erupt
I complain
I shout
then I contemplate

I love
I nourish
I cherish
then I exterminate

I differ
I hate
I destroy
then I recreate


***************************************

Just some random ramblings

I am

I am a saint, I am the sinner
I am a cynic, I am the lover
I am your smile on all the happy days
I am that scorn on your angry face
I am the tear in your eye
I am that jerk who made you cry
I am the joke that made you laugh
I am the sword that split you in half
I am the hope that made you fly
I am the despair that left you to die
I am the angel watching over you
I am that demon raging inside you
I am your sorrow, I am your glory
I am the hero of your untold story
I am the shoulder in your adversity
I am your friend for eternity

****************************
Inspired by a fellow blogger

Customer Care Victim

There is this place, customer care
go ahead, call them, if you dare
time,money and patience if you can spare
their AVR is worse than your worst nightmare
myriad of menus you will be through
then you hear "you are in queue"
let me tell you the best thing to do
stop paying your bills when they are due
that will shake them from their throne
lowering their shields, they will pick up the phone
you get ready to have some fun
now kick their butt, while your job is done

Midlife Musings

Muse 1.
My friend once said that 40s is when you are officially Middle aged. That's all good for him, but do you know the saying its all in your head. If that is true then i am already old.

Muse 2.
I think i am suffering from some sort of selective Alzheimer's . I had to Google for some time to recollect the word Alzheimer's.

Muse 3.
I don't buy any stuff that is poorly advertised. Remember when you are buying something you are not only paying for the product but, all the costs involved till it reaches you including advertisement and it better be good if i am going to pay for it.

Muse 4.
Recently i installed a tracker and realized that, not many people visit my blog. I know those who read it regularly and are kind enough not to leave any comments. No i am not against it, as i read lots of other blogs but seldom leave a comment. Again i am not writing this stuff for somebody to read and comment, I write this stuff because, i can write this stuff. Even though there are only a few, i would like to say "Thank You".

Muse 5.
Ten posts in less than a month, wow that is like my all time record. Either i have nothing else to do or creative juices are oozing out of my brain like lava spitting out from an active volcano. Bad analogy, i know.

Muse 6.
Did you realize that your urge to go to the bathroom increases progressively as the distance between you and the bathroom decreases. Try it out.

Muse 7.
Drinking coffee when your stomach is upset is like pouring petrol on already burning fire. On a random note i heard someone say "I don't drink coffee, i am a te(a)totaler ".

Muse 8.
Is it going to be a boy or a girl?

Muse 9.
If you are complaining about the traffic while driving, maybe you shouldn't have left home. If you are complaining about traffic while at home, why are you bothered? you are not on the road.

Muse 10.
I muse a lot, now go amuse yourselves....

and Ye Shall Receive

This is not about "Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

This is about me and the lightning bolts i keep receiving from my father in heavens. No not my biological father, i am talking about the "HOLY FATHER" that created the heaven, the earth, the skies and the seas.

People reading my posts know that i bought a SUV and was overly attached with it. Reason being it is my first car and and it is the car i have been wanting to buy for a couple of years. This attachment with my car went up to the point where my wife said she thinks i care more for the car than her. Well she might have been right there but being the smart ass that i have always been, i told her that the car is not capable of taking care of itself, whereas she is perfectly capable.

Then it happened like this that my brother visited us and he does not know how to drive but wanted to use the car and hence asked me to appoint a temporary driver. My answer would have been an immediate no, but then i thought i shouldn't be such a self-centered prick and that resulted in me appointing a driver. I was so overly attached that i used to check the car for scratches every day after the driver returned the key.

That was when...
Enough is enough, God must have thought,
a nice lesson, this guy must be taught,
One fine evening, i got a call from my brother,
message was the driver, crashed my car into another.

I went to the spot fearing the worst, and the state of my car shattered me. I could not sleep that night. I was asking myself, why? why? why?
That was when i realized it was he who decided to let me own a car and that is the reason i could even afford to buy one. He wanted me to remember that everything that i think is mine is really given by him and he can take everything back unless i prove myself to be worthy of it and this is not the first time.

It is an untold, unwritten, understanding between me and my God that whenever i get intoxicated by over enthusiasm or over attachment or over confidence and other vices, he will remind me with subtle and gentle signs in the beginning and if i still did not wake up from my slumber, he will not hesitate to send a lightning bolt my way.

Hmm that is some pretty good soul searching.....
Hey look look i did not use the title in my post

On the move

All of a sudden it occurred to me that i had a passion for photography So, equipped with a mobile phone camera i started flashing it all over Hyderabad. Here are couple of shots captured while driving my car...

Sleepy Morning

Bright Night

Beautiful Sunset

Meals On Wheels

Passing The Airport

Approaching The Airport

Objects in the Rear-View Mirror 1

Objects in the Rear-View Mirror 2

Objects in the Rear-View Mirror 3

Its All Good Then

Today morning,I received a call,
would have been interesting, if it was a girl,
To my disappointment, it was our director,
and spoke in a voice, that raised my fear factor.

I know the attempt was no good,
but just wanted to see if i could.
i will end it with that i promise,
no longer you will have to go through this,
Oh My God!!! Somebody stop me
before i turn poetry into blasphemy.

That was fun, well, it was, for me....
The bottom line is that i got a call on a Saturday morning from the company director, saying that there have been some recent developments and he would like to schedule a meeting immediately. Given that the whole world is reaping the results of recession, that call raised more than one eye brow... it raised both my eyebrows

That meeting could mean

we may lose projects,
we may lose clients,
we might take a pay cut,
we might even get shut.
( Sorry, I could not help it ;) )

so with all these thoughts running across the mind we attended the meeting. It was presided over by the president, who began to talk about the times "we" are in and the sacrifices "we" have to make. Of course when he said "we" he meant "employees". Then i thought "maybe a pay cut".

Then he talked about how the client our division was involved with, is putting some projects on hold, i thought "shit its not the pay that is going to be cut". He read out the name of the project that is put on hold and another one that might be on hold. I am leading the project that might be on hold. Luckily for me, i am also leading another project that is client's priority. So i thought, " i am saved".
I can't even start to tell how disgusted i was with my momentary selfishness , i was happy that i was saved but, what about others. That is when our president talked about how we have succeeded in getting a new client and how another client we have started working with has raised a request for more resources.
So, everybody in our division will have their jobs after all and enough work to pull us through this recession. That is when i thought "Its All Good Then"!!
I was tempted to rhyme the last couple of sentences,
thank your lucky stars, my thoughts did not reach a consensus!!
Gotchaaaaa

Miracle

A wise scientist once quoted "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle"

I chose the latter one. For me anything that does not happen naturally is a miracle, maybe that is the reason why i never get bored.

I will have to write why I even started writing about it. Last weekend i took my wife for an ultra sound scan, by the way did i mention that i am going to be a father soon, i guess not. So we went to the hospital and they took her into the scanning room and after getting her ready for the scan the radiologist called me inside and the procedure started.

Initially the screen looked like a white and black shades moving hazily, and the radiologist was like, look at the baby's face it completely formed, look, look the baby is putting her(I don't know the gender but i would prefer a "her") tongue out (giggles...) , isn't that a beautiful sight.. i was like where? what? when? how?....

I always had starting trouble with everything i did. So i decided to play along till i could start identifying and to my relief the next part she showed was the longest and more discrete from others and i got my point of reference. Nooooo, its not that.. it is the spine.

From that point onwards all that i have seen is nothing less than witnessing a Miracle. Little eyes blinking, tiny hands and legs waving and kicking. I know! it is natural and has happened millions and millions of times and that is how even i started. I am not talking about that, i am talking about how i am able to see what is happening inside the womb and that, to me, is a Miracle. Now don't even start giving me scientific explanations about how ultrasound works and makes it easy for u to see and that it has been done millions of times... baaaah, No. I know how it works, but i am able to see something that i can't see with my naked eye and even though there are scientific answers it is no less than a miracle to me and that fascinates me.

Flying in an aeroplane, it is a miracle....and no matter how many times i fly, i never get bored of it. Even the simplest things in life don't fail to fascinate me, like Mirrors, especially the rear view mirrors fitted to a vehicle, i enjoy looking at those mirrors while driving.

Some of you might be like... What a loser!! hmmm whatever.. i don't care...

A miracle essentially means extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and at some point or other, everything that is ordinary now was nothing less than a miracle. People have just accepted them as ordinary and they get on with their lives as if nothing is unusual, those things don't amaze them like they used to.

Maybe that is the reason why people are so bored out there
they see miracles every day, and act as if they don't care.

Remembering Smile

Last Friday night,
alone in my car on an empty highway,
listening to "Dekhi Zamane ki yaari, bichhade sabhi baari baari ", immortalized by Kaifi Azmi, S.D. Burman, Md. Rafi and Guru Dutt in "Kaagaz Ke Phool".
Although the song has a different context, the words "bichhade sabhi baari baari" kept on lingering in my head and tear drop rolled down, acknowledging the sadness filled in my heart.
I was on my way to pay respects to my dad's very close friend, who expired that evening.
It has been three years since dad expired and just a couple of month's ago uncle was mentioning how badly he misses my dad when he is in Hyderabad.
Filled with these thoughts, and the line lingering in my head, i couldn't agree more on how everyone who have been there when we were growing up are leaving us one by one.

When i was a kid, one summer afternoon, me and my brother were woken up from sleep and were asked to freshen up as Uncle has come to take some photographs. Mom got us ready, he took some snaps of both of us and mom, spent some with us and left. At that time i didn't even know who he was and that is the first memory i have of him.

After some years, when i was old enough, i was going through my childhood photographs and noticed that every photo had five letters printed on the bottom right corner, "S-m-i-l-e". When i asked dad about it, he mentioned that it is the pen name of his friend who took those photographs. i didn't even know what a pen name was, my dad explained that he is a poet and writer and uses that name. That was the first time i came to know about him.

Dad's friends circle always had writers, poets and they used to talk for hours together when they met and those conversations fascinated me. Those associations and dad's rare collection of books inspired me. I am not a writer or a poet but i took an interest in reading books. Amongst those is the book titled "Empty Bottles"(title translated into English), which is a collection of Uncle's poems and stories. That is how i met the poet in him.

I started this blog four years back with what i thought was a poem and today i dedicate it in the memory of Uncle.

An era of poetry has come to an end
leaving an aura of passion behind
the emptiness that is left
feels almost impossible to forget
i realize as the sun sets into a stream
today is melting into yesterday's dream
now as i stand in the night so lonely and dark
i could hear the song of a distant lark
promising a new tomorrow, shining and bright
so i move on with a spark of hope in sight
that even though death did us part
you are alive.. in the memories of my heart


Uncle your "Smile" will never fade away from my heart and that is how you will always be remembered.

We Are Here

Well... We are here...
Four years... 48 posts...
Looks like i did not have much to blog or was it that i was too lazy to blog....
The frequency with which other bloggers publish their posts amazes me.
How do they get these ideas?
Even i get ideas but, to add vocabulary to those ideas, i could not master that art
I don't consider myself much of a writer because, I am always limited by my vocabulary and lack of creativity.
There have been times, i would just sit and wonder how to put my thoughts into words....
However inspired by the various blogs i have started reading i promised myself that i am going to increase the frequency...
Lets see how it goes...

While we are being Sarcastic

Did you notice how i try to bring the title of almost all of my posts in the content. I just noticed it, its like those films where the title is repeated by one of the characters and we know that the movie is over. I am sooo filmy....
Anyway, While we are being Sarcastic (I know!!), let me paste an email I have received from our Director.

Dear Colleagues,

System Administration activities will be undertaken by V till a new Systems Administrator is on the Job.The new administrator is expected to be on the Job by this month end. Till that time V will take care of your needs.Please plan in advance your needs and do not expect miracles and faster turn around’s from him.Send all your requests and V will attend them on priority basis.

We regret for the inconvenience.

Thanks & Regards

MM
Director

Well three things worthy of mentioning, not mentioning the poorly framed sentences

1. Plan in advance on what we will be needing from a system administrator, Really!!!, because i am not sure when my machine or software or network will crash.

2. Expect Miracles!!! now you must be joking... can he do that, i mean perform miracles, like walking on water, splitting the water in the ocean etc etc.

3. "Faster turn around's" does that make any sense, is "around's" even a valid word... oh well he is the Director, what is use of being in such a position if he can't even bend some "rule's"

That was fun, but it was short-lived when it occurred to me that i can lose my job if he finds out about this blog.

What were they thinking!!

Well i was going to write a post against the Mumbai terror attacks, but refrained from doing so as i have read several blogs and they have already covered almost everything i had to say. However i have some snippets which no matter how you put it, are..... Stupid.

1. News channels calling the attack as "War on Mumbai"..... Maybe the intellectuals there should look up in the dictionary for the definition of War.

2. Calling Taj Hotel an icon of India, its like calling Shilpa Shetty or Mallika Sherawat or Rakhi Sawant icons of India. I don't have anything against any of them (especially Rakhi Sawant) and while feeling bad that Taj was attacked and many people were killed, would like to state that according to my opinion, none of these are icons of India, they are few of the millions of pieces that combine to form India.

3. Some people getting frustrated that the news channels who have called it "War on Mumbai", have called Taj, an icon of India. They write essays with pent up frustration about how Taj is not the Icon but the Chathrapathi Sivaji Terminus is the icon and the "Aam Admi (Common Man)" who travel through the terminus are icons of India. While i don't agree that Taj is an icon of India, I am not frustrated about it. Everybody has a right of opinion and if someone thinks Rakhi Sawant is an icon of India i don't have any objections except that i will be laughing my butt off.

4. The same news channel voicing out "Few people have held Mumbai for ransom, and there is nothing anybody could do about it". First they did not hold anybody for ransom, second i didn't know if Mumbai was such a small place, it just has Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House. If that is not the case does entire Mumbai live in these three buildings? While they exaggerated the statement they even took enough care to add a hint of stupidity to that statement.

5. Calling the attack as India's 9/11. How is this similar to what happened in USA? Why is this even being compared with what happened in USA? While both are terrorist attacks i don't see any similarity. Lots of places in the world have been hit by terrorist attacks, why are we not associating with them. Why do we have to associate and identify everything with USA? They didn't stop there, they even called Taj..... "Ground Zero". Well they said "India's Ground Zero". Maybe they should make an attempt to know what the term Ground Zero means. Here is the definition

"The term Ground Zero may be used to describe the point on the earth's surface where an explosion occurs. In the case of an explosion above the ground, Ground Zero refers to the point on the ground directly below an explosion. The term has often been associated with nuclear explosions and other large bombs, but is also used in relation to earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction"


6.This gets first place in the stupidity contest. Exactly a week after the attacks, The Counter Intelligence Division of police in Hyderabad have received a tip off that a terrorist leader is seen in Santosh Nagar area. Now how do the police display their "intelligence", by sending three unarmed constables without any back up. It doesn't surprise me that the terrorists shot them and easily fled away. While a bit worried about the seriousness with which police has acted up, their moronic stupidity doesn't fail to amuse me. Seriously , What were they thinking!!!

Rocky is Back

Finally after a wait of 45 days, Rocky is back from the accident care, Hoooray!!. For those of you wondering who Rocky is, it is my SUV. Although it has got a new face lift and looks much cooler, it doesn't feel the same, i know it will never be the same. I was stupid enough to give my car to a driver who took it and crashed it.
There are couple of minor issues i have observed on my drive back home but i will wait for a week before taking it back to rectify them to see if anything else comes up. I named my Scorpio RockyII earlier, I think i will call this one RockyIII. Just wanted to bookmark this day in my blog

What the Duck!!!

Looks like i have my "D"s and "F"s mixed up.... cool huh, anyway i ripped that idea off a fellow blogger. Have you ever been through situations that made you think "What the Duck!!"... Well this post is all about those "What the Duck" moments i have been through recently.

1. Now this is the situation everybody is aware of, the global economy melt-down. It is happening everywhere and is a very hot topic. So when everybody is worried and depressed about how the economies around the world are falling apart and wondering Why did this happen, i thought.. Wait a minute. There are numerous prestigious organizations around the world and they train Creme De La Creme on various management and administration courses and even before the Creme have finished their trainings, they are absorbed into various managerial /administrative positions in all the prestigious corporates and organizations with obscene paychecks. Now with all this Creme in charge of large corporates/administrative bodies, how did the situation got so screwed up. Is this not the kind of situation they are supposed to avoid, isn't that why they are paid such obscene salaries. What the Duck were these Creme thinking/doing while the economy was going to dogs. If they couldn't avert this situation, maybe they don't deserve to be in their respective positions, maybe they don't deserve the paychecks that are being given to them. With all these going through my mind, i couldn't help saying What the Duck!!!!

2. The latest mantra of India's favourite bank ICICI is "Go Green", save paper , save environment. They say "An average tree absorbs 4.5 kg of air pollutants every year", now i will not deny that. They print that on the envelope of the credit card statement they send every month and request the customers to unsubscribe the paper statement. Now i seriously appreciate this effort. I opened the envelop and what i see is my statement just occupies half of one side of a page and the rest is advertisements. There are four fully printed papers showing several offers and discounts that the customer would get if they used the credit card. Then there are 2 papers advertising their several credit cards / insurance schemes/ loan facilities provided by the bank. Now this moment calls for a collective "What -- The -- Duck!!". Maybe more than anybody else they need to know what "Go Green" means.

3. I had another one of those moments as soon as i published this post, so i thought i would update it too. I was checking out the news paper and looks like our useful Bhajarang Dal and ABVP were busy pelting stones at the movie theaters as they were showing a movie named "Vinayakudu", because naming the movie after a God has hurt their ducked up emotions and sentiments while the entire India has its attention towards what is happening in Mumbai. For those of you who are not aware of it, terrorists have attacked several places and held people hostage and the commandos are trying to free the hostages. So while entire India is watching this in horror, these people were bothered by a movie named after a God. E-x-a-c-t-l-y What the DUCK!!!!. These are the same people who appointed themselves guardians of Indian heritage and culture and started beating up young lovers for celebrating Valentine's Day. Now they protest and attack because someone named a movie after the name of a God. How come their sentiments are not hurt when names of Gods are used for Liquor Stores or Bars. No No we can't be hurt by that because liquor is a gift from God and those places are equivalent to temples , aren't they you spineless, swiney DastarBs. Where are these people when there were blasts all over India, when terrorists have been attacking Mumbai.
Oh no! no! no!, we can't be bothered by these, we are trying to bring a greater good to the society by attacking helpless people going against our culture, because those people don't pose a threat to us. Finding or Facing terrorists, or lending a helping hand to the victims, that's not our job it is up to the Police and Military and they have completely failed to protect us. Well do i have to say What - The - Bloofy - Duck !!!

Adventure !! Thy name is MKan

If everything in your life is going smooth then you are not having enough fun. That is my principle in/on life or rather one of the many principles.
It happened like this that my dad's very close friend is hospitalized and his daughter who happens to be a very close friend of mine is leaving for US. So i decided to go visit them. Now the place where i was at that moment say V was about 180 KM from the place i am supposed to go say R. Both the places fall on the Golden Quadrilateral which means that the stretch is a beautiful 4 Lane Express Way. People advised me to take a bus or train (I know, people around me are boring and dull). Me being the energetic and adventurous guy decided to take my FIL's car. I could have taken Rocky II (That's my SUV), but it got involved in an accident a while ago and is getting a face lift in the accident care center.
So one might say what is so adventurous about going by car on an express way for 180 KM and if you are the one saying that.... hold it, you have not seen my FIL's car. To give you a perspective, if my Rocky was around i would not even look at that car, i would not even treat it as a car. Well it is a compact car and was manufactured in the days when there was no Internet, and the manufacturer even moved out of the country.
Now coming to the condition of the car, A/C doesn't work, tape recorder (yeah i mentioned that it was manufactured when there was no Internet, didn't i!) with a cassette stuck in it, doors rattling, steering that reminded me of driving an ambassador, the tilting driver seat, i was fine with all these but the part that scared me was the gear rod which had to be held in a particular position for the car to get into second gear and even a minor deviation would result in the car going to neutral. Then there were other features that i didn't realize until it got dark poor head lights and the worn out windshield. At least the brakes were fine. So equipped with all these advanced features i started my journey in the afternoon hoping to return before it is late in the night and thinking "What could go wrong".
I started slowly not exceeding 70KMPH but the road ahead was so wide and empty, and so inviting that i gradually increased the speed in steps to check whether the car would survive. To my pleasant surprise that little bugger actually did well even at the speed of 110KMPH. SO making sure not to push it too hard i maintained the speed between 80 and 100. Except for a small road block that lasted for about 20 minutes there were no other surprises. By the time i was approaching R it started getting dark and that was when i have realized the importance of a good windshield, but without much problem i entered R and from there it was just finding the place, meeting my friend, having dinner, visiting my dad's friend who happens to be my friend's dad. Then i looked at the time and its 9PM, i was hoping to go back to V by 10PM.
Saying Goodbye to my friend and her dad, as i walked towards the car my first thoughts were, some water and a news paper. No it's not for that... its for cleaning the windshield but you can use them for that too. If you already didn't know you should always wipe your windshield with news paper after cleaning it with cloth and water.
It makes the windshield much cleaner and the visibility improves, but it did not happen in that particular case. That's when i told myself "Dude! we are going to have some fun". So now i had to get to V faster and then i recollected somebody saying that there is a Bypass road which reduces the distance by 40KM and while i was trying to find my friend's place earlier i saw a sign board which i thought would lead me to that road. I checked it with a Traffic constable and he confirmed what i have heard, so admiring myself for the presence of mind i have used, i headed in that direction. V was only 136KM from that point and that meant i could reach my destination quicker.

As i continued my journey on the Bypass i have realized couple of things.

1. No separate lanes for vehicles travelling in opposite directions.

2. Everyone called it a Bypass is because most of the passenger vehicles bypassed it, they used the express way. The only vehicles on that road were trucks, big huge trucks that scared me out of the road.

3. The road was full of potholes and the reason was, nobody cared because none of the regular commuters except for trucks used that road. Which also meant that i had to get back to the second gear so often that i thought the gear rod would break at any moment.

4. Road was being built/repaired at most of the places, which meant that dust settled more on the windshield which made my ordeal a bit more difficult.

5. Whenever i drove on a bad stretch of road the car made so much noise that i was sure it is going to fall apart at any time. I was not sure if the worn out tyres would stand the ordeal.

6. It was getting late in the night and there was no sign of civilization which meant if something happened to the car there was no way i could get someone to even look at it.

7. The windshield was so worn out that it totally blinded me whenever a vehicle passed by and i had to pull the vehicle off the road and stop whenever that happened.

8. If i had even the least amount of intelligence in me i would have turned around after the first 10 minutes into the journey and took the express way.

Then again like i said if everything is going smooth, you are not having fun. So i regained my spirit of adventure partly because i stopped someone and found out that i will be joining the express way near lets say E which is about 86KM from R and i was already about 30KM into the journey, so i had to suffer for only 56KM more. I thought i could use some music but the tape recorder was stuck, so i had to turn on the music player in my mobile.

I continued my journey enjoying the music and after 5 or 6 songs it occurred to me that my mobile is the only way to contact outside world if something happened and if i drain out the battery listening to music... I switched the music off as soon as that thought occurred to me. Believe me, given the situation i was in, it was a very scary thought, scarier than any scary movie i have watched.

Finally at around 11 PM after all that excitement, thrill and fun i entered the express way thanking God for watching out. i was never more happier to see so much of traffic. From then onwards i stepped on the accelerator confidently and reached my destination in an hour. I stepped out of the car, patted it, gave it an admiring second glance and entered the house thinking, I will not repeat that again

God Bless America

Now don't get too carried away by the title. There is a reason why i have said that.

So it happened like this that i had to visit UK again on an official trip, only, this time i traveled alone. Unlike last time, this time i had a chance to stay in what the English call, "Bed and Breakfast" hotel. This time i decided to try out some English food.

I have heard a lot about the English Table manners and was a bit nervous because i was bad at handling a knife and a fork. Whenever i went for a breakfast or a dinner adding to my embarrassment i was always surrounded by elderly people who followed the table manners immaculately. No elbows on the table, No talking with food in the mouth, No talking/laughing loudly at the table, No making noise with their knives and forks, No stuffing the mouth with food, No staring at other tables.

Obviously it was very difficult for me. I had to be very careful and extra cautious from the moment i sat, till the moment i left. Every time i had breakfast or dinner, it looked like it lasted for eternity. There were few embarrassing moments when the knife slipped from my hands and made sure it touched everything else before it landed on the table making a clear audible noise. i could make out from their looks that it was rude. After going through this ordeal for a week i decide to eat else where before i left.

After about five minutes walk from my hotel, i was standing in a junction and the sight around was so delightful that it filled me joy. On my left i could see McDonald's, On my right i could see KFC and diagonally opposite to me i could see Burger King. Oh Boy, was I Happy!!

I decided to go to KFC, got myself a Wicked Zinger meal with large fries and coke. I held the burger in one hand and was switching the other hand between the original recipe chicken piece, fries and coke. I stuffed the food into my mouth with both my hands and drank some coke to help me chew it down. I ate as if was craving for food for many days and the same continued at Burger King and McDonald's in the subsequent meal times. After all those hearty and heart felt meals, with tears in my eyes, all i could say was "God Bless America!!!"

Am I An Atheist!!!

Well here I go again... some time back i was bothered about whether i am an optimist or a pessimist and that still remains a mystery and now there is this new question. Let's take a look at the dictionary meaning of atheist. I found many

1. a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
2.One who disbelieves or denies the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being.
3. A godless person.

OK, now since we have that sorted out we have to see if i fall into that category.

If atheist means denying the existence of God then, No, i am not an atheist.
I am not an atheist because, i strongly believe in God. I strongly believe that God is in control of everything and that makes me very comfortable.

I am not an atheist because, i believe that God has created me for a purpose and no matter how i try to screw it up, he will see to that my purpose is achieved. I believe that God will guide me to safer shores whenever i am in troubled waters.

I am not an atheist because, i believe that whatever is happening in my life, is happening because God wants it to happen that way. I believe that if something didn't turn out the way i wanted to, it's because God has other plans for me.

I am not an atheist because, i believe that when something happens that hurts me deeply, it is because i deserved it. I believe that it is Gods way of making me compassionate towards the sufferings of others around me.

There is so much i believe about God, does that mean i am not an atheist, wait, let me see the other way too

I am an atheist because, i don't believe that God has a name or shape.

I am an atheist because, i don't believe that God has created religions, divided people and asked them to fight over those religions. I don't believe that God will reward those who fight for the glory of a religion, because God does not have a religion.

I am an atheist because, i don't believe the existence of Heaven and Hell. After a human dies, it is the soul that remains. Who are we rewarding and punishing in Heaven and Hell after a human dies, the soul? But the soul can't be touched, it is invincible and the soul is free of all the attachments and sins of the body once the human dies. so, what are we really rewarding or punishing in the Heaven and Hell that religions have created?

I am an atheist because, i don't believe that God delivers salvation to only a particular community that follows a particular religion. I don't believe that God categorizes human beings that way.

I am atheist because, i don't believe that God will cleanse you of your sins if one pleases him by prayers or offerings or whatever religions preach. I don't believe in God granting wishes to those who pray, God does not work that way.

I am atheist because, i don't believe that God will be pleased if you just pray no matter what evil is filled within your heart and mind. I don't believe that God likes you more if you keep chanting his name while you live a selfish life.

I have argued on both the sides, now what do you think? Am i an Atheist?

I Found One!!!

Some time ago i published a post titled (Hu)Man Hunt. In that i have mentioned about how i see people everywhere but not a single Man in sight. I also mentioned that i will not stop looking for such men.

Look at the Man in the center of the photograph, 60 something, black dress, heavy backpack on his back, Two India Flags hoisted on his backpack. I found this guy walking while i was waiting for a signal on my way to office. I went to office and immediately went back with a couple of my colleagues to know what he was doing and why he was doing....

I was amazed to find out that he has started his walk from Kashmir about 16 years ago, because it frustrated him to see people fighting among themselves for petty things, it worried him that people are becoming more selfish and getting addicted to all bad habits. So he started walking, Most of the day he meets people and asks them to be good towards themselves and good towards others, he also meets ministers from the respective states and begs them to put a ban on all forms of tobacco and alcohol and see that the youth of the nation go on right tracks. A 15 minute conversation with him was an enlightenment. It doesn't bother him whether people listen to him or not he just persuades them and moves on.

Now this is the kind of Man i was looking out for, these are the kind of Men we need in these times. When asked whether there is still goodness in the community we are living and how good is the response for everything that he is doing, he smiles and says "Look at me i have been traveling by foot for 16 years, without any money in hand, if there was no good in people around, i wouldn't have survived even a year ". More than anything he is hopeful that the good in people will triumph and the world will be a better place to live. Since he had to go on me and my colleagues asked him if there was some way we could help. He said he doesn't take money and anything that will help him to walk further would be good, and what would help him to walk further than a pair of Nike Airmax Shoes!!!

Damn ! We are Rich

The past couple of weeks have made me think and after a prolonged thought i couldn't help thinking, Damn!! We are Rich. It all started when there was a burglary attempt in the apartment complex i am living in and that opened the eyes of everybody and there was a meeting and everybody unanimously decided that we should get an electronic security system installed. I was given the responsibility to talk to the firms that sold these equipment because i was stupid enough to propose the idea of using electronic security. No Electronic security is not stupid nor the idea of installing Electronic security, it was the proposal.
Annywayzzzz... I started searching for companies that installed electronic security equipment. I found some, did a lot of analysis, really, i did.... and zeroed in on 3 companies.

The first one was a popular company and one gets to see their ads in TV that try to make you "feel safe". They have a website where in you log your request (i wonder why they wouldn't allow me to speak to person) and they promise to get back within 24 hours just like their promise to make you "feel safe". I would say those 24 hours were the longest in my life as they lasted almost a week. Then i found a toll free number and it took a heavy toll on me. After going through their labyrinth of senseless menus and questions posed by their "Electronic Assistant" it took me almost 30 minutes to get to a menu which would allow me to speak to an actual person. Then you are put in a queue which plays the message "You are very important to us, please wait" and after 20 minutes of this i hung up and didn't dare to call again. After all that i went through, i felt that they didn't want customers, they must be filthily rich.

So i moved on to the second company in my list, i had to call their head office which was in a different state and to my pleasure an actual person answered the call. He was very much interested in my requirement and delighted by the business i am giving him. he said he would call his local agent and ask him to get in touch with me immediately. I was happy about it, but it was short lived. I waited for a day and nobody called, so i called the same guy again and he was surprised that his local agent did not call me and promised to attend to that immediately and that his agent would get in touch with me immediately. Another two days and i was sure that i wouldn't get a call. After this kind of response, i couldn't help thinking he must be rich.

Then i was left with my only option a local company promising customised security solutions. so i called the guy and he listened to my requirement and said that he would have to come see for himself and then design a customized solution. I was happy about it and asked him to come at the earliest. He asked me what time would i prefer, to which i answered anytime in the morning before 9 to which he said it was not possible for him. It was also not possible for him between 9 AM to 5 PM since those were business hours, i thought my requirement was his business but again with the past experience didn't pursue that answer further. So i said maybe after 7:30PM when everybody have returned back from their work to which he said it was too late for him. I gave up and asked him what would be the convenient time for him while wondering why did he even ask what time i would prefer. He said , between 5:30 PM to 6 PM. I thought WOW, then said even others have to be present and its not entirely up to me decide on the electronic security for the whole apartment complex. so that time is not feasible. Then I asked him about weekends, he wasn't too happy about that and said he will squeeze in some time off from his busy weekend and come over. I started to wonder why does his tone sound like he was doing a favour by coming over.

With the experience i gained i was sure that he is not going to turn up and he didn't. Isn't if fair on my par to think he is damn rich and didn't want business. This is not restricted to just these three companies, i have experience this kind of response from carpenters, plumbers etc etc from almost all walks of life. Now why do these people don't respond, because they don't need to work and what do we call people who don't need to work to survive! Then i came to a conclusion and told myself Damn!! We Are Indeed Very Rich

It's A Scam

One of my colleagues believes that Americans landing on the moon is a Scam staged by NASA. He has websites supporting his argument. He sticks on to that no matter what anyone says. Now i like this guy, not because he thinks Americans did not land on the moon but because of his persistent belief that it is a scam. He dared to think differently while almost entire world thought what a great achievement it was. so while appreciating his way thinking, i began to think... differently... and it didn't take much time for me to unravel many scams which we have accepted as facts of life.

I am sure all the consumer commodities are part of a big scam. For example, Tooth Paste, Although toothpastes claim to keep Germs, Cavities etc etc away, dentists are getting popular by the day and look at the money they make. Why do people who brush with the so called tooth paste religiously have to go to a dentist. Remember some tooth pastes are even approved by dentists. This must be a scam so that both toothpaste industry and dentists get benefited. Although what they claim does not happen, people have still accepted them and made them a part of their life. A certain tooth paste claims to whiten your teeth in 10 days i have been using the same tooth paste for six months and there is no sign of whitening.. It is a SCAM

Similarly, cloth manufacturers and washing powder/detergent manufacturers are united to produce business to each other. I am sure somebody has invented a way to keep clothes last longer but it never came out, the cloth manufacturers might have bought his invention or have even killed the poor guy for coming up with such an idea.. Although washing powders claim to keep your clothes as good as new, remove stains etc etc... this is not what happens, actually i think these powders/soaps deteriorate the life span of the clothes so that we go and buy more clothes.. It is a SCAM


Organic food, In the beginning when there were not pesticides or chemicals every thing that grown was organic, slowly people started using fertilizers, pesticides etc to increase their productivity and now when every body are aware of the harms that these things do, they start cultivating things the older way, give it a name "Organic" and sell it for a higher price and people, gullible people buy them at the prices specified feeling privileged to eat organic food. It is a SCAM

Well I can keep ranting about how most of the aspects of a man's/woman's life are indeed part of a big SCAM and this will never get published. So do you think of anything that is a SCAM and nobody is aware of!!!

A Very Inconvenient Truth

Well I published a post about all the problems that the Earth is facing today and all that. I have recently watched a documentary about a Man and his presentations worldwide trying to convince them into believing that we are indeed facing a real threat.

I admire his perseverance in trying to get the attention of political leaders regarding a grave problem, "Global Warming". He has taken lots of pains and traveled to the ends of the world to collect data and prove that this phenomenon called Global Warming is not a myth. In his presentations he showed visual proofs , statistics and estimates for future and even simple solutions for overcoming this problem.

What worries me more than Global Warming is that the leaders that we have chosen have very conveniently chose to ignore this Inconvenient Truth and called it a hoax. It worries me more that the people have elected them to lead us, but where. A simple question was asked by this man, is this the kind of world you would want to bring your children into? He begs people to understand and realize what we are doing with our only home we call Earth.

Now this guy is not an ordinary man, He is the 45th Vice President of United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. Yes, finally a politician trying to concentrate on the issues which are forming a threat to not only a nation or a continent, but globally.

I hope enough people will realize before its too late, before the future generations would say "What were our parents thinking?", If we don't then i don't think we deserve to live on this planet. I don't see a difference between people and virus which would occupy a territory, consume and destroy all the resources and move on to a different territory. My question is where are WE going to move on after we destroy the Earth?

Rocky II

Not long ago i have published a post titled "The Object of My affection". It was in October 2006. It started with sheer dislike, and gradually became my passion. On February 9th 2008 my dream turned into reality.... I am a proud owner of all new tech-packed Scorpio Vlx "mhawk"....

Happy Days Indeed

How long has it been since you have watched a movie that touched you in a special way. A movie that would give a good feeling. Well i watched this movie named "Happy Days". It was about a bunch of kids and their days spent in college. There was not much to the story, but it took me down the memory lane and into my college days. I re-lived those days as all the memories were played back to me. I saw my life from a different perspective, and couldn't help saying to myself "Happy days Indeed" .