Last Day!!!

It is the last day of the week and the last day of the last month and as if that is not enough it is the last day of the year and as if even that is not good enough it is the last day of the decade. This is one such day when most people who don't have to worry about going to work next day so that they can feed themselves, stop worrying  and start celebrating the arrival of a new year.

Although it does not make any difference and it is going to be just another day tomorrow, it is often good to take a break from the mechanical routine that we go through the entire year , meet with friends and families to celebrate and reflect on the year that has been.

So here I am wishing anybody who is reading this post a very Happy New Year and would like to remind that  it is our life and it is up to us to make it the way we want it to be. I hope you will work your way through your life to make it better and happier. 

Let this day be the last day you will be subject to negative emotions and destroy your life based on them. Let this be the last day for all the hatred in your heart and start filling it with love and compassion. Let this be the last day for all the thoughtless actions that you have done and in the process hurt people. Let this be the last day you will frown and complain and start accepting life as it comes with a broad smile and open arms. Let this be the last day for all the worries and understand that life is too good to be wasting time on them.

Wait what am i doing.... I didn't plan to write all that... I don't even remember what I intended to write.. hmmm..  Well since i can't remember you are stuck with what I already wrote...yes I am talking to you , Have a Good Time

Everything is Illuminated

While we are talking about movies and entertaining ourselves I would like to mention the movie that entertained me to the core. I wrote that last sentence 20 days back and didn't get a chance to continue until today.
It was one of those movies where you know from the very beginning that you are in for some quality entertainment. The movie is based on a novel of the same title written by Jonathan Safron Foer
The movie had no major cast except for Elijah Wood playing the lead role of a young Jewish American and his endeavor to find the woman who saved his grand father from Nazis during World War II. He travels to Ukraine where he is accompanied by an eccentric native translator "Alex" who studied English at university and is "premium" in his knowledge of the language, along with his grumpy grand father who claims he is blind and his deranged seeing eye bitch named "Sammy Davis Jr Jr" after "Sammy Davis Jr".
Although one would consider it to be a very serious movie based on the plot there are ample doses of humour all the way as the movie progresses with Alex's narrative notable for its broken English and improper usage of synonyms and  that makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable.
The whole movie runs around these three people along with the dog and the strongest element of the movie is the dialogue that is carried out between them. Which means most of the movie contains close shots and as the camera is in your face all the time you can't get away with sloppy acting. The three play their roles with such finesse, one would not be able to make a difference between the role and the actor. There are no exaggerated emotions or senseless violence or forced humour, to sum it all no elements of a commercial entertainer and yet a great entertainer. A simple movie that is naturally beautiful and rich in dialogue with its subtle humour, that would leave you with a sense of elated happiness long after you have watched it. This one is definitely a master piece and I would watch it any time any day just to lift up my mood.
There is so much one could talk about the movie but it is best enjoyed when you watch it and by the time end credits roll, you will see that "Everything Is Illuminated".  

Of Movies and Entertainment

For those of you who did not notice, on the left hand side, now there is a copy right notice which says you are allowed to copy the content as long as you are willing to give credit to me. One might ask why? Well one of the readers felt that the content is good and people copying it should give me credit for my work. I, being a man who is always fair in considering the considerations of my readers, considered the consideration and put up that Copy Right thingy.
 Even after I mentioned I don't have anything against SRK there are people who got offended by my last post. So this one is a more detailed explanation on the last one. Did I ever mention that I am a movie fanatic. I watched a movie 4 times all alone bunking college on 4 consecutive days. That is how much I love the movies.  It is the best form of legal entertainment that a guy could get in 80s and 90s. There are a variety of movies of various genres that I watched ranging from comedy, war, historic, western, action, crime, thriller, noir, horror, independent you name it I watched it. I have my best movies in each of those genres. Movies gave my crippled imagination, wings to soar and fly.
Those were the days when movies were made for the sole purpose of entertaining the masses . Then came the movies that carried social messages that inspired the intellects, most of them flopped commercially because they failed to attract the masses. Then there were commercial movies  with a very subtle social message (usually the message shies away from showing itself, overshadowed by the commercial element). All these movies attracted me and I loved them all equally for what they were. 
I mean an action movie gave you lots of raw power and destruction, comedies were outright funny, horror movies showed horrors that would haunt you in the nights, thrillers thrilled you, serious movies made you think.
Then came the era of those movies that claim to be works of art or inspirational or message oriented, to put them in one word "master piece" but all they give is the routine run of the mill, mindless entertainment, now here, I have a problem. No my problem is not with mindless entertainment, i would prefer that any day and that is why I love "Om Shanti Om" for what it provides, mindless entertainment, with all the hindi movie cliches that can be pulled together into one movie. That is no easy job and I loved SRK in that movie. 
Now the problem is when people make these commercial entertainers and try to pass them as work of art or master piece grossly undermining the value of those terms. Movies like "Chak De India" although have a different theme, are still commercial entertainers for various reasons and can't be termed as a master piece. When someone tries to convince me otherwise, I get the same reaction one gets when undead people or zombies in a horror flick start doing an item dance for Madhuri Dixit's "Dhak Dhak karne laga". Again this is nothing against Madhuri I still think none of the bollywood babes dance as gracefully as she does.
All I am saying is that when you expect to eat biryani your mind  sets your senses  to eat biryani, the colour, the texture, the taste, the aroma and everything related to that. When you actually eat some crap that people try to pass as biryani (like that hotel in Coorg, where biryani tasted sweet and there was no meat) your mind would go ...What The Duck!! This is no biryani!!! 

Of Radios and Hockey Matches

Have you ever had a feeling that you are floating pleasantly..in the clouds, soaking the warm rays of sun.. in slow motion enjoying everything around and suddenly you are plummeted to the ground and slapped back to reality and your mind goes What the Duck!!!

I had the exact same feeling today morning while driving back home after my exercise routine. I was Chillaxing to the music of Guzarish, and the song being played was "Guzaarish Hai".  I was swinging and swaying and in general enjoying the slow tempo and well formed lyrics of the song, feeling all those wonderful feelings and that is when I hear a line totally out of sync with the mood and the flow of the song  and I wondered if it was written and composed by Anu Malik and it left me with that ugly feeling. It was as if the lyricist has run out of imagination by the time he reached that line and had to put some filler to finish it. I will not forgive him for that.

There was this other time when I was watching "Chak De India" (one of those movies where Sharukh doesn't bend backwards with his chest protruding,open arms, turning the head to a side, gives those dimple smiles, and the girl runs into him), during the world cup matches where the Jharkhand girl  "Soimoi Kerketa" doesn't know who to pass the ball and asks a senior player "Bindia Naik" to which the senior replies "Go and ask  your captain". I was like isn't she one of the best hockey player from her state and isn't that the reason she was chosen into the national team that would play for the world cup and has been trained to do so and she doesn't know who to pass the ball. I mean I see scenes in the movie where the coach,  Shahrukh Khan keeps juggling glasses, spoons, pens, sticks, virtually anything that he comes across obviously trying out different strategic moves, has he forgot to actually tell the team about those moves !!!.

Again in the same world cup matches the Punjab girl "Balbir Kaur" and the Jharkhand girl "Soimoi Kerketa" fail to understand the referee's warnings and these are the girls chosen for a national team to play for Hockey World Cup. Sign language and colour coded cards are used universally by the referees to overcome the language barrier and communicate effectively with all the players around the world. What was their coach Kabir Khan doing? Ohh right!! it is played by Sharukh Khan, and any role that he plays you see Sharukh Khan and the role itself shies away into the shades of his glorious personality. He was playing himself in coach Kabir Khan's role and was so busy being the "Gunda" of the team, shouting random dialogs, sending players out of the field and didn't realize that the games have referees and they follow some rules and guidelines and it is important for the team to learn them before going for the World Cup. Ohh my bad , it is the coach's responsibility and   Sharukh Khan was playing himself and not the coach's role so there you go, now wonder the players did not understand the referees.

It is matters like these that make these movies or songs fall short of what you would call a "Master Piece".

Now for those of you who would like to come back at me for criticizing Sharukh, trust me I was one of those people who sincerely wished that Sunny Deol should die and Juhi Chawla should fall in love with Sharukh in the movie Darr.

PS: On an unrelated note I hope Sanjay Leela Bhansali has enough sense not to send this film of his for Oscar nominations because the original film "The Sea Inside" has already won an academy award for "Best Foreign Language Film", and they would have second thoughts about giving the same award again to a copy of the film.

PSS: I just came to know that the director SLB is the music director too. No wonder, the genius of copy films ran out of imagination. I forgive you, we can't expect master pieces from you.

Blast from the Past

I sometimes feel that I use a lot of cliched expressions but again No Pain No Gain. I know that doesn't fit in this context I just had to use it. So the readers of my blog know that I initiated a diet and exercise program in the beginning of last year and I succeeded in losing a considerable amount of weight in six months. Then due to various reasons I could not continue it for a long time. I started the routine again this month which includes a strict diet and 8km walk in the park. There is a 4km track so i do two rounds of the track.

Last year I almost started jogging and was one of the fastest walkers by the time i stopped it. Now I started walking again and observed that almost everyone overtook me. Fifteen days into the routine and I have picked up enough speed to walk faster than most of the old men and women. Today I finished up my first round and started on the second round minding my business and not minding the people overtaking me.
At 1km mark a lady over took and I thought enough is enough and decided to over take her. So I increased my speed maintaining only a couple of feet distance. When I was comfortable with the speed i increased a bit and started reducing the distance at which point she noticed what i was trying to do and she increased her speed. Now that was a challenge I was willing to take and I increased my speed further and started maintaining a constant distance between me and her. I did not try to over take her since I was an experienced walker and knew that it is more of endurance rather than speeding up that will count by the time we finish the stretch. So I was pushing her all the way to increase her speed until she reached her threshold levels.
At 2.5km mark I observed that she was struggling to maintain her speed but refusing to give in. I decided to go for the kill and started gaining on her. At about 2.75km mark as I was overtaking her I felt someone slapped me right across my face and I could see my teacher from my school standing in front of me and saying "Aren't you ashamed... to compete with a girl!!!". I went into a momentary shock and the sudden turn of events slowed me down to my usual pace. I was blankly staring ahead and walking while those words kept on repeating in my mind.
The distance between me and her started to grow from a  few feet to few meters. By the time I reached 3.25km mark she gained about 50meters. Then my conscience slapped me hard back into reality and shouted  "No you are not ashamed... to compete with a girl, remember men and women are equal although women are more equal than men."I was still hesitant and my mind started reasoning with me, "Come on, you are dragging double her weight and even if you take off the 33% that is reserved for them you still are carrying more weight than her and she already has an advantage of about 60 meters. If you still think its not fair then well life isn't fair"
At that point I reached 3.5 km mark. With both my mind and conscience jolting me back to reality I started gaining speed  and by the time I reached 3.75km mark my walk turned into jogging and then into running with my eyes focused on the target. I overtook her and reached the 4km mark before she realized what was happening and with only couple of yards between us.
Now, I did not do a victory dance nor did I turn around to goad nor did I create a scene over it, I calmly walked away letting my victim silently succumb to her defeat. What can I say!!! When I am good, I am good but when I am bad, I am better!!!

Change

Change, one word that most people dread, especially the ones who are content with the comfort and warmth of their own shells. I read a quote somewhere that goes along the lines of  "There are only two facts, Birth and Death, everything else is fiction".There is one more fact that remains constant between birth and death, and that is Change. Change is inevitable just like the other two facts.

There was a time, when the term "Change" used to bother me only when paying utility bills  and buying tickets in a city bus. The moment you show up with a note of higher denomination they go into a shock of dread and terror as if they have seen a hoard of zombies rushing towards them and their heads involuntarily turn sideways alternatively while chanting the mantra "No Change" repeatedly.

While most people dread change, there are some who want change, no, not the beggars, the politicians. However the former ones are a lot more successful in getting the change they wanted. Let me rephrase Politicians promise change, Obama did, Chiranjeevi did. That is all that they did. There are some who have actually made statements, as if the mere utterance of that statement itself will bring the change. Need Proof!! the famous "गरीबी हटाओ" translated to "Remove Poverty" from our very own Iron Lady of India. No matter how many times she shouted that out in the meetings the bloody poverty still remains.

Apart from these politicians who promise or talk about bringing change there are people who are working with all the passion to bring change to this world we are living in, trying to make it a better place for everybody. They are working on many issues we are facing today. There are people trying to save various species of animals, there are people trying to save forests, reduce pollution, reduce poverty and hunger issues etc. There are places that have completely banned the usage of plastic, the shops are encouraging customers to use the bio degradable bags (actually they are trying to make money out of selling these bags). With all these happening did the world become a better place?? No, not yet. Will it become a better place somewhere in the near future?? I seriously doubt it.

One of the reasons being any change that happens quickly tends to wear out quickly and for a change to leave a long lasting impact it has to be slow and steady. Another reason is that while working at bringing the change we need to change the root cause of all these problems.

Today I see people with total disregard to others and the world except themselves, their kin and their home. A simple example, a person however well educated he/she maybe, will cut through traffic , violate traffic rules, jump traffic signals, drive wrong way and cause inconvenience and sometimes accidents, because all he/she can think of is reaching the place they want to no matter what the circumstances are and whatever the consequences might be. There are people who support this kind of attitude and back it up with lame excuses and twisted theories.

Although violating traffic rules might not be one of the issues that is most concerning, I am talking about the mind set the attitude, the thought process of that person who can't think or act beyond his own existence.I personally believe that before trying to change anything else, one should try and change the very sinews of their mind and the minds of those around. it is the thought process of the people that has to be changed. Again trying to change the mind set of a person is almost impossible because I also believe that once a person is moulded and has formed a perspective of the world, it is difficult to convince otherwise. People are receptive to change only if it works out for them in a way that will benefit them.

Without changing this mindset of people, no matter how hard we try, the world will still be in the same rut that it is today. I believe that the best way to bring about this change is to cultivate the right things from the child hood as part of education. Show by example to them the joy of sharing, the virtue of being kind, courteous  and respectful to each other, to think over and beyond themselves, help them see the bigger picture of how the earth is our home and every single act of ours directly or indirectly affects the earth in either a favourable or adverse way, let them experience the pleasures in preserving the nature's balance and living in harmony with the nature around them. This change will be slow, it will take generations but I am sure that it will last.

Snakes Scarabs and Monkeys

I was always a big fan of Spielberg movies and thus I happened to watch "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom" albeit a bit late. It starts in China, then crosses Himalayas and Indy lands in India and then the story begins. There were scenes in the movie that were shockingly amusing and enlightening.

1. All the people in India except Amrish Puri and the guy who is sacrificed and a few guards, speak Sinhala, spoken by Sinhalese a.k.a people of Sri Lanka.

2. Indian Maha Rajas Dinner feast involves assorted snake salad, eye ball soup (the actual eye balls, not the Halloween eyeball soup), Roasted scarabs for main course and chilled monkey brain for dessert. Now I wonder where in the hell did he get hold of these MajaRaja meals recipes that we have kept hidden for ages.. damn!!!


There are other amusing things about the movie but hey.... its just a movie

History of Twisted Minds

It was one of those rare moments where emotions conflict and you don't know whether to laugh or cry. While most of Hindus were celebrating Dussehra, yet another festival of Good triumphing over Evil by goddess Durga putting an end to Mahishasura  there were a few doing something that would count as one of those What The Duck !!! moments.

There are a group of people who were mourning Mahishasura's death mentioning that he was a great king and leader who belonged to backward castes and since the history was written by people didn't belong to their caste, fiddled with it and made it a glorious day which should have actually been a Black Day. They argue that people should read and try to understand history properly, only then they would know how great Mahishasura was and how he was destroyed by a Goddess belonging to a forward caste.

Now somebody try and explain them the difference between mythology and history, no wait don't, unless you belong to those backward castes chances are that you too will try to cover up the real history. being a fair person that I am, I tried to take their argument and do some research . Things that I found were more than shocking and can be read from here and here. 

Both claim that this guy was not even a complete human being but a cross between a demon and a she buffalo, wherein the demon fell in love (whether it was one sided or mutual is not known) with a she buffalo (or a demoness in the form of a buffalo) and this was the product of their consummation. It is also given that the demon while making this orgasmic trans-species love, was attacked and killed by another wild buffalo. Well who wouldn't, wouldn't you if one of your kind was being molested by one of a different kind, as if the competition within the same species wasn't tough enough. For those of you thinking and getting disgusted about the whole demon on buffalo thingy, come on this guy was returning after a great penance where in he was deprived of all the worldly pleasures for a long long period of time. There are people who would molest dogs because they missed their wives.Now we know the origins of these kind of people.

However I didn't find any trace of Mahishasura being a great king of the downtrodden, no doubt these forward caste bastards have eliminated all the evidences and twisted all the facts even on internet. Now I join these humble people and mourn the death and condemn the oppression that has been and is still being carried out by the so called forward caste. Shame on you..

Update: After some more research A.K.A surfing internet i found about this tribe who mourn the death of mahishasura and some more info here and here . All these articles talk about a specific tribe, please don't confuse them with the well educated city dwelling people I have mentioned above.

Jeeezzz..You have been Profiled!!!

The first time I came across the word "Profile", one of my intelligent and worldly smart friends told me that, when you add a photo to a bio-data it is called a profile (I know I have very smart friends) so when I read in some newspaper that the police were asking for the profile of a murderer from the witnesses, I was like How the hell will the witnesses have the bio-data of the murder that too with a picture on it. By that time I was taught to look up in the dictionary for the meanings of words I didn't know and not to rely on the intelligent friends. The next time my mind went bonkers was when i saw some American news channel blaming some one for racially profiling someone and found that it can be used as a gentler and politically correct version of abusing someone based on his caste, colour, creed, sex, race, religion etc. This got me into thinking of all the times i have been "Profiled" and I didn't even know. 

I am really not sure if it was in my 6th or 7th standard. I was new to the school and some kid was bothering me, making it difficult for me to concentrate on the lecture. Although the teacher noticed it she didn't react, so I had to take matter into my own hands. All i did was take his book and throw it out of the class and that's when the teacher's hand landed right across my cheek with all the force and I was asked to get out of the class for being arrogant. I later came to know that the kid bothering me was that teacher's relative. I was "Relatively Profiled".

I guess it was my 8th standard and the context in discussion are our unit tests that are held every month. I have to give a bit of humble self introduction although it might look like bragging. I was a topper most of my academic life if not every year and since I have changed too many schools I had to prove it every time. so this was again a new school and new teachers. I never bothered about my marks in Science and Maths because i was the best at the remaining six subjects (Yes I had to study eight subjects for the first 10 years of my academic life) and they always got me into one of the top 3 positions. This time I was slipping the third position by two marks to a girl and I should mention that the stress is on "two marks" than the fact that it is a "girl" to whom I was losing that position. So I approached my Telugu teacher with my answer sheet and her answer sheet, don't ask me how i got hold of her answer sheet. I compared both papers, pointed out some mistakes and asked her why she was awarded more marks. Even her handwriting was no better than mine and I have even attempted extra questions. The answer she gave me was more than shocking and my confidence in fair evaluation was shaken to the roots and beyond. She said "Aren't you ashamed!! to compete with a girl" and she cut out two more marks from my paper and I slipped from 4th to 5th position. I was "Gender profiled".

I should also mention that I was little more on the chubby side, which made me look dumb and the so called smart students of the class didn't want anything to do with me. It is a different story that they were not smart enough to know that the girls in the class loved chubby boys only because i reminded them of their teddy bears.  Now I know I was being "Physically Profiled". So I hung out with the less fortunate students of the class who actually were dumb. Even before my first unit test in the school during one of the classes, I was clearing a doubt of one of my less fortunate friends had during a lecture (ok we were making fun of some students) which provoked the teacher to make me and my friends stand up and fired a series of questions all of which were answered by me. I thought she didn't have anything else in her arsenal but I thought wrong. She said "If you keep hanging out with these kind then one day you will be dumb like them". WTF I have been "Friendly profiled" (Profiled based on the friends I have) and they have been "Academically Profiled" (Profiled based on their academic competence).

Add another couple of years where we moved on to specializations and I had to take Maths Physics and Chemistry. I did well in Maths and Physics but i couldn't get a grip on Chemistry. These were not the years of my academic brilliance and I was just another average student partly because of my love for cricket and partly because I got over the feeling of hatred for girls (for reasons see "Gender Profiled") and started discovering feelings of a different kind. So my results in chemistry were my academic worst and were just enough to get me to the next year. I was never interested in chemistry lectures and spent time doing extra-curricular activities. During one of those sessions I was disturbed by the chemistry lecturer and he started firing questions, I had a sense of Dejavu. Like I said those were not the days of my academic brilliance, so I stood there silently for the lecturer to run out of questions. He was disgusted and said that people like me are good for nothing and I would become one those loafers on the streets and end up in a gutter some day, all that because I didn't show interest in his subject. OMG I have been "Subjectly Profiled". 

On an unrelated note Mr. Chemistry lecturer if you are reading this, your prophecy has turned out partly true. I have been loafing on the roads a lot but in a fully packed, high end version SUV. 

I was and I am still being profiled based on different aspects and really don't understand people getting all bent out of shape over this subject.

A Post for Dad

Five years to this day, and I still remember rushing to the hospital after the news that Dad is being shifted to ICU and it was all over by the time I reached. I was late, by a lifetime. This is remembering him for all that he was for me. 

He was not a very popular person, in fact he was considered an introvert and was always uncomfortable in crowds and gatherings and kept to himself. It still surprises me on how could this guy even manage to propose and end up marrying my mom who was totally opposite in nature. Although he did not mingle well with many people he always maintained a set of friends and held them close to his heart. His best friends were his books which he always carried where ever he went.

In my mom's words he is a very passionate and sensitive person who couldn't express well and that it is our duty to try and understand him which I never did, and argued. He was a Translator by profession for thirty nine years, which means he was a master of languages but  always failed to express what he wanted to tell. Maybe it was me who failed to understand him.

He has a beautiful handwriting and almost painted the words he wrote and  was very poetic but he would never show it to anyone. Even I wouldn't have known it If I didn't come across some of his writings in an old neglected book.

When I was about seven years old I was being shouted at by my mom for violating her iron rule that I should always play in the same street and get into the house before it gets dark. At one point my mom asked me to get out of the house and live on the streets and i don't even know what got into me, I turned around and stepped out assuming my mom would back out but it misfired and my mom slammed the door behind me and asked not to return, to which I replied I was not going to. Once outside I was devising my plans on what to do and where to go and I thought that I could go to my aunt's place which was close by but wasn't really sure about the directions. Then I saw dad returning from office in a distance and accumulating all the tears I could accumulate, ran towards him, jumped into his arms and complained that I was asked to get out of the house. I am sure he must have smiled within himself but he never showed it out. He wiped my tears carried me home,  shouted at everyone responsible for it, then he fed me and put me to sleep. I was a happy kid again.

I remember how he used to wake me and my brother everyday by rubbing our eyes gently while we rolled lazily on the bed throwing childish tantrums. He used to massage our hands and legs and pulled our fingers and toes to make them click while our mom got us hot steaming milk with lot of foam which was a necessity. 

He used to polish our shoes until they are really shining and even put them on us himself, he used to tuck in our shirts neatly, cut our finger nails, when the time came for me to move on from the regular pre knotted ties with elastic bands to the regular ties, he taught me the secrets behind single and double knots and he derived pleasure out of all that he did for us. We were more afraid of our mom than our dad and always used to run to him for consolation or to get anything done. he was very different from the regular run of the mill dads. He was always warm and cozy and me and my brother used to compete to snuggle by his side.

As we grew up, like everything else our lives changed or rather we changed and started moving away from him creating a gap that we never attempted to bridge. We always expected him to bridge the gap and understand our arrogance and everything was his fault. We always complained on what he didn't do than realizing all that he did. Through all this, he always watched out for us, gave us good education, morals and values and was always proud of us.

I still remember the day rushing to the hospital realizing how wrong I was all the time and wanted to tell him how proud I was of him and how much I loved him but it was too late. Although he wouldn't hate me for what I did, now as a father, I realize how much I have hurt him after all that he did for us. I am sorry dad and I couldn't be a good son to you, I will at least try to be a good father.

Dad... you are the best that I ever had and you will always be remembered and cherished.

Game.. Set.. and Match

How many of us have seen the movie Gladiator?? I guess almost every regular movie goer would have watched this movie either with a aaawwwwwww or a aaaaaaaaawww. Don't ask the difference, I will be blamed for stereotyping.

So this movie that tells the tale of how a general became a slave then went on to become a gladiator who defied an emperor has been a huge success. There are many things that one gets to learn from that movie including the fact that royal families in Rome are inbred in the name of pure blood. So what amongst all caught your attention??  What was the most enlightening moment in the whole movie?

For me it was their contribution to the greatest political scam ever attempted and is still being used effectively and successfully. People have been and are still falling prey to this and they don't even realize, in fact they enjoy and derive pleasure out of it.

Any guesses yet!! I guess not..Its the games...still No? Do you remember the scene where the wuss of an emperor Whats-His-Name consults with his equally effete political adviser Whoever-That-Is on the plan of action to cover his ill reputation and popularity amongst people and officials. What do they come up with?? Let The Games Begin, albeit watching people die killing each other in an arena throwing in a bunch of wild animals here and there was the only game they knew  and appreciated, given the dark ages they were living in.  It's a different story that the plan backfired and the emperor got killed, that is because he was fool enough to be actually  tempted to participate in it.  

That flaw has been covered by the successors who took the concept to their heart and implemented with such finesse and impeccability that people have been and are still falling for this greatest fad.Thus began the legacy of bluffing people into entertaining them with different kinds of games, thus deviating them from the issues  and numbing their brains while the politicians got away with anything and every thing.

This concept has been improved from just using the games when necessary to run them for seasons together and invent different games for different seasons so that people are always occupied with something or other. This has been taken to such a level that it became big industry in itself and millions are making a living out of it.

Now if this is not the most inspiring aspect of the movie that has revolutionized politics i don't know what else is....

P.S. A question might arise, Gladiator released ages ago so why now!! This post is a  dedication to all the people behind organizing  Common Wealth Games who have taken this concept a step ahead and actually scammed the process of organizing the Games

I Robot

When I announced before everybody that I would have been happy if Enthiran got the kind of attention than the Janmabhoomi/Babri verdict, people gave me "those" looks. I mean why not, for the sheer entertainment it can provide rather than people fighting over land in the name of religion and God, I am all for Enthiran A.K.A Robot.
To begin with I was never a fan of Rajinikanth and always wondered why the hell are people crazy over this guy. So I did what any sane guy with a sane mind would do, watch his films. In the beginning I disliked them but was strangely attracted to them. Then I would stop channel surfing and watch Rajinikanth without batting my eyes. His mere appearance worked magic on me like.. Govinda, Charlie Chaplin and the ilk of them. No I am not comparing them I am just saying that all these never fail to entertain me. Then finally his movie "Sivaji" nailed it, very deep, into my head and now if I have to die and allowed to do one last thing it would be to watch a Rajinikanth movie.
Coming to his latest movie, I keep hearing nonsense and cacophony about how the concept is copied from a bunch of Hollywood movies. Did you ignoramuses even know that "God created man in his own image". Now you don't hear people blaming God for copying do you!!! Even God ran out of ideas and had to copy himself to create man, I don't blame men who have acquired that by inheritance from God.
There are some who say that he looks all made up and very artificial. If this not an unfair comment I don't know what is!!! Hello... he plays a Cyborg and they are not supposed to look natural, they are supposed to be artificial and if robots don't look artificial I don't know who else should!! Of course with the exception of Aishwarya Rai. For once Rajinikanth gets to live up to his role and you go all gaga over him, Shame on you.
If there are any cyborgs that I approve of it's him , him and him and not him, he looks too natural to be a Robot. So there you go Robot, Robot, dil se dile milao.
P.S. : On a very related note while watching the promos I was confused if Rajni was playing the Robot or Aish...

The Verdict

Some people, OK most Indians waited with bated breath under intense pressure for the verdict on the issue that has been given more attention and hype than it really deserved. I would rather be happy if Rajnikanth's movie Enthiran gets that kind of attention. Most of the cities and towns closed their businesses, offices gave a half day, schools left the students out early and the roads were a pleasant sight to see. Its amusing that many people were worried and spreading the same among others that some riots would break loose and end in communal violence. That's not how it works I told them.
I watched many people expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction over the verdict given. Personally there can't be a more pathetic verdict than what is given. The land is divided into three and distributed between religions so that they can worship their respective gods in their respective places. Are you trying to divide the land in the name of God/Religion!! and not to forget you are the folks who truly believe that God created this land and water. I would rather destroy these institutions of prayer and worship that preach us to differentiate, divide and raise walls among us in the name of God or Religion. i don't want these Gods I don't want these Religions.
I would have been more happy if the land is nationalized under heritage constructions and all the monuments are preserved as they are and protect it from the people claiming ownership of it based on God and religion.
The most amusing part of this is the news that sadhus expressing their joy over the verdict. To all those so called men of God, men who have sacrificed all pleasures in the name of God and are happy with the verdict, I just have three words for you. Since sadhus don't have a habit of reading blogs there is no point of publishing those words here.

No Title

Just when I started to think that my will to express is completely lost, I am inspired again, to write. My thoughts have been drifting aimlessly and it has become very hard to get something good out of it. Its not that I do any better job with a stable mind. I heard some one say that all we need is a bit of insanity to keep ourselves sane in this world. I guess I have stocked up enough madness and I am ready to hit back.

A Time for Hatred

I don't discriminate between people, I hate them all equally.

Nothing Special About It

As a kid and when you are growing up there are things that you look forward to, because these were not available throughout the year. They were either seasonal or available only on occasions or available only at certain places.
The first that comes to the mind are crackers, Oh how we used to wait all the year for Diwali to arrive, the wait for dad to come home with a list where in you get to select the crackers you want for that Diwali, then wait for the crackers to actually arrive, then lay them out in the sun the day before Diwali in the hope that we will get an extra bang out of them.
There are others that we used to wait for Kites (not the Hrithik Roshan Movie), Holi, Haleem, Mangoes, Watermelons, lassi (Not the regular one).
Why were these special?
These were special because its not everyday and everywhere that you get them and it was fun to wait for them before the jerks trying to make more bucks out of them made them available everywhere all through the year. Now there is no wait, you want it you get. No fun in that, nothing "special" about that. Maybe that is the reason I keep losing interest in these things.
Crackers are used almost everyday and every damn occasion, even the colours used during Holi are used every where, mangoes and watermelon are available all through the year and now its haleem that is suffering the same state.
The one very special item that has been beaten to death was "Hyderabadi Biryani". It is not prepared anywhere not in Hyderabad, not in India, nowhere, the thing they prepare these days is briyani but not Hyderabadi biryani. How do I know? i know because I have eaten it. In my college days we used to sneak out of the house at midnight and go to "Parwaaz" or "Azeezia" or "Astoria", occasional "paradise" or "bawarchi" and feast on this special dish.
Again thanks to all those greedy morons who can't think beyond making more money, the very specialty of the dish is ruined and turned into a regular everyday dish.
Thank you all for taking the fun and special moments out of my life and turning them into regular stuff.

100

So we have reached the 100 mark. It could have happened much sooner but hey, it will happen when it has to happen.
The latest mantra for me is to live a credit free life. I have not used credit cards for the past four months and I would like to keep it that way. This was my first step towards a CFL. The next step is to save enough and clear off my car and house loans in the next two years.
Two months into it and I had to replace my cars break pads which costed me, "A Lot" and my TV that has been in good working condition over the past ten year goes boom and I had to go and buy an LED TV. I literally lived the Quote, "Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is, we will go find it".
The very next day my modem/router goes Kaboom.. and I had to replace it with an advanced and pricier version.
Then it was the turn of the Wireless Keyboard and at this point I was like is that the best you can do, come on... Hit me, Hit me hard because, I am going to survive, I am still going to save all that money to clear off my loans.
The best part is that I still managed to stay on the schedule for clearing loans even after incurring these additional expenses.

Fallen Angel

Gimme those wings
of wind and fire
let me those wheels
of burning desire
forge me a sword
of the strongest will
turn me into a machine
destined to kill

Get Over with it already

01:00 AM doesn't seem to be an odd time for writing this up. I have been postponing this for a while now and I said to myself enough is enough.
The big deal going around during the time I named this post was Rupee getting a symbol and all the hype around it. There is lot of appreciation for the symbol and there are many who are proud that now we have symbol and Rupee gets a place along with Dollar, Pound etc etc.
NO you dumb asses, just giving a symbol will not make a Rupee equivalent to others, it is the exchange rate that defines the place and when that day comes where the difference decreases drastically then you should be proud.
You are proud because now we have symbol for Rupee!!!
Its like an American Parent being proud of their kid for "Graduating" from Pre-School.
Seriously, Get Over With It Already.

Aimless Shit

People disgust me..., maybe I am being a cynic... maybe i am not thinking straight.. maybe I am depressed... but it still remains a fact. Someone said why break your head about something you can't help.. you can't change... that reminds me of the day when I said the same thing to my dad. I did not get a proper answer that day but today I have an answer. i am bothered because I am part of this fucking society. I am bothered that people put themselves first and have no concern for others and it is scary that some people think that is how it should be and that is the sign of development. I am not sure what kind of crappy philosophy that is and how much screwed up their minds have to be to think that way. There was a time when people were afraid to make mistakes, but now they make mistakes and blame others for it. Being rude and showing attitude have become a fashion statement. The standards for ethics and moral values have hit rock bottom. Every asshole is a good person these days, those who lie , those who cheat, those who are selfish and guess what there is no wrong in being selfish.. I have been told so... I am surrounded by this shallowness and it sickens my stomach all the time. I have been told I don't belong in this day and time that I live... maybe its not just me that doesn't belong in this day and time, it is this whole sickening population of so called human beings who are burdening this earth with their filth that don't belong in this day and time... They talk about dooms day and if it happens in my life time... and when entire population is scurrying to save themselves and screaming, I will be laughing myself to death....

Wisdom Shots !!!

This is collection of all the wisdom shots that I had since I arrived in USA

1. The more you get scared, the more it will scare you.
2. Never attend meetings, especially after you have traveled for 36 hours without much sleep.
3. Don't go for a Chinese buffet when you are not hungry.
4. Life is like a box of chocolates, sooner or later you will finish all those chocolates.
5. When life gives you lot of chocolates, distribute them all and go for a low fat, low calorie, high fiber Salad.
6. True Friends are like Chocolates, you can't have too many of them at the same time.
7. When others ask you for advice, they are not really looking for your opinion, they are looking for you to agree with their opinion.
8. A Generation later... folded news paper transforms into a laptop.
9. Life is like a box of chocolates, When I opened the box I found peanut butter cookies.
10. Reality is the ultimate illusion.
11. When it's sunny and warm in Colorado, don't forget to take your Rain Coat with you.
12. I have no complaints with death, it is life that is troubling me.

Conversations

I started this post as soon as I landed and almost a week later I am still updating this post. So I am sitting here in Denver International airport heading for Dallas. OK back to the post... Have you ever had a conversation that is too good to be true. Well I had ... in the most unlikely place.. 36000 feet above the ground crossing continents.
I could not get to do a online checkin of the flight traveling from Doha to Washington D.C. which happens to be a 14 hours flight. By the time i reached the airport the only aisle seat available was in the last row and all others were middle seats. So i had no option but to choose that seat.I was a bit tired by the time I boarded the flight and was looking forward to catch some sleep and some movies. One thing i was not ready is for a conversation, come on who talks to a stranger sitting beside you in a airplane for hours together.. not me.
Well this guy who sat beside me started by asking if i was from Mumbai, to which i replied i was from Hyderabad, and he said then you must be a software engineer, if you are from Mumbai then there is chance that you are an actor. He said he was a search and rescue pilot and explained his job profile and asked me about my job. He mentioned that he knew very less about India. we were quiet for some time and then it was meals time and he had some wine or scotch or both and then it all started.

He started telling that single malt scotch is the good quality one and it is all about enhancing and remembering the emotions and feelings rather than forgetting them. he was mentioning how scotch prepared at different places and different ways evokes different emotions. Then he turned on to wine and was telling how wine represents the place it was prepared and how drinking wine reminds you of the place it was prepared and he was telling all this in French and Espanol even after me protesting that I don't understand those languages.

Then he went on to computers and was telling how he use dot work on fortran and COBOL and i was like wait you were a search and rescue pilot. Well he also happens to be a second generation programmer. He was talking about how everybody is just trying to make things faster and nobody is thinking out of the box for innovative ideas. He proposed two business ideas which he mentioned that he had talked about in a conference back in 2000 and nobody understood them. he was talking all object oriented stuff but I should admit his ideas made me think.
Then he went on to talk about Indians and said it bothers him that most of us have become very mechanical despite our rich intellectual and spiritual heritage. I was like wait I thought you didn't knwo much about India. Then we went on discussing on what could be the problem and on the other hand I was dying to sleep. He moved on to talked about Yin and Yang and that he has a bit of both. Is there something that he doesn't know!!! Then we talked about karma philosophy, purpose of life and he turned the discussion towards me and asked what am I doing that i think is worthy in my life and asked me why I was doing whatever I was doing. My answers seem to satisfy him and he even admitted that I might be one of the smart people he has ever met, which was a relief after all that killing he did with all those questions.
The flight was 14 hours long and we talked for about 9 hours. Then i excused myself, slept for a while, watched a movie and we said goodbye to each other.

Coincidences...

Did i ever mention that whenever i get my car washed and waxed, it rains.. and it rains only so much so that dust settles well on the car and it looks like i have been to an off road rally by the time i reach home. It happened so many times that I started believing I am not in good terms with God and that was his way of saying Piss Off... well that is on the lighter side. I am full of these coincidences.
Recently I had to pickup a suitcase from someone traveling from US to India through Qatar airlines and had to drop the suitcase off when they were going back. I was thinking, man!! I came to the airport twice and its not to receive or sendoff someone I know, its not even a person, its just a suitcase and they were flying Qatar. I was actually thinking they must be bunch of cheapos for choosing that airlines. Like I said God has a weird way handling things when it comes to me... and if you have not guessed already... yesss I am flying the same airlines and to add an extra pinch of insult to my injury, I have a 6 hour waiting time at Washington airport before I can head to Denver, I will be reaching there midnight, then i have to go to hotel and check-in and get some sleep and go to the office in the morning. Thank You God... Thank You very much... I love you too....

I am back... Again!!!

Another gap and thousands of reasons after neglecting to write, I am back. I had lots of stuff to write but never picked myself up to do it. Lots of experiences in a short period of time and life has been one hell of a roller coaster ride. If i think about it life has always been a roller coaster ride. The bottom line is am i enjoying the ride ?? Damn yes!! I am enjoying the ride.
I was having a small conversation with this incredible person that i met and mentioned that I will be leaving for US this weekend and the first thing he says is that, now he can expect to see a lot of writing because my pen moves well when i am abroad and i was wondering how true!! I keep thinking if all the responsibilities that I have and all the obligations are preventing me from writing, but deep down I know that the only thing that is preventing me is myself. But the good thing is I am back.
Lately I have learnt lots of stuff.. from the greatest teacher... experience. I realized that the more scared you are the more this world will scare you.

Wings of Time

Some one I know asked me this question. Why does it feel that time is flying by even when most of the time was spent in difficulties and struggles quite contrary to the saying that says time flies when you are happy . There is some one who complains that time is flying by. Personally I am happy when time is flying by except when i am sleeping.
When you think about it time seems to fly when you are too busy or having too much fun to take note of it. On the other hand time seems to drag when you have nothing to do or have to go through situations that you don't want to. Ever noticed how slow time moves when you are actually doing nothing else but observing it.
One can say that even when your life is one hectic mechanical routine, time seems to fly by. Maybe but not for long, initially one might enjoy the fruits of the hectic mechanical routine but sooner or later it will drain the life energy out of you. At some point you either break down or change your routine.
So if you feel that you have not noticed how time flew by then it essentially means that even after all the hardships you have been through all those years you still enjoyed the journey so far and you have enjoyed it so much that you didn't see time which was and is moving at the same pace it has ever been.
Finally if you are afraid that time is flying by, you are so much in love with your life that you are afraid it is going to end anytime ;)

To Do - Check list

Here is the list of things I would like to do

1. Wild Boar meat - well when i started writing this, it was the topmost to do, but now its done
2. Drive a tractor - Its lot of fun
3. Walk in Snow while it is snowing
4. Spend an evening on a beach watching sunset- i watched sunset from the top of a mountain near golden gate bridge, San Fransisco but we were driving crazily and running up the hill most of the time to get there in time to watch the sunset. All i want to do is watch the sunset while lazing on the sands of a beach
5. Long Drive to an unknown destination
6. Get lost in a dense forest amidst mountains and valleys- well this would be my last to do i guess because i may not survive to do anything else.
7. climb the highest peak of a mountain range and watch sunrise.

There are many more that i would want to do but i am limiting the list to more realistic ones that i might do some day.