Four Weddings and A Funeral

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Anniversary

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

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

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

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

Multi Tasking

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

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

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

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

English Morning

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

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

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

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

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

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

Optimist or Pessimist

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

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

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

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

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

Burning Issues

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

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

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

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

OCD

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


So what is your OCD??

Famous Last Words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7.What does this button do?

8. It's probably just a rash.

9. Are you sure the power is off?

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

11. Pull the pin and count to what?

12. Which wire was I supposed to cut?

13. I wonder where the mother bear is.

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

15. These are the good kind of mushrooms.

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

17. Rat poison only kills rats.

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

19. Give me liberty or give me death.

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

21. That birthmark on your head looks like 999.

22. Nice doggie.

23. I can do that with my eyes closed.

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

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


Funny aren't they....

Withdrawal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's All Folks

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

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

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

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

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

Friends

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YAY - Yet Another Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

Priceless !!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

How much does it cost ?

Lately I have been hearing from people around me that the cost of living has become too high , the prices have gone up steeply, and it takes lot of money to spend good time. Well yes, the cost of living is high, and the prices have gone high too, but i definitely don't agree that one has to spend lot of money to have good time. So how much does it really cost to have fun ? That depends on what people mean by "Having Fun". Some think going away from the rush and madness of the city and spending time in a nature resort peacefully is a way of spending good time. Some even complain that there are no places around Hyderabad where you can have fun, or Hyderabad is such a dry and boring place.. there is nothing around.. First thing , I get offended when someone talks bad about Hyderabad and next You can spend lots of good time in and around Hyderabad.... Again it depends on what is your idea of having fun, spending good time.... Yeah resorts and holiday packages cost you a lot... pubs and discos cost you a lot.. fancy restaurants cost you a lot..... But these are not the only means of spending a good time.... So let us see my view of how much does to cost to spend a good time .....

1. A winter evening, friends meeting at a cafe` eating hot samosas and drinking irani chai
2. You and your friend or life partner, your bike, 100 Rs petrol, open highway, long ride.....
3. Old friends, seperate cities/countries, with coffe mugs and an internet messenger, laughing away over the memories....
4. Rain on the tin roof of a small roadside shop, smell of hot frying pakodas, with friends, nestling closer for warmth..
5. Exams time, mignight 12:30.... Parwaz hotel, hot steaming Hyderabadi biryani......
6. Warm summer nights, on the roof top, lying on the back looking at the stars, wondering and talking about everything under the sun....
7. A good book, A Beverage in hand, A Comfortable Sofa, Endless imagination.....
8. You and mom, summer night, coconut oil, head massage, talking about the absent family members

Yes you can spend thousands, even lakhs to have a good time, but according to me the only thing you need to spend is TIME.... Some photographs of me and my friend spending great time on the tank bund road and we didnt have to spend money......

Bandey mein tha dum

This blog was the reason i ever wrote my last blog. We went to this movie "Lage raho munna bhai", and happened to land in McD's for a total disappointment.

So it was after a long time and with expectations of having fun, me, myself and my wife ventured out to watch this movie. After a long time i could actually say that i have watched a good movie. Its about a bhai who is inspired by Gandhi and his principles, leaves dadagiri and goes around doing gandhigiri. This movie also features Gandhi appearing in the background whenever the bhai thinks of him. A good movie with a great message.

Whenever Gandhi appears in the movie or whenever munna bhai is carrying out his gandhigiri a lyric is played throughout the movie. Which goes on "bandhey mein tha dum, vandemaataram".

Recently we had some discussions over Gandhi, many were along the path of

Does he deserve the kind of attention he was given?

He favoured Nehru which caused the division of India and Pakistan.

He has been selfish all the way...

He stole the concept of Complete Independence from Bhagath Singh...

we would have got independence long back if we did not follow his track...

However i was more interested in his principles.....

Satya(Truth), Ahimsa(Non Violence)

I really appreciate him for all that he had gone through, all the pain and suffering he had to undergo along the path he followed. I really appreciate him for sticking to his principles all the way.

But, i doubted if Ahimsa was the best weapon that could be used to achieve what he and all his followers achieved. Yes it worked well against British and we finally achieved Independence. What if it was not British we are fighting against, if it was somebody else, would ahimsa be still the best weapon.

What if we were ruled by Hitler and his Nazi army instead of the British empire, would ahimsa and non co-operation still work. I am sure Hitler and his army would not be interested in our co-operation or the lack of it. They would have eliminated everyone who stood in their way violent or non-violent.

Now we sit happily enjoying the fruits of Independence without even feeling the pinch of all the struggle and consider ourselves eligible to comment on the motives and principles of those who were actually there.

How many of us would stand against what is wrong, stand for the truth, take a bullet for what we believe in. It is easy for us to talk without being there, it is easy for me to doubt and analyse if Gandhi's principles would really work. I am sure Gandhi didnt have any Hitler to compare and analyse. He wouldnt even have a way of knowing if ahimsa would work against the British unless he practised it. So he practised ahimsa, satyagraha, stood his ground for what he believed in was right and never stumbled.

So i am very sure......

Bandhey mein tha dum.....

Vande Maataram.

I am lovin it

This is a bit hard to digest for those who know me well but, yes i have started dieting. Have you ever given a thought about "die" being a part of a "diet". So i stopped eating at nights and survive with a glass of buttermilk and at times a couple of phulkas.In mornings i have a standard South Indian breakfast and pack the same for lunch. So lunch essentially forms my last meal of the day. I have done this before but i gave in to my craving for favourite food. so this time i came up with a plan. I maintain my diet every day but will give an exception once in a while and eat junk food or food i really like. Things are going smoothly with the adjustments i have made. Yesterday was the day i thought of having some junk food, something that is deeply fried in oil.I have already had Chinese so it was time for some American fast food.

There are two options KFC and McDonald's. I personally prefer KFC but, we were going to watch a movie and McDonald,s happens to be in the same building. So i thought fine, lets eat at McD's "The family restaurant".

The advertisement for the restaurant features different characters saying " I am Lovin' it".

So we enter the restaurant and its packed, cant really blame the restaurant, people always crowd into the restaurant for various reasons. So we stand in a lengthy line looking at the options we have on the menu. Not really many options, but still wanted to make the best out of it thus satisfying my craving for junk food. So i thought of a chicken Mc Maharaja and chicken Mexican wrap with regular fries and large pepsi. So i started placing my order.

Me: Can i have one Chicken Mc maharaja and some....
He: Sorry sir we don't have that...
Me: but you put it on your menu...
He: yes sir but its not available sir, we are very sorry about it
Me: ok give me Chicken Mc grill and some...
HE: sorry sir we don't have chicken Mc grill, however we have the regular Mc chicken
Me: What the... ok give me a fillet O fish and chicken Mexican wrap and make it a ....
He: I am terribly sorry sir we don't have that too....
Me: Ok I cant guess anymore so why don't you tell me what all you have...
He: McChicken, fillet O fish in non vegetarian
Me: I am sure Mc veggie is also not available
He: yes sir, sorry sir (smiling 32 teeth out) how did you know...
Me: I was going to order that next....
He: hehehehehe(shyly)
Me: ok i will have a fillet O fish, make it a combo with regular fries and a large pepsi.
He: I am Sorry Sir we don't have large pepsi....
Me: What the bloody hell you just have to pour pepsi in a larger container what do you mean you don't have it....
He: Very sorry sir we are short of containers
Me: How about a kids meal?
He: SO...
Me: Wait, i know what you are going to say, Sorry sir we dont have it... and you dont even have chicken nuggets right
HE: (Smiling broadly)
(If physical assault wasn't illegal, i would have had my share of it)

I take my food and sit at the table cursing him deeply for ruining my junk food evening... The i started looking around wondering why the hell are all these people crazy about this place... Then a couple sitting beside us with ice cream cones caught my attention. I saw that both the cones were dripping. The guy was searching for handkerchief and asking for some tissues simultaneously... before anyone could respond ice cream from both the cones just fell off the cones.. don't ask me how and the cone was crumpled and lost its shape as if it was made out of paper.. the couple were so pissed off they started shouting.. the manager appears within no time smiling broadly and asking how he can help.... he analysed the situation and got the couple another ice cream which was suffering the same fate as earlier... Now the guy drops both the cones on the floor before the ice cream falls out by itself and they leave......

Do i have to say ...... " I am lovin' it"......

Don't be proud, Dear Death

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
.......................
........................
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.


These are the verses from a poem i read during my school, beautifully composed by John Donne. Of all the poems that i have admired this one kept on lingering in my head while others nested in the archives of my memory.

This poem mocks at death asking it not to be proud because of the stature it is given by the people.

What is death? What happens when you die? Many have given different interpretations of it. Science says death is the absence of life and happens when you either stop breathing or your heart stops beating. What is life, what part of the body does life reside when your body is still alive and kicking. How does life enter your body? Well everybody knows its the sperm that fertilizes the egg and the egg evolves into a human body. Can sperm be called as life? There is another part of science which says the cells of your body keep dying from the day you were born (the day the egg was fertilized). But there is another process which reproduces the cells. Only, in the beginning the production of the cells is much faster than the deterioration and as time goes by it is reversed and finally the deterioration of the cells gains momentum while production of cells diminishes. When the production of cells stops, your body will slowly stop functioning and gives in to death. The deterioration of body cells happen even after we consider somebody dead, only it happens very rapidly. Doctors consider somebody dead when their heart stops beating, why does the heart stop beating, because the blood pressure decreases why does the blood pressure decrease? Oh well enough of science about death and this is not even the reason i started this post.

Every religion discusses the duality of life, body and soul. When these are together someone is said to be alive. The body is destructible where the soul is eternal. We came into this world naked, but we start wearing clothes when we gain the knowledge that we are naked. Generally our parents have the knowledge by the time we are born, so they cover us up and tell us the importance of putting some clothes on, to cover your naked body. From the time we started wearing clothes we change numerous pairs for various reasons, the clothes faded away, they are too soiled, they are torn, they don't fit us anymore, they are out of fashion etc. We are happy about shopping for new clothes, discarding the ones we cant wear anymore for the reasons mentioned and put on the new ones. Clothes have become so important than the body itself that, the clothes you wear represents what you are. Similarly a soul wears a body to represent or identify itself physically and uses the senses that come along with the body to See, Hear, Touch, Smell, Taste, Think and Communicate. In due course of time the body gets soiled, it is subjected to wear and tear, or the soul grows, rather attains higher states and doesn't fit into the body anymore, and even the body goes out of fashion. I would like to attribute it to evolution. Did you notice that the homo sapiens were fully covered with lots of body hair and as the body kept evolving it lost all its hair and the bodies these days come with far lesser hair. Today hair all over the body is considered gross and person with lots of hair is treated prehistoric. Bodies with less hair is the in thing for the souls these days and that should be reason almost no souls come with lots of hair on their bodies.

So death essentially means the destruction of the body that the soul has been wearing. What happens when your clothes are destroyed, You wear new clothes and the soul wears a new body. When you are happy about discarding old clothes and wearing new ones, you should be happy about discarding an old body and wearing a new body. In that case maybe death should not be treated with such disrespect and fear. So why are people scared of it, why do people shudder at the mere mention of the word Death (like all the witches and wizards shudder at the mention of name "lord Voldemort" ). Why are they worried, why is death considered bad when it is as natural a process as birth which is considered good and celebrated. I think i have answers.. As we have evolved ourselves through ages we started attributing so much importance to the clothes we wear than our body itself that, clothes formed our identity, you have become what you wear, your clothes reflect your character. Almost everybody feel bad when discarding their favourite clothes. Similarly we have attributed so much importance to the body that the souls wear, rather than the soul itself that we started identifying the soul by the body. Hence we are afraid of leaving the body, we have grown affectionate of the body and are so attached that we feel sad about leaving it one day. If only we realize that we are the soul and not the body we are living in, we might not treat death the way we treat.

There are other reasons too. What happens when you realize that your clothes are getting old? Those who are rich and can afford costlier and better clothes are happy because they have shopped enough already. Those who are financially stable would go and shop for clothes, they might not be the clothes that the rich wear but are good enough. Those that have saved just enough would go and shop only when necessary and the budget is restricted to what they have saved. Then there is a class of people who neither earned nor saved enough, they hang on to the clothes they are wearing because, they cannot think of newer or better clothes. The only clothes they currently have are the ones they think they will ever have.

Similarly rich or evolved souls never worry about death and are happy because they have realized that the body deteriorates and they have to leave it one day only to enter into a new body, hence they are prepared, they have already shopped.(when i say they have shopped, it doesn't mean that they already have another body to get in. It essentially means that they have nurtured their spirit towards self actualization ) There are souls that learn about the truth in due course of time and work their way towards spirituality. These souls are said to be in the process of evolving and they are ready before the time comes to discard their old worn out body. Even these are not worried about death. Then there is a category of souls who worked so much on nurturing bodily pleasures that they know the truth all the time but don't accept it until the time comes. They nurture their spirit when it becomes essential just enough to make it to a new body, not necessarily a better one. The last category of souls are very much attached to the body and live in constant fear of death because they never attempt to realize that the soul is eternal. These souls identify themselves so much with their body that destruction of the body essentially means the end.


In ancient Greece when someone dies they do not mourn, they carry out celebrations for 12 days, because it is believed that the soul goes around for 11 days and enters another body on the 12th day. Even in India after a person's death a ceremony is done on the 11th day and a feast is organized. Very few know the underlying concept of the 11th day ceremony.

So death do not be proud because i have realized i am the soul and not the body and know you are just a stage between discarding my old worn out body and and wearing a newer and better one. You are just a short sleep before i wake up eternally.

God will punish you

I am sure everybody must have received mails which either contains a original photo of somebody or some Chinese good luck charm or some mantra which, if not forwarded to 15 people will bring bad luck.
What is it with God and forwarding emails?What is it with the number 15 or 20?What is it with getting the results quicker by sending the email to more number of people? Why would, not forwarding an email make God angry and punish the unfortunate soul with bad luck? Some emails have to be forwarded within a time limit for good results and some say that they should not be sent tot he person who sent them.

Is it God who has initiated the email chain? If so, does anybody have his email address? I would really love to send some queries on the confusions i have over sending forwards which would bring me good luck. Some of the questions would be..
Does he prefer a yahoo ID or a gmail ID?
Does he IM too? Im would be better so that i can get instant responses.
Does he use a laptop or a regular PC?
Windows or Linux?

The questions can go on.....

If it is not God (which i am damn sure) then who initiated it? Is he a messenger of God ? Did God himself asked him/her in some divine way to send out an email and see who all forward it and whoever does not forward it punish those non believers with bad luck. Why does God care ? I mean what is so auspicious about forwarding emails that he feels that those who don't forward must be punished. Is this a test of faith or something which separates the saints from sinners?

What if i got an email which i should forward but i am marooned in a remote island away from traces of civilization. Will God consider that as an exception or will he still punish me with bad luck? And look at the long list of people who actually do it religiously. What if a mail is sent asking people to make a difference in a poor man's life by giving away one third of what you earn or else God will punish them with bad luck. How many would do it? I have the answer .... Almost None. Then why do they forward emails, because it is free and you don't have to put much effort.

Then there are other mails which when forwarded you will get a reward from Bill Gates and then another email forward which says some girl needs to be operated and every forward you do will earn her $2.....

Why does anyone get paid just for forwarding emails (Except Software Engineers ;) ) ? And that is the reason everyone is shifting to computers and thats another story.

Ripple Effect

For those of you who watched and liked the movie "Rang De Basanthi" would have loved the punch line "A Generation awakens". My friend's blog Ripple Effects forms the base for this blog.

It is about a boy who succumbed to sexual abuse by his seniors at college in the name of Ragging, a boy who did not want to become one of those many stories that were washed away in the form of tears in the silence of a dark nights, a boy who did not give in to self-pity, a boy who did not want to suffer silently like many others.

He believed he need not be silent because he is not the one who has commited a hideous offence, He believed he is not the one to be bending his head in shame.

His mother committed suicide giving in to the fear of the Society around her.

She sure has left him in a dilemma not to mention the endless grief and guilt, where he would spend the rest of his life thinkig if what he believed in was correct. If society is to be blamed for ill-treating the victims, then she as a part of that society should be blamed for it. It is the shallow pride that the parents carry around with them and are in constant fear of losing it which would mean worse than death like being banned from the fellowship of the community. They lose it if thier kids dont do well in exams, they lose it if their kids are in love with someone, they lose it if their kids dont land in well payed jobs. It is this false prestige that made her kill herself. Every society or community has its share of black sheep, if only she believed in what her son believed if only she could stand ground like her son did she could have made a lot of difference. Yes there are people in this society who wait for a chance to feed on the miseries of others but at the same time there are people who care enough and strive for a better community. It is the responsibility of each individual to associate themselves with right kind of people and give two hoots to those who dont care. You are identified by the company you keep.

I pray that the boy who has the strength and courage to stand and voice out against the crime that was committed would find the strength to come over the death of his mother and still believe that he is correct. If that happens then i would say ... indeed "a generation has awaken".

The Object of My Affection

Have you ever noticed that if you hate something long enough it will become a part of your life and you will actually start liking it (hating someone is an excetion though :)). I dont know about others but it has happened to me. It has happened to me so many times that i can definitely tell that almost everything around me is something i hated some time back.

When Scorpio was launched in India I thoroughly hated it for its looks and its lack of sophistication. By the way i am a big fan of SUVs and crazy about roughing them at top speeds and i keep track all the mean machines that hit the market. So when this dull grey colored thing appeared before me for the first timewith the ingenuity of Indian technology i gave it an Ugly Duckling kind of treatment. I even prophesised that this baby is going nowhere. One year into the market and it was awarded the best car of the year.

That was when i gave it a second look and still filled with disgust was determined to find out what made it the car of the year. i could see that the transformation of the Ugly Duckling has begun. It became the first car to experiment with dual colors for the exteriors and i have to admit that a combination or two caught my eye. That was when i thought maybe its not as bad a car as i thought it would be. With the advent of CRDe, a technology that makes the car more fuel efficient and less noisy the car bagged the best car of the year for 2005-06 again.

That was when i thought maybe i should buy this car, after all it has survived everything and became very popular. So if anybody asks me i would say i would buy a Scorpio but still there were other cars under consideration. Then one day one of my colleagues asked me if i checked out the ad of new Scorpio with 43 new features, I opened the website to take a look and there it was "The Ugly Duckling" that transformed into "The Object of My Affection". I immediately fell in love with it and whnever i see the all new scorpio on the road i just stand there admiring it. Now if somebody asks if i will consider buying anything else i will say "Nothing else wil do".