Buses Here... (Travelogue)

I heard somewhere that the local transport system in India and especially in TamilNadu is one of the best in the world. I have always had great admiration for the TN bus services, especially the conductors. How they remember the exact amount everyone gives and tender the correct change back is awe-inspiring.

The same cannot be said for the buses here at US. The buses almost always go only in a straight line down one end of the road to the other. If we need to go down a perpendicular road, then we have to get down and catch another bus.

The bus fare is not based on the distance one travels. It is same whether you plan to go from end of town to the other or just down to the next stop. Therefore they have no need for a conductor. They just have a machine into which one puts the necessary coins. If you have a bus pass (which one can get at any super market) you just show it to the bus driver, who makes a note in some machine.

As there are no conductors, there is a cord running all the way through the bus and if any one wants to get down, they have to pull the cord, something like a conductor whistling for the bus to stop. There are display boards that might or might not let you know which bus stop we are approaching. So we have to keep our eyes peeled for the road names hanging on the signal corners or we might miss the stop. Remember there is no different rate for different distances, so no one cares where you get down and no conductor to let you know which stop you have reached.

The bus stops are always at the signals in cross roads. So the bus stops are called by the name of the two cross roads meeting at the bus stop… for e.g.: 8th street and Normandie Ave.

Funnily enough most of the bus drivers I saw were women. Made my heart feel good to see them.

Unlike our buses at Chennai, these buses will not stop if they have people standing in it. No hanging out of the buses, so be ready to cool your heels until one of the buses deign to stop. There are two kinds of buses here too like our LSS and ordinary. One stops at all stops and one only at specific places and is faster.

Amazingly polite people (made me a little uneasy and suspicious when strangers wished me), the travelers in the bus always wish the driver when getting in and thank them while getting out. I am still getting the hang of this though.

A note before I sign off. Do not depend on buses if you are not going to be in downtown. Yahan sirf Car chaltha hai... and kya car hain... Man! i have been drooling over them.. and the bikes (read motorcycles) are just outta the world

Two kinds of people

During the induction meeting at my first company, my project lead told us all new "bakras" to not work hard but to work smart. Now that sounded quite fancy and i was duly impressed. But i sure didn't understand what working smart meant. It was only later with a little experience that I understood that...

There are two kinds of people in this world, the smart ones and the dumb ones.
The dumb ones are the idiots with the Worker Ant syndrome. They work and slog and kill themselves to do the given task and quietly fade away into the background thinking that their work would speak for itself.... idiots, as I already said. But the positive thing is that everyone loves them. (Who does not love a Bakra huh?!)

Then there are the smart ones...Don't be mistaken... these people work hard too, at things like apple polishing, getting credit for other people's work, playing politics etc. They can create an impression of having the whole world on their shoulders and only when they vacate the position, can we really know, how small the world is... :-p. No one can make mountain out of molehills better than them.
Not the most loved ones, they get their work done and reap great benefits.

Personally I have great respect for the latter and I have been working towards becoming smart... not in the least bit successfully. But I will persevere :-)

PS: *Phew* feels good to be catty. Saw some people play politics and could not say anything to them... so this was the next best option. :-)

Be careful what you wish for...

*phew* I am back into action...not as regularly as i would like to, but in action nevertheless :-)

Some very smart person in China once said 'Be careful what you wish for or you might get it"... very very smart person whoever she was...

So hey here I am in US and feeling terribly homesick. The travel was funny as hell... it was not funny then ofcourse. The first leg of the journey was in Indian airlines and it was my first flight ever. It felt more like going in the train than a plane. But for some reason i was grinning like crazy when the plane took off.

My idea of a personal hell was my last leg of the journey.. 13 hours of journey. My business class seat got downgraded to economy and they only had a middle seat. Think of 13 hours sitting squeezed between two people not being able to move this way or that and the kid sitting beside you constantly puking and the one in front of you constantly crying. But the last straw was when it was time for dinner and they said they do not have any veggie food as i had not confirmed it at the airport.. "Hello? I did not even know I was supposed to confirm that".Had to make do juices and stuff like that.

But eventually ended up here and started work the night after i landed reeling with Jet lag. Most of the people at work speak tamil and its like being back in chennai. The buses here need a special mention and i shall post separately on that.Meanwhile i did manage to get lost inside my apartment complex and lock myself out of the dressing room .. hehehe..

Its one helluva learning experience, especially for people like me who have never had to do one little thing by themselves :-)

The one thing that still daunts me is cooking... Lets see what the future has in store for me there...

Too many cooks...

*BANG BANG BANG*... in case you are wondering, thats just me banging my head on the wall.
Ever wondered why we have this tendency to share similar experiences and if possible one-up the others whenever we hear of any incident.

I had the misfortune to see what happens when there are too many cooks around.
Many relatives had come over to bid me adieu... all well meaning folks and absolutely caring.

So here I was sitting amidst them and talk went all over and came back to my flying abroad. To add to my further misfortune most of them had been abroad at one time or other and what began as an advice giving session ended up as who-has-had-the-worst-experience and who-knows-best.

Half an hour down the lane and I was literally shaking with fear and had almost decided not to step out of the house for the next decade or so.
Mom finally took pity on me and pulled me out of the melee... but I am still reeling...

*BANG BANG BANG*

ps: Hey this is my 50th post... :-D

Memoirs of Geisha

I generally do not comment on any single book I read. This is coz I can never compare and contrast between them. I love them all, bad ones, good ones, funny ones, real life ones, action , romance, sentimental, thriller... Give me a book and my life is made and if it is a book I have never read before I am in heaven.

I won't say "Memoirs of Geisha" was an unputdownable book.... it took me over 3 weeks to finish the 500 pages .
It is not the kind of book I would choose to have read voluntarily but a friend had mailed me the book and I was baised againt it even before starting it. As it went against my grain not to read a book in my possession, I did.

I was surprised by the gentle sensitivity, especially as it was written by a guy. I liked it. It left me with that dazed feeling that I generally get when I read some really good book.

The smooth flow from the youth, innocence and naivete of a young beautiful girl from an obscure village in Japan, to her disillusionment and acceptance into and of the world she is sold to and how she still keeps her outlook and romanticsm fresh despite the obstacles thrown by life and becomes a famous Geisha and more importantly a good person, was just beautiful... sigh!!!

I am flying

I mean seriously flying, ohmigosh!, for the first time in life, alone and to a distant continent. While I am excited, I am also so strung up with nerves, i would probably twang if someone touched me :-p

I have been getting some rather weird advices and blessings. One person even adviced to me to search for a groom there and bring him along, rather than trouble my parents.. hehehe... needless to say, my parents were not happy

Thousand and one things to do and buy. Too many suggestions and not sure which one to follow. Everything in a muddle at home. Learning to cook in the few days left ... its absolutely crazy and i am loving every minute that i don't hate

Anyways will write more on my travels once I reach there and get a li'l settled.

Mean while wish me luck! :-)

Ah'm Worrid

D'ya know that chennai is one of the most polluted city in the country, if not the world? The perungudi dumping area especially is said to be emitting toxic fumes that are harming the health's of people living around there. A NGO dealing in environment has reported that chennai produces 32 times more toxic wastes than is safe for human consumption... :-(. The government is still ahhh... looking into the matter and its report will be ready only by august end. Till then maybe we can be more careful with our wastes, such as plastics and other non-biodegradable stuff.

The governments in state and central have got an agenda to which they are strictly adhering to. This agenda includes taking revenge on the opposition parties, undoing any good done by the opposition, implementing unwanted schemes, destroying future of the country, taking credit for schemes not implemented by them, and of course making money and scratching each other's back. Its not like the governments before this one were saints, but they were definitely not this blatant. Our country is probably the only democratic country where the people's wishes are absolutely ignored... :-p

On a lighter note, Aishwarya Rai is gonna act as Umrao Jaan in the latest JP dutta's flick.

Its one of my all time favourite movies and I absolutely adore Rekha in that movie. The songs in the it are absolutely tops. I was told Rekha's dancing was not upto par in the movie. Its a good thing I know nothing about dancing, coz as far I am concerned Rekha was just right.

Well, here is wishing the very best to Aish. and hoping she is able to match Rekha's performance

PS: I was unable to add any pictures for the last few days due to some techie error... *phew* that seems to have got resolved.

Campus interview - Nostalgia

The good ol days from college pass before my eyes as I view the ocean of hopeful interviewees sitting in front of me, looking at me like I am some hotshot and treating me with such reverance and respect. It embarasses me even as it amuses me.

I had gone to a campus interview yesterday!

We, the panelists, were all asked to come to the auditorium where the kids were all waiting to be introduced to us. As soon as we entered the hall, the whole student body got up and for a startled moment I just stood there not sure what to do. That was when all my college memories came rushing at me. I too remembered the respect ingrained in us, to stand whenever a teacher entered. It pained me to see all the hopeful faces, for i knew i was going to have to reject some of them. But I was also soothed, for i knew i was going to select some of them and hence change the course of their lives, a very powerful feeling and an even greater responsiblity.

I knew, when i sat at the interview panel, exactly how the kid sitting opposite me felt. I too had sat in their seat and looked up at an interviewer with hope shining bright in my heart. Knowing this was where my life was going to change and a new path was going to open for me. But what I did not realise then was that the interviewer was a human too with pretty much the same insecurities and fears.

It was the first campus interview I was part of. The first candidate I got was a EEE student. God! i think i was more nervous than the kid. Having been a computer student myself I had absolutely no clue what to ask him. I was all prepared for C and C++ and Java, but what the heck do I know about electrical and electronics. I hemmed and hawed and dredged what little i could remember from my UG and got through with it *phew*

There were quite a few funny incidents that I was planning to share with you all, but somehow now it seems cruel to do so for it would be too much like I was making fun of the kids.

So let me just finish it by saying I had great fun and they presented me with a wrist watch for my efforts (a gents wrist watch at that ... :-p)


ps: I didn't realise what an avid blogger i had become until it struck me that i was writing this blog in my mind, even as I was interviewing the kids...

Autos and I

Every man, woman and child of Chennai has an on-going affair with the auto walas of this noble city. They are the guys we absolutely love to hate. If we are in a temper then what better way to vent it than by arguing with them… and Oh! They love arguing with us too… so no regrets please. If they are unable to get you to argue then they’ll grumble and grumble until you just wanna scream and jump out of the running auto or better still push him off.

So what do they argue about? The primary topic is the auto rate, of course, but politics, movies, stars, the poor status of India, the horrible driving of other vehicles are other hotspots. Oh Yes! All autos are equipped with a meter here too, but that is strictly a decoration piece and if ever an auto guys asks you to pay what ever amount the meter shows….BEWARE!!!

Let me tell you how a person in Chennai travels in an auto from point x to y.
We stop an empty auto on the road and give our destination, immediately the auto wallah names an atrocious amount and then its up to us to bargain it down to something that might edge towards reasonable. Some of the favourite bargaining chips are - one-ways popping up on the roads, the traffic being heavy or traffic being light and hence not being able to get another passenger on their way back, rain, dharna’s and best of all hikes in petrol prices. If 1 re increases per litre of petrol, there is a corresponding raise of 1 re per KM at least. 1 Ltr petrol might give 25 Km mileage but we are not talking logistics here, if there is hike in petrol, there will be a hike in auto rates too, so don’t ask questions.

Once the bargaining is done and both sides are satisfied, there will generally be a monologue on any of the above said favourite topics If you actually involve yourself and start responding, be ready to hang on to dear life, coz the auto wallah is going to get very emotional and start gesturing. This is the time you start remembering all those prayers you were taught by mom when you were two years old.

On the other hand there was this incident when the auto guy agreed to a price but was not happy with it. He grumbled and mumbled and sniped at me hoping to get some raise out of me. I had my mouth shut (and with great difficulty), until he could bear it no longer and he actually stopped by one of the petrol pumps, jumped out and asked me to get out and find the cost of petrol and then tell him how I could give him so less a money. How I got back home is a story for another time.

In fact most travel guidebooks on Chennai will have a mention of its famous Auto wallahs warning foreigners to never pay the asked price if travelling by auto.

Chennaites are so immune to bargaining with their autowallahs that it just does not make their day, if they have not argued with one. It is customary to bargain even if a rare driver asks for the correct price.
The last time I had gone to b’lore, I went from the railway station to BTM layout, a distance of 13 KM by auto. A distance, that would have made the heart of a Chennai auto guy to go pitty pat and ask for 200 bucks at least. But here was the driver in B’lore, who put on his meter, which, to my amazement and crushing disappointment, showed just 75 Rs. Now I could not argue or bargain with such a nominal rate, could I? Oh! I felt so sad.:-(

Sigh! What can I say; the auto wallas of my city have spoiled me for any other autos outside.

Something better than nothing?

I had gone to the central station to get some tickets. Y’all have probably been to the huge multi storied structure where they dish out tickets, right next to the railway station itself. Well anyways, so here I was, and looking around the place like a country mice newly come to the city.
There was probably some big shot coming in that day or maybe there was some threat…but result was that there were loads of Chennai city’s finest all armed to the teeth, moving around aimlessly.

Armed to the teeth, I mean they would probably be better of using their teeth rather than the ancient outdated rifles, which are probably found museums all over the world. I am almost sure that other than India, no where else do the police use a rifle with a wooden butt and a bayonet that looks like it came directly from the British Raj times.
I am not a proponent of violence, but what does a person do with a rifle like that other than look ridiculous? It probably allows 2 bullets after which it needs a reload…well! It can be used as a club quite effectively too.
Will it really help them against the terrorists or whoever, when they guard our head honchos? Those guys who will be armed with state of art weapons?
How many movies have we seen where the villains start shooting with their Kalashnikovs and what-nots while the poor constable is still trying to get his unwieldy rifle to aim?

Hmm! Then again seeing as to how most of our head honchos are their own worst enemies, there really is no need for a security for them, except as a boost to their ego.
That being said, maybe they should at least give these people something that looks like it means business rather than just plain ridiculous.

Oh well! What do I care… if everyone is happy, let them use a Tommy gun too…:-)

I saw it today.

I have heard about it a million times from friends and relatives and seen it a million times in TV or movies. But somehow there was still that innate belief that chennai city's finest could not be bribed. Naive, you say! Yes, it was! But there was still that little kernel of hope in me that all those people were wrong.

I was coming down the road today when this traffic inspector stopped a lorry. It was not violating any traffic laws as far as I could see. Anyways the inspector asked the lorry to stop and harrassed the guys inside for sometime and when the driver pulled out some money... I was naively waiting for him to scream or do something for attempting to bribe a city official so publicly. Instead he got the money from the driver and sent them along their merry way.

Hmm! felt like a child being told there is no santa claus or tooth fairy ..:-(

All work and no play...

Do you know that over 200 kids kill themselves in India every year during the month of may?
The amount of pressure these children are in, are amazing to say the least, and 90% of the pressure is from their parents. The parents want their children to be such all rounders that the children have no time to enjoy their childhood.
Other than school, they are forced to attend tuitions, music, dance, instruments, painting classes. No time in between all this to play.
Infact I know of parents who do not let their children to even boot their computer, because they do the ultimate sin of playing games in the computer or listening to music. These kids are not allowed to do anything that may deviate them from their studies. They are puppets in the hands of the parents who have already charted their life and that is the only timetable they ever want to see their children follow.
Some of these children are not even in their 10th or 12th. Even imagining these kids in their higher classes makes me squirm.

I know parents want to give their children the best of futures and with the reservation the comptetion is very high. But not at the cost of their present. If children are not allowed to enjoy their innocence and childhood now, of what use is it to have a bright empty future? Don't they remember their own free and happy childhood?

This kind of pressure is not only harmful to the children, but they might grow up with almost no exposure to the outside world, and might even get repressed and have mental problems later in their life.

When I asked one mother why she does not let her daughter play, the mom very proudly told me, that her daughter not only plays but plays well too. Infact she had got prizes in long jump. Yes! Good for her! But what about playing hop scotch with her friends or oh! i don't know, playing pranks and stuff like that? The mom was seriously shocked that I could suggest something like that.. she was like "how can I allow her to waste time like that, she should be studying in that time... she will be in her 10th class soon and has to study hard to be an engineer". When I asked the daughter what she wanted to do, she gave me a listless smile and said "I want to be a doctor" only to have her mom pounce on her and tell her that there was no way she was becoming a doctor.

My heart goes out for such children. When will these people understand that exams are not the be all end all of life. Getting a little less score does not make their children any less. Please understand that there is more to life. Even without parental pressure, the kids are already weighed down under the heavy mettle of peer pressure and competition.

Its also unfortunate that the whole nation's educational system places such high importance to exams, leaving the chidren no other recourse.

I cannot help but feel grateful to my parents. I never had to face this kind of pressure. My 10th score was not the best on earth but my parents were still proud of me. They knew that when the time came I would make my life to my satisfaction and I knew I could always depend on their support for what ever I decide.

Education is a delight, something to be savoured. Children have a right to enjoy it, rather than have it stuffed down their gullet

All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy! Please allow Jack to play too, mom and dad!

To you gals!

The story starts 18-20 years back when three little girls joined the same school. They played, fought, shared experiences and grew together.
Years flew and two girls moved out of the school, but the friendship only grew stronger.
Then came the colleges, each moving towards different streams and different ambitions. Each had their own friends now, their own circles, but that was only besides each other.
Finally the day came when one was to get married and move out to US. Much as it broke their hearts, it was the way of life and move out she did, towards a very happy life. Now they could all meet only once a year but, thanks to modern technology, they were definitely still in touch and best of friends. Couple of years down the lane the second girl fell in love. It was great fun for all three of them what with all the chupke chupke stuff. Finally she too got happily married and moved to Europe.

Back to the present day.

One of the girls is me. My friends came back from the different corners of the world last week and we all met. It had been six months since I saw one of them and almost a year since I saw the other. We had only one day to be together, coz the day one friend arrived, the other was leaving. It was so lovely seeing them both again, totally seamless, almost like we had never been away. We could still yak away about anything on earth and knew almost everything about each other. Yes! We do owe a lot to the new techies, but I would like to think we would be just this way even without emails and chats

So what is the big deal, you ask?! There are many men who have been friends for many decades, right!
The big deal is that a girl’s life veers after marriage, most of her decisions are based on her new family and husband, while this is not so for guys. I am not blaming the husbands here, it is something the women choose for themselves.

I would be lost without my two friends. The first time we all went to a movie alone, all those beautiful times at the beach. The way we could laugh about everything and nothing. The way we knew the other would be always with and for us. Every memory of mine of the last 20 years or so is intricately woven with them.

N , P, Love you gals!

I don't blame them

I did not want to come back to this topic, since I had already written about it... but could not resist. More so, since after ages I seem to have got my writing juices flowing again.

DMK came in and one of the first things it did was put in a rule saying all castes people can be priests in temples. Like this is the most earth-shattering decision that TN people were dying for and it is going to change the lives of all the "low-caste" people and make them creme-de-la-creme. Next thing we know he is going to bring in reservation into priesthood too. TN dya know, has the highest reservation of 69% despite the SC ruling. Selective secularism I guess, after all only the upper class hindu's are bad.

As one of my friend had said in his blog, I have loads of friends who probably belong to the lower classes. But I don't know nor do I care what caste they are. They are just friends, people...nothing more nothing less

I saw this interview with a doctor from chennai who says he completed all his education with the help of the reservation system, (I sure am never going to this guy for any ailments I might get) and expects his children also to have this system as a crutch. Aren't we making these guys lazy and spoiling them by saying don't tax ur poor brain buddy...u don't have to do anything at all we will take care of u as long as u live. Why does this doctor not think that now that he has the necessary education, he can bring his children up without the reservation?

I can understand why the politicians want to keep the caste system alive. God knows! they don't care a fig for the indian masses. The doddering old so-and sos are happy as long as they have some hold to manipulate vote banks and starts riots. But how can so many of the so-called educted people also agree with them? One idiot actually asks "if we can have reservation in primary education, why can't we have it in higher education?" sigh!.

Ok so the upper classes oppressed the lower classes many years ago and we hate all upper class people. By the same formula should we not hate the british too, after all they oppressed us for over 400 years. There is a saying " One gets angry only where its effect is felt"...such as on the vulnerable.

There are 500 students trying for one seat in the AIIMS and IMAs and over 70 students for a single seat in the IITs, IIMs and IIScs. If we give 50% reservation of this to the OBCs then the ratio doubles and the worst part is that the OBCs and SC/ST students can also compete in the left over seats. Any person revolting against this will be lathi charged and maimed because India is the largest democracy that respects the rights of her people.

I got this quote by Dr.Kiran, Junior resident, AIIMS as a forward

" The government cannot hide its inadequacies in providing equal opportunities to the under priviliged in rural areas by increasing the reservations. They have ruled the country for so many decades and if in this time they are not able to provide equalilty in primary and secondary education for in dian citizens they cannot mask their failure by providing reservations at each and every level. Its ridiculous. The whole issue of reservations was a political gimmic of the present govt to garner votes.

Its time that things are not taken for granted by any one. Let it be a senior minister police or anyone else. Whole of our nation needs to get aware of the amount of hardwork and sacrifice we put to achieve our dreams. We should not allow anyone to make a mockery of our struggle in future"

No wonder scores of people run away from India as soon as possible. I don't blame them one bit.

Sauten - Oh Yuck!!!!

Yeah the movie!!!! If u have not seen this movie... Please don't...
Then again if u are someone I don't like... i think u should really watch this movie.
Absolutely worth ur time :-p

Got this movie as a freebie CD (just now elections in TN got over... but i am still not over it :-)), coz of course no one would pay to get this movie
Anyways the name sounded familiar and i thought it was familiar coz someone had said it was good.

Little did i realise that i had actually read somewhere that only people with death wishes should see it.

I am still not sure what the actors were trying to do, but what ever it was, it was not acting.

The story goes like this the hero (it took me sometime to realise the creepo was the hero) has an affair with this rich old guy's young wife and then he falls in love with the old guy's daughter (acted by Kiran of gemini fame...ooh yuck!)... and i am guessing he eventually marries her too, being so chaste and heroic and all that.

God knows I could not last more than 20 minutes (and I will have u know that i am extremely awed and proud of my tolerance level) during which I fast forwarded through almost the full movie. The only reason I did not break the cd was coz it was not mine

God!!! I have heard of lousy movies but never one this bad.
There must be loads of filthy rich people who are ready to throw good moeny after bad money... how else can we explain films like this getting produced.

Grrr!!!

New training

I have just returned from this smashing program for leaders. It sure was instrumental for me to get to know me better. I was able to realise why people behave the way they do and how wrongly we interpret others when we view them from perspective and vice versa.

Infact let me share a beautiful example of active listening. check out the sentence and what is the first thing that comes to your mind... " The Man was lying in the bed unconscious when the masked man sank a knife into his stomach"... Be honest! you thought murder right? it could be surgery too :-)

It even taught us, some of the ways to be a li'l hypocritical to get our job done ;-).. Had three days of fun and came back to work dragging my feet.

PS: Wrote this blog three weeks back... too lazy to complete it... so here it is.

Duh uh!

So here I was zinging by the beach road, the Marina beach road to be more particular, at 12.30 in the afternoon. Its a pleasant 43 degrees and a cool breeze was blowing in from the sea. A breeze that promised to make people sorry for having the temerity to step outside. The AC in my car did not seem to be able to keep up with the heat outside. I turn my head and... gape.

I am not sure if I should be proud of the sturdy nature of chennaites or feel sorry for them. Ever heard of the Medieval torture of putting people in hot hot sand? well! there are people crazy enough in chennai who voluntarily run around the beach on a summer afternoon.
Not just lovers (which i can understand, coz none of their parents would suspect their offsprings of being foolish enough to invite sunstroke by necking in hot sun and so they are safe out there)..but even old people, groups of youths...and nary an umbrella on sight.

Walk on the hot sand... ok maybe they are trying to come out of the beach... but why would anyone want to actually sit and get their backside boiled. Am I missing something here... are their backsides made of some special material?
And funnily enough most times these people escape any kind of harm... but then God always does takes care of children and fools :-)

Chennai, My Love!

Temperatures are soaring and humidity is unspeakable. You cannot go out for fear of sunstroke. you cannot stay in for humidity takes care of it in the shade. They say the sea breeze has set in and whatever breeze it is, is burning the skin off your bones.Time is moving as s l o w as thick molasses... so slow in fact that you want to scream. Its weekend and there is nothing much to do. you don't want to go to office coz this is the first day of rest after a long week, except there is no rest to be found. You are dripping and the water coming out of the tap ranges from HOT to lukewarm. There is nothing good in TV. The movies just don't seem to entice. You are too restless for magazines or books and your friends are not online or around.

Suddenly the office with its 24 hours AC seems like a good idea. But you look out of the window and the heat waves make you gulp and settle back down. There is no where to go and nothing to do. You feel cooped up and tempers rise. You are almost desperate to find some one to vent your temper, except they are also in the same boat as you.

You know you love this place, but suddenly can't think of why? You just want to run and maybe hide inside the fridge, ahh! but EB has cut off the electricity for maintenance work.

Sigh!!! Welcome to Summer in Chennai!

My say

-There is a cyclone forming in the Bay of Bengal, and y'all can give the credit where the credit is due... which would be “yours truly”. I have been coming to office on time for the past... (Please note the number here)... 10 days... and I was expecting rain but God, I guess, was seriously overwhelmed :-)

- From Cain and Abel to Pravin n Pramod... nothing surprising there. But I do like Mahajan, was sure he would be the next PM for us. Now here is a guy who is actually sane, educated, does not knuckle under very easily and *gasp* willing to take responsibility for his mistakes, and is still in politics:-0.

- The Quota system is creating more and more furor among students... 5 medical colleges have gone on strike... what is laudable is that there are many OBC/Sc/ST students also, who tired of being called reservation candidates and generally considered dumb, have joined the strike. Yay!!!

- Vikram Budhi (poor guy) was arrested in US for having written something that might provoke Iraqis’ to assassinate Bush... yeah right!!!!*gag*

- In ‘We the people’, this week's debate was ‘Are beauty pageants relevant in the current society'...not sure why they make such a big fuss out of it ... after all physical beauty like brains are God given, so those who have use and those who don’t ...teach :-p...
One significant thing did strike me though... how come all these beauty queens who worship at the pedestal of beauty always claim to have mother Teresa as their role model and not Aishwarya Rai or Sushmita Sen during the QA session?...The guys were very sad that they do not get as much exposure as the women models :-)

- The only sensible party for the election seems to be Lok Paritran and somehow they don't seem to be very serious in their endeavor... or maybe it’s just me.

- Lathika Saran is the country’s first woman’s police commissioner of a metropolitan city… Go Girl!!!! (Got this one from a friend just now :-))

- How can we forget Nepal… after all the trouble India has gone through, one would think it would have learnt to keep its nose out of other people’s business. Didn’t we get annoyed when US put its very long nose into Indo-Pak business and the Pokhran project? Wish some one would tell India to stuff it and mind its own business. If Nepal wants democracy, it knows how to go about it.

Sigh!!! Gotta get back to work. Chao!

Do I look dumb?

Stop! don't answer that question... I can see the evil look in your eyes and I know what the answer is gonna be :-)...

Anyways the title of the blog came after reading the election manifestos of some of the parties that are contesting in the assembly election in TN.

Some of the parties have such ridiculous manifestos that if their intention was to gain popularity, they have succeeded beyond expectation. Oh! its nothing y'all have not already heard of... one party promises 2 Rs. per Kg of "Quality" rice (I hear they made a similar promise in another assembly election in the 60s and won, so this must be tried and tested method) and of course free color TV for all families, that do not already have one, for women’s recreation and general knowledge... Mein Gott!!! what an earth shattering matter... what ever will those poor families do without a TV? Hmm!! Dya think they will also provide cable connection???

Another party promises 15kg rice free per month for every poor family. What is the definition of poor here? Don't a majority of people in TN live in poverty?... i will leave the exact statistics to this particular party leader... :-)

But wait! I went one level above checked out some manifestos in the national level. One party actually promised to grant special arms to one sect of people to defend themselves against social oppression. (Who will saves us from them then?) ... Thank the good lord that party did not win Another manifesto promised to build a memorial on the Babri masjid site.... (yeah! lets not let anyone forget that incident ever)

But then ridiculousness and absurdity is not the sole property of India... Politics in other countries are even more funny… I read somewhere that one contestant even promised longevity of life. I refuse to comment on my favorite politician, though, coz he was actually re-elected for his dumbness.

World over, though, barring the ridiculous and a few country/state/city/ panchayat related issues… If u have read one manifesto, you have read them all.

Oh and all this talk of elections reminded me of this bit of news I saw. President Musharraf has elected himself as the president on Pakistan for another 5 year term… Now that’s wat I call an election …hehehe

Ok! Coming back to our assembly elections… where are the parties gonna get the money to make good their promises? Aw right! No pitying looks! I know they are not gonna do any such thing. But it sure is fun to see them stabbing each other and calling names… of course sometimes it gets downright indecent. When they go overboard with abusive language, don’t these people understand that it reflects on their own character? Oops! I know… what character? And coalition.. wow! I will stab u in the back today and lick ur boots tomorrow… jeez!!! Anything goes.

Now that brings me to my problem… who do I vote for… each one is promising such “lucrative” things … sigh!!!!! :-p

Fanatics..Lunatics

What can I say, we are all very emotional people... especially us south indians.
We try our level best not to think with our minds ... actually we try our level best not to think. We thrive on giving our blind faith and following to all our stars (be it movie or politics).

Rajkumar was a great actor (never seen any of his movies myself), But hey he did die of natural causes like... old age perhaps? I can understand people grieving for him - yes. Coming in throngs to see his last journey - Yes! But killing and maiming others - NO.

What kind of grief kills others? if they felt that bad...shouldn't they have tried suicide! and he was not even related to them. How can they sleep without their conscience killing them? and did killing all these people bring the old man back to life? How does his death really change these people's life? Two months from now will they even remember him, except as an old star with some great acting skills?
One can be forgiven for being impulsive and jumping in without fore thought when there are extenuating circumstances but this reeks of murder to me.

End of december 2004, just after the Tsunami a rumour started here that a party leader had passed away. No one even waited to confirm the news... rioting started, cars were broken, shop windows smashed, and all offices, fearing for their employee safety, closed early. The leader, needless to say, was hale and hearty.

I shudder to think what would happen in TN when some of the famous ppl (read personalities-with-obsessive-following) pass on to their just rewards.

I hate change :-(

I hate change ...hate it hate it hate it...x-(
I don't care what all the self improvement books tell... i still hate change
i am being shifted to a new office... a huge one with the latest machines and thingamajicks... Every one has their own fones and its all the latest and best and I absolutely... HATE it.

My old office is... well... old, we don't have the latest machines here... and it is quite small ... compared to the new one... But it has personality...
Ok! the true reason i am bellyaching is that... I like being a big fish in a small pond... once into my new office I lose my Individuality and *shudder* become a non-entity...
For god's sake! i went into this new office and promptly got lost... had to get help to get out of the place...
I can't just turn up at my friend's cubicles whenever i feel bored... i will be among strangers...
and the damn place makes me claustrophobic... grrrr!!!!

I hate change

:-p

Not really a laughing matter... but in this fast paced life of today, people seem to be having mid life crisis in their mid to late 20s :-p

Reserve me a place...

Do they have to corrupt everything they touch?
They are like the Type - A viruses, touch it and you are infected and probably dead in coupla days. I am talking about our lovely politicians of course, I generally don't comment on all the crazy things these guys do. But this time I think they have gone too far. Then again should I be surprised by a government that has Lalloo as the railway minister?

It’s the OBC reservation on all central universities that has my blood up and that too a total of 49.5% (22.5 % + 27%) reservation :-o.

What kind of a system lets a person fly through with hardly a pass mark into all kinds of reputed institutes because of the luck of their birth? Compromise on the money, but how can they compromise on the standard of education?
Even places like IITs and IIMs have not gone unmolested. Luckily they have already started their admission procedures and therefore have escaped this year.

Its like saying if u are born in one of the backward classes, then you will be a dumbo and cannot compete with the other classes, so we will let u go easy. Is that not an insult to the BC people too?

An old friend, who had studied in Orissa, tells me that unless I actually see the people in places like Assam and Mizoram and how they suffer I would not be able to understand how the reservation system helps. I still cannot agree with him.
I am very sympathetic towards their plight. But if the govt wants to help them let’s waive the fees for the students in poor financial straits (NOT based on class but their income) and give them free books etc to bring them on par with other students, but they should also write the entrance exams and get competitive scores to be admitted into any reputed institute.

NDTV (a channel that’s fast becoming my all time favourite) interviewed some 12th class kids. This kid sez that he used to study 14 hours a day when he was in 11th and now studies 16 hours a day, all this for the IIT entrance exams. How will this kid be affected if he loses (God forbid!!) by a point or two while a reservation candidate with hardly any score to speak of breezes through?

We are talking about life altering studies such as Engineering and medicine. Seriously, how much can we trust our lives with a person who never had to strain his brain to learn anything and is in a high post coz he was born in a backward class?

Says Bhim Sen Singh, Principal, Kirori Mal College.
"If the implementation of the quota system makes a difference for the children of leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, it is obviously not a good move. But we have been given orders and we have to follow it,"

Read the full article here…

Is nothing sacrosanct in this country anymore? Has merit no say? :-(

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight,
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
When you ask "How are you?', do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in bed,
With next hundred chores running through you head?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won't last.

Ever told your child "We'll do it tomorrow",
and in your haste not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die,
'Cause you never had time to call and say 'Hi'
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift... thrown away.
Life is not a race, do take it slower,
Hear the music, before the song is over.

Note: I got this poem as a forward. I am not sure who the poet is, but the mail said this was written by a young girl dying of cancer.

Blank Noise

The blank noise project had a blog-a-thon sometime back and truthfully I did not even know there was something called a blank noise project in the offing at that time. But now knowing about the worthy project, I could not resist putting my two cents in.
Coincidently... on women's day, disgusted with the whole brouhaha, I wrote this blog , and in it I had included a link to the blanknoise's blog, without even realising what blank noise was.

LatelyI have been reading many articles posted in the blog-a-thon and they seem to have covered just about everything i wanted to say and more... even the swear words :-)

What is sad is that - as one of the ladies had said, when one girl talks about the harrassment she has suffered, every other girl in the vicinity has one to match hers, some even worse than hers. To sate my curiousity I took a small survey amongst girls/ women I knew and I don't think there was even one woman who could say, "No I have never had to face any abuse or harrassment". Every one had a story. Infact one friend of mine who used to travel alone almost every weekend, told me she always preffered the inside top berth in the trains and climbed up as soon as she got in, but never slept the night. She would miss her sleep, rather than take a chance and sleep in the night in a train.

It was shocking to see how many women take it as a part of life and suffer silently.

A girl's daily schedule almost goes like- get up, get ready to school, get pawed on they way to school/work, school/work (if u r lucky u don't get pawed at school/work), get pawed back home from school/work, and back home (I am not even gonna talk about what could happen at home).

My 3 year old niece is learning karate, when I asked her mother if she was not too young to learn martial arts, pat came the reply "she is going to need it when she grows up and has to go to school by bus or travel anywhere alone".

Just after reading all the different articles my first impression was an impotent rage, I wanted to wring the neck of every man I saw. But I knew I was over reacting. I can't go around blaming all men for the scum that is oozing out of the drudges of the society(OK, oozing out even from the highest echelons of society). I do know some men who are really decent...infact, it was a guy who told me about the blank noise project and asked me to express my solidarity to it.

So kudos to all the women and all the decent men who are striving towards this worthy goal. And I sure hope and pray for its success, so the next generation of women atleast would know the real meaning of freedom.

Here are some of the links to articles I read... (I hope the owners of the links don't mind, as I have not asked your explicit permission)

http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/2006/03/of-many-violations.html
http://hemanginigupta.blogspot.com/2005/06/train-to-chennai.html
http://mumbaigirl.blogspot.com/2005/11/why-did-you-touch-her.html
http://thewitchyangel.blogspot.com/2006/03/blank-noise-iii.html
http://thewitchyangel.blogspot.com/2006/03/blank-noise-ii.html
http://thewitchyangel.blogspot.com/2006/03/blank-noise.html
http://knownturf.blogspot.com/2006/03/streets-stories-strategies.html
http://smitainasia.blogspot.com/2006/02/i-say-no.html
http://shoefiend.blogspot.com/2006/03/blog-thon-for-blank-noise-project.html
http://greatbong.net/2006/03/06/blank-noise-blogathon#comment-3822
http://triya.blogspot.com/2006/03/reality.html

:-p

Reminds me of the first time my bro left for London. At the airport his friends had brought lots of going-away gifts (mostly shirts and jackets) for him and he wanted to take as many of them as possible with him. He had already checked in his baggage and so when there was no more place to stuff anything else in the hand luggage he decided to wear the stuff. The guy at the security check was rather stunned afterhaving asked my brother to remove his outer clothes. Other than the jacket he had on his arm, my bro had on a leather jacket, a sports jacket, a shirt and a T-shirt...we were just grateful no one had gifted him with trousers :-)

Seriously Funky Quotes :-)

There are many ... but they are all cute...

• Someone is boring me… I think it is me. – Dylan Thomas
• Life is like mail sometimes you just don't get it
• I say no to drugs they just don't listen
• The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was the genius.
• If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one?
• The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.
• There are 10 kinds of people…Those who understand Binary; and those who Don’t.!!
• Live everyday as if it's your last day on earth, one day it will come true.
• It is proven that the celebration of birthdays is healthy. Statistics show that those people who celebrate the most birthdays become the oldest
• TEAMWORK means never having to take all the blame yourself.
• The beatings will continue until morale improves.
• Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.
• We waste time, so you don't have to.
• A snooze button is a poor substitute for no alarm clock at all.
• When the going gets tough, the tough take a coffee break.
• INDECISION is the key to FLEXIBILITY.
• Please, Lord, let me prove that winning the lottery won't spoil me.
• No matter how rich you become, how famous or powerful, when you die the size of your funeral will still pretty much depend on the weather. - Michael Pritchard
• I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. -- Dave Barry
• I talk to myself because I like dealing with a better class of people
• Quit smoking! Take air pollution straight.
• Finally 21, and Legally Able to Do Everything I've Been Doing Since 15.
• 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
• Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.
• When you are arguing with an idiot, make sure he isn't doing the same thing
• Don't follow me. I m lost too.........
• Get fired - No one can call you a Quitter !
• They can't fire me, slaves have to be sold.
• It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy.
• Everyone should have a spouse, because there are a number of things that go wrong that one can't blame on the government.
• Artificial Intelligence is no match to Natural Stupidity
• How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on
• Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
• Smile - it makes people wonder what you are upto
• I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
• I don't break the rules. I merely test their elasticity
• Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them.
• When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. -mark twain
• Suicide is the most sincere form of self-criticism
• I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.
• If you can laugh at yourself, you've got a really sick sense of humour.
• If most people said what's on their minds, they'd be speechless
• We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
• There are two kinds of secrets : one is not worth keeping and the other is too good to keep.
• There should be a better way to start a day than waking up every morning.
• Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying.
• Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
• If I worked as much as others, I would do as little as they.
• Many people quit looking for work when they find a job.
• When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded.
• Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.
• I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.
• I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.
• "I have nothing to declare but my genius "---Oscar Wilde at NewYork Customs
• In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular
• To err is human... to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human; in fact it is downright natural
• Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning
• Sure, I'm crazy. But that used to mean something. Now, everybody's crazy.
• There are two kinds of person in the world. Who's who and who’s he.
• It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it.
• Of course UNIX is user-friendly; it's just choosy about its friends!
• Originality is the art of concealing your source
• Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you
• When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried
• A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it sure will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
• Smoking helps you lose weight ... one lung at a time!
• Wisdom eventually comes to all of us. Someday it might even be your turn.
• You are proof that God has a sense of humour.
• Never be afraid to try something new. Remember professionals built the Titanic…Amateurs built the Arc.
• Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former -Albert Einstein
• He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.
• Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.-Douglas Adams
• Tell me what you need and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
• In life, it's not who you know that's important, its how your wife found out.-- Joey Adams
• Don't feel bad. A lot of people have no talent.
• Nothing is foolproof for a sufficiently talented fool!
• To iterate is human, to recurse is divine

Heart Vs. Mind

I just attended a training about the culture differences between US and india. I was expecting the trainer to go on about the greatness of US. Actually the people who attended it before I, told me to she would. But i was pleasantly surprised when the lady waxed rather patriotic. She was like " They don't understand you and truthfully they don't care to understand you. you are the alien creature in their habitat ... so when in rome... you don't have to be a roman but atleasr behave like one. Of course there is a question of how long one can pretend before it becomes a habit and a belief.

I came back feeling that the americans were weird people, more self centered machines than humans. everything is logic with them and no emotions. their attitude is I, me , myself - first, middle and last

I do not understand the kind of independence they seem to enjoy. I need poeple ... loads of them. I thrive in crowds (Ah! actually I am claustrophobic...but u get the idea right?!). I was told proactive help is frowned upon, we were told not to offer any unless specifically asked, caselets were read out where people got into trouble for helping others , whereas here we are taught to help even without being asked. (forget the statistics of how many people actually do it).

But the americans love us for our amazing tolerance level. After all we go out of our way to get things done ... even at the cost of our sleep and health.

I remember an instance when a friend of mine was blasted by his american manager. poor guy was flabbergasted. The mistake he had done did not warrant such an extreme reaction from his manager. Later his manager apologised to him and told him that if he had vented his fury on another american, that guy would have quit and sued him :-p... it never even struck my friend to do that.

That's probably coz we have been trained from our childhood that the authority figure is seldom wrong and to blindly obey .. the manager's word is our command... he says jump and we ask how high :-p

Anyways after the training i told myself that now that i know the thinking of the americans and with added help from books i had read, i would also think like one atleast in office... use logic and not emotions. think of myself first..

But at the time of reckoning i found that i just could not think of my colleagues as just colleagues, an entity that sits in the cubicle next to me. They were people to me, people with lives, happiness, sorrows, insecurities, and No i cannot mind my own business. Not just coz i am curious as to what is happening with them but coz i am programmed to offer help when i see someone i know in distress. and i know i will get the same offer when i am in a soup. Yeah! i might have to work a bit later to make up for the time i spent with them, but i don't mind. If nothing else i got to know someone better and maybe made a friend.

I am not trying to say the american way is wrong, it suits them, so good for them! But to think like them is sooo difficult for us... and well, we have to, if we have to work with them.

On the flip side, we also become scape goats, most times agree when asked to do extra work and generally get trodden upon and generally taken advantaged of

But when all is said and done we still think with our heart and not our mind and guess what, in the long run, its ok :-)...it just means we go that extra mile rather than hurt some one and maybe get hurt ourselves in the process ... hmmm! guess thats what makes us humane and indians :-p

PS: Never been to US, don't even have an american friend... so everything i am saying about 'em is heresay.

PPS: My old counter was not free... so had to remove it ...boohoo :'-(

Bogey Man- Medicine Man

Hospitals make me nervous! Common enough complaint! But when your imagination is as rampant and wild as mine and you have additional inputs from books, it is something closer to fear than just nerves.

Robin Cook’s new book Marker was the latest book I have been reading. A good enough book if u are reading a Cook book (pardon the pun :-p) after a long time. Cook has an unfortunate tendency to follow the same tried and tested route over and over again that after couple of books one tends to guess what will happen at the end even as one reads. Of course his Invasion and Mutation were different and good too.

I started reading Cook coz of the popularity of “Coma” but by the time I could get my hands on Coma, I had already read most of his other books and Coma, to say the least, was anticlimactic. Maybe if it was the first book of his I read I might have been equally impressed, but reading it as I did, I could almost foretell what was to come in the next page…and left me wondering what made it that popular.

But Cook, without fail, leaves me frightened sick of hospitals and the mysterious goings on there in.

As such I am not very familiar with what goes on inside my body. Most things I hear about it leaves me gaping with awe, wonder and a tinge of disbelief... you know the surely-things-like-that-are-not-happening-inside-me kinda feeling.
My medicinal knowledge begins and ends with a Saridon for headache, Crocin for fever and Vicks for Cold So I have amazing respect for the people in medical profession. After all they have had the patience to go through 5 years of intensive training and a few more years of internship and have bravely dissected all those cadavers (I remember getting violently ill when I had cockroach dissection in my 9th class.. oh yuck!)… But when all is said and done… it is my body and I am still suspicious of these guys. Sure the docs explain what they are gonna do… but hey! I am medically challenged. Most times I just grin and nod my head very knowledgeably, when actually its all flying way above my head. Of course I get a thrill out of it when the doc gives some real fancy sounding name for what ails me.
But what happens if they forget and stitch their watch inside while suturing after the surgery? (Wasn’t there a movie about this?). How do I know the injection they say they are giving is what they are giving and is gonna make me all better?

And to boot we have this reservation system, which allows students with hardly 50- 55% in their school to get a medical seat, and even there they only have to get the minimal of minimal mark to pass. How do I know the doc I am seeing is not a reservation candidate, who has just learnt to differentiate the scalpel from the kitchen knife?

I remember the time when my bro broke his big toe and had to be operated. We paid big money and what should have been a simple sticking of bones was made so complicated by the doc that the poor kid lost half his big toe…

Gee! Sure is frightening to think how we have to trust our bodies to these strangers and hope and pray that they know what they are doing, coz we sure don’t :-) ..But what's life without a little trust huh?!

*Phew* that sure got the jitters off the system... now y'all can start feeling jittery :-p

.

I am feeling angry, aggravated, annoyed, bedeviled, betrayed, bitter, chafed, choleric, convulsed, crabby, cranky, cross, cussed disappointed, disenchanted, disillusioned, dispirited, displeased, enraged, exacerbated, frayed, frustrated, furious, galled, graveled, harried, ,hassled, huffy, ill-tempered, incensed, indignant, infuriated, irate, irritated, let down, mad, miffed, miserable, nettled, outraged, peeved, pissed, provoked, provoked, rankled, resentful, ,riled, sad, sore, steamed, sulky, sullen, testy, truculent, vexed, wild, wrathful….
AAARGHHHH!!!!!!!

Woman's Day Wishes!!!

These past few years every March 8th there is a big to do about woman's day. Hallmark, Archies and other gift and greeting cards shops mint money. The different magazines and channels wish every woman a happy women's day, I think even the president wished the women. Special offers on everything from feminine accessories to cell phones to trips abroad are offered.

hmmm! does this mean that one day every year women are given accolades and the left to her pathetic state the rest of the year?
What is the concept of a woman's day? Other than a great chance for shops to market their products?

Is it to celebrate the liberation of women? Who should women get liberated from?
Is it to show appreciation to all the things women do? is it to acknowledge that women are a great species?

I just don't get the funda behind all this. Yesterday I probably got about 20 mails wishing me. Do the people who wished me even know what they are celebrating and why.
It’s become an "in-thing", every one wish, so let’s also do it.

Have women really become equals? Is she accorded the same treatment and respect as her male counterparts? Can she travel safely in a public transport without being pawed and abused? Can she really wear anything she wants and not be termed loose or indecent?
If a girl (even one who covers herself from head to toe) is rap*d, she is still held responsible for having "asked" for it and having "seduced" the guy. Even her own relatives are not ready to understand the girl's physical, emotional and psychological torture and stand by her. she becomes a fallen woman by no fault of hers. And where the girls' life is ruined forever, the guy perpetuating this pretty much goes free in most cases, as the girl's family hardly ever complain, fearing the consequences.
It makes my heart ache to see school/college girls being pawed by the old lecherous slobs in buses and other places, and bearing it silently with tears and misery in their eyes.

Female infanticide is still prevalent. In blue collar jobs, men and women in the same cadre have different pay scales. Despite many government giving free education to girls, only a small percentage of them are allowed to enjoy this scheme. Most girls are made to stay home to learn cooking and house keeping.

Just the other day I saw an awareness program in DD. There is this 12 – 13 year old girl playing outside her house and her father comes home from outside and asks her to go inside and start learning cooking and stuff, as he has got a great proposal for her. An old lady enters and advices him not to get the girl married at such an age, instead to let her study. The state of affairs in the country is such that even the childhood of a girl child is dependent on the whims of her elders, and they have to be made aware of their responsibility.

This is not just something faced by women in developing countries; Women even in the so called developed countries face humiliation and discrimination in one form or another.

Is this what we are celebrating on March 8th?
I really don't get it... wish someone would enlighten me.


PS: Y'all might be interested in reading this article too

Heroes or Villians?

Every one has read The Mahabharat or at least have heard the stories from the great epic or thanks to B.R. Chopra seen it in DD. The story deals with the very virtuous Pandavas being oppressed by their wicked and villainous cousins the Kauravas and how the good overcomes evil at the end.

But are the Kauravas really the villainous people they have been depicted as, or the pandavas as pious or virtuous?

Duriyodhana, the eldest Kaurava, was considered the most wicked of the lot. The same Duriyodhana, who befriended, the then low class, Karna and made him king of Anga. It could be argued that he was friendly with Karna only for defeating Arjun. Maybe that was how it started, but there is a sequence in the story where Karna and Duriyodhana’s wife Banumathi are playing chess and Duriyodhana enters the room and Banumati stands up in haste at his sight, Karna whose is back towards him catches her and the ornamental belt around her waist breaks. Any ordinary husband would have been immediately suspicious, but all Duriyodhana asks them is, if he should just collect all the pearls or string them for her also.
And we all know the kind of loyalty given to him by Karna. Can a villainous creature like Duriyodhana really inspire this depth of feeling from an indubitably virtuous person like Karna, or find in himself such trust towards his wife and friend.

One could wonder of course if the Kauravas were such nice people, why would they try to kill their cousins. I don’t doubt for a minute that anyone in the Kauravas place would have done the same thing.

From the time of their birth, they are brought up with the belief that they would be the next rulers. Then in their teens, they are told that their cousins who had been in exile, would be joining them and they would probably be the next rulers, and to add insult to injury, the new cousins are hailed as the next best thing since sliced bread. Where the kauravas were once the favorites of their teachers, they are now ignored for the new cousins and constantly compared with them.

When parents have a second child, the first kid becomes naturally jealous and feels threatened and the parents are counselled to make the first child understand that the presence of a second child will not be a threat to the affection it gets from them. When this is true of children of the same parents, I cannot even gauge the amount of bafflement, resentment and inferiority complex that would have been felt by the kauravas.

Also, as we read about their childhood, we find that every time Bhim or one of the pandavas play a prank on the kauravas, it was laughed away as a childish prank and if the kauravas retaliated, they were punished and called wicked.

And to boot, they had a father who could never show them the right path and was blinded by not only by birth but also by his greed and an uncle who was always ready to steer them on the wrong path.

Seriously, can we blame the Kauravas for being what they were? They were just normal people, whose childish resentment and inferiority complex was left to fester to their adulthood and had no means to let it out but to fight their “so-called” perfect cousins.

Talking of the Kuruksethra war, it can be noticed, not even one of the kaurava warrior was killed in fair war. Karna was killed when he was repairing his chariot. Duriyodhna was killed by being hit in his thighs, when it was considered bad sport to hit below the belt, Drona was beheaded when he was meditating, after hearing the death of his son, which was a lie perpetuated by the oh so pious and virtuous Dharma and Bhishma was shot dead by a eunuch, coz he refused to fight against one, and put down his arms.

The Mahabarat is not really a story of good overcoming evil. It is a lovely epic and it talks about people, just normal people, with complexes and greed and emotions just like anyone. No one is either fully good or evil. It is a story that talks about life in its entirety. Life is grey, there is no black or white in it.

Going Onsite?

Load of stuff has been posted about the questions the single people face when attending a wedding, especially the weddings of relatives. The true and tested formula to irritate them are the questions (it’s mostly followed by a nudge and sly look… like they share are sharing a big secret with us, something no else had even thought up of asking) “Next is your turn isn’t it?” Or “So your route is cleared now”. Sure yeah we were waiting with bated breath for our father’s cousin’s aunt’s twice removed nephew/niece to get married, just so we could get married… Aargh!
It’s especially irritating when we have to face the same question from every elderly person we meet there (and all of them with that same conspiring look on their face) …:-)

But if u r a SWE, Horrors!!! , the interrogation does not end there it continues with “So when are u going to onsite?” , “U have been to onsite right?’ “Nooo??” “My God! U have been working for more than a year right?”
“Almost 2 years and still not been onsite? Maybe u should change the company”

Yes m’am, I shall immediately tender my resignation. How dare they not send me onsite as soon as I join the company? Of course we don’t care about the project requirement? Not at all uncle, it’s ok if its one of the leading companies in the nation and I am getting a nice pay too …

After 10 -15 times of answering the onsite question, one starts to wonder if maybe we are doing something wrong, maybe we should really quit the company… I swear we will get a complex by then.

If the aunt/ uncle has a son/daughter in the IT industry, and God forbid! If she/he is in or going to onsite in the near future and even worse, is younger than u… u r a goner…
They do know something about the industry and are eager to let us know ALL about it with a corresponding sneer and condescending attitude.

When I had just joined my company, a colleague friend of mine used to feel very bad about not having gone onsite yet. And I used to be amused. I could not realize, then, what kind of pressure he was in. But buddy!!! I really do understand what u were trying to tell me then. In fact I am there, right next to u, on the same boat.
:-)

Good One

Hey I came across an article in another blog.
This guy generally writes good blogs.... and i believe he is a reporter for The Hindu
But this I would want u all to check out... something like my blog on India... but more positive :-)

Guard God

We were travelling in the highway-bypass connecting Tanjore and Trichy and we were rushing along as it was already late, when suddenly our driver careened to the shoulder of the road and stopped behind a lorry.

"Oh God! Not another flat tyre..." was the frantic thought in all our minds.
We had just got a flat tyre a half hour back and so did not have any spare and we were in a big hurry.
The driver hopped out and went running around the lorry parked in front of us..Curious by his behaviour we all got out and peeked around the lorry ... and there was a tiny temple.
A rather frightening looking guy, with holy ash all over and huge mushtache and red eyes sitting on the temple step,was giving away more holy ash...guess he was the priest there.

The driver prostrated in front of the deity, got some ash and came rushing back. We all dutifully piled back into the car again only to find that our driver had still not got in. He was busy applying it on all the four tyres, the bonnet etc. He then jumped in , applied some more on the steering wheel and started the car.
By this time we were obviously bursting with curiousity. Turns out the temple is for a "Kaval dhaivam" or a Guard God :-) and all vehicles stop there and pay homage before continuing.It is believed that the God there saved the vehicles from accidents, and He expected the drivers to pay their homage or else...

Skeptical that people would actually believe this, We turned back to see the temple... and true enough there was a queue of vehicles... each stopping before the temple before continuing.

Funny how like the sheep, we are in so many aspects of life, blindly following wherever the person in front of us go. But still it was kinda sweet.

By the people, Of the people and For the people

Americans are known to be some of the dumbest people. Don’t believe me? Ask any person working for a BPO or call center. Despite that they all have an amazingly huge superiority complex for being an American. Which also means that they look down on any person who is not an American. For them US is the world and nothing much exists outside it.
And can u really blame them? I mean they are so feted and favored by Indians everywhere too. Seeing as to how we are the second most populated country on earth, that is a lot of feting and favoring indeed.

Everything they do is approved of. Every time they are hit, millions of Indians cry. Remember the impact of 911 in India? Agreed! Many people had relatives there. But seriously the tears and sadness was over done, since I am sure all of them did not have relatives who worked in and around the WTC. Just couple of weeks before 911 there had been another attack on the kashmiris by the terrorists there. I am very doubtful if anyone here had even noticed it.

Bush annihilated Afghanistan, but hey that’s ok. It was after all done by the US. Thousands of innocent children and families, who probably did not even know who Osama was, were brutally murdered. But that’s only right, as an afghan was responsible for the WTC crash. If we cannot find him, then let’s destroy his country.
But kill one Pakistani and the self same people will be up in the arms against the violent Indian behavior.

I don’t condone violence, but my point is why this blind following? Why cry when someone else is hit and ignore when our own head is bleeding? How can we forget our centuries old culture and heritage and ape west so blindly, especially when they are trying to ape east? How can we forget that when we were building towns and roads and indulging in business in Mohenjodaro and Harrapa, they were probably clubbing each other on their heads and living in caves.
How can we talk about the clean roads in other countries, even as we spit on our roads?
Why cannot we feel proud of our country and want to work for it?
If India is corrupt, then so is US or any other country on earth. But if it is corrupt it is ‘coz we are ready to be corrupted, do we even stop to think about it?
If we feel the same way about India as Americans feel about their country, no one can stop India from being Numero Uno.

The Indian democracy was built by the people, for the people and of the people. But the same people are too busy finding out what else they can ape from the west, to think for themselves. Ask any kid what his plans for the future are. It will go this way – “Finish school, get into engineering, write GRE and go to US and settle”. This is almost a standard reply.
Recently I heard someone say “India is going to the dogs”, well seeing as to how dogs have more loyalty, I can’t help but be glad.

Got this pic as a forward, it somehow it seemed apt for this post

PS: All the above comments are my own and all that blah blah…
Its one of my favorite topics to crib about, and so here it is.

Save the planet? – What a joke!

I am a fan of Michael Crichton and I love the amount of research he puts into every book and the way he makes even the layman understand the complex concepts without sounding condescending. The past weekend I was reading his Jurassic Park and The Lost World for the Nth time. Ian Malcolm, my favorite character in the books is a Chaos theory expert, (For the uninitiated Chaos theory is a part of Mathematics which helps in predicting the unpredictable.) He keeps predicting gloom and doom through out the book and is proved correct at almost every turn of the story.

One of his statements, though, made me sit up and think. It was such a simple statement and so very profound (as simple statements generally are).

We keep talking about saving the planet. Who are we to save the planet when we cannot even save ourselves? And laughably does the earth even need us to save it?
Earth is 4 billion years old and was alive and well long before we came and will be alive and well long after we are gone. If all the creatures that now pervade the earth are removed then another set of beings will, no doubt, emerge.
There have been four or five great extinction of animals in the annals of earth’s history as we know it, Even in the eras of the Dinosaurs, I am told , there was extinction of a large number of mammals, after every era (such as Triassic and Jurassic) and not every extinction was caused by the collision of an asteroid.

Couple of billion years ago, there were small single celled organisms and they were flourishing in the prevalent environment of the then young earth. But when the hot core of the earth cooled it caused cracks in the surface and an extremely poisonous gas got emitted. This gas almost annihilated those living creatures, and this gas was Oxygen. But other creatures that thrived on oxygen slowly emerged until earth became the green world we see today.

The earth keeps changing with various conditions and adapts and accepts whatever challenge is thrown its way and is almost impervious to the damage done by us. After all what are we in the grand scheme of things? Not even a speck worth mentioning.

Maybe, as Ian Malcolm says, the homosapiens were created to clean the earth so as to pave the way for the newer batch of creatures. After all we do such a good job of it!

Aaj ke shaam Shayari ke naam

Here are some shayari's I got thro' SMS

hum dosthi ka farz yoon hi nibathey rahenge
vakth be vakth aapko yaad karte rahenge
dhoova karo uumar lambi ho hamari
nahi tho Bhooth bankar aapko darathe rahenge

aisi dosthi ho hamari ki thum har raah, har dagar, har safar, mein milo
mar bhi jaoon agar, tho bhi dosthi ki kathir thum bagal wali kabr mein milo

koi pathar se na maro mere deewane ko
koi pathar se na maro mere deewane ko
bandhook aur bum ka zamana hai
oodathey saale ko :-D

phoolon se koobsoorat koi nahin
sagar se gahra koi nahin
ab aapki kya thareef karoon
dosthi mein aap jaisa nalayak koi nahin :-)

arz kiya hai...
mohabbat ki deepak jalakar tho dekho
zara dil ki duniya sajakar tho dekho
thumhe ho na jaye mohabbat tho kahna
zara humse nazarein milakar tho dekho
...wah wah wah

kuch fool humpe gire
kuch fool unpe gire
fark ithna tha, ki
woh duniya basa rahe the
hum duniya se ja rahe the

dosthi ka wadha kiya hai marthey dhum thak nibhayenge
moth aaye tho thum se pahle hum jayenge...
marke bhi thum ko na bhool payenge
isliye thumko bhi saath le jayenge :-)

arz kiya hai....
aapki muskurahat ne humein behosh kar diyaa
apki muskurahat ne humein behosh kar diya
hum hosh mein aane hi wale the
ki aapne phir se muskura diya :-)

dil ki hasrath zubaan par aane lagi
thumne dekha aur zindagi muskurane lagi
yeh ishq ki imthehan thi ya meri diwangi
har soorath mein soorath teri nazar aane lagi

har kadam pe imthehan lethi hai zindagi
har vakth nayi sagmein dethi hain zindagi
hum zindagi se shikayath kaise kare
aap sa dosth bhi tho dethi hai zindagi!

Aadabh!!!