Bringing Superheroes home!

The kids all over the world are familiar of Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Sheena, The fly and all the comics superheroes
But India has always had its own set of superheroes for a loooong time.

The sad fact is that with the increase in nuclear families and yuppy parents, children depend on the TV and comic books for their entertainment. There are no grandmas or grandpas to tell them about these superheroes.Yes, I am talking about all the lovely mythological stories that have come down generation after generation.

How can Superman and Batman compete with the Pandavas, Krishna, Ram and all the tempermental Sages of old? Their magical powers, even when they reincarnate as humans is just way cool!
Can Dr.Who and Skeletor come near the Asuras and Kauravas?
Most definitely not! and unfortunately the kids had no way of knowing this.


But now our movie makers and animation experts have created a great series of Animation movies that bring Heroes of the Indian mythology home. Starting with Hanuman, now there is Krishna, The Pandavas, Chota Bheem, and Ganesha...(there could be more.. But I am aware of only these so far)


And even better news is that POGO is featuring these movies, every Saturday at 2 PM this month and next. Check it out and have fun!!

Sari on Women's day!

I have already let you all know about my feelings on Women's day.

Nevertheless when all the ladies (of which we are 4) in my project decided to wear sari and I tagged along too.
We entered the office and met our PM at the elevators, the guy who has never bothered to smile before, suddenly had a huge smile and a big hello for us.

By some weird coincidence all four of us entered the ODC at the same time.
The reaction was quite explosive and very amusing.

Today I knew what the models feel when they walk the ramp.
There was such a huge exhalation of surprise from the guys (of which there are many)... that people from other projects started peeking in to see what the hungama was :-)

One kid could not stand the excitement of seeing everyone in sari... he kept running around trying to see who else was in sari.
Everyone came down to our place to ask what was so special. I shan't even talk about the reaction when we walked into the cafeteria. :-)

Of course we also got sarcastic comments about how much of a shock wave it creates to see a woman in sari as they hardly wear it anymore.
And then some of the guys started cribbing about how unfair it was that there was only a women's day and not a men's day ... on which they could wear dhothi. (Guys I couldn’t agree more!!! Let us just start treating y’all like women are generally treated in the society and we shall not only have a Men’s day but I shall initiate the whole process too :-))

So far we have been getting a lot of compliments and getting teased to death. But the day is still young... let’s see what else it has in store for us.

PS: well waddya know … this is my 100th Post :-) … Thanks to all my readers (who I like to think are galore :-D) for having patiently read and commented on my many blogs.

Demo-crazy

While I absolutely love Chennai, I pity any one who lives here.Tamilnadu has always been known for its conservative society, but now it is trying to come out of that shell, and not very successfully. Other than the mentality of the people, the reason for this conservatism is that the government here always leans towards extremes and people here are forced to tag the line or else....

They are told ...
=> what to wear (Remember the actor shreya has cases filed against her because she was not "dressed" properly for some function, of course what I do not understand is how come it is ok for her to wear even skimpier dresses on screen and everyone drools over that?)

=> what to talk (Remember the case against actor Khusbhoo for sharing her opinions),

=> How to pray (Only in tamil, even sanskrit slokas must be translated and told in tamil)

=> Who to pray (Ram is not a god and neither is his "sister" Sita, as told by a senior politician in an National News Channel. I am just thankful the other religions, other than poor hinduism escaped, as the government, in its bid for "equality" opposes only hinduism and the so called forward class)

=> When to Pray (I hear the tamil New Year's day has been advanced by two months)

=> How to spend their evenings (Anyone going to Discos and pubs are asking for it... they will get arrested and harrassed by the Police).

=> What to study (Those unlucky people who fall in the forward class cannot study most of the courses as they will be filled by the so called lower caste people)

=> who should study (Dalits need not even get 60% to get scholarships and admissions etc whereas the people of the forward class need to get 99.9% and still NOT get any scholarship or admissions anywhere)

All in all Tamil nadu in general and chennai in specific is the very epitome of demo-crazy. The same kind of demo-crazy that was followed by Monarchy of old. Even the crown prince is chosen by the reigning king. :-p And the best thing about all this is that we do not so much as mutter a protest. We listen to all this and go on with our lives like it has nothing to do with us.

Carefree Childhood???

Anyone who says they had a carefree childhood is either lying or has forgotten their childhood. Happy, yes… Carefree, no.

Couple of days ago I saw an adult telling a child how lucky she was, because she had no cares and responsibilities in her life. The child, being in a mood to play, just nodded her head and ran away. But it made me think back. Sure I had a great childhood, definitely happy but would I call it care free and without responsibilities... Nope.

I definitely did not have to think about how I was going to earn my bread or what my manager would say if I did such and such and I was not accountable for my actions as much as I am today, I still had to worry about what would happen if I did not finish my homework or How to make peace with my angry friend or even how not to get caught after whatever mischief I had perpetuated.

While from today’s perspective they seem so meager and petty, at that time it was of immense importance.

And in the current world, the Kids have so much to do that they hardly have time to enjoy their childhood. School, tuitions, music class, painting class, dance class, martial arts class and if they are lucky maybe meet up with friends in between all this and play, that they do not even know the meaning of a carefree (so to say) and irresponsible time.

Looking at them sometime I feel that maybe I have a carefree and irresponsible adulthood while compared to what passes for their childhood.

Why? :-(

- Why are trees always the victims of development and civilisation?

The narrow road between ECR and OMR used the be surrounded by quite a forest of trees. The road was really bad and I can understand the necessity of cutting some trees and making the road more navigable, but was it necessary to demolish the whole road and build a four lane highway there?One of those huge trees near madhya kailash had some branches spreading over the road. So why cut off the whole tree when just some branches would suffice?

- Why should religion always be synonymous to torture?

While I shall not comment on God, religion is something created by human. So why do we do so many inhuman things in its name? Not just talking abt the riots n stuff in the name of religion, have you noticed that every popular religion demands bloodshed in some way or the other. Animal sacrifices, torture to ones bodies in the name of appeasing one's deity ...Why do we not find God in a non violent religion?

- Why Blame the IT?

Why blame IT for all the ills thats happening in the soceity. Do u know where the work life of people in all other fields are probably 40 years, an IT professional hardly lasts 20. Its only fair that we try to earn as much as we can when we are still able to do it.

- Why do ppl think smoking relieves tension?

Nope, I have no plans of trying to see if it actually works. But it really pains me to see young kids just out of school and college, running out every two hours or so desperate for a puff. I have seen colleagues who get the shakes when they dont smoke after their dinner/lunch.Why try something when you know it is not good for health and addictive?

Clean India

Abdul Kalam has big dreams on the youth of India and all the big politicians/ scientists say they dream of this india or that india.
I am neither a politician nor a scientist but I do dream of a clean India.

I always feel like I have ants crawling inside my skin when I see people litter, spit or blow smoke in public places. I could understand if this was just the case of the illiterate people or those who don't know better, but most of the litter in India is by people like you and me.

I had just returned from Singapore and was discussing the trip with a friend who had already visited the place. Even as she was saying how clean and neat the place is, she was throwing the disposable ice cream cup on the platform on which we were walking. :-(.. She actually had the temerity to ask what it matters since everyone throws litter on the ground in India.

Just yeaterday I was walking down the road from one bus stop to another and there were these two guys, quite well educated and probably working in one of the top IT firms (which i deduced from the tag around their necks), walking just infront of me.
Suddenly plop, one of the guys dropped the paper cone from which he had been eating peanuts.Just 2 meters in front of him, was the trash can.
When I called him to drop it into the trashcan, i was given a very weird look and his friend mumbled that if I wanted to clean up behind them I should go ahead. Since I had opened my big fat mouth, I did throw the cone into the trash. Atleast the guy who threw it down on the ground had the decency to apologise and look chagrined.

While spitting pan on the walls and roadside is bad enough... the idiots actually spit from the bus windows and the side of the shareautos and autos. God forbid anyone going below or in the side of these vehicles.

There is supposed to be a law against smoking in the public places and I see that most of the smoking happens right in front of police stations...aargh!!!
Everywhere you go there is some cigarette, with smoke on side and a fool on the otherside happily puffing away. I make it a point to glare at these guys and wave my hand in front of my face. Not that anyone cares..sighhh!!!

I pray I could get magic powers so that I can put a curse on all the litterers. Everytime someone throws trash on the road, it will magically be transported to their homes and offices. Everytime some one spits on the ground, it will turn back and fall on their own faces and every time some one blows smoke in public places, their nose and tongues should start burning....

ummm!!! I only have coupla minutes to dream before I go back to work... so Adios.

what weird people we are

I have mentioned this before and it still holds true.I hate change... but what happens when I know the said change is good for me every way and I have voluntarily sought it? Simple!
I still HATE it.

I recently made a big change in my life. Something I did with my eyes open.
But once done, I started missing my old way of life. After all the bigger the rut u have fallen into, the tougher it is to get out of it.
I was constantly comparing my new life with old life and finding it failing miserably and consistently.

To my great joy I found another friend who had done the very change that I had and he looked.... hmph! quite content with it...The traitor!!!
Needless to say I was a misery, moping around the place.

So, well, yesterday when I was talking to him.... he casually mentioned that he was thinking of making this new change temperory. Surprised I asked him why he would do that, as he seemed quite happy with it.
Haleluyah! Whaddya know? It seems he is no more happy with it than I...
hehehe! its miraculous... I dont feel quite so bad about the change anymore.

I guess its true... Misery definitely loves company :-)

The Olde Techies

Has ur father/ mother/ uncle/ aunt/ grandfather/ grandmother/ great uncle/ great aunt just discovered the world of computers and internet? Uhoh! you are in for a tough time.
Take it from a person who has experienced all (gives me quite a guru like aura to say things like this :-) )
Its amusing as hell and big time frustrating.

I remember attempting to teach couple of the "olde" gang the secrets of computers and literally coming to fisticuffs.
I had to explain why I was pressing every button." How do u know when you press this button, the system will boot?", " What exactly happens during the booting?", "How do I configure some xyz in the Windows?"...
Of course they would not take my word for it and so sighing, I tried to explain the intricacies in the labyrinth of computers and the Windows administration, only to get my head bitten off. "What are u talking about?, I do not understand anything, You just dont know how to teach"

Aargh! Finally we agreed to disagree and they went happily to an institute to learn what I was teaching them for free.
The next few weeks the house was filled with computer jargons :-) ... they could not speak a few words without including something related to computers.. gotta say it was kinda cute and amusing

You would think that it would all end there right???? Hah! thats what u think...Armed with their new found knowledge they keep trying to teach u how to send an email, how to use MS Word and every new thing that they have learned.... anything u say in ur defense will fall on deaf ears.
while that is exasperating enough what really got my goat was the patronising look they give when they think u have done something wrong by their standards.

While my mom was most amused by my plight... I wanted to bang my head on the monitor.


I got my dad a new cell phone that has all these fancy thingamagicks such as camera, email options, bluetooth and what nots. Half the time when we are walking on the roads and I am talking to him, I find I am talking to myself and dad has stopped way behind, having found something new to explore in his phone. He gets a huge kick out of taking a foto of something in his new camera phone and emailing it to his friends from it, then copying it to the desktop using bluetooth and taking a print out of it in his new printer. Needless to say our new printer/scanner/xerox machine has him beaming everytime he uses it.

But as the computers, cell phones and internet have brought a whole new exciting life to our elders that I find I really cannot begrudge their happiness in it.

The overenthus...sigh!!!

Everyone of us have come across this type of people and am sure will empathize with me.They are the do-it-and-do-it-this-very-instant kinda guys with a small difference... they try to do-it for the whole gang.

Being the kind of person who likes to do things her way at her own time... I absolutely hate it when I am forced into a schedule.

And to my ever lasting misery I have fallen into a group that contains some four over enthus.

One day at the office, The HR asks would you guys like to leave early or want to attend some trainings and such. Brimming with joy I happily say yes and start to pack my things... when four loud voices vociferously disagree. They want to stay back and attend any and all trainings at their disposal.

The other 10 of us were left slack jawed and irritated as hell...

Obviously none of us wanted to go back to say we were not interested n look like slackers.

The day of an assessment... we were all thinking up of reasons to postpone it (as usual) and like a blessing from God, the server slowed down and we were given the option of postpoing it .. Oh no no no... cried four voices.... it is ok if the server is slow... we have prepared and we all want to finish it off today... "ALL"??? Aargh!!!

The morning on the day before pongal, the whole place is decorated, there is a feeling of festivity in the air... only a few of us have come yet and this includes our boss... when the four guys walk in and cry out... "Hey people how about we take a special presentation today.. we are going to do it... so u can also join in". I glare at them (which is ignored) and then just glare at my monitor (which is also ignored) and then my boss glares at me (which i am unable to ignore) and so join them for the darned thing...

I can understand this kind of enthusiasm at schools and colleges... but in people with so many years of exp..??

*groan* cant they just do their thing quietly? do they have to advertise everything they do?...

Jeez! Ppl, are you for real???

Eve Teasing??? hmm!!!

I have been accused of being feminist and I am unapologetically so.
I have written couple of blogs in favor of the worthy things done by the Blank Noise Project and was very impressed and relieved that someone had at last taken the initiative to throw limelight on the subject of Eve teasing and still am.

I can sympathize and more importantly empathize with the ladies/girls sharing their stories out there.

But much as it pains me, I have to say there should be a clear line of demarcation between what is perceived as eve teasing and what is plain paranoia.

They have a forum called “Unwanted” where women can take photos of the men who have abused/eve teased them. While I do applaud the thought behind it and even agree that it is a good idea for the mugs of gropers and pinchers and various other pigs to be posted, it does not seem fair to put in the photo of just any guy because he was looking at you or because you do not like his looks.

Have u tried glaring back or just asking him what he is looking at...before blindly deciding he is eve teasing and posting his photo

One photo showed a crowd, with three men in prominence. I am not sure why their photos were even posted.

Men, sitting in the women’s side of public transport do not really constitute eve teasing; it just shows the lack of chivalry. And since there is no such creature of chivalry in India, we really cannot be surprised by that.

There are so many more serious issues that women all over the world face on the roads/ public transports/ schools/ work place/ even homes that requires BNP’s attention.

There is, after all, only a very thin line between use and abuse of any power

SALE!!! God for Sale!!!

Are you Hindu? Are you religious? Are you plain curious or just interested in seeing all the beautiful and I do mean "absolutely mind blowing" architecture of the temples in TamilNadu?
Be ready to be blackmailed, begged, and harrassed to death. Also be sure to take a lot of small change and notes of small denominations... You are going to need it.... Coz Gods and their blessings are being sold here and the customers (read " Bhakras to be fleeced") are US. I never realised what a lucrative business a temple was until now.

Step down from your car you will first be overwhelmed by hawkers selling all kindsa things that just have to be submitted at God's feet/ for archana... if we require any of her blessings. The hawkers come in all ages from 6-60 and God forbid if you take pity and buy from one of them... the rest of them will be on you like fleas on a dog.
They are amazingly persevering and you will find hands pawing you, pulling your shirt, pallu whatever and begging you to buy from them. I think most people buy just to shut them up.

Having escaped this deluge you step into the temple and you have arrows pointing everywhere telling you ... Not which is the mandap for which god but which is the way to buy what... special archanai, annadhanam, special queue to see god and so on and so forth.

The priests are shameless too. They demand that you put money in the Aarthi plate. In one temple where I had forgotten my purse in my car, the priests and different temple workers would not let me get out of the "Garbagraha" (inner sanctum) until I had paid 10 bucks. Did I not want God's blessings? Did I want them to curse me for not giving money?... Arguing took me nowhere and I had to borrow the money to get out of the place.

As we come out, we meet the beggars, all healthy looking men and women, not even all that old or fragile. They do not beg, they demand and one guy actually asked me how I could expect God's blessing if I would not even be charitable enough to give him money or food. hmph!!! oh BTW! If you give them 1 or less Rs, be sure it will be returned back with a disdainful look. I am not sure what is the going rate of begging, but I sure got some dirty looks though

The serious part aside, at one temple the priest took a liking to me and came out of his way to tell me that it was very special to do 24 pradhakshinam (walks around the temple) for that particular god. Needless to say nothing would do but that I walk all 24 of them around the huge praharam... *Phew* came up quite dizzy after all that circling.
Despite all these hassles, it was a fun trip.


So those interested now know where to go to buy God's blessings :-) Happy Praying!!!

Repulsive Attraction

Hmmm Maybe attraction is not the right word for it.
But have you ever felt repulsed by something and also a weird curiosity to know more about it.
A part of you wants to shut it down and forget about it and another part of you is compelled to see it/ learn about it/ touch it ... whatever that "It" is.
The first time I felt this way was four years back when seeing a video forwarded to me by someone on some atrocities done by terrorists. God! that was awful! and left me totally shaken and trembling.
Anyway I digress.
This time on the repulsive attraction was caused by articles on the Footbinding custom of chinese women and the reaction of the chinese men to it.
Out to prove my sis wrong that Japanese women were forced into footbinding I ended up finding out that it was actually the Chinese women who were forced to do it.
The process and pictures, left my toes curling and totally weirded out.
I refuse to say any more about it in my blog.
But interested people can google it
Ughhh!!!!

New

Its 9 in the morning and one hour since I arrived.
I am in a corner noting the whole scene unfolding in front of me.

People are moving around with determined, focussed faces like they have somewhere important to go and something important to do.

I am bored and bewildered. A most confusing mix of emotions to be sure.

Everything is new to me and I am new to everyone.

They all seem to be talking in a weird language that sounds familiar but is not, or is it the vice versa. I am nodding my head knowledgeably right along with every one. Are they all feeling as lost as I do? Or do they really understand what is being said and done? But how can that be? Aren't they are all as new to this as I.

Is everyone discussing something important?
Have I missed something?
Have I completed everything that needs to be done?
What does fate have in store for me next?

I really should get up and move around and check out what is being done.hmm! But I am so comfy right where I am and drowzy .. so here I am sitting in a corner, noting the scenes unfolding in front of me,feeling bored and bewildered....

Sing with me

Singapore is one of the loveliest places that I have visited.
What makes it really a worthwhile place is that every attraction there is totally man made, with hardly any help from nature. Even the forests there are secondary rainforests.
The second largest island, called the sentosa, was a prison in the british time, which was later converted into a tourist attraction, to the extent that no one would even know that it had prisons there unless expressly told so.
And the whole thing came to , due to the vision of one great man, Lee Kuan Yew.
They hardly have any crime and everything works like clockwork. No wonder the citizens there are so proud of themselves and their country.
They have four national languages in Singapore: Mandarin script, tamil, malay and chinglish (english spoken by chinese).

We would need to understand and speak chinglish if we need to converse with the people of chinese origin there, which would be the taxi drivers, shop keepers, hotel receptionist, guides and just about everyone (except those in little india...but thats a story for another time).
The chinglish is spoken in a singsong manner with no words more than two or three syllables max. Please note that if spoken grammatically, it will not be understood, and do remember not to pronounce full words. For example you can ask a taxi driver "Mustafa can?" and he will promptly reply "can can"... which translates to "will you drop us at mustafa?"(Mustafa being a BEEG mall) and he sez yes. But ask him the full question, the chances are great he might give u a blank stare :-)

Coming to Little India. the only place in all of singapore that is, what dya expect, not so clean. I was told that the police and govt tried and tried and then decided to just let the indians be... Mera Bharath Mahan!!!
It feels just like any indian market. But ironically while everyone goes shopping there... no one wants to actually stay in Little India.

With Christmas just around the bend and Singapore was getting all set to celebrate in style. The Orchard street is the place to be at this time. God! but the place was beautiful. This street is full of malls and the whole place was covered in lights and santas and mannequins and what not. It reminded me of Las Vegas during Christmas time.

All in all, Singapore is a great spot for vacation and for those interested, some of the more memorable places to visit are: the night safari, the jurong bird park, the sentosa island with all its attractions (esp the songs of the sea, laser show) and be sure to go on a city tour to get a feel of the place.
U can also check out the Singapore travels site for more about Singapore.

Of course if u plan to stay more than 3-4 days, there is no guarantee your English might be able to weather the trip.
Bon Voyage!!!

PS: Ooops!!! Did I forget to mention that it is a great place for shopping. Be ready to lose a big chunk of loot there are at the various malls...esp on Jewellery and Electronics. :-D

Chicken Soup

Have you ever read the Chicken Soup Series? I was just reading the Chicken Soup for the Soul... again
Lovely thought provoking stories that makes u want to run outside and right all the wrongs and make everyone happy with just a smile and a hug.

Anyways here I was reading the chicken soup, all misty eyed, about stories on Love, and how love helped the soldiers fighting in distant wars and what not

when suddenly a thought struck me.. What would happen if Bush read the chicken soup books?? Would he stop threatening Iran next and let the world live peacefully?
Sigh!!! But for that he would first have to learn to read huh?!.... :-(

Absolute Power Corrupts absolutely

“Maatha Pitha Gurur Devo Maheshwarah”
In a country where Teacher is considered even above God, their behavior seems to be nearer the devil. Parents send their wards to school, telling them to consider it as their second home and trust the teachers to treat them as their own children. This absolute power and trust seems to corrupt abslutely.

In US the teachers cower at the thought of going to school, as they are never sure when they might get shot by some student holding a grudge.
In India, the students have nightmares featuring their teachers from school.

Having heard about so many great teachers in the history, it pains me to see the absolute indifference and downright cruelty of the teachers of today.

I remember my primary school days, when I used to pray that I could grow up and go to the higher classes very soon so that teachers would not hit me.

The dedication and the urge to strengthen the foundation of the nation that used to make teaching the noblest profession, is no more. Today if a person does not get any other job they just take up teaching. The saw “Those who don’t, Teach” is taken literally.

The young students are hapless victims of these people who take out their ire and irritation from personal issues on them. What angers me is that they do not find anything wrong in the saw “Spare the rod, spoil the child”. For every child the teacher hits, they must be hit back twice harder.

I know of a person who became mentally challenged when his math master hit him on his head for not doing his homework right.
A student in north India was made to clean the toilets in his school, because the teacher had a grudge against him.
A student in Chennai had her hair cut by the teacher because she did not have it in two braids.
A student in a school next door got locked inside the classroom by a careless attender, and after almost two hours when the girl’s mother came searching frantically for the girl, she was found in the classroom, frightened out of her wits. Instead of comforting the child, the school’s headmistress whipped the girl for not having been more careful, right in front of the mother and the mother did not even stop her. (I would have whaled the lady and sued the school, but that’s just me:-p)

While we know all this to be true, the schools still insist that it never happens and the management just does not care. But what is really sad is that many times even the parents do not find anything wrong with it. One parent told me that his father and teachers used to hit him when he was young and look how high he had come. I could only look at him with disgust and shake my head.

While the number of dedicated teachers has gone down, it would be amiss to say they are no more. There are thankfully still a few teachers left who really want what is good for the students rather than a convenient whipping post to vent their frustrations.

Illiteracy – The darkness

Close your eyes and think for a minute. You are illiterate. When you open a book you can admire the beautiful pictures in them but not the squiggly stuff printed on it. You are eager to know what the picture is all about but cannot find a way to do it.
You cannot read books, check out the internet, understand many things being said on TV and have no clue what the newspapers say.

*shudder* Even thinking of such a world is worse than a nightmare. All those beautiful stories never read, opportunities lost, and always dependent on someone else for something even as basic as signing your name.

I was reading this book about a rancher who, to give his brothers and sisters the opportunity to go to school, forgoes school himself and ends up illiterate.. He subscribes to National Geographic, so that he could at least see the pictures of beautiful things if not read about it and he keeps his illiteracy a secret from everybody.
The story goes on about how he faces a lot of difficulties until a teacher he meets helps him learn to read and write.

But the point here is that I was trying to put myself in the rancher’s place and think what my life would be like if I could not read and write. No books to read, no blogs to write, friends lost as I would not be able to keep in touch. No place to go.

God!!!!! That would be the ultimate definition of darkness, wouldn’t it.

Cuckoo - My Bane

What can I say, there are actually people in the world who like the caterwauling of cuckoo and think is a happy sound...
Me! I would take a crow's cawing anytime over the cuckoo

I hate cuckoos… especially the demon cuckoo that sits right outside my bedroom window.
Every morning 3.45 AM sharp "COOOOOOO"... persistent little thing that it is, it coos until I wake up... and as soon as I start dozing again ..."Cooooooooo".

Aaaargh!!! I hate rainy season and I am going to stone the damn bird as soon as I get my hands on it.

Now I know why they say the crazy “have gone cuckoo”… They too probably had one right outside their room.

Oh! For a night of uninterrupted sleep... sigh!!!!

Going to the dogs

I swear the world is going to the dogs and me along with it.

Guess the whole world is bored and just running around like a headless chicken.

Thankfully its only during those rare times when I stop, look back and wonder what I am doing that it strikes me as crazy.



Everyone is bragging about what they did to see the Sivaji movie, it seems to be a matter of social status. I guess I am somewhere in the range of a worm socially for not only not having seen it and having absolutely no curiousity or interest to see it either.

A colleague paid 1000 bucks, booked in advance and then had to stand and see the movie for the three hours, coz it was the first day, first show and he was completely satisfied. the police were not able to control the crowds at the theaters that day, mostly becuase they were fighting to get into the theaters themselved :-p.

If I had paid 1000 bucks to see a movie I would expect a red carpet welcome and a royal treatment...so there!!!



There are a community full of people waiting to kill a girl, including her father and uncle, in a not so far of country. All because she "dishonoured" the whole community by wanting to marry a boy from another community. The girl's father and uncle were arrested but the girl is still under death threat. Here I was thinking this happens only in "Poonjollai gramam" when the ooru Panchayat president decides to save "Gramathoda Maanam".



India and Pakisthan are all set to mend fences once again... this is expected to be a complete success until the next time Pakistan decides to bomb / kill indians. After which India will initiate a new agenda to mend fences



India has allowed USS Nimitz to park right by its doorstep, so that the US govt might find it easier to make India the next Afganisthan or Iraq.



10 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Yemen and I still cannot think of one social cause that would make me want to kill myself and 10 other people and I thank God for such favours everyday.



Amidst all this here are a 100 people worrying and working themselves to death so that some anonymous person half the world away might get a miniscule percent more interest on their investment.



Honestly, is it just me ???

Ze Romantic Man :-)

I have always held the opinion that the current generation of men are so much more romantic than the women.
While most of them will emphatically disagree with you, if you have the temerity the say it aloud. It is also undeniably true.

The movies “Sillunu oru kadhal” and “Vetaiyadi Villayadu” got released at around the same time. Having seen both, I wanted to hear the opinions of my colleagues on the movies.
Not much to my surprise all the men emphatically told me that SOK was an extremely good movie and VV was just so-so.
Most of the women, including me, had the exact opposite opinion

Another startling example of this had me grinning yesterday.

My company held a creative writing competition to rewrite the Cinderella story. Two people won the prize for best written story, a lady and a gentleman.

The lady’s perky story ended with “...the Prince and Cinderella lived happily ever after, though not together” where in Cinderella becomes a corporate giant and the prince marries the Fairy Godmother.
The gentleman had written a beautiful story about how true love triumphs over evil and ended with just “… and they lived happily ever after”.

Well who woulda thunk? :-)