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Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Wishful start to 2008

As any other year, 2007 saw its share of problems; the Iraq war, the instability in Pakistan, the global warming debate and the local violence in different parts of the world, to name a few. It was filled with some great moments but also some seeds sown for problems in 2008.

So what's the root cause of all of them? Well it so happens that humans like most other species have an inherent tendency to ally with others of their kind. Ever see an alliance between cats and dogs? Let me know when that happens. People have always been coming together as a group due to some commonality. This is the reason; you have pockets of similar people living in a particular area. This is China town or this is a Desi hub or this is predominantly a Jewish establishment or this is the Bible belt. That's the reason, Indians generally marry in their own caste or Catholics prefer someone who goes to the same church or Sunnis marry Sunnis. Well that's the norm usually. This has created a world, which is somewhat divided by our differences.

A striking resemblance in human beings from all over the world is quirky. A common love is not as effective as a common hatred, to unify a group. For Indians, it was the fight against the British that brought us together against language and regional barriers. The US has had causes like anti-communism, the fight against outsourcing and now the fight against terrorism to bring people together. While this is not always a bad thing, a few individuals often drive the implications of this fight against something. History is fraught with instances when leaders have misused the sentiment of the masses to carry out pogroms. Be it the Nazis or the Islamic fundamentalists, we have seen enough acts of pusillanimous nature. Are we going to blame the leaders who bring out the worst in us as human beings or are we going to look beneath our own skins and fight away our own demons? Well the question answers itself.

The change that would ultimately propagate us to a better tomorrow is no miracle pill. It boils down to each and every one of us treating everyone else the way we want us to be treated. No matter what the race, religion, language or country, every person has a perspective, which may be at loggerheads with your beliefs. If we make an effort to understand theirs and give them an insight into our own, there is hardly any reason for conflict. We may not agree on every aspect of life but we need to respect the other persons view and reach some kind of a 'agree to disagree' plateau of understanding.

So what does the above jargon imply for you? Well a good start to 2008, would be to try and get to know people from other camps. Open your mind and be friends with someone from a group, which you detest or maybe just disagree with. Pro-lifers break bread with a pro choicer. Christians get a Muslim friend. Desi's should make a Pakistani friend or pen friend. On a bigger scale, I would say every country should have a joint effort to send school children to other regions as a cultural exchange. Let them get a feel of knowing the people they would have under normal circumstances hated in the near future. It is difficult to hate someone you know.

Lets all hope 2008 is a lot more peaceful and skirmish-free than earlier years. May common sense prevail on us all and Wish everyone a happy new year.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Fate 2 Me 0

Whoever said "Man makes his own Fate" must be smoking pot of the highest degree. Well an overstatement that might be, but it sure holds true when a Mr. Murphy used your life as his apparatus for experimentation....(For the dimwits....ding ding ding....I am talking about the Murphy's law)

I for one, have added Murphy to my all time hit list....(He is target# 2....right after my friend Newton....Why? he had to creep into every facet of Physics and screw it up for people reading it....Sometimes I feel I should use all of Newton's laws, create a time machine and kidnap him out of his century.....wonder what that would do the space time continuum....Well I gotta consult my friend Hiro Nakamuru for that) Why poor Murphy? Well he just about uses me as his Beta Site every now and then and I am just done with him. I could forgive him for deeds such as
1) My flight gets canceled. I wait in line for a reschedule. A new line opens. I wait for a while and then shift to the new line. But wait, I am the last one to change the line. Next thing I know the line I just left has been served and I have to actually walk with my tail between my legs to the old line coz my stupid line refuses to take me to the end.
2) I am driving in the fast lane in heavy traffic. I see the guys to my right going past me like they have just opened up cars that can fly only in that lane. I bite temptation and change lanes. Well you guessed it right the fast lane is the one with flying cars now.
3) I am sitting in a bus in the aisle seat. I feel the urge for a window seat. I change my seat. The guy at my earlier seat leaves and a hot chick sits at the place I vacated. The seat next to me is inhabited by an old man.

Now that was Murphy's test cases in his Unit Testing phase (sorry for that jargon.....my software background just catches up with me sometimes)....He had something sinister planned for me. So heres what happened......

Week 1: Gorgeous weather. I wanna catch a 5:36 pm flight. I start from the office at 3:45...(15 mins past the usual time)....Sure enough I get caught in traffic.....I am STUCK in traffic.....Move it....No. 3 above is repeated countless times. Some jerk has banged his car at exit 68....and I am stuck.....Finally some respite....I get a shoulder to drive on. I get past 2 exits in a jiffy.....5:10 pm....Gosh I am just gonna get there....(thats the fun part Murphy gives me hope....it would have been so great to have no hope instead)..I am hoping theres a tornado warning somewhere and my flight gets delayed by 15 mins....15 mins is all I ask for God..5:20 pm....I reach the Rental Car compound....and the Bus for the airport is right there....huh No Sir....I wait for 8 more mins....Bus comes....I ride to the terminal....."Sir its too late for you to get to the boarding gates"..."Whens the next flight? Put me on that one"...."Tomorrow morning 6 am"...."Huh?".....I spend the night at a hotel near the airport and catch the flight next morning waking up at 4 freakin am in the morning.

No sir it doesn't stop here.....Week 2: Gorgeous weather. I wanna catch the same flight. I leave at 3:15 pm.....I don't wanna be the buffoon that I was last week. Now I am not gonna miss another flight....I drive on the freeway with the adroitness of a Schumacher.....Theres no traffic whatsoever....Could God just show me some traffic to reiterate my belief in keeping a safety buffer....Nope no help there. The cars move away giving me way like I am Bruce Almighty......4:15 pm.....I am at the Rental car compound....Well guess what this time the bus is waiting for me to board.....4:30 I swipe my card to get the Boarding pass....I am told my flight is delayed by an hour...But why Muldn't you do this a week ago....More sadistic laughter my way.....All I can do is sit at the airport, drink a cold glass of Beer (thank God for that) and write this blog cursing Mr. Murphy...@#$%^&^&*

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Home Sweat Home

1 year 8 months and 7 days.....since I set foot in my hometown....a mental picture of my state of mind?

Yeah well not so dramatic actually.....but the feeling of not meeting my family had been up and running in my system for a while. The delirious ways of the last week did not affect me to a greater degree as I was swimming in a boatload of work. I boarded a flight like any other week. But this one was special...(Well thats the reason I was able to suppress the 'paranoia before every travel' gene and get going calmly. Of course I had a thousand copies of all important stuff stacked in every possible place....Well thats something I haven't been able to shrug off my genome project. Hopefully my kids are more care free....oh my gosh what if they are care free????...hehehe lets move on and not waste time...) This flight was a 15 hour flight....and some people told me I should take care of my nature calls as soon as possible....But it was not the least bit stressful...(It bole to the flight...what were u thinking?)...In fact it comes highly recommended vis-a-vis the others which make you wait for 4 hours in a place where they think they speak English.

An air of excitement filled my senses at the exit of the Mumbai airport security. I instantly started smiling out of the blue..(those of u who know me thats typical me....those who don't well now you do). Every time I saw "Love Actually" (which is quite a few times), I couldn't help but imagine myself in the end sequence......

Now it was my calling and it played out not as exaggerated as the movie.....(So this was edited from the movie u see)....I gave my parents a hug amongst the million people waiting for their loved ones or people like "Mr. Mikel Smith <-| Hotel Marriot".

So first impressions of the place.....it didn't stink as some friends suggested....(Boo to u guys....for telling me that)...What else? well I was out of security in 15 mins.....Cheers 2 you guys at the airport....(to top it all I didn't have to flash my "Me Marathi aahe" card although I did use it on my journey back)

I get into the car next to the drivers seat and look for the seat belt.....oh my gosh look out for that car......oh that was close....ooooh lookout there......i was moving my body away from every object that crossed the path of our car.....a visual? sure....

I instantly had illusions of a halo around my 'avatar' from 2 yrs back behind a driving wheel navigating effortlessly through this Armageddon. The 30 min ride home filled me with an air of nostalgia! (thats me being cheeky and slipping in a cliche'd line or 2....pardon me) I surprised myself by not falling prey to the deadly virus called 'jet lag'....(or so I thought....more later) An hour into my trip I felt something wet on my back and I was jolted into the realization that it was indeed "Home Sweat Home".

P.S. The rest of the trip is to be continued....Also Disclaimer: All Videos sponsored by "Daburlal Danta Manjan"....I get paid for the In-Blog Advertising u see.....Those who know me....Well I was too lazy to take videos and use them so I just did the next best thing....not copy.....get inspired.....More Later....

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Vote for the Underdog

Call it "Fortune favors the brave" as stated by an old adage or call it the more topical "Audacity of Hope". (Where the hell is he going with this???) If you pick up any of the reality television shows of our generation you will come across an embodiment of "What's he still doing here?" or "Why is anyone voting for this guy to stay in the first place?". So what is it that endears viewers to support 'wailers' (for lack of a more non-insulting insult) in singing competitions? What makes them play tango with 2 left feet in the dancing competition? What makes someone go and watch an non-actor ham instead of sitting through a multi-starcast movie?

All of us have an ambition to make it big in something. (Some people just have a big head....thats another subject to be discussed in another blog) For some of us it is singing, for others it is dancing or playing some sport. Everyone who listens to you sing says a horse neighs better than you. Everyone who watches us dance says Sunny Deol has better moves than that. "Are you nuts?.....If you do that in public you will be the throwing rotten eggs at you!....All your acting is gonna get you is a Razzy some day!" And you know what most of us say "Huh! maybe they are right! Maybe I should not be flaunting my passion and make a jackass outta myself." And we back off. We replace the sarcastic audience by the makedo audience of ourselves in front of the mirror...We do the most inane things when we know no ones watching. Then someone walks into the room and we freeze. "Whats all that about?"...."Oh that was nothing. Just something i saw a friend do." or "What? Nothing at all"...... We kill that ambition and spirit to do what we love doing!!! We get back to our boring work life and keep thinking what if....We just lose our inner spirit and just give up on our dreams.

We get back home from work and switch on the idiot box. Hey theres Sanjaya Mallakar on 'American Idol' or Kasheef Memon on 'Americas got Talent'. We watch them going after their dreams no matter what the psuedo intellectuals say abt them. We see someone who didn't exactly play out the way we did. Someone who didn't fold his cards too soon. Someone carrying a pair of deuces and getting a deuce on the river. And we say to ourself..."Hmm...I could have been there"..."I wish I had the balls to do what hes doin there!!!"...."I think I will vote for him".....(Of course there are other reasons like Sanjaya's rocking hairdos.)

The defining factor though is not the fact that they get voted for. The most crucial thing to note is why they get voted for....I for one think it is more to do with their mad belief in themselves and passion to go after their dreams...They sure as hell are not the best or most talented of the lot....but they sure as heaven (like that phrase....just came up with it....well u can say sure as heaven if u are a bit more self-righteous) are the most brave hearted...Way to go guys!!!

Monday, February 19, 2007

V Day for Me

Of all the "Hallmark" days in the world, the one I despise the most is "Valentines" day. For all those love birds in the world...I know what you are thinking rt now....(pathetic loser!!!) considering me the Grinch equivalent for Valentines Day....Well I ll reconsider this view someday....Well People you gotta start playin Will 'Hitch' Smith to make the transition faster....

The V day crap was introduced to us by the quintessential Yash Chopra in his movie 'Dil to Pagal Hai'...the Mills and Boons movie which preached every cow had a bull in the world and vice versa (Not to be taken offensively in California...well we can work through the definition).... I mean everyone has a soul mate and we meet them and yadi yadi yada (thats a cool phrase I learned to describe etc. or in Hindi 'Vagaira Vagaira'...Not the blue pill man) So it started putting pressure on singles to get their act together so as to fulfill what Chopra says....Well not only that, it pushed the already hitched guys to start emptying their pockets if they didn't want to end up in the singles club...Well all hell broke loose!!!

Hey am I forgetting something? Oh yeah it wasn't Chopra that gave it the flavor of epic proportions, it was actually people who were hellbent on opposing the hallmark holiday (I would change my opinion abt V day unconditionally if they declare it a Holiday)...They have been playing perfect hooligans disrupting the V day celebrations all over India every year since around a decade ago...(For those of you from outside India....Well refer this.....Its an every year event that they organize)....splashing the V day across TV channels, debates and newspapers, in the process epitomizing the saying "Any publicity is good publicity"...So you have posters burnings...cards burning...shops shattered all over the place....You expect the sales to go down...right?....But people react just the way kids react, to the phrase "No. Don't do that".....You got the picture....The V day business zoomed....So you have got all lovers on to the bandwagon....What next? Well we gotta react to the 'obscene' adjective being hurled at the day...So lets see how do we fight the argument and boost sales as well...Hmm...Why not say that its just not for lovers...Love is universal and can be between any 2 human beings...So you have love between brothers and sisters...Parents and children and what not (By the way there are other hallmark holidays for that stuff like Mother's day...Father's day...and what not! Reiterating my stand...I have no issues if they are actually converted into holidays)...But what about ppl who are single and still feel left out...Well heres another funny concept...a kind of love is to love yourself and gift yourself....(hmmm...what a croak of S#%$!!!)...And before we know it V day is bigger than ever.

So whats my serious stand on this? Well theres no reason not to celebrate V day or Mothers day or Father's day! The important thing is you got to start looking beyond just the days...You don't need some anointed day to express love or to make your mother father or girl friend or friend to feel special....You can do it every day of the year....(Don't celebrate V day every day...coz you ll go broke with the diamond purchases buddy...and btw its much less expensive a candle light dinner on 15th or 13th of Feb).....I mean there is no point making life hell for someone or fighting someone for 364 days and making up for a day....Treat every day as special and give everyone around you the treatment that you would want meted out to you...Go wear that dress you are saving for your bday coz if you wanna feel good anyday is good enough...(Cool advice huh?...Yeah well you know I like Philosophy so much!!!)
To end the scrap on V day, I would want to dedicate this clip from "Love actually" to all my past and present crushes...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I Banged a Pole

Before you get any ideas from the title....take the literal meaning of it....Oh no...not that literal meaning....I mean the other literal meaning....hmm...let me explain....I was walking while reading a newspaper (or maybe I was reading while walking on the footpath...neways) and I failed to notice a Steel pole right in front of me...and sure enough I banged right into it with my legs on either side of the pole....Fortunately my hands took the brunt of the clash....I didn't bang my head and I am sure I will be able to start a family...(toungue in cheek)
Well has this happened before?...hell yeah...with so many disastrous (hyperbole intended) consequences...you just need to start talking to my mom and half my stories (btw if my mom starts narrating 'funny to you horrific to me' tales...you gotta keep in mind that anything before the age of 10 will be said as if it happened yesterday and any amount of denial from my part will only result to more publicity to the alleged incident) would reflect such acts of absent-minded behavior....and that is all that I have to say about that....(Sorry Forrest...couldn't resist copying that one from you)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Deja Vu meets Signs

One Confusing movie meets another and becomes the story of my day this New year....Confused? Well for starters..deja vu is something repeating itself..(also a confusing, stretch to your imaginations movie starring Denzel W.)......and Signs is the M Night Shyamalan movie stressing on the fact that everything happens for a reason.
Well over the yrs since my school days, I have had the penchant for losing things. Flashback arnd 17-18 yrs ago...my first school picnic was an auspicious start to being a loser..(don't mistake it with the noun loser...grrr)....I mean at the art of losing....I was arnd 6-7 yrs old and was packed to board the school bus with a bag filled with a bottle, tifin and the works.....well I came back with all my stuff barring me myself being in the lost and found dept....The above happenings recurred many a times over the next few yrs...of course with a few disparities.....Umbrellas was a rare commodity for me to use (more so to own)...coz I lost the umbrella of all my family members...(ok rephrased all male family members....I ain't gonna carry a red umbrella to school...I wasn't my metro-sexual self yet...that word wasn't even born then)...The usual place of occurrence was a rickshaw. As usual I 'd keep it at my side and forget it after i paid the fare and then run after the rickshaw, hoping against hope itself. This led me to completely avoid carrying an umbrella in my college days..unless it was pouring outside of course....that gave me a responsible image too...(not coz of the 'not carrying umbrella' thing...the 'not losing an umbrella' thing)...well you cant drown if u don't swim rt....or do u drown coz u don't swim?...u got what i wanna say!!! Thats the deja vu part...
Well what abt the 'Signs' part of the blog u ask?.....Well here they are
  1. After around a yr of not having to sit in a cab...I started using em regularly...Well someday I had to lose something....strike 1
  2. It was the New year weekend and I saw a really good leather jacket sale....An inner voice said 'Get it dude!!!'...but for once the angel in me decided to save up.....hmmm the sale was a sign dude...don't u listen...buy one...u can keep an extra jacket???...Strike 2
  3. I was about to leave my apt with an inexpensive jacket...but it was cold....and I decided to take my expensive leather jacket instead....duh!!!...Strike 3
  4. At the airport, before getting into the cab, I decided against wearing the jacket..coz its so hot....and then when I alighted....the rain had stopped too...giving me no reason to look for my jacket.....Strike 4...You are out.....(I know its out on Strike 3 u snobbish baseball fans)
Well as you may have guessed I am hoping against hope again for the cab driver to be an angel and get the jacket back to me....nope...Ok I ll hope for the sale to still be available...thats a safer bet