Look after you Leap !

To you, the fair star of Elegance

2010-07-31T21:59:00.006+05:30

It is amazing, even today, just how much time and effort it took to befriend you, and I still don't know if we ever succeeded! It is not without rejection that you finally started accepting our food. You were irregular, but my father was persistent, to the point of stalking you, and his effort paid off when you became regular with your food timings at our window.
I cannot say if you ever truly became attached to us. You hated the human touch, that's for sure. You would not forgive us even if it was an accidental touch.
When you were operated once at IDA (for sterilization) I particularly remember my father's astonishment when he visited you at the IDA center, on finding a label on your cage that read 'Aggressive'. IDA has numerous cats, impossible to count, and it was very amusing for us to note that you alone had been termed aggressive! I imagine you must have put up a tough show or fight - something rebellious to invite the label :)

I remember all your fights with crows. They would come near you, and you would hiss back at them with hatred. I have no idea why they kept coming near you. Maybe they liked irritating you, like I did too at times :)
You gave us Kumari. She is such a well-behaved thing! I do not like that you never posed for photographs. It has always been a challenge. I think I won though, when I managed to get a shot of your eye.

As you grew older, you became more accustomed to my mother's company. Although you once attacked her for no reason, when she tried to place a cup of milk at the window. But later, you would not run away when she came near you, and that is the friendliest you got to any human being.
Your last days were very bad, and my family is truly sorry we could not help you. Your eye infection set in a few months ago, and it progressively worsened. My father spoke to multiple vets, we (unsuccessfully) tried mixing drugs in your food, I wrote to a few seeking help/counsel about your condition.
Your last day will be unforgettable in our lives. I wish there was a way to explain to you that we called IDA only to help you. You were sleeping in the bush when they fired the tranquillizer at you. Nobody imagined you would react so violently to it - scrambling up the wall in panic. Oh, I will never forget the feeling of panic and fear I experienced at that moment - my heart was bleeding for you. I am so, so sorry we put you through all the pain. We were only trying to help. I hope you forgive us. Please, please forgive us.
My mother misses you the most. My father regrets calling IDA, given that you were getting old. But we really hated the state of your eyes and your discomfort.

I will end this here by telling you how much I have admired your nature - your adamance in never letting us near, your abstinence from any form or expression of love, forever trying to set an example for other cats, in your own, original way.

Media Bans Required.

2009-09-03T23:16:00.004+05:30

Uppercase letters must be used carefully. Dialog typed in uppercase represents shouting. So what does "TIMES NOW" mean, eh ? It's too loud, firstly. Much like Arnab Goswami himself.
That reminds me. Amazing dialogue he once had with some politician:

Arnab: Sir, what is your opinion on this subject?
Politician: See, Rajdeep, what I am -
Arnab: It's ARNAB, sir !
Politician: I'm coming to that, Rajdeep! ...

Recommended bans for the media:
1) News channels should refrain from using bright red font colors, font sizes greater than 12, uppercase letters and embarrassing animations that RUN across the screen (courtesy: India TV).
2) They should be banned from slapping stupid marquees at the viewers, and making text of size 48 RUNNNNN all over the screen.
3) All journalists should be banned from shouting continuously and unstoppably.
4) India TV alone should be banned for the following:
- Regularly spotting UFOs and alien spacecraft that are missed by NASA and ISRO
- Doing shows on ghosts that haunt students if they study late at night
- Doing special-shows on aliens and investigating if aliens can survive on cow's milk. Indulging in stupid animations of a poor cow dropping from the top of the screen and spiralling all over the screen.
- Having journalists report from other planets.
5) Headlines Today for competing with Zoom TV instead of NDTV or CNN-IBN, and for excessive coverage of the Indian wrestler Khali The Great
6) All news channels should be banned from indulging in any single piece of news for over 5 times a day, or for over 1 hour - whichever is lesser.

Flu blue

2009-08-18T21:33:00.003+05:30

(Typed at the clinic this morning)

Today's my 4th day of flu symptoms, and I'm at the clinic right now. There are 21 people at any given time here. All of them are either sneezing, coughing or sniffing. So much for the H1N1 scares. People have become stupider than ever.

While I was initially of the opinion that the media was educating the masses, I am now heartily ashamed of subscribing to such views.

There are only 3 things I gathered from the news, all of which pertains to hygiene:

1) Use a tissue/ handkerchief constantly while sneezing/coughing

2) Wash your hands regularly (this is the most over-told and naturally, the most neglected piece of advise)

3) Avoiding crowded areas : for those who are ILL.

As I sit here in the clinic, taking an off from work thanks to some flu I imported from Hyderabad, typing this,

there is a small 3-month baby to my right, cocooned in tons of towels, and to my left, a woman who coughs almost once in 10 seconds. (Why can't the baby's mom understand kids are the most vulnerable to any infection ?) I have now told the cougher-woman that she must use something to cover herself while she coughs. I am shocked at how she does n't understand. How is it that people are so quick to fear and panic, but unforgivably reckless and shameless when it comes to some basic caution, care and hygiene??? Horrible. I feel helpless.I have asked my mother to stay outside of the perimeter of this clinic. Anyone healthy is sure to fall ill with people so terribly careless.

The ill just HAVE to be careful. That's the only way we can prevent any epidemic. It is absolutely selfish of these people to go about sneezing and coughing all over the place, not caring about passing it on to others.

On Friday morning, I travelled to Hyderabad without a mask, emboldened by the fact that noone in the flight or around me showed any flu symptoms. Last night however, I chose to travel with my nose and mouth covered up, that others around me felt safer even if I coughed.

It is ridiculous how quick people are to think I've caught the great big flu.

Caution should be our lesson. Not panic. Not fear.

Every single article on the H1N1 has failed in its purpose, if people cannot draw the right lessons and inferences from them.

Quick Updates

2009-08-18T21:23:00.004+05:30

In chronological order:

Faced my first big huge failure in my work-life last week, when I failed an important exam. It was the first time I was seeing the words "FAIL" on a report card, and I cannot describe what it feels like. All I know is it still hurts, and will continue to prick my conscience and lighten my sleep until I clear it on my second attempt.
The same day brought me news of qualifying into the finals of a contest at my workplace. This required my team to travel and stay at Hyderabad from Friday through Monday. This contest will is somewhat like the show The Apprentice, where a team is required to analyze a case study and present solutions. This is a 6-week contest, and we will have to be at Hyderabad until we get eliminated from further rounds.

Lost my credit and debit cards and all the cash I had at a mall in Hyderabad on Saturday. I have no idea how the week could have been any worse. Hunted for 2 hours thereafter and made a hundred calls to freeze my account. I'm grateful to my teammates for my survival thereafter.

.. I'm ill. My very second day at Hyderabad, and I've been ill for the 4th day now. The timing is awful, for people react very bad at this moment. Almost as if you could not have any other flu in the world. I don't know myself, nor does the doctor I saw today. We can only pray it's nothing troublesome. Today was also my first day off work since I joined, thanks to the rules at all offices that require you to stay at home if you have any symptoms or the appearance (read: my red eyes , sniffs and cough) and likelihood of causing panic at work.
Got my 8th semester results an hour ago, and I have passed with distinction.

All this in just the past 6 days..

Hosseini, A Mighty Heart and Beyond

2009-06-10T01:42:00.000+05:30

{..continued..}

I'm posting this from a different city, and a good 4 days after I posted part-1. The primary motivation remains the same: the sheer power of his writings.
There is however an additional impetus, in the same direction, in the form of A Mighty Heart which I happened to watch on HBO yesterday. The movie captures the sequence of events that describe the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Daniel Pearl, the journalist of the Wall Street Journal. The whole episode was so gruesome, mysteriously factless and haunting that I still remember seeing it over the pages of TOI years ago.
In a nutshell, here's what happens:
Daniel Pearl tries to meet religious leaders and is misguided into an appointment with a leader Gilani, who, (as investigations reveal much later) had never granted him one, which means Pearl had been tricked and trapped by some unknown parties.
Mariane Pearl (played by Angelina Jolie in the movie), wife of Daniel, who delivers a baby merely three months after Daniel was beheaded, an unbelieaveably calm girl of mixed race, describes Pearl as a man who was Jewish by birth, as one who'd never advertise his religion, but as one never denying it if confronted. This, she believes, could've made him more vulnerable in the eyes of his captors.
The investigation is so complex and confusing, (with suspects having multiple identities, missing links in the communication chain leading from Daniel Pearl to the leader Gilani) that the viewer realizes how terribly messy the whole situation in Pakistan really is. All men dress alike. Terrorists, policemen, investigators, common men, religious clerics. Everyone. So frikkin confusing. For you, me, the US, and anyone else interested/bold enough to try distinguishing between the lot. They all wear clothes characteristically Muslim.

No offense meant, but in one single sentence, here's my point:

Religious leaders must never be allowed to govern a nation or even as much as a valley in it.

The Swat Valley "peace" deal is a shocker. The Pak Government's attempts to distinguish between the Good Taliban (as they call it) from the Bad Taliban are such a pathetic eyewash that it is absurd, shocking, unfair and insane all at the same time.
When we talk of religion in such terms, I sometimes seriously wonder if we have completely forgotten the aspect of GOD in a religion. The close association of every religion with Him, the former merely being an illuminating path to attain the latter. Because the moment one remembers this, a number of questions arise.
Has any religion ever described norms for governing a large populace? Does any religion have anything remotely resembling (in principle or otherwise) a constitution that describes rights of an individual - social, economic, civil ? Does it identify the definitive rights of man as equality, libert,y fraternity, social justice and the most fundamental of them all - freedom? Does any religion even so much as treat all its followers on an equal footing - does it ever prescribe or define equality of all men in the eyes of God? On the contrary, every religion has some form or the other of sub-division: sub-sects, sub-castes, types, forms etc etc etc. The list is endless. My objective here is not to criticize religion, but to try, identify and understand its goal.
The purpose of religion was never to equalize men. It was (and still is, I trust) to teach us the best way to attain, understand and feel God. Although it does prescribe morality, ethics and a general heuristic model of acceptable behaviour at the most - these are never enforceable and binding upon anyone. This is exactly why religion is purely a matter of choice - because it tests one's own understanding of its teachings, which frankly might be quite complex for some and very simple(and beautiful) for some others. In short - every follower of a particular religion X will never understand it(and hence abide by its teachings) to the same extent. And that is why it can never be law. It has never been understood to the same level by all men.
Unlike a nicely put down constitution whose first declaration is that all men are equal in its eyes.

Be it in India or in Pakistan, religion can never be law. It is a non-enforceable guide that attempts to teach us something very complex : God. And we, the citizens of a nation, will learn it differentially - as a function of our ability/willingness to understand and appreciate them.

Muslim clerics cannot and must never try to rule a place. Their tools, they must not forget, are God, religion and faith. Which are not exactly what is required of an administrative Government. Radical Islamic groups can better utilize their energies in uplifting the people, in bettering their current standards of living and rescuing them from their impoverished states, which I am confident is a much, much more challenging task than what they pursue at the moment.

A thousand Splendid Suns

2009-06-05T12:02:00.000+05:30

Completed 4 years of engineering! Took my last exam last week. (Where on earth did the 4 years go?? Seems like just yesterday that I joined! )
This post is not about my life in these 4 years though. Wanted to post something on that subject, but I've consistently put off the idea.
I cannot put off this motivation though. After Jonathan Livingston Seagull (which strongly reminded me of The Alchemist, by the way), I finally began to read A Thousand Splendid Suns, a birthday gift I received almost a year ago.

Khaled Hosseini. He must feel like God. Having control over the emotions of total strangers. Having such power over his readers - their emotions, their feelings, thoughts. He is a powerful writer, for I have not been moved by anyone's writings in a very long time. (The last book that gave me a sleepless night was Night by Elie Weasel, because of the descriptions of the Holocaust, and the horrific concentration camps at Auschwitz.)

A thousand Splendid Suns has a lot in common with the Kite Runner.
1) For one, both stories are set in similar backgrounds: the story ranges through the periods of the the Soviet Union controlled Kabul, followed by the period during which factions including the Hazaras, Uzbeks, Pashtuns and Tijeks killed each other, and finally the fall of Afghanistan into the Taliban's Sharia' laws.
2) The second striking resemblance is the contrast of characters in Mariam-Laila and Hassan-Amir. Mariam and Hassan are both illiterate, very strong, steady, unfailingly patient, never faltering in duties assigned to them, religiously working for thankless chores and ungrateful people. Both sacrifice their lives in ways that the other pair (Laila-Amir respectively) can never forget. Laila and Amir are similar because of their educated background and their role in seeking redemption: in the way they each visit the dead's place or seek to remain connected with the lives of their beloved.
3) The third common factor is Hosseini's formula. His recipe. The first half of the stories hurt the reader in ways that will pain the reader most cruelly ( he most certainly hurt me badly enough for me to hate each book at varying points of time). In Hassan's pain, I could feel my own. In all the brutality Mariam faced, I was being burned with her. I could feel every blow dealt to her with Rasheed's belt. The second half of each story heals the wound. In the most beautiful, unforgettable manner.
4) The fourth common factor: outstanding conclusions. The last pages are worth reading a thousand times over.
5) Hosseini's love of the number thousand. "For you, a thousand times over." The most unforgettable dialogue of The Kite Runner. And the Farsi poetry lines on how 'one cannot count the thousand moons on the roof or the thousand splendid suns behind the wall'.
6) Finally, Hosseini has flooded his stories with beautiful Farsi. Words like koshteep(handsome), tarakosh (thank you), the suffix of jo/jan/agha, 'zendagi megzara'(life goes on) and so many more I cannot forget in a very long time.
7) The plight of Afghan refugees brought out in both books which nobody who reads his work can fail to notice. He has conveyed to us how war leads only to destruction - of a magnitude and scale that can scarcely be estimated with accuracy, let alone be reconstructed or rebuilt. He has highlighted to the world how difficult and important the task of rebuilding Afghanistan really is.
8) Hosseini's USP remains the same- his ability to create characters that are so powerfully convincing, that he can etch them permanently to our memories alongside those of the story itself, that the first thing we will think of when we remember his works are the characters themselves, however insignificant they may be. Be they that of Giti, Hasina, Tariq, Aziza, Rahim Khan or Asif - each one has a totally distinct characteristic nature and behaviour pattern.

{ .. to be continued.. }

UNHOLY.

2009-03-11T09:36:00.000+05:30

I absolutely hate everything about Holi. The drunkenness, the public nuisance. None of it is funny.

I am angrier than I've been in months right now. My building &#!*#$#*^ have lit up the hugest ever fire I've seen in my life at this moment. The flames reach up almost to the second floor. (they're mid-way between the first and the second floors.) They are shouting gleefully like hooligans or tribals. I am not being allowed to go out of my home by my family. I'm too shaken up to even take photographs or a video this time.

I had blogged about this previously. : http://silverwhines.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-waste-of-education.html . Only, this time, their excuse is Holi.

Something needs to be done. I'm not able to figure out what. The frustration and anger are killing. I will greatly appreciate it if anyone can suggest anything with regards to what I can do.
I'm FURIOUS. Please... give me some idea...

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-29T13:15:00.000+05:30

I must be one of the last persons to have watched Slumdog Millionaire. Finally saw it today in a theatre that had not more than 15 viewers ! I had not seen either the promos or reviews of the movie : what I did read/watch on the news was about its nominations.

The movie is extremely well-made and depicts a slumdog's life with the harsh realities one generally refuses to associate it with. The coolness with which the movie shows the death of Jamal Malik's mother, the brothers sleeping in tents on huge moulds of garbage, huge pipes or even train-roofs is very honest. There is no pretence, show or exaggeration in the director's treatment of any of these. The pace at which the first half is set convinces us of how normal it is for people to be living a life like Jamaal's. The scenes in which Latika is left behind when she misses the train or Arvind loses his eye send a horrible chill down the spine. The latter, I thought, was the most horrific scene in the movie.

What's good :

1) The cast, especially the children playing Jamaal, Salim and Latika and the relationships that they share with each other

2) A naked-reality in the depiction of a normal, daily life in the slums

3) An interesting style of narration, with the story fluctuating between the interrogation in the police station and the game show

4) A.R.Rahman.

What's not-so-good :

1) While the ample use of swear words make the movie more realistic, the sudden use of the English language in the most unexpected of situations by the most unlikely people steals the same realism away.

2) Dev Patel's phoren accent

3) Anil Kapoor's constant cheesy remarks (exaggerative dialogues) during the show

4) Anil Kapoor.

Definitely worth a watch.

A.R Rahman has done a great job. His music complements the pace and style of the movie magnificently. This movie has not offered him much scope, one must admit. It is n't like RDB, Jodhaa Akbar or any Tamil movie where there are abundant situations for him to demonstrate variety in flavour. RDB, for example - Pathshala, Lukka Chuppi , Roobaroo, Khalbalee and the title track - each one had a different emotion. Jodhaa Akbar had romance, while Swades had patriotism. Agreed, ARR has created better music plenty of times before. But through this one, he has excelled in a limited-scope situation. This movie was on slums - the background score did full justice to it. The music in the initial scenes when the kids run from the police, the beautiful mandolin playing over great guitar arrangements in the train scenes (between Jamal and Latika) were very apt. The brothel song(with Alka Yagnik crooning) was successfully depressing and dull; exactly what the situation demanded ; exactly what ARR set out to do. I actually hated the mood and the feeling the song created. Bull's eye.

I don't understand why people have an issue with the movie celebrating India's poverty. Danny Boyle has only shown the truth - with as much dignity as the situation would allow. Why, he hasn't even exaggerated or indulged in any falsehood. Is it the reality being smashed on our faces that we are unhappy about ? I would have thought it obvious that the term 'slumdog' shows our own attitude towards slumdwellers, and not Danny Boyle's imagination running wild or an expression of his own hatred/ spite. Why should n't a film-maker (so what if he's not Indian?) choose this subject and win nominations for the same? Films show so many more hateful things - violence, rape, drug abuse, murder. It is highly ridiculous that Deshdrohi got banned merely because it depicted the MNS hooligans' violent profession. We cannot question an artist's creative freedom; film-makers are not obliged to depict anything at all in specifics, they have as much right to show negativity(read : reality) as optimism, hope or inspiration.

What a waste of education

2009-01-27T11:02:00.000+05:30

I took this video over a month ago. This is what my horrible building people do to get rid of the wastes collected after gardening. The huge lawn has ample grass, which Dad infact collects and transports(in his car) to nearby cowsheds. And this is what they choose to do now. They're bored of co-operating with dad.

I could not believe my eyes. How dare these people call themselves educated ?? I have completely failed in all my attempts to convince the gardener, watchman or the horrible neighbours who bully these people to burn the wastes. It is even worse to watch my otherwise patient father get agitated when they don't listen to him either. All I could do was to hopelessly shoot this video on my cellphone hoping I could show it to some authority. I don't know to whom, yet.

I thought my father's habit of packing all the grass off to nearby cow-sheds was a great idea, and he did this job quite diligently for a while. Not any longer, thanks to the new orders our gardener has. I'm now sure our neighbours thought they were doing us a favour by co-operating, because I still see absolutely NO reason for them to suddenly go back to their old ways of burning up wastes. How lame and cheap can people get?

The fire goes on for about an hour, and the smoke for atleast 4 hours afterwards. Needless to say, the whole building is smokey by then. There are about a 100 flats in my building. No bugger comes forward to say a word. 'Pollution' and 'global warming' seem too far-fetched to them. They treat it like some text-book crap they memorised for exams and forgot about, later. My building loves fire. Every year, on 31st of December, they set the 'Old Man' (a stupid hay-stuffed baffoon) to fire, watch and applaud cheerfully. What's worse, they make small children (aged 5-15) collect money for the same. Like it was some useful donation for some charitable purpose. Again, pointing out things like 'pollution' to these kids has never worked.

Coming back to this fire incident, I felt sure that it would be unlawful to set wastes to fire in a residential area. I later found out that I was right. Problem is, the BMC does not enforce this law.

I feel absolutely helpless. If you have any idea of what I can do, please share it with me. I know that this incident will happen yet again. I still have no idea how to prevent it. The only thing I can think of now is to call up the fire engine when this happens again (in the hope that they'l have some kind of fire-accident prevention funda).

All that might be needed, I think, is for some authority to come and warn these guys. My father or I are not the voice that they will listen to . The BMC will not come. They're the ones who find it convenient to deal with garbage in the form of ashes(reduced mass) than in their entirety. (The gardener told me so.) Please drop in a word if you have any idea/suggestion.

How dare these people celebrate 'Republic Day' (as they did today), salute the flag and even feel proud of their 'patriotism'.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

Wish you a Happy New Year.

With just four months of college left, the year will bring in a complete change of environment for me. And I hope and trust that by the end of the year my life looks a lot more clearer to me.

Going through a P & P hangover at the moment. I've been watching the 6-hour mini-series BBC adaptation of the classic.

I shall now return to the beautiful world in Longbourn, Grace-Church Street, Rosings Park and above all, Pemberley.

P.S -

Worst(and unfortunately the most often used) PJ-forward sms of the day :

" To all my friends and Relatives who sent me Love, prosperity and Best Wishes for 2008...

It didn't work..

Please send CASH for 2009. "

Blah.

Yet another PL season

2008-11-23T02:43:00.000+05:30

P.L (Prep leave) has always been a time for experimentation. The most ideal(idle) time to devote uninterrupted college-less hours to any new unexplored activity. This is the period of maximum patience, when even the most hitherto seemingly uninteresting activity starts to look all exciting. One of the recent far-fetched pastimes I took up last semester was ... uhm ... SKATING. That too, in my drawing hall. Much to the annoyance of my parents. The whole idea seemed so novel, last PL ! It felt wonderfully satisfying skating all over the house.. very liberating. (and even more fun bumping into parents and getting them irritated. ) It gave me a sense of doing something in life. The speed, the force with which I would turn around at the corners of the room... most entertaining !

This time around, I've taken myself by surprise. I've been attending Chinmaya Mission's session for three consecutive days now. I am 100% sure that I would never have managed the time for any such session during normal college days. What's more - I never imagined I would be blogging on this subject when I attended the first session either.

These sessions have been a part of Chinmaya Mission's 'FAST Management' programme ( Fear, Anger, Stress, Time Management) by Br.Sattvik Chaitanya for 5 consecutive days from Monday through Friday. (Of these, I attended the last three.) His presentations, using his laptop and a wireless mouse, have been very well-structured, and he has used this form of visual communication most effectively to systematise his session.

His talks have been thought-provoking. The most interesting point he brought out - although very tangential to the topic itself - was the whole idea of Hindu Fundamentalism, and his idea of exactly what led to the origin of political groups based on Hinduism. The talks set me thinking about a bunch of new things, to say the least.

According to him, every hour of pre-midnight sleep is infact an equivalent of two hours of sleep.Interesting. He mentioned this in the context of time management, and went on to describe how one could save considerable time if this "fact" was used to one's advantage. Now, PL being the time for absolute lukkhagiri, what better opportunity or time of the year would I get to test such theories? So I actually set out to try something I never imagined myself capable of doing except on Diwali days - waking up at what I previously considered "unearthly" hours ! I actually attempted an "Early to bed, Early to Rise" today ! Went to bed at 10.30 pm (as against my usual 2a.m) and I must admit, although I fell asleep only at around 12.45am - I woke at 5.50am, UNBELIEVABLY HIGH by my standards.

I'd planned meticulously. After moving my bed to my study room(solely with the objective of waking early) , ensuring the room was mosquito-free, testing and setting up my music system's alarm clock( in addition to my cellphone's alarm) to play loud music at 5.30 am and discussing with my father the possibililty of a scared watchman rushing to our home at the sudden blast of early morning music, : the Jan, feeling like a farmer, finally went to bed at 10.30pm.

I was to read "My Experiments with Truth", Gandhiji's autobiography, for sometime before I actually tried to fall asleep. NOT that it's a boring book.. far from that, actually - I've completely loved it so far!

I woke this morning(dawn, actually), had a bath and continued to read for 3 hours. A pah! to my parents for ridiculing me, making fun of me and challenging me that I would n't wake a minute before 10a.m. <>

Incidentally, I'd begun to read an abridged version of the Bhagwat Gita earlier this week.

So to those who asked me a "Whatsup" in the past week (and might do so over the next 3 days) - it's the Gita,Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and a final conclusive Chinmaya Mission session exclusively for the youth on "Attract and Achieve"( how to attract exactly what you want in your life, how to stay focussed and achieve it) that'l keep me occupied. :)

Good Luck, Obama !

2008-11-05T14:40:00.000+05:30

I have no idea why I am this excited about the US Presidential Elections. Let's see, now.

1) Monsieur Barack HUSSEIN Obama. It's amazing how his campaign has successfully managed to drop his middle name from public memory altogether. The McCain campaign's attempts to keep reminding the people of Obama's middle name have n't quite worked. They've been wanting to capitalize on the general American mistrust in Muslims (post 9/11) by highlighting his Islam factor, but wow, people just don't seem to want to hear much of it.

2) Sarah Palin has got so much more publicity ( good or bad) than Joe Biden! Be it all those millions of dollars (150000$ to be precise.. ROFL !!) that GOP spent on her hairdo/ makeup/wardrobe, debates on whether she had sufficient experience to deserve her candidature, or deliberations on why McCain finally zeroed in on her for his running mate. I cannot help but feel that the only reason McCain has chosen her for his running mate, inspite of all his repeated claims of Palin being a " born reformer" is because she strongly represents everything that is American - again, a complete contrast to the situation with Obama, given his mixed background factor. Mixed ? That's understating things. It almost looks confused to me ! His father was a "raised Islam" who finally became an atheist. His mother was raised by non-religious parents, while Obama himself is a Christian. Phew. Someone should remind the family's future generations of the remaining options - Hinduism, Buddhism or turning agnostic ; that'd make them complete in having explored every possible religious status.

3) McCain is a paavam thatha. At 72, perhaps it would be better for him to relax at home and spend time with his grandchildren ! ( I heard he has cholestrol problems.)

Happened to watch the final round of the Presidential Debates. McCain seemed to have a temperament problem, he seemed extremely angry throughout the debate. His powerfully offensive, aggressive attitude towards Obama and his constant accusations were a huge turnoff. This contrast became even more obvious when compared to Obama's cool, calm, patient smiles while answering every one of McCain's charges. Cautions never to return McCain's anger, Obama handled McCain skillfully well and deservingly emerged as the winner of the final round. And I really think McCain should've stopped harping about how he disapproved of Obama's selective taxation policy (higher taxation for the richer) especially because Obama had already given him a lengthy justification and was finished with expressing his views. To questions of whether the candidates had been hurt by each other's campaigns, I remember, McCain definitely looked defeated.

4) I don't quite understand why Indians particularly prefer Democratic candidates over the Republicans. The Bush administration certainly did enough to try and push the Nuclear Deal through and even got an FTA signed recently. I don't understand why people insist Democrats would have done more.

5) It is interesting to note that while Obama has 50% support and McCain 44%, 6 % are undecided. Is it really possible that they're confused ? After so many months of intensive campaigning, don't they know the candidates and all their policies on healthcare, taxation, economy and even their janma-kundlis? It infact seems more likely that they are hesitant Obama-supporters, unwilling to support him openly in view of his background. I also wonder if there will be another situation of the Bradley effect ! ( the black who ran for Governor : every poll predicted he would win, but it turned out he finally did not !) .

6) The outcome of this election is going to make history no matter who wins ! Interestingly, Obama, at 47, will be amongst the youngest Presidents in history to get elected. McCain at 72, the oldest !

Obama becoming the President of the United States would mean a HUGE image makeover for the USA. As Shashi Tharoor pointed out, for one, relations for the USA with other nations can only improve with him as President. Personally, I would like to see a situation where the conventional American racist would have voted for an African-American :) . And on the downside, Obama's protectionist fundas and him not believing in offering too many H1-B visas are a little daunting. (Especially because my brother is in SFO and he needs an H1-B!!).

Anyway, Obama is leading comfortably. :) Dixville Notch (which has a history of voting for Republicans since 14 years!) has voted for him, and has, well, "Voted For Change".

(Jan suddenly realizes she has a Mobile Communications viva scheduled for the next day, abandons the post and hurries away.)

The TamBrahms' hot favourite - PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA !

2008-09-02T22:45:00.000+05:30

I have n't been to a wedding since a few months now. Parents wanted me to attend one today, though. Some close family friends of ours. TamBrahms.
On mom's demand, I return from college at 6pm and head for the marriage venue by 7. ( Parents give up on me and go an hour earlier to the venue). I have all the time in the world ( unlike my dear, super-panicky mother) and I patiently wait for 10 minutes at the bus stop and catch a 374 to Vile Parle.
I enter the marriage hall, and I wonder for a second if I've landed up at the wrong place. But no, I spot my mom there !
What greets me is a blast of music.
Very near the entrance, a group of saree-clad mamis and veshti-clad mamas danced to PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA ! The group looked terribly excited, while the poor saastrigaL ( pundits ) looked on, helplessly and bored.
The dance group would periodically keep an eye out for possible options to victimise onlookers. Every few minutes, a new shy mami or a reluctant mama would get dragged onto the 'dance floor'. This protesting mami / mama would then perform some extremely ridiculous, thoroughly embarrased jig and run off at the first possible opportunity, having satisfied the excited dancers and thus having generated some laughter.
A suitable DJ is quickly appointed from amongst the lot of relatives, who scans through lists of songs from several CDs and changes the track at the most inappropriate, offbeat points. This is followed by disapproval from the crowds, but the frustration is shortlived because the new song more than makes up for the uncomfortable, untimely switch between songs ! "Nagada Nagada" is next, while "Crazy Kiya re" and "Mauja hi Mauja" follow.
Finally, the best of them all, " Zara zara touch me" ( that sidey,miserable Katrina Kaif song) is played. And WHOA ! All the mamas are suddenly excited !!! New mamas step onto the dance floor, old ones get a sudden burst of energy, while several even attempt to waltz with their shy wives ! The group then attempts a quick mix of jive/salsa /ballet/ Bhangra and God-knows-what-other forms of dance.
I had a great time ROFLing around.
Needless to say, I was hiding, careful not to get spotted and victimised by the dance group. Mom did try to damage my efforts, by calling out to me loud enough for half the world to hear, but I was quick to escape. And today, I can bravely declare , head held high up in the air - I'm proud of my abilities of recognizing imminent dangers, changing locations and figuring out new hiding places when required.

Anyway, today was the engagement day, and hence dinner was the typical South-Indian one. Sambar, Rasam, Curd with some five hundred million curries, complete with some much talked about payasam. ( The mamis, ofcourse, religiously performed a complete post-mortem of the dinner, as if it had some shocking variety to present. While all I did was concentrate on eating as fast as I could.)
In the meantime, rice and sambar had already been thrown over my plate( uhm... a leaf ), and I realised it was an emergency - I HAD to finish it off before more food was hurled onto the 'leaf'. I panicked, increased my speed, but in vain - the Rasam guy was already hovering around my table, watching, WAITING to load my 'leaf' with more food. I tell him "No, thanks", skip Rasam and heave a huge sigh of relief at the thought of having bought myself more time to eat.
These meals, more often than not, are like extremely lengthy examinations. Something like an IEM or a Software Engineering paper, where you need to race against time.
Tomorrow is the Muhurtham and the Reception, so I'l blog later if I have more stories.

PRAXIS' Clothes Collection Drive from 22nd August to 1st September

2008-08-19T21:08:00.000+05:30

http://203.200.89.222/yuva/epaperpdf/1982008/1982008-md-hr-9.pdf

VESIT's T20 match !

2008-07-25T23:54:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time, I had a lot of respect for the post of a General Secretary at VESIT. It undoubtedly was (and perhaps still is) the most challenging post that VESIT could offer to a student. A GS' requirements have not changed much over the past 3 years. Tremendous patience, a cool / calm head (remote traces of brains will do,too.) , an exhaustive network of friends and acquaintances ( so as to create suitable pools of workforces for various events ), great listening abilities, superb communication skills, good leadership, lots of talent, excellent public relations skills, great HR skills, and ofcourse ability to become an easy-to-use / efficient interface between the *&%^*& principal/administration and the students. But above all, a leader is characterised by his/her sense of ethics, maturity and his/her ability to take the right decision over the best one.
This year, a GS needs to have all of the above and more ! Whether one likes it or not, one simply must accept the fact that ISTE is the intended replacement for 4 societies, and hence is of utmost importance. ISTE needs to get incorporated into VESIT's activity circle. The GS, therefore, needs to have policy-making abilities, since the formative years are crucial to ISTE's deployment. I see only 3 people in my batch who can handle this situation, and sadly, none of them will contest tomorrow. There go all the good GSes !

Its just 5 days since college has begun, and there's a sudden, mad fight for this post. There's a sudden need to bring back all the lost honour, glory associated with the post. But hell, VESIT cannot survive with controversial or impulsive heads. I sincerely wish we had good people to step into Gore's shoes. Tomorrow's election will be no different from a T20 match, so nobody can make any predictions. VESIT definitely needs a GS who can atleast be half as good as Gayatri Kannan or Shreyas Gore were. The mood / atmosphere is not going to be too different from the Lok Sabha session during the Trust Vote.
I don't remember the last time VESIT had competition for the GS post in the Students' Council. What I do know is that it simply cannot have been as murky before. You can almost smell the tension on the fourth floor corridor. Never before have GS elections been so absurd, so crazy and so unpredictable. Catch the action, live, tomorrow at 1pm at VESIT. Known devil or unknown angel ? ( courtesy : Nadi )- Watch the two warriors battle it out !
I realise I have remained completely neutral in this support-'so-and-so' game. So it turns out I might be 'Election Chair' for tomorrow. I sincerely hope I remain alive to continue blogging :-)
And I hope atleast now people will believe me when I say, for the last time, I DO NOT intend to contest. ( I shall conduct.) Peace out :-)

PS :
Urgent : Riot Control Police required at VESIT. Date : 26th July. Time : 1pm onward.
Preferred workforce : Ankit Shah, Manish Narang( Captain of the team), Ameya, Chetan, and anyone else willing to stick their necks out.
Required ammunition : Dungbombs, Stone-proof head guard, reinforced rubber under clothing, pepper spray, knives, automated, self-creative shields.

The whole world is married !

2008-07-18T00:45:00.000+05:30

Or so it seems, to me, yet again !

In the past year alone, I'm sure 9 out of every 10 people I have known have suddenly declared themselves married. Okay - committed, married, whatever ! ( Oh , and I think the 10th in every such set is me ! )
Two friends in the past week ! WTF ?! At this rate, single people like me will not have anyone left ! Or I'd have to choose from the pool of divorced people. Most people of my age either are in a relationship or have already been through one (or many).
I'm starting to feel like a happy, japa-mala clutching, wise, pohonchi-hui grandmother, watching all her children settle down in life. What , am I seriously that old ?!
No. I'd rather remain single. And in any case its a much better option than putting up my height, weight, position of nose on face, breadth/width of forehead and other such irrelevant data along with nice fresh sparkling fotu on some Matrimonial site !

Allright, Congratulations to all you committed fellows and fellis.
Those who are single, please remind me of your existence. I can then change the title of this blog !
Mulaanno, Krupaya ithhe attandance dya !

Hi to all

2008-06-24T11:19:00.000+05:30

Yeah, I've started blogging. so Hii !

India has 28 states, eh ?

2008-06-24T00:38:00.000+05:30

The states of India are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradhesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, ......... and SouthIndia.

The capital of the state SouthIndia is Muddraass.

Muddraass lies somewhere inside Kerala, and the people of Muddraass talk Muddraasi.

Kerala can sometimes be inside TamilNadu or outside of it, depending on the position of the sun during the day.

Andhra Pradesh ? - uhm.. yeah, somewhere on the map.

Karnataka -? non-existent. Or most likely inside of Muddraass but outside TamilNadu.

Coming back to Muddraasis : These specimens can speak "Keralite"(Now, that could n't possibly be "Malayalam",could it??) . Oh, I'm confused. Don't they speak Muddraasi ?

Amidst all this confusion - One thing's for sure - People in Tamil Nadu certainly speak Tamil. The name of this place proves that.

But then, some Mudraasis may be Keralites, depending on whether you were suddenly reminded of the existence of the 'city' of Kerala the instant you opened your mouth.

There is no such place as Hyderabad (Forget, for a while, that Microsoft is located there).

Banglore ? No... I must stop now !

Certain obvious things that I need not mention here,( but will still do so for the sake of completeness ) : the idli-sambar factor, excessive use of coconut oil, the law-abiding nature of SouthIndian Citizens, the 'never-stick-your-neck-out-for-anything' ness ,and oh yeah - WHAT THE HELL IS "thambi" ?!

Poor PM. He could give up crying over the 11 % inflation and considering uniting all these places and giving them just one single, nice, easy-to-remember name : MUDRASS. And request them to stick to just one language - MUDDRAASI.

Let me know if I have missed out any other symptoms. I'll add them. :)

( Dedicated to OP, MN, TS, PV and all such folk)

The Third

2008-06-17T17:05:00.000+05:30

They are the quintessential members of the Third Gender. Coated in cheap rouge, thick kajal, powder and lipstick, they dress in colourful blouses and saris in a grotesque parody of womanhood as they roam in groups and accost pedestrians. Unlike an average beggar, they have unique strategies : they prey on passersby, who will part with their cash sooner than be embarrassed.
Eunuchs or hijras have been in existence since the 9th Century BC. The word derives from the Greek "keeper of the bed" because the eunuchs were in popular demand to guard royal harems (a household in which women would live, forbidden to men). The practice is believed to have started in China where, at the end of the Ming dynasty, there were as many as 70,000 eunuchs in the grand palace itself and many thousands more waiting to fill vacancies in the royal quarters.

India is the only country where the tradition of eunuchs is prevalent today. Their number is estimated at 1 million, with Mumbai having over 25000 of them.
They have been caricatured in Hindi films, but by and large the films have portrayed them as bizarre comic elements. Either that or they usually show them as individuals who help the hero woo the heroine, or who take care of a lost child, displaying hearts of gold. Yet, in either case, films have probably helped in some way in at least subconsciously informing us of their existence and accepting their presence. That films can do incredibly much more, like depict some reality and shed light on their situation, create awareness and help them get acceptance in society, is a different story altogether.
The popular picture is they create problems; that they steal children and castrate them forcibly to make them into eunuchs or that they are all into prostitution and are the biggest transmitters of STDs or that if you don't give them money, they will curse you to a life of impotency.
Most of it is untrue. What they do of course is beg and extort money. At traffic lights where they beg openly or during weddings or after births when they come to our homes and demand money. In fact, they are amazingly organized. All eunuchs belong to a small group consisting of a guru and a chela, called a toli. Each small group is accountable to a bigger group and so on. Each group is assigned a territory and turf battles are rare. Being so organized has even helped them get into politics.

So why this article on this community of strange-looking individuals who at a quick, careless glance merely present to you an ugly, hopeless sight?

Get these eunuchs to shed their hijra mannerisms and speak in "normal" tones, and you will hear them talking about their hopes, aspirations and fears. They will tell you that they had become eunuchs either because they felt like women trapped in men's bodies or they had ambiguous or abnormal genitalia.
That answers the question of how these hijras ever came to be. Some are naturally born eunuchs, although this is a relatively rare occurrence. Most others are castrated males. Castration isn't always by force. It is an often an option chosen, out of compulsion, by those exhibiting abnormal sexual tendencies. People just like you and I, without the resources and money to carry them through a normal social life and therefore forced to join a group that would take care of them, sustain them and understand them. They prefer this to the otherwise humiliating life they would face. Humiliation from us, of course.

Sadly, it is by taking advantage of their discomfort and embarrassment at their own existence, that they make their living. The community has a complex network system, which informs them of every happy event in the neighbourhood – be it weddings, housewarmings or childbirths. Their demand and inspection of a newborn even carries an ulterior motive. On rare occasions when the baby is born a eunuch, the hijras insist that the baby is given to them. Often, the families will comply to avoid humiliation in society, and the group will take the child away to their ghettoes to raise him as he should be: as one of their own. This is the beginning of the vicious cycle. The turning point in the life of a person who could have otherwise possibly led a normal, healthy, social life had only his sexual status been understood and accepted by his family. And again, by us, of course. Perhaps it is worth mentioning here, that it is frankly astonishing where and how all our self proclaimed “broad-mindedness” and modern, “westernized” minds disappear when it comes to the issue of these already-suffering, oppressed individuals.
NGOs have now sprung into the picture, with the Dai Welfare Society (Mumbai) and Samara (Bangalore) working tirelessly to improve the conditions and job opportunities of eunuchs. Recently, at Bangalore, over a hundred eunuchs took part in awareness programmes with a view to sensitize the public to their plight and to highlight how they are often ridiculed, berated and even beaten up for begging on the streets. They also insist that this does not deter them from continuing to beg for a few rupees. Eunuchs say they have no other job alternative. They allege that they are often forced into begging and prostitution. “Given an option, eunuchs would never beg,” says Soumya, director, Samara, an NGO that works with sexual minorities. Many eunuchs, she said, were interested in tailoring, but the lack of job opportunities forced them to beg. “I want to earn a decent living but no one wants to employ me,” said Nagarathna, who dreams of being a seamstress. Samara hopes the awarness programmes will help her dream come true.

Being denied access to an opportunity is what classifies a person as underprivileged. It is sad to see eunuchs discriminated and denied their most fundamental rights. Difficult as it might seem, we absolutely must remember that these people are as much worthy of respect as we are.
Lepers, AIDS affected. and eunuchs. A decade ago, AIDS patients were ill-treated and misunderstood. But now, awareness and hence their acceptance is increasing. Let’s hope eunuchs too get accepted, and that a decade from now, we will see these tremendously gifted people settled as doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers, making a valuable contribution to society.

We’re living, for sure. Let’s also let live. And let’s not forget their dignity.

(Article for VK '08)