Still Unsure

Everyday auto stories.

2011-05-18T19:43:00.020+05:30

Reel life Stuntman.

I was on a call when I got into the auto. As soon as I got inside, It was as though I had entered a photo studio. Every inch of the auto was stuck with newspaper articles and photographs of a man with leading Kannada actors. "Naave ree adu (Thats me)", he said to me while I kept gawking at the photographs.

"Oh, neevu filmstar-a?" (Are you a filmstar)

"Hange tilkolli, naavu stuntman. Nammanna preetiaagi, Auto Ramanna, fighter Bellary anta heltaare. Sudeepu, annavru, yellar jothe li kelsa madidivi" (You can consider that. I am a stuntman. With love they call me Auto Ramanna, fighter Bellary. I have worked with Sudeep and Anna sir)

"Hangaare yenakk ee auto vodsodu" (Then why do you drive this auto?)

"Madam, hotte ge, samsara nodkobek alwa. Stunt inda asht sambla yen baralla" (Madam, for my stomach. I have to take care of my family. Doing stunts does not fetch me enough money)

Then he went on explaining to me how the stunts work, who all he works with, how many movies he's worked in. And then he said "Madam ondu dialogue heltini, keli" (Madam I will tell a dialogue, listen to me)

The Kannada dialogue was as big as a lecture! But he made no mistakes, and happily recited it off. He mentioned all the noted Kannada personalities and said he's met them all. He said "Madam Tv nallu kuda bandidini, nimm internet nallu idini, nodi" (Madam, I have come on TV, I am there on your internet also). He said he goes to the gym early morning to keep himself fit. Then he told me about his daughter who was doing very well at school. The entire auto journey seemed to get over in seconds. While getting off, he said "Nann movies nodta iri madam" (Keep seeing my movies madam).

Unfortunately, I did not find him on "my internet". Next time I board an auto, I will look out for our very own "Auto Ramanna, fighter Bellary".

Real life Stuntman.

This was the second day my vehicle was sitting at the Service center. I was late and I was not getting an auto. Finally an auto guy agreed to come. He started the meter and as soon as he switched on the ignition, a cab behind us started honking. The auto guy smiled and accelerated. I was surprised at him. Usually auto drivers are not that patient. The driver suddenly said, "Yen madodu madam, avarigu timelimits iratte. avara boss avara tale male koothkond irtaare. naanu ond kalakke call centre driver aagidde. Katte thara kelsa madastaare." (What to do madam, even they have timelimits. Their boss will be sitting on their heads. Even I was a call centre driver at one point. They make you work like donkeys)

"Oh", I said.

"Yaararu driver raja togondre, namm mele duty haakbidtaare. Double shifts madbekagatte. Extra duddu antu sigod kaane. Sambla togolodu ondu dodda golu. Manager galu namma boss ge namma salary credit madataare, but ee baddi maga namage namma duddu kodakke saytaane." (If any driver takes an off, they put the duty on us. We'll have to do double shifts. They never give us extra money. It is a pain to take our own salary from them. The managers would have credited our salaries to our bosses, but this ***** doesn't give us."

"Complain madalva?" (Don't you complain?)

"Yarag madam complain madodu? namm salary iskollakke naav namm boss ge ondu bottle henda kodbeku athva kudasak karkond hogbeku. Sareeg itkobeku ee boss galanna, illa andre yaav yaavdo route ge haak bidtaare." (Who should we complain to Madam? To get our own salaries, we have to give them one bottle liquor or take them to a bar. We need to keep them in good terms, else they will assign us to some unknown route.)

"Oh", was all I managed again.

"Nan hendti nannanna bitt hodlu. Yeshtu anta paapa avalu kaytaale. Bellige inda sanje avala ganda manege bardene hodre, yeshtu anta kaytaale. Driver andre maryaade ne illa madam. Hudgi sigodu kashta. Yen kelsa anta keltaare, driver andre, ayyo howda sari nodona anbidtaare. Adikke naanu aa kelsa bittu, auto business shuru madide. Madam ille nillisla?" (My wife left me and went away. For how long will that poor female wait? From morning till evening if her husband doesn't come home at all, how much will she wait. There is no respect for drivers madam. It is difficult to get brides. They ask us what our job us, if we say driver, they say, oh is it, ok then lets see. That is why I left that job and started my own auto business. Shall I stop here madam?"

"Yenu?" (What?)

"Ide alwa nimm office?" (This is your office, right?)

"Hoon, hoon, Thanks". (Yes, yes, Thanks)

"Ok madam, khushiyaag iri, bartini eega" (Ok madam, be happy, I will go now)

He drove away and I kept standing there with a million thoughts in my head.

Attachment vs Familiarity

2011-01-22T23:40:00.002+05:30

Attachment and Familiarity are the phases of any relationship. First you get familiar with someone and then the familiarity increases which leads to Attachment. Even for a baby, first it has to get familiar with the mother. Once it gets familiar with the mother's touch, her smell, her voice, it gets attached to her emotionally. Its how nature is.

Everyday while going to office, I take a short cut to avoid the main road. It saves me a lot of time as it lets me bypass the traffic. It was on this short cut that I first saw the old man. He was holding his crutches and standing in the balcony, looking at the vehicles passing by. He was wearing a loose pyjama and a kurta and had a newspaper in his hand. I did try to see which newspaper it was, but pardon me, I have a bit of Myopia which didn't allow me to. I wondered whether all the vehicles which passed by were causing him irritation or whether he was simply used to them. Once I got to office, I forgot all about the old man. The next day while going to office, I saw the old man again standing there in the balcony with his crutches. Since that day up until last week, I saw the old man everyday. But from a week, I had not been seeing him. The balcony remained empty. Everyday when I took the shortcut I instinctively looked up to the balcony to see if the old man would be there. I used to feel a twinge of sadness to see the lonely balcony. Yesterday while taking my usual road, I looked up the balcony out of practice. It gave me such pleasure to see the old man sitting there on the chair reading the newspaper! It brought a huge smile onto my face. I almost wanted to shout out to him and greet him in welcome.

It made me wonder whether this was Familiarity or Attachment. My emotions were attached to the presence or absence of a person whom I hadn't spoken to even once. The emotions lasted hardly for 10 minutes, but it still did bring a slight change in my mood. Strange how the mind works eh?

2011.

2011-01-02T00:36:00.002+05:30

I was buying some flowers when I saw this little girl sitting on the sand. She was no more than 3 years old. Her mother was inside, mixing the cement for construction work. The little girl was sitting on a huge pile of sand next to a dog. The girl had the dog’s face in her hand and she was talking to it. Although the words were quite incomprehensible, the dog had its eyes focused on the girl as though listening to her in rapt attention. Quite a double irony actually! The little girl then took some sand from the pile and started putting it on the dog’s face. The dog closed its eyes slowly and I swear I saw a trace of smile on its face! It stayed there silently while the girl put the sand on its face like a face pack. Then the girl’s mother called out to her. She quickly got up and left. The dog stayed there for 2 seconds, opened its eyes and shook itself all over. All the sand fell off and it trotted behind the girl faithfully.

A big flashy car suddenly stopped at the crossroad. I screeched to halt behind it. I’m not the kind of person who honks at cars or cows. I just cursed under my breath and took a dangerous swerve to avoid a collision. An old man was standing there, outside his house, observing my reactions. As I sped off, his eyes met mine, and he raised his hand and mouthed “Calm down, Calm down”. I instantly slowed down with a smile on my face and rode away.

My aunt had a Prepaid Mobile connection whose call rates were 1Re/min. She talks a lot on the phone. Her mobile Bills, needless to say, were quite high. Her husband was not very happy with this. When I went to visit her, she complained to me about this. I told her that she could switch the Call rates Plan to something cheaper. Being a little ignorant to the tech-world, she asked me if that would change her number. I told her that the number would remain the same, only the call rates would go down. She confirmed this with me 6 times, by asking the same question in 6 different ways. “Will the phone number change? Will my friends need to call on another new number? Will I have to give all my friends another number? … ” After about 20 minutes of Q&A, we walked down to the Mobile shop and got the plan changed. The first thing she did after we got home was make a nice big hot cup of tea for me. Then she sat next to me and peeled an orange. She said, “Thank you. I can now talk longer with my friends and my husband needn't worry”. Her husband grimaced behind her but she smiled and started peeling another orange for me.

Small instances like these make you feel so positive and happy. It needn’t always be alcohol.
After one dormant blog year, it’s a post.
Happy new year.

....tick....tick....tick....

2010-01-01T23:46:00.004+05:30

The clock doesn't stop. It ticks on. Another eventful year passes by. 2009, for me, started on the wrong note, but ended on an excellent one. I thank the following entities for making my 2009 rock!
(I'll be generic here :) )
1. God. The real meaning of multitasking - God knows! Pun intended. :)
2. My family. For all the love and care.
3. My friends. For being there. Love them, hate them, can't live without them.
4. My colleagues. For all the support and learning opportunities.
5. My vehicle. For taking me places.
6. My mobile phone. For helping me create contacts.
7. My wallet. For...well. Self explanatory. :)
8. My computer. For making MY world a global world.
9. My comb. For making me look right.
10. My jacket. For keeping the coldness away.

The list goes on. I stopped at 10 for 2010. :) Sorry to other important or mundane things I left out of the list.

Have an excellent year people. Love your pets. Be good. And slap yourself if you use excess plastic.
Cheers!

le or la?

2009-11-19T22:19:00.006+05:30

French gender is a constant headache for many students of French. Why is manteau masculine and montre feminine, when both men and women wear both of them? Le is for masculine nouns and la is for feminine nouns.
Why is it la beard? La beard is usually on le boys. Usually. It doesn't make sense that the beard gets a female gender.
Why is it le baby? If someone is having a baby, how do we know its already le and not la? Unless of course, you get an ultrasound and get to know beforehand.
Why is it le vegetables? Why are vegetables masculine? A bitter gourd definitely doesn't look male to me. Heck, none of the vegetables look masculine to me. They're just vegetables.

Here's a question: What would "the blog" be? Google Translator says its le blog. Well. I would like to call my blog la blog. Thank you very much. Call me feminist. Whatever.

Imagine if english had genders for non-living things as well...
I went to the market today. He was very crowded. I had to buy some vegetables. I bought some carrots, to try a new dish with her in it. He came out very well. After dinner, we sat and watched TV. She had become very old. We needed to get her exchanged in the market. But since he was crowded, we decided we'll keep her anyway. Tomorrow is a brand new day. I hope he will be good. He who? He, the day!

PS. I found the Gender Genie. Check it out. Its fun.

Story telling.

2009-09-11T18:05:00.008+05:30

For our English writing competitions, we used to have a story telling part, where the stories used to be given in bits, and we had to form the full sentences. Following that pattern, here's my post...

On bike-pillion rider-message on cell phone-check-phone falls-on road-yell-bike stop-turn around-stranger picks up phone-boards bus-vanishes-I panic-lots of contacts on cell-no back up-call up my number-stranger picks-hello-I WANT MY PHONE BACK-Come to the next bus stop-Ok-hurry-got phone-Phew!

Have to board a bus-to go 20 km destination-bus not frequent-walking to bus stop-bus comes-and leaves-I panic-what to do-brilliant plan strikes-caught an autorickshaw-chased the bus-tell auto driver-Please overtake the bus-driver speeds-rash driving-again I panic-driver succeeds in overtaking bus-I jump from the autorickshaw-run and catch the bus-Phew!

At home-relaxed-1 year old cousin comes home-cute-playing with him-house maid comes-sweeps the floor-starts swobbing the floor-I pick up kid cousin-start running around house-puddle of water-did not see-slipped-with 1 year old cousin-cousin falls-starts crying-yells if shoulder is touched-I panic-rush to pediatric-after examination-shoulder fracture-minor-arm in sling-15 days-slowly cured-Phew!

It is a war.

2009-08-13T17:11:00.012+05:30

The battle has now reached India. Slowly but steadily it creeps into each state so silently, that you don't even realize its presence around you. Once it is positioned to act, it does so with no mercy. Swine flu has its plan of action well set.

It is a battle between the humans and the virus. Humans develop better technologies, better medical equipments, better vaccines. The virus is no less. It can mutate and develop better attack techniques. A usual viral fever nowadays is accompanied by severe joints pain. Humans aren't sure if its viral fever or Chikungunya or the swine flu. See the fear the virus brings with it? In Darwin's words, it is survival of the fittest. We cannot really blame the virus, can we? Either we live, or they do. I just hope its the virus which follows the dinosaurs' foot steps.

And the forces of nature refuse to help. Why should they? The indifference humans have shown is clearly visible in the pages of history. Who asked you to throw your waste into the rivers? Who asked you to pollute the air? Who asked you cut down the trees? Who asked you to live like you don't care? The earth is tired of the abuse humans have inflicted upon it. It will not take sides. Earth will live on. The sun will rise. The rivers will flow. The rains will pour. Irrespective of whether humans exist or not.

Humans should learn to co-exist. Not dominate. Humans are not the superior species. They're just one among the billion species on earth. It is not a favour that humans plant a tree or help an animal or clean a river. It is what they are supposed to do for their own survival. It is their duty and responsibility which they owe to the future generation.

Wake up mortals. There is still time. Nature forgives. Stop abusing it. Respect what you have.

An E-mail I got. Something to think about.

2009-07-21T23:15:00.002+05:30

It is August in a small town on the south coast of France. Holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt.

Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro 100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the bank note in a hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100.

The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt.

The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.

The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit.

The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she owed the hotel E100 for her hourly room use to entertain clients.

At that moment, the rich Russian comes down to the reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is not satisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs.

No one earned anything… but the debt of everyone has been cleared. The small town people are happy and look forward to their future.

Could this be the solution to the global financial crisis or is there a catch somewhere?

I was wondering..

2009-06-28T12:05:00.005+05:30

* Bournvita 5 starz sucks. It should've been Bournvita 1 star {Yes, I still drink milk. It has calcium.}

* Why does a :-* smiley always have a red lipstick on?

* What's the difference if you cut a Pisces's daily horoscope and paste it as aquarian's? Will it make a difference in their lives?

* New York is better than Delhi 6. The movie.

* A pizza costs 554 Rs. ONLY. If only recession affected pizza prices..

* Next time you go to the bank and somebody asks you for a pen, give them santoor soap. {See the Ad.}

* I always have trouble with Bullets and Numberings while making a presentation slide.

* As soon as the signal turns green, there's no need to honk. Really. We know what green means. And we have no intention of spending time at the signal. A little patience would be well appreciated.

* When at a function, please don't exclaim, "ooohh, look you've grown so much". Its not our fault you didn't see us 5 years ago.

* 12:34:56 07/08/09. Cool huh? Waiting for august!

* I have a hard time remembering dates. I ended up writing 15/07/2009 instead of 15/06/2009 on my exam answer sheet. Oops!

Super mario!

2009-05-14T23:38:00.002+05:30

I've started playing supermario on my friend's nintendo a lot these days. It is SO much fun. I've reached world 8. I still haven't figured out how to unlock world 4 and world 7. Sigh. I will though..

I prefer playing simple games like mario than the world famous NFS or fifa or tomb raider or blah blah blah ....
Have you ever played hocus pocus ? Oh what a fun game!! You've to go and collect crystals all over the place, drink all kinds of potions..

Maybe I prefer these games because I played them in my childhood days. There are many memories attached with games like these. Prince of Persia, Alladin, Gold Runner, tetris..
Me and my sister used to play Alladin together. I used to shoot with the CTRL button and she used to control the navigation! oh what time we've had, collecting the apples, the gems and the flutes...!

Then there was this sudden rage of video games. We used to exchange those yellow color game cartridges having 99,999 games inside them!
There was a game of tanks, don't remember the name, it was a 2-player game. The goal was to save a plant(?) guarded by bricks. I can hear the game's music in my head right now.. we could build our own battle field using brick, grass, cement, water etc.. On killing the enemy tanks we used to get powers as well.. Anybody played it?

Even the cartoons aren't the same anymore. Its no -mickey mouse-chip n dale-quack pack-duck tales- days anymore. Its ben10, pokemon blah blah.. They all seem the same to me..

I'm taking the risk of sounding like an ol' grandma in this post.. Oh who cares! I loved my childhood!!

The DOG.

2009-04-07T12:15:00.002+05:30

This looks like some kind of a robo-dog.

He kept looking at me patiently while I switched the camera on and focussed on him.
Very cute, I must say.

Sometimes when I go to a zoo, I wonder whether we're looking at the animals in the cages or the animals are ogling at us.

Flowers as gifts.

2009-03-12T22:28:00.003+05:30

A dialogue from the movie My cousin Vinny. Love the movie btw.

Vinny Gambini wants to go deer hunting. Mona Lisa Vito-his fiancee does not approve of it. Here's the conversation:
Vinny Gambini: What about these pants I got on? You think they're okay?
Mona Lisa Vito: Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?

The post is titled "Flowers as gifts". Yeah I'm coming to that.
I really don't like giving flowers at reception/marriages/birthdays/any occasions. Not only is it a waste of money, its waste of flowers as well. I mean yeah it really is "awww, how nice, you got flowers!" But the very next second its lying on the floor, probably being trampled on by somebody. Whats the point, really? Its either a I-don't-know-you-very-well gift or a I-don't-know-what-else-to-give-you gift.
But at times, even I've ended up giving flowers. They wrap it in such pretty wrappers with ribbons and stuff. But still, I don't approve of flowers as gifts.

Coming back to the movie reference I made at the beginning, the flower, if it could think, wouldn't really care what clothes you were wearing. Go naked or suit up, won't matter to the flower.
PS. Thats just from the flower's point of view.

Paint away!

2009-02-22T14:17:00.002+05:30

The HowtoGeek website has got a very cute logo. Check it out : HERE

It reminds of of those days when I got newly acquainted with the Microsoft paint tool! I used to come back from school, switch on the computer and open paint. Then I used to get started by creating like a really cute face, rubbing out the mistakes with that cute little rubber! [Note the usage of cute: twice] I used to love the spray paint tool! I always used to make the eyes using spray tool.

I used to be so proud of myself after the completion of a drawing. I even took a print out of a really *ugly* face which I had created. Those were the days....

Shift+Delete sucks.

2009-02-14T21:49:00.002+05:30

One bright sunny day. Birds chirping. Cows moo-ing. Atmosphere great outside.
Everybody enjoying at home as well. Many electronic gadgets being used by my family members. Radio, Television, Mixer, I-pod, Computer.
I was using the computer. I wanted to clean out my Desktop folders. I don't like it cluttered. I don't like to have more than 6 or 7 folders on my Desktop.
First I arranged them in an order. A simple right click, a selection and that does it.
Second, I hold down the control button on my white keyboard and select a few files and folders.
Third, I press Shift+Delete.
Fourth, all the files I'd selected gets deleted.

OOPS!

Problem: I had accidentally selected the folder which had all my music and movies and photos and programs. And yes, they got deleted as well.
I frantically searched my entire file system for it. All in vain. Poopie :(
Thats ok, no need to get your tissues out, I had back up. Not much harm done.

But it made me feel pretty stupid you know. Its like one second you're holding a beautiful crystal ball and the next second you accidentally smash it on the floor. Its like you ask somebody, hey where's building X and you realize you're standing right in front of it. Its like one of those situations when you feel.. Duh! how stupid!
If you know what I mean....

MAC Fast food , Safina Plaza, Bangalore.

2009-02-01T23:42:00.004+05:30

After a bit of shopping in Safina Plaza, we decided to go to MAC Fast food. We walked up a staircase which led to a tiny place having a khaitan fan for ventilation. The place was not really clean and the waiter was very grouchy. We ordered fries, veg kati roll, pizza and tea. I'll describe them for you.

Fries: They were yellow in colour. Too much turmeric. Too much oil. Why they're called 'french' fries, I don't know. (Rating: 0.76/5 )
veg kati roll: Roti with a vegetable 'palya' stuffed inside which is supposed to make it a roll, but was stuffed in such a way that it could easily be eaten like a side dish. (Rating: 1/5 )
Pizza: I actually liked it. (Rating: 4/5)
Tea: Excellent. MAC fast food people get the milk, water, sugar and tea bags from outside. (Rating:5/5)

So the average rating is 2.69/5.
Here are a few Tips:

Tip no 1: Always read online about a hotel or a fast food joint before trying it out.
Tip no 2: Use your brains and don't order 4 dishes the first time you go to a new restaurant, unless a non-enemy has personally recommended it.
Tip no 3: Never ever order fries in a lets-check-it-out place.
Tip no 4: Walk on the footpath. [No. Its not exactly related to food. But its a good tip]

Shri Ram would not have approved of this. Really.

2009-01-27T22:02:00.002+05:30

Shri Ram Sena members on the evening of 24th January 2009 barged into a Mangalore pub and assaulted the girls in there. They justified the incident by stating the girls flouted the traditional Indian norms and levels of decency. Excuse me?
And then Mr.Pramod Muthalik, founder of this organization, had the nerve to say, "its a small incident" and that they were "trying to save women from bad influence". Yo dude from the angel world, we can think for ourselves and can distinguish between what a good influence is and whats not. We don't need a fundamentalist coming up to us and teaching us the rules to live.
He also said that the media is trying to politicize the whole issue by targeting BJP. BJP? Politics? How on earth is politics related to this???
Mr Pramod Muthalik, if your men can come and attack women to "save them from bad influence", the next time I find a man peeing on the road, Am I justified to go and hit him on his head?
You don't resort to violence. Even a 2 year old kid will tell you that. You and your party people seem to lack common sense.
Mr Angel also said "the intentions were right but the method was wrong".
Lets compare this to 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Terrorists barge into the hotels. And the rest is history. Even the terrorists can justify themselves by saying our intentions were right but methods were wrong.
Shame on us. We need no terrorists. We can create havoc in our own country. Indians beat up fellow Indians and then give a justification for it. Its such a disgrace.

Ya I know.

2009-01-15T18:19:00.002+05:30

I am sad.
sad-ness is a feeling.
feeling's are but natural.
natural-ly jam is sweet.
sweet people are rare.
rare things are hard to get.
get-ting out of an amusement park is not welcome.
welcome the aliens with open arms.
arms and ammunition destroy the earth.
earth-ly sounds scare me.
me is a pronoun.
pronoun is in favour (pro-) of a noun.
noun is my name.
name can be black.
black signifies darkness.
darkness can be avoided by lighting a lamp.
lamps are cool.
cool as a cucumber.
cucumber is yummy.
yummy kinda rhymes with unnecessary.
unnecessary things clutter your mind.
mind is a deep place full of thoughts.
thoughts need to be realistic.
realistic dreams get you closer to your goal.
goal is a bollywood movie.
movie-s are a way to escape the real world.
world is round.
round is a shape.
shape your eyebrows.
eyebrows lie above the eyes.
eyes have power.
power is energy/time.
time goes on and on.
on the chair sits the bear.
bear ate up the porridge.
porridge fills your stomach.
stomach the fact that you just wasted a minute by reading something written by I!

MTV boo hoo hoo.

2008-12-20T13:29:00.002+05:30

The MTV Tickr had a line or two to say about the Zimbabwe inflation recently. It said something like, If you go to Zimambwe with all your money, you'll be a billionare momentarily. Hmmm.

I had a sudden image of a MTV spy, sneek peaking into my blog and reading my blog entry about the same topic. And then the spy might have copied down my thoughts, and given it to the MTV authorities. The MTV people might've loved it and paid him Rs one lakh for it. And then the spy might've bought a brand new motorbike with that money and might be roaming on the roads of Bangalore[or wherever he stays] right now at this very moment.

OR

The spy might've given the idea to the MTV authorities and the MTV official might've said, How dare you copy ideas off a blog? And then the spy could've been sent to jail.

OR

They just got the same idea as I did!

Join to fight Terrorism.

2008-12-08T14:40:00.002+05:30

A billion Hands

A Politician's move.

2008-12-08T14:10:00.003+05:30

A Politician's move after a terrorist attack:

1. Making sure his/her friends and family are safe.
2. Condemning the attacks in the media.
3. Blaming the opposition party.
4. Doubling his/her personal security.
5. Flying over to the attack locations to visit the affected.
6. Consoling the martyr's family and giving them a mere 5 lakh compensation.

If there's anything else our dear politicians do, let me know.

Abhinav Bindra was given 3 crores for his achievement. Our real heroes get 5 lakhs?
Is this Democracy?

Fun-day!

2008-11-11T20:01:00.002+05:30

3rd March 2006, definitely one of the most memorable days of my life.
I got ready and boarded the college bus. Abhijeet, Shruti, Snigdha and Vybhav were absent. Somebody told me all of them had missed the bus. Something wasn't right.

At college, on Mahima maam's permission, I attended the ccp class with the electronics(B) students. She taught I/O functions, by the way. The rest of the day at college was pretty normal. Something was definitely not right.

On the way back, we played Dumb charades in the bus. When I was getting off the bus, everybody casually yelled, “Have a nice day!”.
I got home and it was unusually clean. Hmm. I was a little disappointed by the lack of surprise and excitement that day. It was a big day for me after all. You don't turn 18 everyday.
Suddenly the door bell rang. My sister got up to open the door.
And to my immense delight and pleasure I found my friends standing there with huge smiles on thier faces. Ashrith, Abhijeet, Amruta, Prabhav, Shruthi, Snigdha, Swathi and Vybhav! And they had a huge cake with them!! I was completely startled and baffled by their arrival. I was literally gawking at them saying, “Wha...? Hi... How? Wow.. This is awesome...”
We had an excellent time and I had a perfect 18th birthday!
Thanks guys.
PS. Abhijeet, Shruti, Snigdha and Vybhav were missing from the bus because they had gone to to Arvind's house early in the morning to celebrate his birthday which happens to be on the same day, 3rd March!

Inflation in Zimbabwe

2008-10-09T20:51:00.002+05:30

As of 26 September 2008, inflation in Zimbabwe was 531 000 000 000 per cent. Make sure you get those zeros right.
This means 42 Indian Rupees is nearly equal to 50 million Zimbabwean dollars. And you were worried about the 12 per cent inflation rate of our country. Bah! If you decide to go to Zimbabwe, with just 42 Rupees, you become a millionaire!! Congratulations on that.

Zimbabweans are now purchasing a sandwich for Zimbabwean $50 million.
One kg of potatoes cost Zimbabwean $17 million.
At a supermarket near the capital, toilet paper costs $417.
Compare yourself with a Zimbabwean and feel lucky!

So when and where's your next family trip? [Wink Wink]

What do you think?

2008-10-08T12:14:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I was standing near my front gate, watching the kids play cricket, when a boy came near my house and urinated. Thinking the boy would be embarrassed and would never do it again, I asked, ”why did you urinate here? Couldn’t you go home and do it?” The boy simply answered “it was urgent” and walked off without any trace of embarrassment and giving me a look which plainly said ”how weird? Why would I urinate otherwise? Why ask such a silly question?” Men including ‘highly educated’ and ‘rich class people’ think urinating in public places is their birthright. Since they have the glorious 'permit' to urinate anywhere they want to, all places, become a toilet.
Perhaps urination should be banned in public places along with smoking?

Why do we celebrate the victory of Rama by bursting crackers and making noise (that too noise >120Db)? Have our ancestors told us to appease Gods by ear deafening sounds and smoke that choke the air? Or have they told us to pour hundred and one litres of milk on statues just because India has many cows? Nowadays the idea behind the celebration of festivals is lost and everything is superficial.

Finally!

2007-07-19T20:04:00.000+05:30

I wanted to do this three years back, three? No, four i think, eh? whatever, a single digit year. Started this.
Thus the title.