Monday, April 30, 2007

Summer break !



Its hot and not happening. My thoughts have become all gobbled and have vaporised in the hot Indian summer and have taken a summer break ! Waiting for the first rains ...

Monday, April 23, 2007

Why men never get depressed...

This has been customized.. ode to the original !

Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth.. The world is your urinal.. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time.

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. Your belly usually hides your big hips. One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

No wonder men are happier.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Media frenzy

India media is on steroids. One way it is good to have an ever eager media to espouse the issues faced by the common man and the ailments that plague the country but when non issues start taking the precious real estate - it becomes very disconcerting. Last week I had written about how NDTV had taken up the issue of Hindu burial for kids less than 3 years of age. I was one way very happy that the Indian team lost out in the first round of the world cup - the agony of analysis paralysis by the ageing cricket fraternity most of whom hardly made any impact now suddenly taking cudgels on the Indian team was limited though for sometime it went on. Every victory or defeat would have been dissected to the bare bone - though the time spent at the first round exit was disproportionate. Even without choice have to spend writing on this subject and all others which I feel are not worth the penny - Hypocrisy at its best.

I was just trying to re-collect some of the highlights .. of course the latest flavor of the season is the wedding of the decade- Abhiash ... From whats on the menu to the color of the henna , cars in which the bride will go, sangeet, debate on the invitees , honeymoons , the auspicious time of the wedding this is after we have lived through the arun nayar - liz hurley hullabaloo ( even though both have inconsequential social standing ). The kissing by Richard Gere - When shilpa herself enjoyed it what business other folks have .. do we really should care of what happens in the bed rooms of these stars ? The endless playing of the South Korean killer's chilling video on the Virgina tech massacre has bought about a deserving backlash. Lots more which keep coming ...

Surprisingly the times of India is more subdued .. they have some how not gone over board considering the reputation of being a pseudo tabloid masquerading as India's national newspaper. Its difficult to run a 24 hour channel without creating hype and mountains out of molehills. One good thing about the western media is the clear classification of a serious channel/newspaper and the tabloid. We probably have still have to undergo the learning curve.

PS - The channels are about to get into discussion paranoia on the Indian team selection for the bangaladesh tour today

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Very disturbing !

This may be very disturbing to read ....... NDTV in its headline news at 8 pm on 10th of April carried a very disturbing story about how a 1.5 year old was not able to get a decent burial. My eyes were moist as I heard the boy's uncle narrate their trauma and ordeal . NDTV on its displayed a lot of a maturity and the punchline of how they will ensure that there is a solution was very heartening. Even cant imagine what the parents must have been going through - the pain and trauma for losing your kind was not enough the pain of going around the city with the body to give it a decent burial and the place was filthy with scavengers and rabid dogs on the loose. My heart goes out !

Probably this the first time the dogmas of the religion has struck me so hard. It is very easy to be tolerant and assume that not to take stand till it affects oneself. The tragedy and grief is un-imaginable. Which brings me to the eternal question can God be detached from religion.

Birth, Marriage and Death are probably the three most important events and given due importance in any religion/community . Death not being a cause for celebration as compared to the other two calls for that much more sensitivity.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070008282

Eventually even CNN-IBN has also taken up this cause. At one level its a good thing that we have some independence of media .... some one or the other will take up such instances and probably bring about the much needed change in the different facets of our social consciousness where we the society works for the collective will for the people.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Confounded and confused

I have always been amazed and star struck with certain things around and the more I think - the more I get confounded and confused. Though not listed in any order but some times the randomness is itself surprising as what comes out first is the top of
the mind recall.

  1. Women - how do I understand them ?
  2. Money - I want more .. there is never enough
  3. Happiness - why is it so dis-proportionately distributed
  4. Pain - As a natural corollary to above
  5. God - Is there one ?
  6. Evolution - Where are we heading ?
  7. Death - If this what we get .. what are we fighting for ?
  8. Emotions - how and what methods to control ?
  9. Theory of relativity - Have to call Einstein
  10. Why do I blog ?

Each of the above affects me in different ways - depending on the intensity and seasonality - the reactions are varied.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Procastination

Back to Youtube videos after nearly a month .. This one the way it has been created and narrated is truly impressive.


Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Where is the good news !

I was trying to recollect the news flow in the last couple of weeks and was surprised that there was hardly any good news. I thought to list them down

  • Stock markets are crashing - the excess of the last year are being culled, interest rates are reaching for new highs making all the home owners on floating rate see red throwing their budgets haywire
  • Indian cricket team crashed out of the world cup - for a change I think though its good though reflecting the symptomatic crass
  • global warming is in renewed focus - most of the seasonal patterns have gone haywire the famed Indian summer is in its full glory - water shortage and load shedding going hand in hand
  • Arjun Singh has come back from the death bed and is hell bent creating a reservation Chakravyuh the impact will be felt on the social fabric for generations to come - the irony this time is that there hardly any anti- reservation protests
  • Oil prices have reared their ugly head again and quietly on the way to make new highs making any kind of social driving un-viable and also flying
  • the faith in the CBI is at an all time low - acquittal of Pandher in Nithari killings and the quite burial of the quattorachi case
  • UP elections are round the corner - any election in India cannot be a good news particularly when the largest state is going to polls.
    Some body give me a good news ....

Loads of prime time news has been devoted to the discussion dissecting each of the issues with instant SMS polls - alas of no use.Since every Indian has the birth right to comment on the state of the cricket affairs - My two pennies on the subject
I have been keenly observing the outpouring of emotions India's exit from the cricket world page. The amount of time spent by the various news channels in dissecting the reasons is humongous. The media coverage has been mind boggling particularly for a no cause. Times of India had carried a front page article on game theory just before the India Srilanka match. The whole world knows what happened in the match. Even the Trps of a non event like the
Bangaladesh vs Bermuda match was high . All non decrypt past cricketing zeros were commenting on the performance of the current team oblivious of what they had done in their prime. It is all the making of the great Indian Tamasha. Latest - a three way slanging match between BCCI, players and the great guru greg .