Whats the best thing about a leap year ?
Once in 4 years, you work an extra day for the same pay!
huh!
Very enlightening. Thank you!

Life is so funny.
Just when I am at peace moving with the calm and placid waters, there comes a ripple.... unsettling the 'stillness' I have seemingly settled into;
I feel neither happiness nor any overwhelming joy.
Maybe, it's just being pulled by the currents ?
Once upon a time, this would have elicited a better, excited response. Now, its not meaningless but then its not my only source of joy or excitement.
Another stark reminder of how change is truly the one constant in life.

The Opposite of Love ?

In the midst of discussing about love and life with a friend, I wonder what is the opposite of love ? Not hate, though that’s what would be the preferred antonym listed in many dictionaries.

In reality, I suppose it would have to be indifference.

You can spot it if someone is indifferent to your presence, speech, action et al…. being unresponsive to the person, laced with apathy and a lackadaisical approach.

Are you indifferent ? Yes and no perhaps. In some ways. In many ways. Sometimes. At times. Always. Depends on how one perceives it.

And then you look back and feel… for what you were indifferent about? And why you were like that ?

Dig a little deeper and there you stumble on it - - you did not want to get hurt. This was your insulation. Your protection mechanism. You draw a line around yourself and that line shall not be crossed. You stick to it with all the adamancy innate in you.

Does that make you cold and heartless, insensitive to your family and friends?

They care about you and love you.

But what about you ? Do you love them?

Do you even care about the effect your words and actions have on them? Or it is just something you take for granted ?

Its just the way you are and they better accept you for what you are. Its too much of an effort to change yourself.

Its better, is n’t it, to not think deeply about such things… How does it matter ?

Does it even matter ?

To you, to them, to anybody ?

Its too depressing to think.

*******
PS : 'Generally' has lost its relevance ‘cos that’s the feeling generally!

hoopoe!

"He is close to us, but we are far from him. If you would be perfect, seek the whole, choose the whole, be the whole"

This sums up the Hoopoe's message to the entire avian fraternity which sought her guidance on the spiritual path.

- Birds of Rishi Valley and Renewal of their Habitats, S. Rangaswami and S. Sridhar.

go for it, babe!

15 minutes

Speed 6.00

Incline of 3

And that brought the magic number of 100!!! :))

and now, yeh dil maange more! :(

to think about ....

Should there be an aim/ purpose in everything I do ?

Should the 'why' of doing an act assume importance ?

What about sheer aimlessness of doing of an act .... ?

Word of the day!

Dictionary.com 'Word of the Day' for Thursday, January 24, 2008

nolens volens \NO-lenz-VO-lenz\:

Whether unwilling or willing.

Beneath the surface, little-noticed but fundamental changes are taking place that must compel both sides, nolens volens, sooner or later to reconfigure their tortured but inseparable relationship.-- Bernard Wasserstein, Israelis and Palestinians

Events have put NATO in a position where it is the policeman of Europe and beyond, nolens volens.-- "NATO then Nato now", Daily Telegraph, April 23, 1999


After all, I'm not sure that I'm so angry with them, for it means that now you've got to remain here indefinitely -- nolens volens.-- Mina McDonald, "True Stories Of The Great War: Some Experiences In Hungary", History of the World, January 1, 1992

Nolens volens is from the Latin, from nolle, "to be unwilling" + velle, "to wish, to be willing."

"Khoon (kaun?) in a democracy"

Ladees and juntelmen, bhaiyon aur behenon, aap ke liye haazir hai, ek skit of a different kind....."Khoon (kaun?) in a democracy"
[Er, how different, you be the judge!]

Claps and then….

A voice wails: "And there she lies, her blood soaked body…her life cut short by this dastardly act."
"Murder, murder, murder!"
[no, no, yeh Mallika nahi hai bhai, aise kamar ke close-ups nahi milnewala.]

Another voice joins in: "She gave her life for the country and its people! Her people!"
"Hail Martyr!"
[oops, sorry Hitler, but this line really sounded good here.]

A voice questions: "Is it a jinx or a curse? Father, sons and now the daughter? Aey Khuda, ab aur kaun bacha hai ?"

Somewhere not sure from where, a distant echo : "Abhi aur hai na! Sad 'Woh' (!), ladka and chokri abhi hai."

A voice whispers: "Khandaan ka naam tho abhi roshan karna hai!"

An agitated voice, counter-whispers: "Arey, arey, naam! Naam tho khandaan ka nahi hai, magar khoon hai na ? Jaldi naam badal dalo! Aakhir khoon khoon hi hai!"
[Bhaisaheb, khoon khoon ke sevaai, aur kya ho bhi saktha hai?]

Sad 'Woh': "Unki aakhri tamanna … unhone likhke rakhkha hai! Ab jo hoga, jaise mohtarma chahthi thi….. Mein unki ichcha ka paalan karoonga. Her wish is my command."
[AaaH!! How romanteeeq.]

A voice sternly announces: Sad 'Woh' ko tashreef karne ke liye bolo. Chori se bolo kuch naach gana na karen. Ladke ko bulao!

Mohtarma ke anthim vasiyat naama sunai ja rahi hai!

"Yeh party, meri party … iske liye maine kya nahi kiya hai…. Kitne baar jail gayee hoon, hazaaron case ladi hai maine,….. aur apna khoon bahaya hai. Aur mera khoon hi isse aage le jaayega. Aur kaun hai ?"

[Right, who else can take 10 % cuts, build mansions, open multiple bank accounts across Europe, jet-set between Dubai, New York and London. Oh, London, a bit more… New York too long, you see, gets a bit boring.]

Voices : "Ab usko yeh zimmedari leni padegi. Ladke ko. Magar padai katam karne ke baad. Abhi chota aur nadaan hai. …"

[Chota bachcha samaj ke humno na samjhana re!]

Beta ka durbar mein pravesh!

Voices : "Kitna smart dikhta hai na ? Kuch "higher studies" kar raha hai, bolte hai.
Maaloom nahi kya. "Abroad" mein!
Achchi baat hai! Aakhir uski maa ka beta hai.
Khoon ka rishta hai."

[Oh Mother! Lead us from darkness to light. Take us out of this drudgery. We shall all get our deliverance from this mire through and only through your bloodline. Yessssss!]

Beta : I shall follow my mother's wishes. This was her wish. I have no choice but to accept it. This is the only way democracy survives and democracy is the need of the hour, right now, right here. We believe in democracy. Lets all vote for my mother and the life given a(way) to democracy.

[Beta ho to aisa!!]

Sad 'Woh', in a discerning tone: "Ladka naadan hai. Aur tab tak…..main hoon na!"

[Of course, Sad saheb, hum aapke hain kaun jo 'nahi' kahne waale? Jo Zinda wohi Sikandar! Khoon bhari aag, aap mein ab bhi hai. 10 % se 50 % honewala hai!]

Curtain slowly falls. Claps galore. Some silent voices though.

[Legacy, dynasty, democracy, aah!
What legacy do I have to live to… except my own ? Shut up. You just don't have the bloodline, okay ? So forget it.]

[Ok Agreed. I shall start my own business. A political party. And shall bequeath it to my son. Nah, I'll name my daughter as my successor. Being the president for life of a political party is definitely better than being (un)married. Hee hee hee.]

(c) SG : All profits from this skit shall go to the sustainance and promotion of the bloodline of democracy.


DISCLAIMER : This is merely a satirical look at what is happening in young democracies having a feudal outlook (read : India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka... ) There is no intention to cause disrespect caused to any person (living or dead), event or situation.

on a HIGH!

The HIGH without The High continues......

I am on a high!

What could this be due to ? Life's as normal as it was... there 's something so endearing in routine :) Yet....

The dewdrops on the rose early in the morning ?
The early morning chill and the sun lazily coming out by late morning?
The sea, sea and more sea ?
the raging torrents dashing against the rocks,
the waters rushing to the shore and wetting my naked feet…

My mind draws blank.

I have no specific reason or logic or person to attribute it to. Except YT. Its just a high. And its just my state of mind.

Like the notes on a guitar stringing a lilting melody.
I am making it a high note one. :)

of brothers and employers

Pearl of wisdom from a friend on chat :

"There is not much difference in brothers and employers - they are both out there to prove how dumb you are!"

I better appeal to the Government of India to provide me with adequate security ('Z' Category) as I fear a possible threat to my life!


But then, me thinks, they do not need to try hard as such, right ?! No one is shouting from the rooftops about one's intelligence. ;)

PS : A : what are you going to do ?

Win, win win.... that's alright, but at what cost ?
And to what extent ?
Is that really the be-all and end-all in a sport ?
And to achieve that, anything and everything can be done and got away with ?

The total lack of respect to the spirit of the game, rules, fairplay, morals is appalling, to say the very least! And then, of course these guys have the temerity to lecture to the rest of the world about 'fair play' and 'spirit of the game', give press conferences on walking out before waiting for the umpire's decision, make a big hue and cry about "questioning their integrity"!

Fine, let Australia win. We should just give our wickets deliberately. First 10 balls of the Indian innings - the Indian batsmen get out. No defence, no protecting their wicket. Just getting out being the motto. And let the Aussies keep and sleep with their records.

Just leave us in peace.

Not linking it to the umpiring decision or the ban on our teammember, I strongly feel the Indian team should just leave for India and then have a "Boycott Australia" programme for the next 2 years. Never mind the monetary losses, penalties to be imposed,ad revenues et al.

If we pride ourselves in being professional cricketers, then why put up with such unprofessionalism ? Why tolerate it?

Just hit them where it would hurt.

Tryst/s with technology

Let me start my dull, insipid love affair with technology and gizmos with an honest confession – I am quite a technophobe! It takes me a while to get functional with a gadget/gizmo and it stops with that.

I know some people who truly freak out with their gizmos and love them as they come, upgrading their gizmos with every product launch. Unfortunately/fortunately (I don’t know) I am still on the other side of the fence.

When I was applying for a job some years back, I had enlisted a friend’s help to spruce up my resume. When I reached his place, he was working on his laptop and opened my resume on the laptop. Asking me to take a look at what he had done, he left the room. My first reaction - I was instantly petrified, my mind went blank…..! I had never used a laptop without a mouse and slowly started scrolling the up and down keys on the keyboard very uncomfortably, wondering what to do.

I have come a long long way since then but the reaction is quite the same - at first sight. It continued with my digital camera and cell phone. My digital camera was picked up by a friend during one of his trips abroad – he kept asking me what kind of a specification I want and all I told him was something I can easily shoot pictures with. Goes without saying that I had to spend some time reading the User manual before I started using the already ‘user-friendly’ camera. Of course, necessity is also the driver to my getting to know ways of using it with its various features and modes.

A friend of mine in the US is such a great technophobe that she does not even upload her pictures from her digital camera to a computer but just keeps buying memory cards as and when they get over! She has quite a state of the art (so it seemed to me!) GPS installed in her new car (the GPS came with the car) but it was still new and unused when I caught up with her some months back. She confessed she still had n’t figured how to use it and on the day we set out for a weekend outing, we ended up getting lost - driving miles away from where we were supposed to go and at that crucial juncture, she finally figured how to use the GPS.

In both our cases, Necessity is truly the mother of learning how to use a gadget and then including it in our lifestyle. A ‘lifestyle choice’, as dear K calls it.

The thing about technology (like with most other things) is the more you use it, the more you get addicted to it; It is difficult to shake it off. Like my transition from a desktop to a laptop…

And then my laptop crashed – I am fudging it a bit here, twisting the facts…. My laptop fell down as I was talking with a colleague! Sheer carelessness and negligence on my part. For a month, I switched back to a desktop ruminating over my trysts with technology.

And I realized I missed the laptop so much that the result of it is what you are reading now.

ok, my Ipod gift is still lying as I received it over a month back- unopened and unattended to.

***********

There’s also a different take on this – its all about getting used to something, is n’t it? We get used to stuff. That’s all. Hence it’s the comfort factor.

When it’s no longer there, you feel some sort of vacuum – for how long and how much- that depends on us.

But after a while, you get used to it.
Life goes on as if that ‘constant’ factor which suddenly disappeared from your life was a mere aberration, a blur… And you get cosy with newer attractions and interests.

I feel this is true with most aspects of life.

*************


A 28 year old software engineer walks into a dental clinic with his arsenal of plug-in electronic devices, wondering why online health care never made it big.

After an assessment of his problem the dentist informs him to come after a week to finish the treatment. The irate techie asks the dentist why doctors can’t work 24/7 like the techies, if need be from home and always available online.

Pat comes the reply from the dentist, “Sure, just leave your mouth with me for a couple of days and take it back once I am done” leaving the techie flabbergasted.

And then it sinks into his ‘frog-in-an-online-well’ brain. Embarrassed and red faced he leaves with his appointment finally realizing that some things are best done OFFLINE!!!

**********

Devaluation ... of another kind ?

Few sectors have benefited from globalization as much as the IT sector. You go to any country in the world, one definitely stands a fair chance of getting into a similar kind of job profile, if it is in the IT sector. Of course, for some, even that is getting out of one’s comfort zone – getting adapted to a whole new work culture, process and manner of going about things.

But what if one works in a sector which is quite country-specific ?

Lets take for example – law. A lawyer in India with a reasonably significant work experience in India in his area of specialisation. What would he do in a similar sector for a living, say, if he wishes to move out of India - to New York ? or Uzbekistan ? Or Peru? Or South Africa? Its definitely not as easy as the IT sector, though perhaps do-able.

A lot has been spoken about globalization ushering in free movement of labour and capital from one part of the globe to another. But besides the IT industry, has it really made a significant difference to many other sectors ?

So should that devalue the other professions ? Because they don’t get posted to 'glamorous' locations, stay in developed nations and travel to often read about places ?

In my opinion, both IT and this travel humbug are overrated and hyped… quite out of their proportion!

And all this from a self-confessed travel humbug working for (not 'in') the IT sector !
ughh!

"I don't want to run away but I can't take it, I don't understand"

As we begin the new year,

"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it."

- Tagore

How to be a poet!

The December 3rd (2007) issue of "Outlook", Fine Living Section had this to say on "How to be a poet"

"Find the perfect lover. Now lose him/her. Get sickly pale and wan. Go where the weather induces atmospheric mourning. Bitter cold is good. But Autumn when everything is growing, brown, brittle and dying, is even better. Throw together a few sentences, combining nostaligic reminscence with adjectives and cultural references for suffering and torture: tangles sheets, fevered brow, trembling legs, heavy heart, churning stomach, waterboarding. Now hie thee to a publisher and call thyself Keats."

huh! so much for good poetry!

TRANSIENCE

Nay, do not grieve tho' life be full of sadness,

Dawn will not veil her spleandor for your grief,

Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty

To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.

Nay, do not pine, tho' life be dark with trouble,

Time will not pause or tarry on his way;

To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter,

Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.

Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces,

The unspent joy of all the unborn years,

Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow,

And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears.

- Sarojini Naidu

IN(X)S

You want to play the game dirty.. your choice.
I refuse to step into the dirt and the filth.
It is purely reflective of you.

I give a damn. But I'll fix it.
The dirt will be laminated and presented to you in due course. One week. Maybe less than that.

And then, of course, we play it all over. With our rules. With my head still held high and maybe a little bit of nose up in the air! And remember, no playing dirty, dears!

Who would be the photographer then ?

HELP HELP HELP!!!!

Who : Crazy Commie


What : On a mission - by hook or crook, in urgent requirement of Rs.11 Lakhs ASAP!


Why : To attain his object of desire! :)


[What to do, she comes at a high price!]


So here's our mission plan (mostly listed by Crazy commie himself) but couple contributed by the humble "facilitator" of the Mission plan:

• Start a Trust Fund with the name "Help Crazy Commie fulfill his tamanna". Donations will be solicited, welcomed, begged and pleaded. 100 % no tax exemption. Strategy : Stand outside every new mall opening in Bangalore holding aloft a banner with the trust fund's name.


• Request this certain person we know to sell his CRV to faciliate Commie attaining his object of desire. But the catch is, who would bell the cat ? ;)


• 'Get into the insides' of the Object of desire and conquer from within. (This has been scoffed at by Commie himself!)


• Buy a locker and run a marathon on a Sunday around Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Ulsoor Lake and Sankey Tank. (somehow, the locker needs to be on the marathon too!)

The mind is okay, but the heart wants to go for it... this or that ? the R1 or the MT-01?


http://yamaha-motor-india.com/CBU/index-default.html


Take your pick and in case you decide to contribute to Crazy Commie (for no riding rights whatsoever), feel free to get in touch with the writer for negotiating a better deal with Crazy Commie!

The road is long and winding, but I have miles to zoom before I get off.

All this emanating from a 2 AM chat between 2 workaholics. Life just could n't get better!

handsome hunks....

How long does it take to look at someone and conclude he is a handsome hunk ?

2 seconds ? 2 minutes? 2 hours? 2 years ?

I dont need to keep looking at a Surya or George Clooney or John Abraham to conclude they are handsome hunks. Just a glance is enough!
(Apply this 'test' by substituting Brad Pitt for one of the names listed above).

And then mull over this : "I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me" - George Bernard Shaw