Money, Money, Money...

I know what I don't like.

And "The Apprentice" is definitely something that does NOT figure in the list of things I don't like.

I have heard about the show before, but I never got a chance to watch it.

After watching it, I have to tell you that I am impressed. Very impressed.

Not that I think the show is probably the best reality show on TV, but due to the fact that a businessman was so smart that he was able to make money in something really different (Media) from his own business (Real Estate) by selling what he knew. Now that is what I call a shrewd businessman.

Sure, some of you might argue that there have been movies and sitcoms on the Corporate World before, but a reality show? The man really is a genius and probably deserves all the money (including those he earns from this show) in his coffers. The one thing that I did feel would have added to the dramatism of the show would have been to seat both the teams (Gold Rush & Synergy Corps) opposite to each with Mr.Trump seated at the head of the table. I would have added to the feeling of confrontation between the two teams.

I thought that Mr. Trump's trademark line, "You are fired" was a bit corny but overall, I give the show two big thumbs up. Especially to the business acumen of "The Donald".

Oh! And I almost forgot... I have an open proposal for Mr.Trump. In case my dream of starting a company comes true....

"Mr. Trump. You are HIRED"

Update: A guy called Guy shares almost the same thoughts as me pretty much around the same time as I did... I guess great men think alike (Err... what is the emoticon for Tongue in Cheek? :)

Back in Chennai

You can take an Indian out of the US,
But you can't take India out of the US.

That was no typo in the above statement. You read it right the first time.

But first things first... I am back in India.
More precisely, I am back to my Amma's Sambhar Sadam and Potato Masala (absolutely heavenly).
I had to return ahead of my original schedule as there is some stuff here that needed my presence. Now that the 'stuff' is done, moi is back to blogging.

Now back to the opening statement of this post. Ever since I returned from the US of A, I was wondering what I should write about the trip. I don't want to write about my experiences there, you know the whole "I went there... I did this... I saw this" thingy. It would really be too cliched. With all the IT engineers in India visting the US nowadays, there must already be a million such posts already. So I decided that I would write about my encounters with India in the US.

I am talking about 'India' and not 'Indians' here. You can obviously encounter an Indian in every street corner in the US, so there is not much to write about it. What I try to capture in this post is the references of India (and it's history) that I encountered in the US. I have tried to capture these references in pictures to present to you here. So here goes...


This is the Korean War Memorial in Battery Park New York.

Some of you might be wondering what the Korean War (which was really a proxy war between the US and the then Soviet Russia) have anything to do with India. It has all got to do with the little flags in the memorial. As you might have noticed, there are flags of the US, Korea and a bunch of other countries. Here is a side view of the memorial...



The memorial contains the flags of all the countries that contributed in the Korean War. As you might have guessed by now, India actively participated in the Korean War (albeit in a non belligerent mode by contributing medical corps).

Obviously I have not done justice to the memorial through my 'professional' photography. Here is the memorial as it should be seen.

While looking up this info, I came across this. It is the list of contributers to UN peacekeeping missions around the globe. Looks like India is one of the biggest contributers to peacekeeping missions. The only ones whose contribution beat India's is Pakistan and Bangladesh (These kids always seem to be playing a game of one-upmanship with us. Kids!)


This one here is my personal favorite. It was taken off the Broadway sidewalk in Manhatten. The sidewalk is unlike any other because it has plaques which identify different historic events and visits. This one marks the visit of our nation's first Prime Minister Nehru to the US. Surely he must have visited that exact spot and stood exactly where I had in order to inaugurate the plaque. It felt nice when I realized this. (On a different note, I have been unable to rotate the image using the 'img' tag. Does anyone know how one can rotate an image using the HTML tag?)

Not much to say about this next one. I shot this one during random clicking in New York. Looks like some ad which featured names of cities from around the globe. When I saw Mumbai, I just had to capture it. Nice to note that American businesses see India not just as a cheap labor sweatshop but also as a business opportunity.

At first glance, many people must find this photo puzzling. After all, it is nothing but a golden dot with the words CNN and New Delhi.

Let me explain.

This photo was shot at the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. The CNN Center is the world headquarters of the News Channel. Here the floor of the atrium of the building is tiled in order to resemble the world map, with a golden dot representing its offices around the world. Ths dot here is a testimony to their presence in India.


This is the last photograph of my collection. Technically, it does not belong to me, but more on that later. Let me first explain the pic... Anyone who even has a slight inkling of US history must have identified that the picture is that of Martin Luther King with his family at the dinner table. Sadly the Indian connection is not in the frame. This picture is a part of a set showing MLK at the dinner table with his family. There is another front shot of him in this set which clearly shows the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi above his head. Such was the respect that this man had for the father of our nation. After all, here was a man who famously remarked, "To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a Pilgrim".

The other shot which clearly shows Gandhi in the background is available in a small MLK memorial in the Atlanta Airport. Sadly, my camera ran out of battery and I as unable to capture it. Hence I had to make do with this one I scrounged out of the web. Hopefully I have not violated any copyrights here.

In addtion to these photos, I have photos of the Balaji temple in Atlanta, but it does not make my cut as an American reference to India. So it does not feature in the above list

Gender Equality at CNN

"I don't believe this! Justice at last.", said the woman at the CNN Center here in Atlanta.

I broke into a grin and remarked, "So there is gender equality at last."

"Yeah", she said as she whizzed past me.

Every other woman who entered was similarly elated by what they saw.

Au contraire to what you might think, this incident did not happen at the hallowed halls of CNN where unparalleled and unbiased(?) journalism takes shape. It happened here...


...right outside the public restroom at the CNN center. :)

For the first time since I had landed here in the US, the queue for the men's restroom was far longer than the women's. :D

I have no idea what women do so long inside the restroom(and don't wish to either), but we men just get inside, do our thing and get out in 3 minutes flat.

I really pity women in this aspect, coz you really don't want to use the public restroom unless you are really under pressure and the last thing you want is a serpentine queue like a Government Ration shop in India. Especially in freakin' freezing cold places in the likes New York where the men were going in and coming out in truckloads while the women had to keep fidgeting their hands waiting in the queue. The only optimistic way to look at this kind of torture is that maybe "Anticipation/delay increases the pleasure" ;)

At the CNN Center though, there was a reason this reversal of fortunes. There is a big game tonight at Atlanta called the Chick-Fil-A Bowl between Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech (with lotsa the spectators visiting the Center which is near the stadium) and where there is sports, can beer be left far behind? :)

This incident gave me some thoughts...
So what are the things in which women, by virtue of their gender(?) are given the raw deal?

• Public Restrooms - See Above
  
• Dresses - I have a feeling that since time immemorial, dresses for women are created with the single sinister goal to make them as cumbersome as possible. I can't even imagine the the kind of torment one has to go through in order run in a full Sari attire to catch an MTC Bus (which by the way, never stops exactly on the bus stop as surely as Captain Vijaykant defeats the terrorists in the end of the movie). Secondly, the greatest unsolved mystery in the world is how women can fit into jeans that are two sizes small for them. Really, I swear that to this day I am stumped as to why women would want to wear those tight jeans, though it is not something that I disapprove of. :)
• Driving - Women are pronounced guilty without trial when it comes driving. There is not a single soul of the male species that I have met who has not complained about women being bad drivers. This is not to say that women are entirely exonerated of this charge. Some women are as good a driver as Abbas is an actor.

Now comes the really interesting part of this post. As you can see my extremely limited brain cells have been able to come up with only three of the above items. Now I call upon two teams, the good guys and er... the bad girls to come on stage.

Girls, so what are the other things where women are given a wrong deal?

Dudes, you think men suffer from this type of bias too? If so, where?

Let the verbal war begin...

PS: I strictly don't want to know what women do inside the restrooms. :) If you write about it, I swear by the tonsured head of my thalaiver Rajni that I am going to delete your comment.

Brrr...

... its cold-d-d.

R-ring the l-l-liberty b-bell for I am-m in Phil-philadelphia. (shiver)

The watering hole...

These Americans sure know how to work...

Who the hell really needs a lake by the office to work, you would ask...
Sorry... we are Americans.

This sure is a far cry from the office building where I work (for the same company mind you)...

Here are a few clicks of the lake on the banks of which our head office is situated.

This place is much better than the pathetic way in which I have captured it.

That's my office building in the background.

Shot over a small bridge kinda thingy over the lake.

Err... my attempt at photography... :P

My colleague from the office.
He is Cambodian. America sure is multi ethnic.

What you see in the background is a kinda retreat meeting room in the banks of the lake where one can have meetings in the summer.

I am a bad blogger

To be precise I am lazy, pitiful blogger.

During the past several days, there are so many things that I could have/ should have / wanted to blog about, but here I am sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta writing an apologetic blog about nothing.

Yeah... Yeah, I am in Atlanta, Georgia right now. Traveled to Atlanta about a week back and I will be staying here for the rest of the month on work. Now coming back to the subject of this post, there are about a zillion I could have blogged about like...

1. My very first flight ever, including (and mostly about) the beautiful air hostesses in Air France.
   
2. The paranoid level of orderliness/cleanliness of the Americans that borders Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
3. An obituary to Peter Boyle. (Oh, I so badly wanted to write this)
4. And before my journey, I could have at least left a brief message on the blog about my traveling.

The list really is endless.

And what stopped me from blogging, you might ask...
I really have no excuse.
I have just five words to say.

I AM A LAZY ASS.

Just think about it, you work for a company which does not require you to work after six. Provides you with great accommodation that includes free WiFi internet in the hotel room, along with a great view outside the French Window of your hotel room to boot. After all this, what is Scipio's schedule everyday?

sleep - eat - work - eat - sleep - eat - work...

I am tiring myself with my own ranting. So I am going to end this post with one of my usual (countless) promises to be a better more disciplined blogger, but only this time I really mean it. Just to prove it to you I am gonna move my lazy rear off the bed and click a few pictures of my hotel room and post it on this blog...

Custom built for Scipio the couch potato.

If you notice closely, you will see this very same post on the laptop screen.

I am expected to cook here, but I don't foresee much of that happening here.

The view outside my room. I know it is not much of a view, but I am much of a photographer either.

D.O.S.T

This is post about the sitcom "Friends".

Before you can mutter "Been there... Read that". This post is not a critique or tribute to the show. Patience, my esteemed friend... and read on...

Just the other day me and my sis were talking about great TV shows. We ended up arguing which was the greatest one. I had no doubt whatsoever that my sister would end up voting for Friends. She is obsessed enough with the sitcom to own the entire 10 season DVD pack of Friends.
I really don't blame her though... coz Friends is a great show and I enjoy watching it, but of course we all know which is the greatest TV show on earth, don't we?

The argument(along with the fact that I had nothing much to do that day) triggered a thought process in my mind.
These days, just about every other film made in Hindi is nothing but a Bolloywoodized version of a Hollywood movie. Our film directors seem to love rehashing English movies as much as Pakis love copying Chinese missile technology.
So, if they can do so with movies, guess it can be extended to TV shows right? Not that this is not already being done but I guess these desi-clones of TV shows (except for reality shows) do not enjoy much success(?) Thus started my brain child of ultimate blasphemy (to Friends-aholics).

Who would the cast of the desi clone of Friends be?

Right from the word go I had no second thoughts about who would play Ross Geller. I felt(and know) that the person who would fit would fit the role like a T would be none other than Baby B Abishek Bachchan. Just think for a minute...
a. Both look like they could fall asleep any minute on the screen
b. Neither can talk or for that matter act much but are considered sexy by many :) (Don't kill me girls... I'm just a messenger).
What more do you think is needed?

Now that we have zeroed in on the brother, let us take a look at sister Monica Geller. Let's see now... hmm. A little bit of thought had me rooting for Rani Mukherjee. She looks like she can play the part of the restaurant chef who has had an obese childhood. I also feel that she can protray the role of a diminutive woman who can boss people around when it comes keeping things in an ordered manner.

Next comes my favorite character in the show. None other than Joey Tribbiani. I love the dumbness of the character (er.. maybe coz can relate to it?). So, here is what we need the character to do...
1. Good Physique (and also needs to be a slick operator with the girls)
2. Act dumb (without any effort at all).
3. An affinity to strip to one's underpants in a jiffy (remember this?).
I am aware of a one small time actor who goes by the name of Salman Khan who may just make the cut for this role.

With half the cast done, this leaves us with the other half.
1. Rachel Greene
2. Pheobe Buffay
3. And last but not the least... Chandler.M.Bing.

I have had some suggestions for these characters from my sis, but first I wanted to know what the world thinks about this. So pray tell O great reader... who are the stars who can bring the magic of Friends to the desi silver screen/boob tube?

Innovation is the name of the game

"I have a dream"
- Martin Luther King Jr

If you too have a dream, and the dream is about building up an innovative product, Chennai is the place to be on January 20-21st 2007.

Say Hi to Proto.In... a platform for you to showcase innovative products and maybe even get some VC funding. I have always been of the opinion that the academic curriculum in India does not nurture innovation but rather stifles it. So this is a welcome change and I wholeheartedly endorse the move. Go check it out.

Link via The Chennaiist.

Cross posted @ TechECE.

Oh the massacre...

End of the road to a memorable journey.

My tryst with CAT ends today... It was not a happy ending. Things somehow did not work for me today. I am still to analyze what went wrong.
The paper should have been a cake walk, but it ended up walking all over me. To give you an idea of the easiness level of this paper, PagalGuy thinks that there will be persons scoring 100 percentage instead of 100 percentile.

I don't know what came over me. Things started on a good note but I kinda slowed down in the middle of the paper and seemed to drag about through the rest of the paper.

It is ironic that I performed much, much better in last year's CAT which was a much tougher one by any standards. I guess life is only funny if you are a philosopher.

Things look bleak...

... but it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

Samurai Jack rocks...

... to the tune of Linkin Park.

This was too good to be true.

One of my favorite cartoon characters has been mixed to the beat of my favorite rock band. Came across this video on YouTube where someone has mixed the sound track of "Somewhere I belong" by Linkin Park to an episode of Samurai Jack that shows origins of how Jack became what he is now. Here is the video... you will enjoy it for sure if you like either of the above two.



In case you don't know about Samurai Jack, I can personally vouch that it is one of the coolest cartoons from the Cartoon Network stable. Everything about the cartoon including the animation, storyline, dialogues (of which there aren't too many) set it apart from the usual fare.

Jack definitely features in my list of favorite cartoon characters, speaking of which I think I shall be writing about in the near future. Enjoy the video for now...

The man with the funny hat...

...is back!!!

I am talking about Jamiroquai, the band. Remember the lead singer Jay Kay? Yes the guy who always wears those weird head gear. Well, I used to like the band very much.
In fact I was (and still am) crazy about the song "Virtual Insanity". Whoa! Come to think of it, that song must have been like ten years ago... Man, I am getting old :(

Anyways, this post is about the latest song by the band named "Don't Give Hate a Chance". I fell in love with the song the very first time I saw it. The reasons are manifold...

1. I like the lead singer very much ( Err... in a "straight" kind a way ). Actually, it is his voice. I think it is kinda different.
2. This video has really cool animation. The simple wire frame animations and formless characters are simply too cool.
3. And finally, the message in the video is really really good. It is pretty relevant in today's insecure world.

I liked the video so much that, I simply had to scout for the video on You Tube and blog it here. So, here you go... Hope you enjoy it too



Actually, the version that you are currently watching is the politically correct one. In the original version, each terrorist dies by the symbol which is seen on the respective terror group's flag (Neither their death or their flags are shown in the video). I guess that it means that they are smitten by their own respective gods. If you do see the original version, do tell me what you think about this bit.

Ram/Allah/Jesus/Pink Unicorn! Not again.

It is grossly insensitive on my part to pay such a late tribute to the Malegaon Blast victims. I stand guilty, but my heart really goes out to the victims of the blast. The government has to make doubly sure that the perpetrators are brought to the book this time unlike the Mumbai blasts.
Wait! I don't think that in any way the 37 lives lost here are any more precious than the 200 lives lost in the Mumbai or vice versa. In fact I feel that even one human life is just as important as two hundred and vice versa. A life is like the concept of infinity on maths. One times infinity is the same two times infinity or even ten times infinity. Similarly life with its limitless possiblities is priceless.
But this time though, there are children among victims here and I feel that the life of a child (some of whom don't even know the word 'hate') is more valuable than that of an adult. This is something that I am ready to debate on with anyone.
I hate dramatic journalism and I doubly hate CNN-IBN which in my eyes will always remain a pro-US news channel, but this piece of news shows just a sample of what lies in store for the victim and their families during every terror attack.Damn you terrorists! Whichever organisation is responsible for this should be branded a terrorist group immediately and should be treated in the same way as the LeT or JeM.
I want to show my solidarity to the victims and hope that they find the strength to overcomes this insurmountable loss in their lives. Hum honge kaamiyab.

PS: Check out the Invisible Pink Unicorn (if you already don't know about it).

Man... this is the dumps

I am sure that you would have come across movie/book reviews which go something like "It is so bad that it is good."
Well... I am stuck in a similar situation here. I am so busy with work and no time to blog that I simply had to blog about it. I am sure that you think that I am crazy. I don't really blame ya coz it is pretty much the truth.
If there are any of you souls who still visit my blog once in a while, "Please be patient. I shall be back once more".
Ah! So finally the "Ramblings of a nerd" really has a post that goes on rambling.

That said, I don't like to make posts that do not add value.
So here you go.
Pretty cool huh? It is a blogger camp right here in good ole' Chennai.
And where is it gonna take place? Right under my feet (literally speaking) in my office building (Tidel Park). All interested souls... please make sure that you participate and make this event a grand success. So where will I be during the during the meet, you ask? Right above your head(literally speaking again) slogging on my computer.
Sigh-ning off...

Cool write-up...

In any argument or issue, I have always been interested in the viewpoints of both the sides. This is particularly so when it comes to Indo-Pak issues as in here and here. All in all, I was yet to find a rationalist voice/opinion from the Paki side. Then I hit upon this article written by a man called Tariq Ali. Amazingly insightful article written by a level-headed person. The article is a goldmine of facts about the Kashmir issue as well as general Indo-Pak relationships. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the facts mentioned but I do hope Mr. Ali has done his homework well. The article does have a slight Pakistani tilt, but you have to give it to the man for being pretty neutral when handling the issue.

One interesting thing I noticed in the article is the way he labels Hindu zealots as "fundamentalist" (a.k.a BJP) while their Muslim counterparts are "confessional" (Err... what does the word even mean in this context? Beats me). I don't completely blame him though... after all, BJP does not have any immediate plans to form a fidayeen sqaud anytime soon.

Did a bit of googling and hit upon his home page here. Looks like pretty cool guy with leftist views (something I partially endorse). Maybe I will someday read one of his books and post a review here. Till then I suggest that you go and read the article. Kinda lengthy but definitely worth a read.

The Reunion - A re-post

Haven't been getting too much time to blog lately. So I am re-posting a peice of fiction that I wrote a some time back. Some you might have already read this... well for others, here we go...

START OF STORY

"A dry Martini, stirred not shaken".

The bartender noted the order with a "You poor guy!" smile. I returned him an "I know." smile. Yet another weekend. Correction. Yet another weekend alone. You see, yours truly isn't exactly Mr.Hitch, the date doctor. The usual "date" that I go out on is to haunt movie theaters in the neighbourhood with my friend Sundar. This particular weekend, he is busy with some work, so I decided "Hey! Why not try hanging out at some of those "in" places like the Athena bar?". Maybe, just maybe I could meet some girls and who knows what could happen next. So far I hadn't been very successful, I could not see any single girls in the bar.

Here I was lost in my own day dreams and just as my drink arrived, I noticed that the bar stool next to me was occupied by a guy. Clean shaven, looking slick with his hair combed back, a bunny pink shirt and a cool earring, he looked just a touch effeminate. Mr.Pink Shirt smiled at me. Being a guy brought up by parents who force feed you with humility and politeness along with Horlicks, I returned his smile. "Are you alone?", he asked.

Hmm...

"Yes", I replied cautiously, alarm bells ringing in my brain, as I tried to figure out which ear had the earring. It was the left ear and not the right one alright. I relaxed. "So, do you hang out here frequently?", he asked oblivious to my thoughts."Not really", I replied. "Me neither... Oh! and by the way... I am Krish", he said extending his hand. I shook his hand introducing myself. He said, "I couldn't help noticing, that you look quite bored. Me and my college buddies, Jesse and Mo are having a reunion of sorts after a long time. I am waiting for them, would you care to join us?".

Jesse? My hopes soared. May be this evening was not lost after all, I could atleast get to meet one girl. "Sure. I don't have any other appointments either. So tell me more about yourself...", I said. "Who me?", asked Krish, "well I work in India... I am into the dairy farm business. I just love dairy products. Especially butter".
"And what does she do?", I enquired, hoping I didn't sound too eager.
"Who?".
"I meant Jesse".
At this, he started laughing, "Jesse is a guy", he clarified, "It's the name we gave him from his initials J.C while back in college". "Oh!", I grinned sheepishly as I downed my first drink and ordered another.

Just as I was recovering from my mini episode of embarrassment, two men arrived at the table. Krish got up and hugged both of them and introduced me to Jesse and Mo. Jesse was a very calm looking guy. Dressed in a suit, it was clear from is accent that he was living abroad, most probably the US. Mo was a more of a sober looking guy. Tall with tanned skin, he sported a trimmed beard. "Jesse here works out of the US," said Krish as he introduced them, "while Mo works in the middle east. We guys were inseperable back in college."
"And this here is Mr.Single-on-Friday-Night", he said grinning lightheartedly as he introduced me.

After the formal introductions were over, we all ordered a fresh round of drinks. Interestingly, Mo just ordered some lime soda. Seems like he wasn't much of a drinker. Once the drinks arrived, Krish was complaining to the two guys, that they were late as usual. Mo spoke first, "I started pretty early Krish, but it was so difficult to get here. I got struck in the traffic due to some heavy protests by some Muslim dudes."
"You mean the Mohammed cartoon protests?", I asked as I finished my drink again and ordered another one.
"Yes the very same.", he said, "It the same issue back home too. I just have one thing to say to these dudes... Come on guys, these are just cartoons. Frankly I don't see any problems with the cartoons. I saw them. I actually like those toons. Some tongue in cheek humour keeps everybody's spirits high. It's not as if they harmed anyone by publishing these cartoons. Other than that of course, they were also protesting against good ol' Prez Bush's policies too..."

"Don't even talk about that guy Mo", interjected Jesse. For the first time in the evening, the natural calmness he wore seemed to fade away. "I really hate that guy man. He is such a loser of a Born-Again Christian yaar...", Jesse continued, "You guys know what he said about the invasion of Iraq? Bush said... God told me, George! Go and stop the injustice in Iraq and by God I did it". "Yeah Right... Looks like God told Bush to go ahead and kill 200,000 people and free Iraq.", he fumed sarcastically, "Maybe he is freeing Iraq of Iraqis... Many of these Christians make me sick man. They spread violence in the name of spreading love. I really hate their holier-than-thou-attitude. Just take look at Hindus. Now those guys are peace loving people "

"Hindus are such peace loving people!", mocked Krish, mimicking Jesse's voice. "Have you guys been following the news lately? Does Vododara. Gujrat. Violence, ring a bell? We will first bulldoze your very old Dargah. If you protest we will go ahead and burn an innocent guy who has nothing to do with your protests coz he is a Muslim too. You know, one should not burn these criminals in revenge. That would be too easy a punishment. Instead they should be slowly cooked in an open tandoor."
He gulped in his drink for pause and started off again, "Do you wanna know how much more peace loving we are? We are so peace loving that we will opress people from our own religion in the name of caste. We have such a planned and structured form of racism in practice you see."
The atmosphere seemed charged with excitement now. I did not seem to exist as far as these guys were concerned. They were too engrossed in their arguments. This was when I noticed something strange.I could see that these guys were very different. I could not place my finger on it exactly but something in the back of my mind was sending me signals that I couldn't interpret.
Soon enough, a calm subsided over them. Mo the-sober-one interrupted them, "Hey Guys! This is not the reason why we came here. This reunion was supposed to be enjoyed right? Just like back in college."
"Ah College! Now that was a place, it must be ages since we had such fun guys", said Jesse, "College was real heaven man...". "Can't agree more with you Jesse-boy", said Krish cheerfully, "What say we go check out a discotheque and pick up a few girls just like the old days?"
"Wanna join us man? ", he offered, looking at me. Much as I would have liked to meet some girls, the drinks were taking their toll. The last thing I wanted to do was puke on some girl. So I declined their offer.
Just as they bid farewell left, it hit me as to what I felt strange about them. There seemed to be a kind of distinct glow in them.

As they walked across the bar floor, I noticed something else...
Was it me?
Was it the drinks that I had?
Was it the bar lighting?
I could have sworn that they weren't walking. They seemed to be floating over the floor.

END OF STORY

Update:
Me has got feedback that there are some problems in understanding the story. Here are the full names of the characters ...
Krish - Lord Krishna
Jesse a.k.a J.C - Jesus Christ
Mo - Prophet Mohammed
Read through the story again. Hopefully it should make more sense now.

Kali Muthiduthu...

Err.. for non-Tamil readers of this blog, the title means that "We are riding the peak of the Kali Yug". Yeah, its 'that Kali Yug' that ends in aramageddon et al.

This phrase is usually used in Tamil (esp. cinema) to explain the various evils that are being perpetuated in this world like terrorism, communal violence, Captain Vijaykant Movies etc. This is one of the usages of the phrase. The other usage is associated with the concept of Karma... you know the whole "As you sow, so shall you reap" funda of Hinduism. The usual concept sez that you will be rewarded/punished for your deeds in your next life but they say that in Kali Yug you shall be punished instantly during your current life. I use the phrase in context of the latter. So what is this punishment, you might ask...

BOTS! GAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

Yes. You are looking into sad visage of the latest victim of Comment Bot vandalism. My poor poor blog....
Every one of my posts excluding this one (hopefully) that are on this page have solicitation via comments. The Bot Gods have swung into action swiftly and smitten me with this horror for the blasphemy of speaking out against them a few days back. Isn't this just like every misdeed being punished instantly in this Kali Yug?

I take this opportunity to pray to them.

Prayer: (To be repeated 1008 times by me)
"Oh Great _________ (fill this blank with the God associated with Internet/Blogs).
Please forgive this blasphemous soul,
Please take your filthy, crappy, pain-in-the-ass, no-good ads to some other poor unsuspecting blogger.
To someone in my blogroll maybe?
Amen/Swaha."

PS: In spite of being made to eat a huge piece of humble pie, I have decided to refrain from using word verification. Lets wait and watch. Also is there any workaround that you guys can suggest?

Bon Appétit

You thought oysters and snails that the French relish are messy food?
Here is something to be really sqeamish about.
The last one is something that I wouldn't want near me even when I am dead and gone....

So next time stop complaining and just eat your veggies...

Remembrance...

If possible, please observe two minutes of silence @ 06:24 p.m. today in remembrance of the Mumbai Blast victims. It was exactly at this time a week ago that the first bomb exploded.

Thanks.

Is it wrong to be right?

Today, Chennai was treated to another one of those welcome but short lived showers which help cool this giant microwave-of-a-city a wee bit. Unfortunately though, the rain that seems to cool everything ended up heating up my temper. Here's what happened...

As those who have read this post of mine will know, I take a two leg journey back home from the office.
The sudden rain had almost drenched every body at the bus stop and everyone was eager to get into a bus to get away from the rain. Just as I boarded the bus home from the bus stop, a guy with a salt 'n pepper beard jostled for entry into the already crowded bus ahead of me. Polite guy that Scipio is know to be , I let him enter the bus before me.

So here is the situation...
Me - Step 1 of the bus foot-board
Mr. PepperBeard - Step 2 of the foot-board.

Needless to say, I was getting further drenched in the rain, so I requested him to move further up the bus so that I could do the same too. He grumbles that he has to get down at the next stop and so does not want to move in. So I ask him to move aside so that at least I could get into the bus, something that he tries to do grudgingly. I had a laptop with me which was making it rather it cumbersome for me to move around, so I obviously find it a little difficult to get past him... which in turn makes him grumble further. I was starting to get pissed off a bit myself. Alright buddy! Let me get the facts right here...

1. You rudely jostled past me.
2. You refuse to move in so that you could get down at the next stop.
3. You don't care about buying a ticket either.

In spite of all this it is me who ended up irritating you???
He left the bus (and hopefully my life too) at the next stop, but there was further more to come...

It would be an understatement to say that the bus was crowded. Tightly packed would be a better description of the situation. I had entered the front end of the bus and there was no way I could have moved all the way down the bus to get the ticket. So as is the unwritten rule of the Chennai Metropolitan Transport Corporation, I decided to pass the money out through the people in the bus to the conductor. This should not be much of an issue to anybody (I have done it a zillion times myself), but I believe that it was as hazardous a task to the purdah clad ladies standing next to me as moving nuclear waste bare handed. They did not just refuse the help point blank but started murmuring something about men being this-and-that.
I wanted to say, "Err... Who the hell do you think you are anyway?", but decide against my own will to shut up.

I turn towards another man standing next to me hoping he would pass on the money towards the bus conductor but he all that he does is say, "Erangi poi vaangu!" (Get down from the bus and enter via the other entrance and buy the ticket).

Hmm...

Now why didn't I think of that delightfully brilliant idea?
Oh, I know! Coz the bus is moving and there are heavy showers outside!

All this while the conductor was calling out for everyone to buy their tickets from his cosy corner in the bus. Pray tell how I do it? I should maybe wire the gross amount of Rs.2 to your account via the internet?

As I was contemplating what to do, the stop at which I had to alight arrived and needless to say I had to get down and ended up not buying a ticket. I wonder what I did to deserve this kind of treatment today. Or maybe its not me. Maybe Chennaiites are pissed off with Mumbai being awarded the title of "Rudest City". Something that we wanted for ourselves.

I don't completely blame the people in the bus for my inability to buy a ticket but I have to say that they did play a part in it. So should I not feel guilty about not buying the ticket? After all, Mr. PepperBeard didn't right? I can never come to terms with arguments that some people make in the lines of "He did it, right? So why shouldn't I?". I think this logic is just crap.

They say, "Be a Roman in Rome" but I would rather that, "Be a Christian in Rome" if being Christian is the right thing to do. What say you???