R.I.P.

Day before yesterday we lost a very famous actor turned politician. He was considered to be quite a genial man. Kind hearted, caring generous, ou could use all the positive adjectives you wanted to. I was lucky to be his personal escort once.

Today, as I read the papers and the first page obituaries, I also read the passing away of another film maker, who too coincidentally and sadly was considered to be as nice a man as Mr. Sunil Dutt, the politician.

As I was reading about all the mourners and what they have to say, it left me wondering. These two were great souls. But they were not the only ones who passed away.

There was that old lady in a slum in Bombay, who had only a daughter. In Hindus, the girl is not allowed to go to the cemetry. Who would carry the body and perform the rites?

Then there was this elderly gentleman, a statesman of sorts. One of the kindest people you could know. Benevolence, Humour, you name it. He had married his son off to the Muslim girl in his neighborhood. That too just after the Bombay Riots. He respected the emotion of love more than that of hatred.

You had the young boy who everyone loved as the fun loving, emotive youth. He was the one who brought joy to the locale. Poor guy met with an accident. No one shall come to know about him.

As I read the newspapers I have a very weird feeling in my heart. No one shall hear about these other souls. They might not be able to afford an obituary on any newspaper, let alone the half page one on the first page on India's laeding daily. They wont have the money even to pay for the rites of the funeral.

Forget the thousands who crowd to see the body (some might be there to see the film stas), there wont be four people to carry the body to the cemetry.

There would be no one to render support to the family of the bereaved. All they would have is themselves.

As I mourn the death of the two prominent personalities, I mourn the passing of these faceless souls. People who shall never be known, but are as pathbreaking in society as many other leaders. Join me in paying respects to them.

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Sitcoms and Soaps

I spend a lot of time watching television. And half the time all I do surf channels. Why? Most of the shows suck. Period.

We have these long drawn out, melodramatical soaps here in India. They apparently are "The biggest thing on Indian television". The most popular show on T.V has the leading lady, who in real life is barely 30, and looks not much older on the tube playing a grandmother! If this is not bad enough, we have her grandmother in it too. The show has had a time jump thereby "aging" all the characters by around 20 years. The grndmom though seems to have grown younger. If one counts her age logically, she must be around 120 years old. She has 20 year old great grandchildren! And a great-great one is on the way.

Anyways, I really wonder what is that constitutes a good programme on T.V. I am a fan of "The Apprentice". "Friends" and "Sienfeld" are the two sitcoms I really enjoyed. I guess the real reason that these shows became so popular was primarily because they are more of something you can articulate with. Thats why they sell. The show which I was talking about, albeit nonsensical, seems to strike a chord with all the housewives across the country. But I really believe in shows that shall have the whole family interested rahter than just the ladies of the house.

But that doesnt rid of my predicament. Here I am watching some dumb Malayalam sitcom, a language of which I have no clue, because there is no othere T.V in my house.

I have joined the Firefox Campaign.

A techie request:
All those people who are using Internet Explorer, please don't. IE might be the conventional browser. But that's all. Get Firefox. Very powerful and very fast. Also, very convenient. Also scripts display better on Firefox as compared to IE. Security is also much better in Firefox. The plugins rock. Especially the adsense ones.

So, readers, get Firefox.
The ad is there below.
Regards,
Sunil.

P.S. today's post follows.

Be my brother.

I am an only child.

No siblings.

Just me. No one to share my feelings with (not true now-I have a blog). I have alwyas felt the need for a sibling. I cant explain myself there.

I have had cousin sisters, who are more of sisters, stay with me. They are the closest I have ever come to having siblings. I am thrilled to bits that one of them is in the family way. Yet, after her marriage it seems we meet very rarely. I speak to her on the phone too only once a week.

Anyways, this is not what i intended to say. I really want to know what it would be to have a sibling. To fight with, to share, to cry on the other's shoulder.

It pains me to see siblings fight. So much so that they do not even talk to each other. That too over petty matters like property. It is really sad that people who have grown up with each other, spent all their lives together, would heckle each other even in court for a small amount of money. Take the Ambanis, for example. Brothers that run a 100000 crore empire. They cant stand each other. The newspapers are rife with reports of their mudslinging at each other. Their stocks are plumetting. The latest news is that the AMbanis are working out an agreement to bifurcate Reliance-the company their dad built from scratch. Really sad.

One more thing about siblings is the constant urge to outdo the other. Why the sense of rivalry? I have these relatives- three sisters. Spens a lot of time with each other. Yet, the amount of dirt they throw on each other's back is quite remarkable. You can feel the tension amongst them when they are in the same room. Yet, they act as if nothing has transpired.

There are so many more little things that cause differences. This relationship, just like all others are thorny. What people must realize is that the only way to sustain a relationship is by nurturing it. Not by neglect, which often occurs when it comes to siblings.

All the people on this planet who have siblings are lucky. Ask someone who does not have one.

Entrepreneurship.

I had a really bad day yesterday. The computer is not worling with the power supple all screwed up. It's overheating and the computer just shuts down midway. Just about managed to visit a few blogs yday.

So that left me musing at home, wondering what makes people thus. Wha makes each of us so differet? A trait which very few of us possess is that of entrepreneurship.
On hindsight, I think this though stemmed from watching "The Apprentice" the previos day.

It's amazing how so many people shirk away from taking that risk when it comes to marketting a product or even starting one's complany, however small it is. It's something that I do not possess. I do not have it in me (in my opinion) to start a company of my own. I am already convinced it shall fall flat on it's nose, if I did float one. One primary reason would be the aversion to risk. Most of these guys are big risj takers. Look at my uncle for example. He left a high paying job to start his own business. So much so that he used to stand on the neach every morning trying to advertise his new product. Now the cash registers wont stop ringing. From the small room of his house where he used to grind the seeds to make his health drink, to exporting it to atleast 10 countries, he has come full circle. Coming to think of it, not yet. I think he shall when it reaches every country on this planet.

Another example is my friend who teaches younger students. Makes quite a buck. The way he advertises himself is something I must learn.

I am quite an extrovert. Ankit will vouch for it. I had always opined that these two qualites are complimentary. Yet I am never able to be that guy who takes a lot of risks. Never worked in the corporate world and so I would like to know? Are there the conservatives there too?

I would love to carry on this article, but sadly cannot. Have to leave. Shall continue tommorow.

Regards,
Sunil.

Blog Plans

I dont have any major post today. Just contemplating on how I could improve my blog. So here are a few ideas.

1: Have seen many blogs with a lot of technical content in them. I think being an engineer I should contribute to the technical fraternity a little. Hence my sidebar shall soon include a review of some useful software which shall be updated regularly.

2: Also planned is a profile. This too shall be incorporated into the sidebar

3: Am contemplating a tag board. But personally I am not sure if I need it.

4: Also the template would require an overhaul. I guess this is too common a template on the blogosphere.

5: My ad revenues are sinking. Have to relocate them I feel. Make them conspicuous.

Readers are requested to leave their suggestions. Anks, tell me what you feel. I want your thoughts.

Regards,
Sunil.

An Honour

I have just been inducted into the Atlantic Bloggers Alliance and have had a wonderful artcile written about me by Mr. Centerleft. Akin to receiving an Oscar, I am going to give my acceptance speech. Here goes:

I am really honoured to be a part of this group. I have always respected and admired the blogs of the people who have now considered me potent enough to be a part of their community. Mr. Centerleft, your artcile is really very humbling. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hamel; all your opinions and compliments are tresured by me. I took up blogging to learn to write. I don;t know whether that is attained, or ever will be, but the warmth that I received in the form of the comments from my readers is something I shall always cherish. Thanks to all readers.

I really don't know what to say. Thanks all again.

Regards,
Sunil.

P.S: Post of the day follows.

Grandmother's Cures.

India is quite famous for it's rigid adherance to tradition. The trend is changing nowadays and the influx of western cultures are eroding our rich culture. Don't mistake me here,I am pro rational thinking and reforms. All I say that we don't lose our culture in the process.

Anyways, all grandmothers in our land have a magical cure for all maladies.Their pomegranate juice mixture-an age old cure for pimples is now gaining popularity.

But it's just not cures, they are very proficient at detecting maladies too. I very vividly remeber that my grandmom asked me for just one symptom and promtly declared that I had jaundice. It took the doctor two examinations and a blod test to confirm the same.

But there is one ailment which she doesn't have an actual cure. It's that of boredom. I, very often get the feeling of being bored and am listless. The problem is not mine alone. It's quite synonymous with my entire generation. We do not have the zest for life. We allow life to trickle by us, not realizing that it is acually a torrent flowing by.

Its amazing how my grandmom, at the young age of 80, never experiences this. Even now, she enjoys cooking. This despite, that she has a steel rod in her thigh (she fractured her leg 18 years ago) and I can see it quite painful for her to walk. Also speaking of boredom and monotonocity, she has been cooking from the age of 14. Thats 66 years. No boredom. Not a sign of it. Quite amazing.

Her enthusiasm in life is quite remarkable. Even now, she voluteers to make food artciles for her children. There is this thing that we make down in South India. It's something that you could make in the summer and you can fry and eat it all year long. The preparation is quite cumbersome. I love it but my mom refuses to make it. My grandmom makes it not only for herself, which is so much. it suffices for atleast 6 people. Then she makes it for her daughters, her grand daughters and even other relatives! This goes for pickles too, another pain in the backside. So often I get in the morning and I am listless, feel like just idling my time away in bed. She, on the other hand, storms out of bed and goes about her day as if it's her last.

What is it that makes us so different from our earlier generations? Why the indifferent attitude? Possibly the plethora of gizmos at our beck and call to address our every need. Whatever it is, they are ruining our mental makeup. There are many things cultures have that we should imbibe and not let modernization make us throw away. One thing is this.

Paati (in Tamil-my mothertongue- for grandmother), help!!!!

I passed!!!

Every time the HSC and SSC results come around the newspapers are filled with articles as to how girls have fared better than boys. I find the whole issue blown out of proportion, primarily because these examinations are no measure at all of either the capabilities of the student or of the education system.

These articles, I feel, are extremely sexist and have no place in the newspaper. I am not saying this because I am a guy. If that was the case I would be heralding the boys topping the respective categories. Kudos to the toppers; nothing for the genders.

The ICSE results declared yesterday states that the girls outdid the boys.

True.

It says the girls romped home and the boys were a distant second. The results are 95.2 % pass for girls and around a 93% for the boys. The difference: 1.5%. I guess a 93.5% pass in a country that's wife with illiteracy in inadequate.

Some more reasons why I do not support this rant:

1: The mental make up of both boys and girls are different. I personally opine the curriculum is something that girls would prefer to boys. This is atleast with the state board.

2: When it comes to the poorer sections of the society, the girls who get the backing of their parents, invariably have only to study. The boys on the other hand are even to work and then attend night school. So the study conditions are different. Also, considering that a major portion of the failures stem from this section of society, the point is noteworthy.

3: Why stop only at the H.S.C and the S.S.C results? Why not look at the results of all the graduating students? I can safely say that here is where the competition would even out as the curriculum for the course is something the candidate has voluntarily chosen and is not a path to further studies.

So please journalists, cut out this sexist crap. We have many more news items that could be published.

Mr. Roy I am with you.

There has been a spate of molestations and rapes in Bombay and the region. And rather shockingly, the perpetrators are policemen! That's absolutely shocking! Absolutely unpardonable. To add to this his name is Sunil More, or my namesake. Mercy!

The whole police force are suffering thanks to this. They are being labeled rapists and molesters wherever they go. But when I come to think of it, the policemen are not the ones who should be blamed. Sure, one of them committed a crime and he must be hung for it. But why is the world denouncing the police force as a whole. We are talking about the Bombay police force-a unit that has been hailed or par with the LAPDs and the Scotland Yards. So this is quite a volte face when observed with an unbiased eye.

I think the media is the key here. They have published articles time and again in the paper. The cop who was reponsible is now behind bars. Yet, we haven't heard the last of him. Also there have been many related articles. There was this one about a cop slapping this lady on a train. I am not in support of him and do believe he should be sacked, but has anyone seen the manner in which the commuters behave? The fights that occur are quite ridiculous. Once again, for raising his hand on a woman, he should be sacked. The media should realize that if they wish the cops to do their duty, the cops must have the faith of the people infused in them. They cannot help or serve a mob, especially one that is revolting against them.

Also, the people must realize that the whole police force as a unit are feeling sorry for an action committed by their colleagues. Why abuse the innocent? Most of them are from poor families, who have a child and wife of their own. They are not rapists, so refrain from addressing them so. The ones who are have beendealt with severely and so lets move on. No one shall benefit from this hatred.

One more thing: does anyone know the stress that these cops go through? They work an average of 15 hours a day. Half the time they are standing on the road, looking out for a vehicle of a suspected gangster or murderer. Whether they ever come across it or not, they still have to bear the elements. Its unbelievably hot nowadays, and in winter it can be quite cold at night. The monsoons in Bombay are very harsh and they have to bear all this. They hardly get time with their families- often working for 7 days a week. Sometimes they don't go home for 2-3 days together. So, a sozzled cop is not something that should be looked down upon. Do we ever get articles of how people in the parties published in page3 are sloshed? No we don't. We get how they had a good time. How? By getting drunk, that's how.

So I request the media and the people of my wonderful city- the same people who I admire for their emotional strength and forgiving power-let's forgive and forget. After all, the police is family; we are all Humans in the end, and humans do make mistakes.

P.S. Mr A.N.Roy is the Bombay Police Commisioner.

Mac OS theme review

I have been using the MAC OS theme...albeit I got it yesterday, I have tried ny hand at fooling around. I must say its fabulous. Mine is the older version, and the new one is also out I believe. The site to get it from is here.You will have to navigate the site though. The look is just like the MAC and the feel is great. The rounded feature to the menus makes it treat to the eyes. Also there are varying levels of integration possible- right from the basic windows options to much greater detail as to even change the look of the system file. The colour, a gentle blue is very appeasing. I recommend all to switch over to it.

The only flipside I felt is the size and the memory it uses up. The setup is around 25 MB. The real problem though is the memory it uses up. If you have a fast PC, go for it. It runs on mine PC as I have half a GB of RAM. Will require atleast 256 MB to run it well.

So, if you have the hardware, I highly recommend this.

P.S: The only reason for this post is that I am supposed to be a budding engineer.:)

I really don't know why I have written so many political articles. Any suggestions, readers?I think I should refrain from doing so.

Regards,
Sunil.

P.S.I am sorry but I always choose to call my posts articles.

So, it's a year into the new Government. And the reviews? Well the genreal verdic is that India has done well over the past one year. I have to agree. As much as I am a supporter of the BJP, I still back this government, primarily because they are soing a good job.

The four major cities in our land have all opined that the Government is doing a GOOD JOB. The key factor to this is apparently our Prime Minister :Dr. Manmohan Singh. A man highly regarded and decorated. For more on him click here. Right from the time he was the FM, I have had regard for him despite not knowing a word of Finance then. Well done Dr.Singh and more so Miss.Gandhi.

Well, all governments promise muchbut do little. Our goverment apparently follows suit as declared recently by Dr.Singh. he says that 90% of the promises are still unkept or not yet on the path of being kept. Not too good. But the one good thing that has arose is that economic reforms is very much on the up, with the Sensex touching all time highs- but has plateued out now somewhere in the range of 6500. Well done again.

The agriculutral, cement, petrol etc are all doing well. The company where my mom works, ONGC, is also doing exceptionally well. They are planning to acquire fields all over the world. Stocks are touching all time highs here too. True disinvestment is not taling place, but who cares?

The hotel industry as well real estate are booming. Often the sore thumg, the hotels in Bombay are now beginning to report fabulouspatronage. The Taj Mahal hotel recently declared that its profits have gone up over the past fiscal-or something to that regard. Real estate prices are too touching astronomical heights, all thanks to the builders lobby (cartel?) though.

So, one year down, 4 to go. Speculation, anticipation, trepidation. Dr.Singh, one word would rid these other three: Deliverance.

In you, Sir, we trust.

Today's Headlines in "The Times of India", "Pranab Mukherjee Roughed up by fellow party workers". Interesting isn't it? To my non-Indian readers, Mr.Mukherjee is the Defence Minister of our country. Equivalent to Mr.Rumsfeld. Supposedly an irate mob took charge of a large convention of "Senior" leaders of the Congress party-the ruling one- and roughed up most of them.

Such is the state of my land. The reason for this fiasco is that another leader was refused a ticket by the Party. So they vented their frustrations on the Minister. He got away with a light sentence. One of his colleagues got slapped!!

When I come to think of it, he deserves it. Actually every politician in my country deserves such treatment. Not the Z+ security that they get. The Z+ plus security can be justified only on one count; which is since they are such big criminals they must have the underworld hounding them fearing competition. They are a bunch of rogues. Nothing can describe them better.

India ranks second or fifth in the world when it comes to hatred for the politicians of the land. I think it's justified. We have milkmen who manage to swindle the government of 800 crores, guys offering bribes openly on television and then saying they were right, and worst of all: an ex-PM who slept in his chair during the Parliament session. How could anyone like these people? I have seen the priceless footage of Lalu Prasad Yadav-out Railway Minister, also the 80 crore guy-prancing around with a drum weraing nothing but his boxers being totally sozzled. This was at a Holi (an Indian festival) party. Quite disgusting.

It doesn't end here. There have been situations when there have actual fights in the Parliament. Mikes in the House were wielded as lethal maces, so much so that it caused people to admitted into Hospital. Ridiculous! There is this article that my classmate wrote as to why she didnt cast her vote. Shall publish it someday.

Reverting to Mr.Mukherjee, i think he had a bad deal about the whole thing because he didn't deserve it as it was not his fault, but he did deserve it for being Mr. Mukherjee himself.

Alarming signs

I dont know why but my visitor levels are dropping off at an alarming rate. Not even 50 per day. Quite perplexed.
Required: help of all my visitors...
Regards,
Sunil.

A question of Accountability.

I have always found it amazing how people love to pass the buck onto others. Taking responsibility for their acts is something which i just cannot understand. We go to great lengths to justify things we do, which we very well know are wrong and shall denounce those very same deeds had they not been us.

Actually, I do believe that this tendency stems from one which is similar but of a much larger scale. It is that of relening when the moment of truth arrives. So often, when we are in a pickle, we resort to doing something that we shall not exactly prefer. Let me elaborate.

I have this uncle of mine who was house hunting.While on his quest he had this choice of two houses one of which he preferred. Ironically, he was forced to buy the other one. This was of course only after he had given a great discourse on why he had his sights on the other one. Poor man, had to eat humble pie. Now you should hear him. It apprently never occurred to him as to what he was getting into when he decided at first. Now he knows. Ans so do we.

I am sure everyone one of us has been in such a position. I guess we articulate with fate too easily and tend to sympathize with ourselves. This is where children are so different. They have a burning desire in them. A zeal. A thirst for success. There is that adamance that they have which we don't. Sure it is not something that we should possess at all times. Therein lies maturity. Not trying to be oversophiticated and overgentle. I have personally burnt my hands trying to be like this. Yet, I cant change.

Anyways coming back, I do believe deeply in standing up for oneself. Admitting your faults is the first step in becoming a better person. It does help you grow. I am really angered by the scores of people who believe that they are a law on to themselves and can do no wrong. Or whatever they do, they are right. It can summarised in two words, "Quite sick."

Of Gujarats, 911s and Irelands

We, the people in India are still reeling I feel under the aftermath of the Godhra riots. The state of Gujarat especially. We lost hundreds to thousand of our countrymen in those riots. Riots in my "secular" land is aomething very common nowadays; especially religious ones. Not something that augurs well for our land.

The face of the riot victim 


It's really sad the way people become fanatical about religion. At the risk of sounding both cliched and trite, I would like to say that God is one. I am a believer and a devout Hindu at that. So much so that I am even proud to be a Brahman. But that does not make me look down upon people of different castes, race or religion. Hinduism, sadly and ironically used to preach or rather had been interpreted as casteism; with lower castes being looked down upon. So much so, untouchability was something ingrained in society. It is true that there were segregations mentioned in the Holy Vedas, but never was the issue of untouchability digressed. So how it came into being is something I shall never know and if I do; agree upon.

Similarly, I don't look at myself as superior to the Muslims, Jews, Christians or any other religion of the world. Neither do my parents. Sure, the would not want me to marry outside the religion, but not because they loathe the other religions.

So, the question I ask is, " Why are there so many people around the country, and even the world getting fanatical about their religions?" Why are there wars being waged and innocent children being killed, women raped, house burned down and many other things that God does not advocate?

The aswser to most of my country's problems is illteracy. The remaining: poverty. yet, I was quite startled to hear that some of these fanatics are actually quite well educated. If this is true, we are well on the path of extinction.

The world is no different. 911 happened because of this fanatism partly. Look at Ireland- they too are reeling under clashes between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants.

I believe that fundamentalists arise from bad upbringing or bad company. Both are problems that are solvable. I do not think a child is someone who is born prejudiced about religion. We make them.

Go to any educational institute and you shall find no such hatred. My class is a fine example. Sure, we are the most notorious bunch in the college. But the unity is something that I have never found anywhere else. We have Muslims (Sahul- a great Guy) visiting temples and following all Hindu customs. Froila, our Roman catholic girl makes it a point to invite us on Christmas and we don't disappoint. She is the first person to message me on Diwali. And this is something that I have experienced in school as well. I admire my classmates. If I ever went to a temple, ther would not be a single person who would refuse the prasad that I got from there.

So, I really believe that the key to our problems is lying in our hands, rather our head. Eradicate the hatred and we won't have death. A little compassion and a little tolerance. And we won't have 911s, nor Iraqs, nor Irelands, or Gujarats.

The Decadence

I subscribe to "The Times of India"; India's most popular newspaper. It used to be India's best too. Sadly though I can't even call it a newspaper.

Gone are the days when the newspaper was interesting to read. All you get to read is about how some lady was raped, or some man murdered or some fraud committed; who stole something, the latest court judgements and other bullshit. Worse still is the supplement. It is a freking magazine. No other words to describe it. I guess the price of newsprint must really be on the rise because the magazine a.k.a the supplement is riddled with only ads. The news, which is mainly just people advertising themselves; be it parties or which company launching their new product. The whole supplement is about how page3 culture rocks. Quite depressing how low they have sunk.

I really believe that it is we the readers who have caused this transformation. We need shock value or something that shall portray the rich and the famous. I really dont understand what is the fixature that we have with the elite. I guess its the aspiration to emulate them. But just reading about which party they went to and what they wore surely wont suffice. The awe that people have is quite palpable in my book. But not something totally sensible. It really pains me the way the paparazzi hound the celebs. Sad to see the newspapers pay hundreds of thousand of dollars for one snap. And that is then translated into greater newspaper price. Quite a sorry stae of affairs.

Gone are the days when a newspaper meant more than some paper with the previous day's happenings. It used to a tool to motivate the masses, used to the voice of teh nation at times. Sadly, the editors have lost teir ethics and we the Newspaper.

Join my blog

Hello people!

I have started a group and you can receive my posts via email. Just click on the link and join the group. All my future posts shall be present there also.

Regards,

Sunil.

Yippee2

O.K. Now Xanadu is available on Google directly. Just type "Sunil Xanadu" or "Sunil Natraj" and voila! first Result is my web page!!
Calls for a celebration. Thank you all.

Regards,

Sunil.

The Teacher

There is this place that I frequent for getting my xeroxes and printouts. Its a small alley, wide enough for only 2 people to walk side by side. The whole lane is cluttered with shops that all do xeroxes etc, meaning cut-throat competition. Add to this the chairs laid out on the street, it seems like a bee hive. People squatting right on the main alleyway, some more yelling, and the heat within the place, it's hell. It's a place you must not go to if you have claustrophobia.

Located in this melee, is a shop owned by an old man who sells basic stationery. Hes quite an elderly gentleman. The shop must be around 5 feet long and around 3 feet wide. But then located inside the shop is a shelf that measures aroung one and a half feet in thickness. That gives him around a foot to stand considering there is one more shelf also. Also present are lot of other stationary and a solitary stool. Io the corner of the room there is a solitary fan whirring away. It barely blows some wisps of air. He is surrounded by all kinds of stationery.

Seated on that stool, with an omnipresent smile is that gentleman.Quite regal, he looks, with his shirt worn full(without rolling up his sleeves) and a bright crimson mark adorning his forehead. I really admire him. Despite the unplesant circumstances he works in the smile never retards. Always polite, always giving you a gamut of choices to the customers. The other day, I realized that I would be needing somse stationery and made mind up to buy it only from him. So over to his shop I went.

I am someone who simply has to compliment a person if I think it is worth. And I did. Telling him that his dressing sense was good spawned the most enjoyable reaction. He gave me the most wonderful smile and the humblest of Thank-yous. I could not help but ask if he was from my state, down south. This snowballed into a conversation of which I recollect little but cherish deeply. All i do recollect is him lamenting about how neither companies like Moser Baer nor the Indian Government care for smal shop owners like himseslf and hes forced to charge his customers extra. That has led to a decling in his patronage. Despite all this, he would give me a few things free despitethe fact that I had hardly puchased anything. And as he handed over my purchase to me he gave me that thing very thing that had brought mw to his shop: his wonderful smile.

I realized then that life teaches you many things, and it is such people who actually are real teachers.

In Quest of Xanadu

Everyone has a definition of a dream home. My mom is no exception. It's actually only the women who have this want. After all, its they who fashion the house and make it a home. My mom has been insisting for a long time that we buy a mew house. And so the quest began.

My mom is quite a realistic individual. I have seen many times that when faced with a decision of dream realization over practicality, the former invariably wins. But she would not fit in totality into this bracket. It's something of a fuzzy set scenario, where you cannot classify total participation or non-participation. While on the trail she gave quite a few proofs for this statement.

I accompanied her on a few scouting trips; and these were all heartbreaking. Many a time I could see the joy on her face when I saw that this is a house that my mom likes. Then comes the dampener. The time to quote the price. Her face would sink when she heard the price and we would leave the place thining that this just is not meant to be. I hate that. I do.

Real estate is on a high in Bombay. And the builders are cashing in Big time. Fleasing the buyers to monumental amounts. Hiranandani, is asking 3 lakhs for a parking space!! When these buikders are quoting prices they must consider the situation of the buyer. That buyer who could be mom, scouting for a dream home, which she hopes to hand down to her son.

Maternal Speak

This is what my mom would say if she was to have been reading my blog over the past few days.

O.K. The war is done and dead. Why are you wasting precious time over something that you cannot change? For God's sake you have your exams coming. Go and study!! All your visitors are nice people. But one thing, I think there could be a middle path taken somewhere. Also, I think that the Americans should leave Iraq now. Enough is Enough, I say. Don't you think? And stop writing about this. There are many more world issues.
The most beautiful word in this world :Mother 


Yeah, I am a mom. First of all you did not wish me. But that is o.k. I don;t need some day to know that my only son loves me. But I would not mind the wish either. It makes me feel very nice. But more than me, this day should be celebrated for many other mothers.

Here are some :

1: The mothers that lost their children in the Iraq war (Now even I have started!).

2: The mothers who have lost their children. Period. Forget the first.

3: A woman who has just suffered a miscarriage. She is amother no less.

4: The raped woman who now has a child.

5: A prostitute who ended up with a child. Not the young college girl who does it for a quick buck though.

6: The grandmother who is rearing her child's child during her/his absence.

7: A single father.

8: An infertile woman who cannot have a child and wants one.

9: A fertile woman whose husband is infertile.

10: And all the other women in this world who have or shall become mothers.

Happy Mothers Day.

People of the Free World

I received quite a few comments for the previous post. I am extremely glad that the visitors are very nice people who write in parliamentary language and greatly admire them for it. It is difficult to behave in a gentlemanly manner when someone is opposing you.
1 


I respect everyone woh has posted a comment on my blog. Mr Hamel, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Sebastian, Mr. James, Madam Marci, Cutetwirler and all others, first of all thank you.
2 


I dont want to turn this into a full fledged debate but a few points to elucidate why I opposed the war and to view some comments posted from my point of view:

1: Mr. Sebastian, as regard to war being in our blood; well YES and NO. I mean, the animal instinct in all of us drives us to war. That is why we are bloodthisty warriors. We get great joy in watching and participating in fughts. But, a good upbringing shall undo this harbinger of both war and death. I believe that all can resolved through good culture. Please correct me if you feel I am wrong here.

2: Mr. Hamel, I like your blog. Thanks for stopping by. Saddam might have attacked, but could I reiterate that we as people have no right to interfere in another's country. This is ofcourse, not just for Mr. Hamel

3: Madam Marci, you say that he would attack your country. Point taken. A question back to you, "How could someone with a fleet of around 300 tanks, possibly 200 planes and an army miniscule compared to your, situated almost 10000 miles away attack you?"
As regards to 911, that was bought on by Al Qaeda. So, blaming Saddam is unfair. As I said before, Afghanistan was justified in my view.

4: Mr. Nightcrawler (should be a very popular blog in my view), I believe it is fundmenatalism that plagues the world. And it might yield perjudiced judges. But then, that would result in the fall of the Judicial system, resulting in the taking of law into our own hands. This would yield the law of the Jungle.

A few opinions. All the posts seem to favour the war, but I strongly believe that since most of them were from America, the result was thus. What is surprising though is that most are (according to my site tracker) from the east coast in America, and as we all know Bush git wiped out in the elections along the coasts. But, the elections were closely fought I guess, and so the opinions were divided.

As regards to me, yes I am a Democrat. Probably because I am an Indian, the largest democracy in this world. And I am proud to be one. The country and my parents have taught me one thing; to respect everyone's views.

Thank you Mom and Dad. Thank you Mother India.

Regards,

Sunil.

P.S. No one wants war. Some grim realities.

3 


4 

Of Iraq, Bush and Freedom.

I had come across a blog which says that the attack on Iraq was almost justified, if not so. The people there are suffering under the hands of a tyrranical ruler and a lot of other things to the like.

Sir, I am sure you would be visiting my blog, so I am going to address you directly. Why did Dubya choose to attack only Iraq. And he had the able support of another spineless moron in the name of Tony Blair. Good grief! he has won another election. Zimbabwe is reeling under tyrrany in the form of Robert Mugabe. That country too is poor. Mr. Blair has openly denounced the rule of Mugabe. So much so that the British Parliament even wanted sporting links to be severed off between the two countries. Nonetheless, we are talking of America. You say that they are harboring weapons of mass destruction. People are free to have opinioins and even say them aloud. But, unless and until you are attacked by them there is no way you could have ascertained your cliam.

Sure, you could refute this by saying that the action was possibly done in defence. In any case, no one found even a trace of nuclear weapons in Iraq. Who authorized Bush to attack Iraq and search for weapons? When the U.N team went to Iraq they were free to carry out the search and they too had not found anything. Despite this, Bush attacked.

I am not a man of peace who believes in Ahimsa-non violence (Gandhiji's philosophy). I too believe in an eye for an eye. I think Bush was justified in attacking Afghanistan to remove the Taliban because he believed and knew that Osama lay hidden there. That he was not found is another matter altogether. That he shall never ever be found is yet another matter.

So, if attacking Iraq is justified, then what next? Iran, because it stands for yet another country of the Arab community? Why not Saudi Arabia? Why not Palestine?? Anyways Israel is fighting another similar war. Why not Zimbabwe??? And why is he still positioned troops there? If he wanted only to rid them of the ruled the objective is attained. What is that he needs to now?

The answer is evident to me. He needs oil. And more importantly, he needed something to garner public support back home, so that he could win another election. Plain and simple.

Imagine that you had a really bad father, who beat you up everyday; abused you and tour mother, cheated on her, came home drunk and was the very symbol of bad humanity. Despite this would you like someone to come into your house and try to sort it out?? The answer, at least in my case, is and emphatic and loud NO.

America might be under attack by the other things that you had said. But by Iraq sir, NO.

Yippee!!

Google has picked up my profile page. Not of great use yet in terms of visitors, but hopefull shall translate to an increase by the end of the month. i am just waiting for the main page to be picked up. The link is there... only have to get the spider to visit it many times.

My visitor count has gone up to an average of 40 a day... not bad since i started blogging seriously only last month. Thanks to adsense too!!

Yeah, I know this is a meaningless post, but I am thrilled to be picked up by Google.
Here's to today!!

I promise not to write such posts again.

Have a great day guys.

Medication for the Cynical World.

We had this chapter in school named the Impossible Dream. It was on how a single man had taken up the task of trying to reform the world. The guy used to stop by and say a few kind words to anyone who touched his life directly or indirectly. The cycnical world, he believed had to be changed only with love and hence his tireless endeavor to be nice.

I was greatly influenced by that lesson. I realized that my syllabus was not that bad after. Then came the conscious effort to change; in the right direction. I tried not to be a snob and be a little more kind to people. Stop by and give a compliment, or just say soething that the other person would like. Beleive me, this has quite a magical effect on people. They in turn shall be nice to the people they meet, and before you know it, the world shall be a much better place. Even if just 5 people were to carry on your effort everyday, you would have achieved a great deal.

I am now making a conscious effort to walk down this road. People, I assure you, it's a great promenade. People on the cyberworld, I urge you, try and drop in a line to whosever blog you visit. You will make the person's day.

All the people who visited me and wished me; Thanks a lot. I really liked it. It also helped me improve my visits... 75 yesterday!! Thanks a lot.

P.S. people not listed on Google, try to put up as miny links as possible. The more the number of links, the better the chance of getting picked up.

21 and counting

Okay, so today is birthday. Quite a ride life has been till now and am excited as I speculate on my own future. This despite being a person who firmly believes that lifes milestones lie in the hands of the go-getter. Anyways, I think now it's a time to charter out the future.

Things to be done:

1: Get a 70% in one Engg sem. No matter what I do this has eluded me.

2: Leatn to look beyond books and gain pratical knowledge.

3: Learn to appreciate people for what they are.

4: Learn not to be gullible.

5: Try to walk down the road less taken.

6: Study a wee bit more.

7: Get into the IIMs.

8: Get my hair woven or my mirror altered!

9: Read a lot more.

10. Get people to click on some ads of mine.

11. Control my diet and lose some weight.

12: Stop spending so much time on my blog.

Waiting for wishes.

Impending Celebrations

Hey people who visit this blog!! Tomorrow, on the 4th of May, I officialy complete 21 years on this planet!!

Damn, I am excited!

Oh Captain.. My Captain

I am an ardent fan of Sourav Ganguly and I make no bones about it. I receive quite some flak for this though, considering he is never in form. His wretched form still plagues him and is the bane of Indian cricket for now.

Yes, I am being impulsive, but can I ask all the detractors, what happened to the rest of the team in the Indo-Pak series? It was quite a collective effort I must say... to fail. The reason for my saying this is because no one is asking for the head of MR. Tendulkar, who besides he hundred at Ahmedabad, did nothing. No one is asking for the head of Yuvraj Singh, or Kaif or for that matter even Dravid. 



Despite all this, I say Ganguly should sit out because he is not contributing. But, as we are thirsting for his blood, I must ask you this; who will lead India in his absence? Therein lies in the void that nobody shall be able to fill. I personally do not opine that there is anyone in this Indian team capable of leading the team. Each one is good, excellent or any other adjectine you please, but they are not fit to the skipper. Dravid does stake his claim very well, but as far as captaincy goes, Ganguly is better fit for the job.

So, as he serves out his ban of six ODIS and possibly out of a lot more, we could reflect upon arguably, India's best captain to date. This is both Resultwise and Leadershipwise . People will argue that Ganguly is no loner the batsman of yore. True, but only partially. Take your mind back to the Natwest Final; India's only overseas ODI series win in many years and recollect that brilliant half century that put India on track. True, it was Yuvraj and Kaif that won us the mathc, but had it not been for Ganguly, we would have surely lost. Recollect that 90 he hit against England in the last ODI of the series in England. He did score 2 centuries in the World cup, although against lesser teams.

Anyways, my favourite player won't be seen for some time now. I only hope it shall not be forever.

In anticipation. 

Some poem on the net

Can you take me to a place,
Where I will not be judged?

A place that knows no sorrow,
Or holds the grudges of my past?
Sheltered by your protection…
But slowly fades away…
Like the words of your confessions.

A place I know,
Where nobodies goes.
Sanctified and but now - shallowed.

The secrets and the memories
Are mine and mine only…
How dare you betray me…?
Oh how - you desecrate me!

And you go and expose me
And tell me what and who I should be…
Simpleton, you amaze me
The trust I displayed
And the lust for hating you made…

To this, I hold no envy…
…The unforgiven…

Bald is Beautiful

Bald is Beautiful 


Evolution is quite something I must say. To have species spring up, die out, sustain, dominate, thrive and lots more- the whole concept- its brilliant. Charles Darwin, awesome theory dude!!

Very powerful theories that are quite believable. And sadly, that is the irony. Man has been evolving for 20000 years (Yeah Ankit, you said it!) and the precess of evolution eliminated redundant or useless appendages to the species.

And in the case of Man, the elimination is of Hair. And that is making me lose my precious tresses.

It's really unbelievable how people who are balding (ME!!!) are so possessive about their hair. I mean when you have a hundred thousand of them, you should not be really bothered. But the sight of losing even one is quite heartburning. Every morning, as I comb my hair, I am a good 5-10 gms lighter. A very bad way to lose weight may I add. My poor mom is losing her hair over this, wondering how her only son would get a decent looking bride.

I have tried everything, from yoga to juices to even homeopathy. But I know the results of all my medications when I see my dad. His immaculate pate is like my crystal ball. Some doc told me stress could be the cause of this and I should stop taking stress. I had to really control my laughter at that instant. If there is one guy who does not take stress, its me.

So that brings me to the situation I am at now; one year since my scalp started showing me himself. My twenty first birthday is approaching (Yay) and I can only pray that I have hair till then. Yeah, I know alternatives always do exist, ,but I am not into plastic surgery. Though I may still do it if I have a really hot wife!! As for now, I make do by routinely checking my mirror to get used to the shock of looking at a bald man there.

Some facts on bread-eskimo.com

Research on bread indicates that:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

BREAD!!!! 


4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding per
son.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.