A Novel and PT - My latest heartthrobs!!

Aaah!! At last I got some space in the fourth dimension for the blogsville. All this while my office kept me busy and it didn’t let me buy time for blogging at all. But that’s not all. Another reason for being away from writing was my newly developed hobby of reading novels. Oops!!! not novels but a novel. I found the title to be too intriguing; hence, I bought it at the very first sight. It’s penned by Richard Dawkins. So, if you guys know him then you can easily guess what it would be all about. Well I have always liked when someone questions the irrational beliefs and theories that exist in our society, especially on the grounds of religion. And the vituperative responses that are generated against such questioning only help me believe more strongly in the anti-belief that our society gruesomely refers to atheism. But I am not in the mood to talk about all this right now. Let me first finish this novel (which might take years as it’s quite boring and indiscernible due to its British author and his high-fundoo English). I hope ‘The God Delusion’ becomes the 2^nd ever novel in my short but long term list of 'Finished novels'J.

Well there is a little bit of masala news that I wanted to share. Porcupine Tree is coming to India. That too to Mumbai!!! And this metal head, yah this one- ‘the one writing this post’ is eagerly waiting for them as he  already has his tickets booked for their live show on 21^st dec. 

You guys will be surprised to know that I came to know about Porcupine Tree (PT) only a month ago from my friend. And I started listening to them then only. I then realized what I had been missing for all these years. What an impact they had on me!!Now  I listen to PT when i am in the office, when i am travelling in the bus and even before sleeping. Most of the times I refer to myself as a normal guy who is not crazy about anything but when it comes to music, there comes an exception. And I feel proud to say that I am crazy about Porcupine tree now. Though PT is a rare non-generic band, I will still refer them as ‘Rock artists who fuse different types of sound’ to keep it simple here. Their delusive lyrics, soothing and melodious guitar, heavy beats of drums and the very dexterous keyboard play will surely make this a dream concert for me. Still there is one month to go but I am already hyperexcited about it. My friends will soon start believing that I am suffering from logorrhea coz whenever this topic comes around in the discussion all I do is talking!!!

I hope some of you who are reading this are also Porcupine Tree fans (I know I am hoping against hope coz they are the most underrated stars of music industry, very few people know about them). Hope to see you guys in the concertJ.

Ba bye for now!!!

P.S.: I didn’t post anything in last 30 days and my IndiRank went up by 4 places. It’s 39/100 from 43/100. Hmm.. interesting!! I guess I will be IndiRank 1 if I quit blogging …what say?? :D

Five point some views!!!

My friend Bharathi wrote an excellent post - ‘The Indian dream’ a few days back. I request you to read it first for a better understanding of what's going to follow.


Bharathi's remarks on the political leaders and on our country are pretty intellectual but i kind of disagree with some of them. The aberrations in our opinions are not only restricted to the points of ‘corruption’ or ‘whom to blame for country’s situation’ but they also extend to the more subtle points like ’IST’ and ‘Whether Indians do their job whole heartedly or not’.


I have got so many thoughts running through my mind right now, so, instead of messing them up I will like to write them down into 5 points.So, here I go:




1) Comparison with the UK:


Let me start with this – First of all I don’t think that comparing a developing nation with a developed nation is a wise thing to do. This is because the differences between them are vast and often the root causes of these differences are never addressed.


The question of political corruption, the question of infrastructure, the question of good behavior, all of these have one common answer to them – ‘Money’. Developed nations have enough money to keep their citizens happy and the developing nations don’t. And I don’t need to reveal where they got all that money from J. Even the poorest there would be richer than his counterpart living in a developing nation. The problems that make a developing nation ‘developing’ can hardly be found in a developed nation. So one should not fixate his thinking on why this happens here only and not in the developed countries. You need to think deep to answer this. There is no comparison. The two categories of nations are at different levels all together. It’s like comparing a cat with a mouse and thinking when the mouse will actually be able to walk abreast with the cat. 

But yah, what we can do is that we can compare two rats together. Like two giant rats ‘India’ and ‘China’. Then we can figure out what these two are good at and what we should learn from them in order to achieve our goal of becoming ‘Developed’. That will be a better comparision in many ways. This is because it’s more likely that the two developing nations face similar problems. Thus, by learning how one of them finds a way out of the issues, one can help the other nation in pragmatically solving the similar issues. Our objective is to become better in our own ways. All the developed nations on their path of development were actually competing with each other and that’s how they became developed :). Same trend we should follow.




2) Our political leaders:


Bharathi in his post said that our leaders are no different than us –


‘I feel politicians and corrupt officials are not born straight from sky. They indeed originate within us. They reflect the culture and practices of our entire nation. When we are pointing fingers at corrupt politicians, can we tell that our common people are free of guilt?’


Absolutely true Bharathi. Neither do the politicians come from the sky nor is the common man free of guilt. But leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, Jawahar lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastry (and the list of great leaders go on..) also existed with us. Leaders are those who make people follow them, who are considered as idols, who are respected and loved. They are not the ones who follow what a common man does. They are those who bring reforms. They are not the ones who leave their nation and society as it is. Common man needs someone to lead him. A common man’s thinking can be changed by his leader. Leader has to be influential rather than being a dumb listener. Just like Raja Ram Mohan Roy who went against the Indian society and culture to abolish ‘Sati’ system, a political leader’s role is to improve the society by bringing reforms and not to merely accept the society from where he has come from. So, I don’t think that a leader should reflect the culture and practices of the entire nation. If our society is wrong then leaders can only correct them. The sad part is that in India the kind of people who volunteer in elections are not actually made up of leader’s material but are merely representatives of people who don’t even know them. Do you think we have any strong leaders now?




3) We don’t mind litter the space when we are out of our home:


I can understand that this happens due to two reasons-

a) India is still highly uneducated.
b) India doesn’t have appropriate infrastructure.


There is a difference between literacy and education. You can earn well, you can speak well if you are literate but literacy doesn’t guarantee ‘good behaviour’. Sometimes in Delhi I feel that richies are less educated than the middle and lower class. I guess our education system has failed to provide proper education to not only to the children of poor but also of wealthy people.


The other point is that those who are educated and understand that keeping places clean is their fundamental duty, actually land up littering a place cause they can’t find proper arrangement for that. I can hardly see dustbins on the roadsides and public conveniences are rare species too. How can you imagine someone controlling his pee for more than an hour in a search for a public toilet?? How can you imagine people walking miles on the roadside in search of dustbins that never exist??




4) Job inefficiency:

That’s a very important point that you picked up Bharathi. But if you dig deep into the reasons as to why most of the Indians are not that job efficient then you will find that – ‘Indians are not usually happy with their jobs’. Not because it’s paying them less but because they are least interested in the kind of jobs that they do. Now why will someone take a job which will not interest him much? The answer is ‘Family’ and ‘Society’. Indians are wild social animals. And our culture defines our duties; Duties like taking responsibilities of your family, earn some name and respect in the society. You don’t always have a freedom of pursuing what you want to.


I am working in IT industry (no surprise there) and I can see that 70% of people in IT don’t actually like what they are doing. They are doing it just because jobs are in IT sector and nowhere else. They are killing their interests for the sake of money. How do you expect someone to work efficiently with something that he doesn't like doing. People who took biology in their PUC land up becoming an engineer due to their parents' pressure. And no wonder the same logic applies in the govt. sector. The main reason of inefficiency there is that people jump into the govt. offices regardless of the job profile as they are offered permanent jobs. That means tension free life.

Thus I feel that IST is also a product of our job inefficiency. Those who do the things that interest them never actually get late in finishing it. But for others it’s always Indian Stretchable Time.




5) ‘What you can give to the UK’:

As of now what you can give to the UK are the condolences and sympathies from the Indians, directed towards their cricket team :). After all their largest past time colony or what I should say ‘Slave’ is currently the ‘King’ of the game that they invented centuries ago. What else can you give to them??? Just kiddin’ :p.


Well this was a long post. I think I have made my views really clear. Feel free to disagree :).

The Curious Case of Our Nation!! (Reiterated)

I don’t have to go across the globe to write about a curious case. I just need to look into my nation.

The population of Indians in Britain makes British feel so out of place. The prejudice we showed to our neighbors made them remember ‘India’ as a synonym for ‘hate’.

Such has been our unity in the past that we were ruled by almost every might in this world. Such is the case with terrorism in our country that hardly anything has been done.

Such is the craze for Cricket that players are treated as kings as well as waste. The condition of other sports makes them so out of taste.

Such are the IT engineers here that most of them don't even know C. And still India is the number 1 preference for all the IT companies.

Fuming faces when a Muslim girl is on the Tennis Court is what we get to see. The same faces grin when a Muslim actress wears two piece bikini in a movie.

Such are the filmfare awards here that the best of the actors actually boycott them!! Such is the adulation for some that people actually worship them.

Such is the literate society here who spends tons of money donating to the ignorant priests. The plight of a needy is that he can never rest in peace.

Such are the people here who despite of knowing the truth, elect the culprits of ‘Gujrat riots’. Still they don’t agree that they are religiously biased.

The world thinks that India is changing and so do we, but what remains the same are the slums in Mumbai.

India’s 8% annual growth is just an irony. Power cuts in major cities are the sights to see.

Culture, cast , religion are said to be the things that every Indian boasts about. But the tiny box thinking of ours has left us with hate and nothing to be proud of.

Even a nursery going kid in Australia now knows who Indians are. We call them racist, forgetting who we actually are.

The only hope left now is our new generation. But our ignorance still keeps me in suspicion.

I know many may argue that this is not what India is all about, may be yah, but can’t you see the ‘Dance of hypocrisy in the world’s largest democracy’?? That’s what I wanted to bring out.

A Piscean's anger

It’s one of those days when I am cursing myself, loathing myself for being a Piscean. The strengths of a Piscean succumbed to its weaknesses today. It’s frustrating, it’s demoralizing, it’s grim and most of all it has taken away an essential element of my life from me.

The most famous Piscean weakness has to be this – ‘Pisceans are sentimental beings’. It doesn’t mean that they are mawkish but the fact is that they get affected with the subtlest tender and emotion on this earth. I am sentimental and I hate being this. It makes me weak. It confuses me. And most of all, it hurts me. It hurts me when people can’t understand my sentiments. It hurts when some insignificant issues spawn sentiments in my mind. And we know this world, don’t we?? Is it good to be sentimental in this ruthless world?? No!!! Absolutely not. But I just can’t get away with it. I am hapless.

Adding to the helplessness is the evergreen and eternal word, ‘Expectations’. And it is the root cause for most of the problems. Knowing this, still I expect. People disappoint me a lot. But why??? Cause I expect from them a lot. Expectations arise when people are close to you. But not everyone expects like I do. So, others can’t understand why I expect so much. It’s a deadlock. How can I exorcize the devil of ‘Expectations’ from my mind?? It’s inherited in me, again there is no way out.

Last but not the least, a Piscean’s foremost weakness is that he blames himself for all the wrongs. I think I am doing this. See, I am cursing myself. I am cursing myself for my weaknesses. Am I fully responsible for hurting myself??? I don’t know. I can’t answer it. Damn I am a piscean and I will obviously feel so.

I don’t believe in horoscopes. Neither do I believe in Astrology. But still am venting out frustration on my zodiac sign. Gosh!! I turned into a hypocrite. But I am doing so because I just want to. And was that me being irrational?? Yah, the preacher of rationality is practicing irrationality today. Isn’t it incredible?? How one sad incident in your life can change you as a person? All your ethics, all your beliefs, all what you preach, all of those go down in drain. Just one heart breaking incident is enough; you will be a changed person ever after.

But I don’t want to change. I want to sustain my beliefs that have designed me into what I am. Right now all the negative thoughts are running through my mind. That’s why I wrote this piece of crap just to vent out my anger and anguish. I feel a little better now.

Excuse me for such a retarded post. I hope I will get back soon from this aberration.

Money money money!!

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes
We're seeing things in a different way
And God knows it ain't His
It sure ain't no surprise
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge

Steve Taylor’s classic is running through my mind. Don’t know what the great Aerosmith’s vocalist had in his mind when he penned down the above rhythmic but since I gained conscience about this crazy little world, I have been thoroughly impressed by the aptness of the same.

Nowadays, the only thing left that is most sacred to human beings is ‘Money’. It’s above everything now. And I don’t want to question its potency. I guess everyone reading is well aware of that. But what baffles me is that how money has become a reason for ‘confession’ in these days. Yah, I am talking about confessing truth, ‘The moment of Truth (aka Sach ka Samna)’. Contestants come in front of the whole world, they face the cameras, they face the polite host of the show sitting in the front and their families on the left as they try to answer 21 throat cutting, heart breaking and mind boggling questions committing that they are gonna speak up the truth today. Well, now that’s courageous.

But they aren’t born-courageous, are they?? The kind of truths they reveal suggest - negative. All the confessions made are just for one reason – ‘Money’. They come to this show and embarrass themselves and their families in front of the whole world for all the wrong doings in their lives and get a little wealthy. But they won’t agree with my last statement. I don’t know whether it’s their perception or their greed that brings them on that stage. But what I will say is that their perception has been corrupted with ‘The Omnipotent Money’. I mean come on, why at first you want the world audience to be staring at you in disgust when you confess the ugliest truths of your lives? What has the world got to do with you? I wonder is it money or the guilt that drives them to reveal the unspoken and the unspeakable truths of their lives. Surely it’s money. Ask them if they will like to come to this show and bring out their true selves in front of the public if they are not granted any money to do so. Well, they need a reason as to why to risk their lives, right?? Money is the best reason.

The most hypocritical thing about claiming truth in front of the world is the fact that you never really cared what the world thinks or may think of you. If you would have really cared you wouldn't have been on the hot seat at first. People are well aware of the fact that how they will degrade themselves in the eyes of the society and their family if they reveal things that they have done in their past life, for most of them ‘money’ was the reason. So, they think that by accepting the truth (at the exchange of money) will bring their family some kinda pride?? No. So, why do they want to devour their family’s reputation in front of the world? If they really want redemption, why don’t they bring out the confessions in their own house where their family can actually hear them with much more pleasure rather than pain? Somethings are so personal that people can’t really understand them and by revealing them in public will only help society in making a negative impression of you. And guess what, society is smart. Anyways, It won’t buy your faithfulness and sincerity in claiming the truths because you are exchanging them for money. Confession in the form of redemption must be unconditional.

So, that brings us to this question!! People lie for money and now people are speaking the truth for the same? Yah and this is the interpretation I drew from the show ‘Sach ka Samna’. Their souls have been tainted with the greed for money. So, even in the process of redemption they want to earn money through some or the other way. If there were no shows like ‘Sach ka Samna’, so many people wouldn’t have confessed their truths and would have continued living with the lies that they sold to others. Strange it is. They feel alleviated after answering all those questions. And I just wonder that how they again create an illusion of doing something right by committing another grave mistake in their lives – ‘The mistake of selling their family’s reputation for some million rupees’. Their fathers never did the same. Cause for them reputation and self-respect was more important than money. They never took a wrong path even when they were living in penury. They were better humans. Money wasn’t everything for them.

But people have changed now. They view things differently. Respect is a secondary word for the most. Money is first. They come to Mumbai to find a job. And when they fail, they lose their souls there. And who is the rapist? Money.

Why don’t this new generation go home and tell everything to their families if they are overwhelmed with guilt?? Why now people are speaking truth only because someone’s paying them for it!! Why don’t they realize that even this money is not coming free of cost to them!! It takes all the reputation and respect out of them. Do they think their families will ever be proud of whatever amount they earned from ‘Sach ka Samna’??? I think no family will like to answer this.

Wednesday's vicissitudes

Life is full of accidents, some fortunate and some unfortunate. But when both of these inverses stamp together, they make one hell of the day, right? Wednesday was such a day. It was one of the weirdest days that I have ever experienced. It was full of emotions. Emotions that changed their phase as the day passed by. Let me share some of them with you.

The Client's meeting debacle

Wednesday was an important day for me. The Japanese partners of my office team had planned a visit that day. I was a little excited. This was my first face to face with the clien

ts (that’s what we call our business partners, yah it’s weird). So, I wake up early that morning (7 o' clk is really early for me), freshened up(everyone on this planet is forced to, otherwise, consequences can be disastrous), hurriedly took bath(so against myself) and groomed well(trust me, I always try to be well groomed) for the very first business meeting of my life.

You must have heard about JIT, right? Well for those who haven’t (I mean all of you), it’s an acronym for ‘Just- in- time’. This is something that Japanese preach and Indians loath. Japanese are known to be very particular about their timings and it’s like whatever it may take, they achieve it ‘just-in-time’. Contrarily, Indians follow their IST (Indian Stretchable time) standards. Of course no one insults the 4^th dimension of continuum as badly as we do. But urging to defy the common practice and being a wayward Indian, I left for office well before my usual timing hoping to reach there before 9 AM.

But that morning I forgot a famous adage.

Mr. Murphy had stated-

‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong’.

I realized this when I found myself stuck in a miles long traffic jam. And it was bad. For the very first time in Bangalore, I found the traffic halting due to an accident and not due to a traffic signal. I didn’t know whom to curse, my luck or Bangalore (which is again due to my luck). None would have cruise me to office anyways. So, desperately I started wishing that my clients get stuck too. The traffic crawled cohesively and I was late to the office by an hour and a half.

Thousands of things were running in my mind. I could imagine my lead scolding me for coming so late. I could imagine the clients waiting for me (though I had nothing to present to them). My watch struck 10.30 AM when I found myself in front of my office’s campus. But just when I decided to rush into the campus, my teammate called up and said- “Ashish, due to the traffic jam, our clients have been diverted to our old office, so rush towards the old office”. Screwed, I was damn screwed. All the curiosity, all the excitement, all the thunder was gone in a split of a second. After spending two and a half hrs in traffic, my company wanted me to spend another one hr. with it. I expected a better morning than this.

My Best Friend’s Tales

Well the noon was no better either. My best friend got upset with me on some trivial issue. And me being a little senti moron, couldn’t stay normal as it happened. Now, let me admit that– ‘Women are the most talented species on this planet ’. They can confuse you on anything, they can accuse you for anything, they can threaten you on doing anything, all just with a beep of one SMS. First they recommend you to change yourself. Then when you start changing, they feel that this is not how they wanted you to be, so, if you continue to change then they will get upset and will ask you to be the same as before. Something similar to this was what my friend wanted and didn’t want from me. Complicated, right?? Girls are complicated and nothing is complicated about this fact. I bet that no guy can claim that he can understand a girl. If he does, then he is a big liar.

Even, Oscar Wilde said-

‘Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood’.

No offence to my female readers, I am not trying to be chauvinistic but that day my friend really bowled over my mood. A little series of messages were enough to piss me off. So, please excuse me for venting out my frustration publicly.

A twist in the afternoon

Money

After a screwed up half-day session, I wasn’t expecting things to get better. But call it a fluke or anything, all of a sudden the day turned green. At some 3 PM, I got news from my colleagues that we will be getting a hike this month. All tensed and grim I turned ecstatic and overjoyed in a second. The sudden swing of mood was sweet as sugar. I was waiting for it. I had enough being a mediocre for a while.

Like someone said-

‘A steady salary is an invitation to mediocrity’,

I will say –

‘Hikes are good; they keep you happy even on a screwed-up day’.

Apology

Well this was not all that the afternoon had to offer to me. At 4.00 PM my mobile beeped. It was my best friend again. But this time she was feeling sorry for whatever she had said in the morning. She knows how sullen I get when I fight with her. And she didn’t want to trouble me in the office. I know she cares for me even when she is upset with me. She is a sweetheart. I smiled when I read her apology. My mind was now a placid place again. She plucked out all the tension from it. I thought that I will give a call to her in the evening.

Perhaps she is the one best suited for this quote-

‘A best friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should’.

So, just like another bollywood movie, my ruined life had an happy ending at the EOD. But the last Wednesday was one of the few days where you get to experience both sides of the coin. For me, the coin of emotions flipped a little fast that day, making it an unforgettable Wednesday.

The Perception

Oh it feels so good!! My quiescent coefficient has been reset. After being dormant for about 2 weeks, I am back and active on my blog. I wasn’t on a self-induced hibernation but was at my new hometown, Jaipur. My family moved to a new house and this kept me away from my beloved blogging world. Packed computer, no broadband, well I didn’t have much options. But now I am back in Bangalore so resuscitation wouldn’t be a bad idea at all, isn’t it?

Ok but before I start I have to admit something. I have fallen in love with Sandy’s blog – ‘The Village Idiot’. Well it really sets me thinking. It’s like the more I read it, the more I get besotted to it. And this infatuation has been very well endorsed by the mountains of similar thoughts that transcend through my mind. The impact is such that his post –‘The divine question’ has now urged me to write something on the same line. I feel that ‘The concept of right or wrong’ can be elucidated with an even broader exegesis (in fact a confusing exegesis) of ‘Perception’.

Let’s take an example of the two arch rivals. If you are an Indian then I bet you know whom I am talking about. Of course, it’s gotta be India and Pakistan. In 1947, the Great Britain (as one stand-out comedian said- “The only country that puts an adjective before its name, so why not call it ‘The Fucking awesome Britain’???”) concluded its honeymoon (which was an orgy full of continuous ‘Rapes’ of India’s affluence and harmony) in the subcontinent that lasted for some 300yrs. Of course there were some unintentional rapists mixed with the Englishmen in the longest orgy in the world’s history, most of which were Indian maharajas who were later left hapless by their naivety in understanding the sly Britishers. Also, the brainy Englishmen made full use of a diversified India with their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy to exploit our resources. But when it came to let go everything, the magnanimous British administration as a goodwill gesture before leaving, gifted us (oops, to the world) Pakistan. Now unlike many people I don’t believe in hating Pakistan. Yah, I know I am being sacrilegious. But a saga of empathy drove me to this anti-belief.

Pakistan since its existence has been paranoid of being eaten up by its very own neighbour, India. This has been the base of all the problems b/w the two countries. Since the 60yrs of existence, its perception about India hasn’t changed. The cynic army of Pakistan has always viewed India as a sniper ready to take pot-shots on her ass. “India is our first and foremost enemy”, their army believes. But why?? Cause according to them, Indian majority i.e Hindus hate Muslims (the seed of hatred planted by Britishers during their rule). The few now and then communal riots in India induce reverberations across the border deepening the hatred between the two countries. Secondly, they think that like China, India also dreams of being a super power and to show its dominance in the region, it may abash Pakistan commercially or may also invade her to grow its influence. India is more threatening than China because the hate that spawned during the partition in 1947 is still very much alive in people’s heart. So, if you ask 1000 Pakistanis about their view on India, then 995 of them will admit that they take India as a threat and only 0.5% of them would be sacrilegious like me. Hence, the Pakistani army in the very interest of securing her country designed a policy for countering the illusive Indian threat. Insurgency in Kashmir and support to radicals like Maoist in the east is a part of their foreign doctrine. The aim is to disintegrate India into smaller and weak states, thereby, eliminating any threat to Pakistan’s survival. ’ Smaller and divided India is also in the benefit of China’; it’s a typical Chinese communist party’s perception. They think it’s good for their nation’s supremacy in the region.

So, my question is that if your country is paranoid about such a threat from any of your neighbours then what will you do?? After all we all are living to live. We want to survive. Well we will do exactly the same things that Pakistan does to India (believe me, I am right). Thus we should understand that Pakistan is doing the right thing in the quest of saving its sovereignty. Pakistan’s perception is right.

Now if you ask me about India’s perception about Pakistan, then I will keep it short. I don’t know why a nation so small, so trivial is busy in keeping my nation busy with all the unwanted stuff. I don’t know why it is always scared of us when we have never attacked them first. Communal rights in my country are my problem, not Pakistan’s, so why it has to always interfere. The more number of Muslims die every day in Iraq bombings and Northern African civil wars, so why is it only concerned with the few unfortunates in my country? Majority of Muslims in India are better off than from any other part of the world. Well all I think is that Pakistan is just a paranoid nation and I am right (yah believe me, I am right).

You see, it’s impossible to figure out who is absolutely right in the two points of views presented above. The reason lies in our Physics books. It’s the ‘Theory of relativity’ again. Deciding on what is right or wrong is a subjective matter, it is relative. What’s wrong for some is right for others and vice-versa. The same people for some are the ‘Mujaheedins’ (the strugglers) and ‘terrorists’ to others. Those who like metal genre can’t appreciate classical sitars for guitars and vice-versa again though both are pieces of art. Those who like Shahrukh khan cannot accept Aamir Khan as the king of bollywood and vice versa though both are excellent entertainers.

Sandy wrote that when two incompatible custom-tailored value systems collide, there are conflicts. And he is right. Well India and Pakistan themselves are such custom-tailored value systems, and unfortunately the geographies of the two make the collision between the two inevitable. We will never agree with Pakistani perception and they will never agree with us.

Sandy's conclusion that ‘Might is always Right’ is also very apt. Perceptions that have perpetuated through the generations for past 60 yrs. in the two quarrelling neighbourhoods have been continuously nurtured by their governments and armies. It’s they who have kept them prevailing. The news, the media, the government (the powerhouse of information), has kept this distrust between the two countries prevailing through their dubious propagandas. And that’s why we believe that what we think is right and what they believe is wrong. No doubt Sandy got everything correct on this topic :).

Now before I sign off, I will like to reiterate - “There is nothing called absolutely right or absolutely wrong. It’s all relativity, it’s all perception”.

And this is what I perceive and I know I am rightJ.

A little Surprise…

On a dark Friday evening

when nebulous clouds eclipsed the sun,

tired and exhausted me

waited on the roadside for a bus to come.

Desperate to reach home

where the weekend was awaited,

my eyes glittered up

at the very first sight of it.

It came within 5 mins,

my whim got stronger,

gladly I jumped into it,

thanking God for not making me

wait any longer.

But before the Volvo could actually take off,

traffic became a lot loud.

There was no accident,

it was a routine halt.

Traffic just crawled

and frustrated me with every stop.

“It’s a 10 mins affair”,

I had convinced myself.

But darn this 2 Km stretch,

BDA created the mess themselves.

As I oscillated to and fro

with every press of accelerator and brake,

I decided to divert my attention

from the galaxy of traffic ahead.

My eyes rolled down to the left,

fury arouse deep in the chest,

now I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs-

“Wat da hell!!!”,

at the sight of the lump bikers

who were riding on the pavement.

My eyes had witnessed in past,

a wriggler biker

riding on the pavement,

coming from behind, stumbling,

tumbling, failing to avoid

an accident with an ambler

on his left hand side.

Uhhh… aaahhh… ooyyyyeeee…

He crashed into him.

Ambler reacted late-

"What was that?,

for god's sake".

With his butt

in the puddle of mud

he ended up with his elbows bruised.

What was the biker thinking??

It wasn't a Tour de France

neither it was some kinda cruise!!!

That ambler was no one else but me.

“These bikers should be taught a lesson” -

this feeling had inundated in me.

As they mended the rules

in their own way,

I could still see them

making the pavement a freeway.

But when everyone was just ignoring their vice,

there awaited an unanticipated surprise.

Near the junction where sidewalk finished,

the traffic police was on a high!!

Baffled with the unforeseen encounter,

bikers found themselves busted.

The keys were in thullas’ hands,

their joyride had an ugly exit.

Staring at each other without a clue,

Hoping to find an excuse or something new,

their hands reached the pockets,

Ohh the scene was so cool!!!

With papers and money in their hands,

they struggled to convince their new dads.

For all the crooked driving they did,

they deserved this payback.

Evil smile was on my face,

satiable relief in my mind,

I just couldn’t stop lauding the police,

My words were for the dignified-

“Whatever be the reason,

Out of the louche morality

How can the bangalore police be so responsible??

Don’t know on whose behest they acted,

be it their moral or greed,

They taught a good lesson to the bikers,

rightly that's what i needed!!”

Suddenly out of the blues,

the cops gave me a reason to smirk.

But it didn't last long

as the patrol was a temporal work.

I fear it will not be the same.

The vitiation of laws will be there again.

The stupid bikers will

continue riding on the pavements,

where I shall never walk again.

This is Mein Teil...

Writing about ‘The things I love about myself’ had never been my wish, but Aditi’s Tag tales left me with this unforeseen consequence and now there is no escape. As I am a newbie, it took me sometime to absorb the significance of being ‘tagged’. And I realized that it’s nothing but like getting an OscarJ. I never knew that the blog world regards tagging with such an honour and respect. I just got famous I think :P. People want to know about me. Wow!! So, the tame celebrity in me is out with a bang!! ;). Thus, by acknowledging the honour given to me by Aditi, I hereby bring a piece of introspection that took a week to be penned.

Disclaimer: Before I start, I will like to point out that I will try my level best to evade the extinction of modesty and humility in this post ;). For better understanding, any outrageous and indigestible brag shall be regarded as a pure truth!! J

So, here are the five things I adore about myself!!

1. I love the fact that my mind is a placid place where the door is open for thoughts to come in and move out. I am not prone to a chronicle disease known as short- temper. Neither had I ever observed any turbulence in my cerebrum. Of course, so no incident of brain crash has been reported till date ;). These qualities have kept me away from any unintended incongruous acts. Also this perpetually spawns: ‘Think before acting’ policy in me. I have hardly been involved in any affrays. Now that’s not luck (I have been stressed to limits in some situations but I never gave in, nada exceptions exist). I will not mind if this leads me to a Nobel Peace prizeJ.
2. I am Agnostic. And I love being like this. I think it makes me a better human being. Most of the hatred in the world today is a direct consequence of difference in opinion about God and due to shibboleths speaking of religious leaders. I believe in one quote- “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion”. God is ‘OPTIMISM’ for me and nothing more. I prefer believing in myself and being dedicated to human beings rather than piously and irrationally devoting myself to some stoned-idols.
3. I love being real. One can imagine a lot of things but, I will love to see them being applied to the real world. My taste of movies reflects this fact. Thus, the matter-of -fact movies like ‘The hunting party’, ‘Rendition’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Page3’ and ‘The last king of Scotland’ are in my favourites' list. I can’t take on any arbitrary stuff shown on T.V. which is deprived off all the sense and sensibility just for the sake of entertainment. My realistic mindset also gifted me with pragmatic approach towards life. Also, it had a direct impact on my reading. I read about world affairs, history, facts, truth and Ok ok... enough on this, I will move to the next point; please don’t start yawningJ.
4. Apropos the points above, many of you may form an image of a serious and sophisticated ‘Ashish’. Well if you did then stop day dreamingJ. Ask those who talk to me for some 3-4 hrs daily. Ask those who love hanging out with me. Ask those who are the most indispensable assets of my life. Yah, I am talking about my friends. I love them. And the perpetual ‘single’ status of mine makes me to love them even moreJ. My energy levels experience a great transition when I am with them. It’s like if someone fed me with Licorice candies ;). The all grown up Ashish becomes an irritating and funny character with them. They have always enlightened me with the other side of me. It’s a kind of self discoveryJ. See, that’s why my friends are so vital for me ;). And what do I do to alleviate their debt?? I just dedicate myself to themJ.
5. I am ambitious and have got plans for my future. I can say that ‘I am making my life’ and I don’t want it to be the other way around. I am awed by the self believe that I have in myself and the confidence that has spawned from itJ. I think I am sitting at the niche of my career and am optimistic about the future. And if you think I am over confident about my career then don’t worry; recession is always there to bring me back down to earthJ.

Ok that’s itJ. I think I have viciously broken all the barriers of modesty today. It was arduous. I will never want to do it again even if all were 200% trueJ. Well now is the time to challenge some of my mind boggling bloggers. So, I tag the following:

1) Supratim: There is a reason why girls are so besotted with you; kindly enlighten us in this regard ;).

2) Shokeen: Shokeendi it’s your turn now. Deekha de duniya ko ki tu kya cheez hai :P.

3) Aravinda : Drunken Haze, I am waiting for your reincarnation after the hangoverJ !!

I hope you guys will write soon. I will be waiting. And yah, thank you Aditi for tagging, I need your comments on this. Adios!!!

An Agnostic says...

Last month world witnessed the horror of two air plane crashes that no one expected would come in such a small period of time. They have been catastrophic for Air France and for the families of some 450 people who witnessed their loved ones haplessly disappearing in the blue waters from where there was no return. Air France flight 447 and Comros Airbus310 both were ill fated with bad weather conditions and both went down in the oceans leaving no escape for the passengers. But as no single victim from Air France flight was lucky to survive, a 13 yr. old teen from Comros flight miraculously survived the ordeal and she remains the only known survivor to be rescued from the second crash of the month.

Miracle it was. Yeah that’s what everyone thinks. And so was the heading on one of the article on http://www.timesonline.co.uk - ‘Miracle survivor of Comoros Airbus crash tells of rescue from Indian Ocean wreckage’. The most intriguing things about this article were not in the content but in the comments section below. Here is an account of what i read in that section.

The comments started with a lady thanking God outrageously for saving the girl’s life. She was then followed by a bunch of theists who were thinking in the same line and thanking God. I had a wide smile on my face reading their thanksgiving speeches.

The chain of thanksgiving got broke when a comment from Roy said – ‘If God did it, why didn't he save the other 153 on the plane? It's got nothing to do with God at all’. Hmm pretty logical, I thought. Surely this guy is an atheist, I realized. But what I think didn’t matter at all because after this the comment section on the miraculous teen’s story became a battlefield for the theists and the atheists. The Jesus’ and Allah-uh-Akbar’s posts were now followed by aesthetics of hate. ‘I don't understand how people bleat on about God saving this one young girl when 152 others souls were condemned to an early death!!! ‘- said an atheist. Then a theist replied –‘ GOD: was, is & will forever be. 1000 yr's in human time is but a spec of a moment to GOD. How can mere mortals even comprehend this being, except to read his holy word and praise him? It could've been much worse. Yet he saved this girl’. Hmm impressive?? Well then what about this comment by an atheist scientist–‘How exactly is her survival beyond the realms of science? Even if the chances of surviving such a crash are one in a million then we would expect one person to survive for every 1 million who die. Nothing miraculous about it, just the way probability works. Well within the realms of science.’ ??Now when you get to see such a sexy rationalism then how you are not supposed to fall in love with Science? Isn’t everyone just amazing in defending his/her views? No doubt every human in that comment section was a genius in putting his/her subliminal theories.

But in between this utter cynicism, don’t you think all of them forgot one thing?? You may be or may not be thankful to God but why did you forget to thank the rescue team who actually saved the girl’s life? Aren’t they the heroes? They put their lives in danger to pull others out of danger. Those who question God’s existence or absence can’t question on the existence or absence of such heroes. So why are we all so indifferent to them? What if the rescue team would have arrived late or if the rescuer had not spotted the girl or he would have just ignored her for not risking his life into danger? Rescuers are the ones who come out of all the odds not for themselves but for the others. Even if the courage to survive was given by God to that girl or even if he was responsible for sending the rescuers in time, what is the harm in thanking and showing your sincere gratitude to them? God’s role is a never ending debate but the fact is that if the rescuers wouldn’t have arrived in time, it would have been a repetition of Air France 447’s story.

But when will man understand this? When will he understand that nothing can be proved about God but everything can be proved about a human? Why can’t we live in reality and stop worrying about someone whom we have never seen. We fight for him, we hate for him and we are blind for him. The blindfold of ignorance about God has deprived us from being loved by each other. And the irony is that people’s God had always wanted us to love each other. So, I am happy in keeping an agnostic point of view. It doesn't let me hate humans who are different. And if you have any doubts then believe this that at least it doesn’t let me ignore the role of rescuers and girl herself who were audacious enough to fight against death. Salute to the dauntless rescuers and the courageous girl who defied death together.

The Curious Case of Our Nation!!

I don’t have to go across the globe to write about a curious case. I just need to look into my nation.

The population of Indians in Britain makes British feel so out of place. The prejudice we showed to our neighbors made them remember ‘India’ as a synonym for ‘hate’.

Such has been our unity in the past that we were ruled by almost every might in this world. Such is the case with terrorism in our country that hardly anything has been done.

Such is the craze for Cricket that players are treated as kings as well as waste. The condition of other sports makes them so out of taste.

Such are the IT engineers here that most of them don't even know C. And still India is the number 1 preference for all the IT companies.

Uproar when a Muslim girl is on Tennis Court is what we get to see. The same faces grin when a Muslim actress wears two piece bikini in a movie.

Such are the filmfare awards here that the best of the actors actually boycott them!! Such is the adulation for some that people actually worship them.

Such is the literate society here who spends tons of money donating to the ignorant priests. The plight of a needy is that he can never rest in peace.

Such are the people here who despite of knowing the truth, elect the culprits of ‘Gujrat riots’. Still they don’t agree that they are religiously biased.

The world thinks that India is changing and so do we, but what remains the same are the slums in Mumbai.

India’s 8% annual growth is just an irony. Power cuts in major cities are the sights to see.

Culture, cast , religion are said to be the things that every Indian boasts about. But the tiny box thinking of our's has left us with hate and nothing to be proud of.

Even a nursery going kid in Australia now knows who Indians are. We call them racist, forgetting who we actually are.

The only hope left now is our new generation. But our ignorance still keeps me in suspicion.

I know many may argue that this is not what India is all about, may be yah, but can’t you see the ‘Dance of hypocrisy in the world’s largest democracy’?? That’s what I wanted to bring out.