Is He dead?

doing a lil bit of analysis to find the functional tendencies of the Almighty, if He were like a new age organisation, he should be having some sort of a customer feedback mechanism..either He hasnt got one, or it isnt functioning properly.... higher grounds of moral/spiritual thoughts aside, a large majority of people wouldnt be happy with what god gave them on their plate, and they cant be blamed....and who in hell (no pun intended) is the signing auhority these days on our fate, individual and combined..... who decides that most people, when they grow old, have to become vulnerable to the vagaries of their offspring or fate, or both?.... who decides that some new born infants have to be deprived of parentship?... who decides that people who love may not be loved?....who decides who is born rich and who is is born poor?.....who decides luck?....who decides that tears are necessary in life?....who decides that natural calamities have to take away what people slaved for and saved?....who decides the right time to die?.... who decides to make psychopaths and autistic people?.....who decides who should be a cat, dog, monkey etc. ?... who decides that people be born blind/deaf/dumb and not experience things people around them can (there could be an argument that they are lucky).....who decides that life isnt fair?...who decides that man shouldnt know the purpose of his life?.....if i were part of a rebirth cycle, isnt it only fair that i know my account balance during each birth... if there was no rebirth, then why arent i given the place of someone i wish i were??...personally, on the whole, i am happy with the way my life is shaping up, but what about the less fortunate ones?since there is hardly any trace of fairness left in this world, i have to conclude that He is dead..... but manuscrypts trivia isnt

check this out, its an interesting read, even if you arent part of the corporate scheme of things.

Ctrl+D

readers complaining about the overdose of 'taken' in my recent posts will have to suffer just this once more.... just watched the last episode yesterday, with a certain feeling of ambivalence, because i wanted to see where it all led to, but didnt want the series to end.. cant blame me, it was good, and it has set a new benchmark for sci fi films to aspire to... i was looking for some stuff related to the series, and i found comments that were at both extremes, and that there were also lots of folks who felt the same as i did about the series....the good thing about it was, it didnt flood the screen with visual effects, nor did it try to make conclusions, it left you to think, and gave you some very good things to think about..... like the first of the matrix trilogy.. i have actually begun to think that all life could be part of some giant experiment, that we are all Ctrl D....lemme share some good lines from yesterday's episode

"Hope is the biggest lie, but its the best we have got, its what keeps us going...."

"life, all life, is about asking questions, knowing that you might not get the answers...it is the desire to know what lies on top of the next hill, that keeps us going... so keep questioning, even though you know you may never get the answers...."

and here's

manuscrypts trivia

the lyrics of the song that the last episode ended with, dont know if it will touch anyone the same way, but still, its a beautiful song, as many 'taken' guys would agree...its my Emmylou Harris and is called

Just before it gets dark

Just before it gets dark

When the lights still hangs in the sky

The days not quite gone

All its promises still in your eyes

Between the time your mother calls

And the time you put the ball away

There's a lifetime to be lived

And a world where every dream is here to stay

Just before the night comes

And you run back to the safety of your world

Just before it gets dark

You can believe in every story ever told

In those last precious moments

There's a beauty no one wants to give away

Well, nothing lasts forever

But those moments keep forever far away

Just before it gets dark

Before you grow

Before you're too old to pretend

Just before it gets dark

And you know your dreams will not come back again

Hold on

Hold on tight

And I promise you baby it will all be alright

I promise you baby it will all be alright

Bliss

nope, i havent attained it yet, but i think there could be a way to it.....i dont know about the rest of humanity, so i have to speak subjectively.....i dont feel truly happy when i hear about the good fortunes of others, not that i am entirely 'j' about it, but theres always the feeling of 'why couldnt it happen to me'... the converse of it being, when something bad happens to someone, with the major feeling of sympathy/grief etc, theres always the minor feeling of 'thank god it didnt happen to me'.... this is not restricted to professional or competitional matters, but manifests itself even in personal situations....in my case, the only people who dont come under this cloud is my immediate family..........thankfully, maybe because of my own feelings, i am also not very expectant when it comes to receiving congrats or condolences, because i am always on the lookout for that 'down' look or smirk...hehe...but maybe, if we could all truly feel happy or sad for others, then we would be able to find relatively more bliss in this material world...meanwhile, think about this leaving you with

manuscrypts trivia

apologise to the non hindi speaking crowd, but this was too good not to post "log to jeete hain ummeed pe,par hamein to jeene ki bhi ummeed nahi"

Revolting Revolutions

this might just work out to become a crib post (thats not to be associated with the mental level of the lil folk in cribs, although some people, especially my wife, has that complaint about me, hehe). i happened to see the final edition of the matrix trilogy (yeah, i have been sorta living in a cave), even after reviews of die hard fans advocating against it...but hey, this is the matrix we are talking about, so it cant be that bad....and if you take the movie by itself, it wasnt, in fact, it was good, but unfortunately it has the matrix to live up to, which isnt exactly easy...in my view, thats what they tried to do, maybe they didnt really have fun doing it, and it showed... too many things added in just for having it...the titles shown with an 'asatoma satgamaya' chant to highlight the mysticism/philosophy, talks of karma....but i did love some lines, notably agent smith's " where others see chance, i see cost, where others see coincidence, i see consequence"...but morpheus and trinity have been truly wasted...and so many cliches, the boy wanting to live up to expectations and doing a heroic thing, a sunrise in the end....and dialogues that were made heavy just for the sake of it....bottom line, once upon a time in wwe, Triple H said "you wanted a revolution , you got it!!", well, the same cant be said of the matrix....i guess its true what they say "everything that has a beginning has an end"...but, whatever said and done, The trilogy is unique, i doubt whether anything before or after has or will be successful in provoking so much thought....but what does provoke thought comes from the 'idiot box' in the form of 'taken'.....just two more episodes to go :-( , hear another good piece of dialogue.." when things around you dont make sense, you try to hold on to things that make sense, so you can understand the things happening around you... you try to understand the reasons behind it, but , what if you find the reasons, and those reasons are not yours??"... those of you who wanna check the series out, try this link ... so long, till the next post....

Snapshots

i read an article on Business World (yes, i do read that occassionally :-) ) about how maruti is contemplating phasing out the ol' 800, and replacing it with alto (as the entry level car)....yes, the 800 has been around for sometime now, but i was wondering, if i bought one now, and managed to keep it for a couple of decades, my kids would actually get to say, "my pop drives around in that old 800"..in fact they would actually treat it like a relic, like say, i look at the old "morris"....... some years ago, i used to say , " my dad drives the old ambi".....but the ambi was THE car for so many decades....funny thing being that, as the lifespan of humans increase, that of their cars seem to be on the decline...so we will be changing cars faster and faster and faster (assuming we get richer and richer and richer..hehe)........there was a time when the car was a lifetime purchase, but like everything else, its life is also becoming shorter...shorter and shorter till even a momentous thing like buying a car would become as momentary as a lil snapshot, and changes happen so fast that life becomes a series of snapshots that might or might not be linked....just as it is now.....maybe thats why they say "the more things change, the more they stay the same".......saw the 7th episode of taken yesterday, my conclusion Steven spielberg is an alien in disguise, why else is he trying to drill so many concepts of aliens into us?? hehe, but i like it anyway...............

manuscrypts trivia

Aoccdrnigto a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Taken

blogging after more than a month...... the blame to be put squarely on the rigmarole of having to earn a living, one of the sad side effects of existence...hehe...a lil corner of the square can also be taken by lack of sufficient material to write on.... life is again to be blamed coz i havent been given adequate writing skills... no, no, no i am not complaining, but i have to find a fall guy, dont i??

so, what have i been doing, ...i have finished reading "the namesake", its a well written book, i like her narration style immensely, it somehow makes you more involved, so your reading is no more objective, that, i think, requires some talent... it almost tempted me to buy some books by russian authors, but i burnt my fingers a long time ago, so i am hesitant, hehe.....i have a feeling that i am biased abt the book, because the book echoes my apprehensions of life in the US for Indians, the characters and events could be rules or exceptions, but whichever way, it could happen to anyone settling there......a sense of 'unbelonging'...midway between two worlds...

i have started reading another book, "the death of mr.love"..yes, it sounds like a corny thriller, but as the saying goes, "dont judge a book by its cover (which includes its title)"....

but what i enjoy most these days are 9 pms on sunday nights, on star movies, coz thats when i am "taken" .. and i have been completely taken by the mini series, 6 episodes over and 4 to go, would have liked to tape the entire thing, but lack resources...its not just sci fi, that wd have made it a normal series, but theres a whole philosophical approach to the whole thing, especially the lil voice that does the narration....just to quote a few examples ...someone once asked my dad what he did for a living, he said, 'i cut the grass and watch it grow, then i cut it again and watch it grow again.. like life, 90% of the job is maintenance' when things are on track, we like to say theres a reason behind things happening, but when things dont go our way, we ask ourselves, whose reasons , and for what??they showed the narrator for the first time last sunday, a cute lil girl, a product of a "taken" guy and a genetically 1/4th alien woman... wonder whats the % of reality is, in the content of the show.. but more than anything else, it shows the significance and insignificance of human existence.....and subtly portrays the message that i hold so dear " there are so many things we take for granted in life, including life itself"and for

manuscrypts triviaa fwd i got...

MEMO FROM GOD To: YOU Date: TODAY From: THE BOSS Subject: YOURSELF Reference: LIFE I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help. If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now. If you find yourself stuck in traffic; Don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege. Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return. Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children. Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk. Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine. Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity. Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them! Think, and understand, that in the card game of life, it is not important what you are dealt with, what is important is how you deal with it.

Dharmic interpretations

i have become such an inconsistent blogger, right? heavy workload these days, and when i do get some spare time, all i wanna do is sleep.i have been reading 'the great indian novel' , again!! have also bought "the namesake" by jhumpa lahiri, will be starting it today.. one good thing after marriage, i have started investing in my hobbies - reading and music hehe, sweet wifey allows the indulgence....

btw, since yahoo groups in india are under a storm cloud, dont u think that communicating through blogs goes on to a new dimension??in TGIN, shashi tharoor, the author says that a man's dharma has to evolve according to the age he is living in, thats perhaps the only concept in the book i would disagree on..my point being that, if it were that flexible, then the entire concept would go for a toss, because my versions of truth and dharma would be conveniently changed by me, whenever i required... whenever i thought a bit of cheating would get me what i wanted, i would do so.... so cricket teams could cheat, students could cheat in xams, life would be a treat, if you knew how to do it without getting caught....unfortunately thats what is being done now, and why the world isnt so good a place it used to be.....

manuscrypts trivia

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have; the older she gets the more interested he is in her.

The Divine brief

This is the problem when you break a routine, it is difficult to get back into it........once upon a short time ago, i used to make the blog a part of my everyday routine, but i took a break, and now i cant get back to it.....its a different issue altogether whether the constraint is ability or desire........

saw two movies this weekend, "the league of extraordinary gentlemen" and "calcutta mail"....the former was very good, though the movie was a lil bit too centred around sean connery, i dont know if i am having an indian bias when i say that naseeruddin shah was a bit sidelined, but considering that almost all the transportation of the league was taken care of by him ( there was this scene when he shows (i think) sawyer, a car, and says "i call this an automobile", and sawyer asks, 'yeah, but what is it?"..) i think part of the movie's charm was its 1899 setting......"calcutta mail" was also good...it had shades of sudhir misra's earlier movie "is raat ki subah nahi", but still i think the kolkata visuals and a good performance from anil kapoor made up for it...

i read somewhere that "kal ho na ho" is a remake of 'anand', the hrishikesh mukherjee movie with rajesh khanna and amitabh bachan, whatever i heard of the title track is good, cds release this 27th, i think i will buy it...also want to check out 'tehzeeb', since the music is by rehman...

now , if you wondering what the title was all about, for any project undertaken, theres a brief given, so before earth getting created God must have got a brief....if we could get that brief, a lot of 'why' questions about this world would be answered.....for copyrights purposes, although i had this idea some time ago, the immediate inspiration to mention it came from a site i mentioned in my last blog...............reminds me of the song by joan osborne "what if god were one of us?..........."okay, thats enuff for the day, here's

manuscrypts trivia

a good forward i got....There’s a bunch of doctors gathered together at a doctor’s convention one night. A male doctor notices a female doctor from across the room. The female doctor notices also and the next thing you know, they’re sitting next to each other by the end of dinner.After dinner, the male asks the woman if she wants to go up to his hotel room. ’’Sure,’’ the woman says. ’’Let me go wash my hands first.’’After she washes her hands, they make love. After they are finished, she washes her hands again.This is really starting to annoy the male doctor so he says, ’’You know, you must be a surgeon, because you keep washing your hands.’’Angry at this remark, the woman says, ’’Well, you must be an anesthesiologist, because I didn’t feel a thing!’’

Mind your language

we are constantly thinking, arent we, i mean we like to think that we do.......did we think when we were babies? or rather, do babies think? ...i would like to get some info on that, to answer the question 'do we need to know a language to think?"..when we think now, it is most probably in our mother tongue...mind you, i am talking of 'thinking' and not memories, dreams and other assorted metaphysical feelings.....a couple of sites you should check out, one is a desi one, check it out here.....theres another nice concept i got from this site, will write about it tomorrow...the other site you should check out is definitely cool, especially in this age of multimedia games, joysticks and hi funda graphics....check it out here, and now for manuscrypts trivia

"One of the tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today"...Unknown

Like the legendary phoenix

pooh, as if, right? but i have to say something when i am making a return into normal blogging life......now what has been happening, no, dont yawn yet, you know i dont write long stories.. had been gone on an outdoor trip as part of a training program in my company, then went home, as in what in desi language we call 'native place'....and like every story has some villanous shades too, when i came back from all this, there was a pile of work waiting for me.........

though i had never made a proactive decision, when i did get a chance to be completely offline, i took it, just to make sure that i wasnt on an addiction.. hehe

so this one is just to stave off those obituary notes, not that i think anyone would have written them.... global thoughts, personal idiosyncrasies, mundane observations, trivia..all from tomorrow.....ah, its good to be back.. :-)

Beings in Parallel planes

Watch a line of ants in your room..............they use only one sense to move around (from what we see), the moment we draw a line across their line, there is major confusion , and some time later, everything is back to normal......ants stay in and around the same house, that is their universe....now draw a parallel with us, humans, we have some sense organs which we use to find our way around, (i am not talking physical here)......we have disruptions too, which cause major confusion...we stay in and around the same planet ( some lucky dudes get to go to the moon)....to most of us, this is the universe..... we are gigantic beings when compared to ants....do you think there is someone watching?? :-).... like i read somewhere.." just because we cannot see the pattern does not mean the pattern does not exist".............

manuscrypts trivia

just a fwd i got.............

A man is taking a walk in Central park in New York. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a pit bull. He runs over and startsfighting with the dog. He succeeds in killing the dog and saving the girl's life. A policeman who was watching the scene walks over and says:"You are a hero, tomorrow you can read it in all the newspapers: "Brave New Yorker saves the life of little girl" The man says: - "But I am not a New Yorker!""Oh then it will say in newspapers in the morning: 'Brave American saves life of little girl'" - the policeman answers. "But I am not an American!" - says the man. "Oh, what are you then?" The man says:- "I am a Pakistani!" The next day the newspapers says: "Islamic extremist kills American dog. Connections to terrorist networks are being explored"

Sitting Ducks

i am experiencing what might be termed as blog fatigue, basically i think i am trying to couch my laziness in a mouthful of jargon...hehe...read a couple of blogs that have commented on the blasts in mumbai.....i honestly dont understand why we are so passive about it, as a country, life goes on as normal, remember 9/11, sure you do, its a global phenomenon, we have had worse death counts, but never marketed so well..btw, the US calls it collateral when the deaths arent US citizens....they created a war based on it, and none of the world had any balls to do anything about it...

everyone and anyone can safely guess that there is a pak hand in what happened in Mumbai, now and before...for once why cant we be like an israel or the US, blast the guys and then have 'bilateral talks'.....i used to trust RAW once, not now......now , we are all sitting ducks hoping and praying that we are not in the next lot of casualties, there is another prayer along with it, that it rains fire in karachi, lahore, islamabad............

We forget

i have been reading 'where the rain is born'...its a collection , i found a lil part in a particular piece that i found very thought provoking...will give you the gist...long before man started ruling the earth, long before the giant lizards, two spores set out on an incredible journey, after some time they came to a lush green valley, the younger spore said 'lets journey on further, and see more wonders', the elder one said 'i'm too tired, i will stay here, you carry on, but promise me you will never forget me'..the younger one said, 'forget you, impossible'...the elder one replied, 'this is the loveless journey of karma, you will...'.....and so the younger one journeyed on...eons and eons later, in the lush green valley, the elder spore had spread its roots deep into the earth, and had flowered..... a lil girl, all dressed up and looking pretty came to pluck some flowers ...... the man who came with her, pulled a twig down so that she could pluck the flowers...as she was plucking the flower, the elder spore cried, 'ah, little sister, you have forgotten me'....

What dreams may come

i have a hypothesis, is it possible that god has given a quota of dreams per person, maybe as small as one dream, that can come true..this is not about the dreams you have at night, this is more the aspirational kind of dreams...... that after you have achieved that one goal, god believes you have done the work you came down here for, and now your life will be a monotony of unachieved dreams, and the rest of your existence will be spent following them.....sort of like the donkey and the carrot.......or maybe He takes the passion/drive that is required to pursue a dream and bring it to its culmination....I was also wondering about the male of the species' attraction to the T&A of the opposite gender..... another hypothesis now, could it be because it is always covered....imagine a scenario where lets say the ears were always covered and the above mentioned accessories always left open.....would the attraction be now directed towards the ears???

goodbye, and heres manuscrypts trivia

a lil paki bashing, because i am peeved that the indian government is sponsoring the surgery of three paki kids.... as far as pakistan is concerned, i have no humanity left in me...An Indian is having breakfast one morning (coffee, bread, butter and jam) when a Pakistani, chewing gum, sits down next to him. The Indian ignores the Pakistani who, nevertheless, starts a conversation. Pakistani man: "You Indian folk eat the whole bread??"Indian (in a bad mood): "Of course."Pakistani: (after blowing a huge bubble) "We don't. In Pakistan, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, transform them into bread and sell them to India ." The Pakistani has a smirk on his face. The Indian listens in silence. The Pakistani persists: "Do you eat jelly with the bread??" Indian: "Of Course."Pakistani: (cracking his gum between his teeth and chuckling). "We don't. In Pakistan we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds, and leftovers in containers, recycle them, transform them into jam and sell the jam to the India."The Indian then asks: "Do you have sex in Pakistan?"Pakistani: "Why of course we do", he says with a big smirk. Indian: "And what do you do with the condoms once you've used them?"Pakistani: "We throw them away, of course."Indian: "We don't. In India, we put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum and sell them to Pakistan."

Metro Spiritualism

this is gonna be a lil blog, coz i plan to leave early... the title is on an article i read about... a new concept i think.... i think at the bottom line, it would be about living a clean life, and feeling good about oneself....read about it in indiatimes...i am too lazy to write anything more today...will leave you with

manuscrypts trivia

a good fwd i got

The Old Dilapidated Boat

Joe and John were identical twins. Joe owned an old dilapidated boat and kept pretty much to himself. One day he rented out hisboat to a group of out-of-staters who ended up sinking it. He spent all day trying to salvage as much stuff as he could fromthe sunken vessel and was out of touch all that day and most of the evening. Unbeknownst to him, his brother John's wife had died suddenly in his absence.When he got back on shore he went into town to pick up a few things at the grocery. A kind old woman there mistook him forJohn and said, "I'm so sorry for your loss. You must feel terrible."Joe, thinking she was talking about his boat said, "Hell no!Fact is I'm sort of glad to be rid of her. She was a rotten old thing from the beginning. Her bottom was all shriveled up and she smelled like old dead fish. She was always holding water. She had a bad crack in the back and a pretty big hole in the front too.Every time I used her, her hole got bigger and she leaked like crazy.""I guess what finally finished her off was when I rented her to those four guys looking for a good time. I warned them that shewasn't very good and that she smelled bad. But they wanted her anyway. The damn fools tried to get in her all at one time andshe split right up the middle."The old woman fainted.

Crime and Punishment

nope, nothing to do with the book......just another curious idea that entered my head.....when we do regard animals and plants as living beings, and even thinking beings, how come people who kill them go scot free, yes, there is a hype when the odd salman shoots a buck, but otherwise , what about the chickens, cows, lambs, fishes, crabs, shrimps etc... no, i am not being ultra moral, i was just wondering about the double standards of us humans, we cry murder, (no pun intended) when there is a human killing involved, but we choose to close our eyes to the co inhabitants of our planet.....

i am non veggie , so i can only be so objective ... but even in case of veggies, plants are living too....now if we do state an argument that it is darwin's rule being practically applied here, we have to apply the same thing to happenings within the human species too, shouldnt we, just to be fair??

oh man, it helps to have an ad in the front page, hehe, my counter isnt moving...... :-), unlike our award winners, i am not going to claim that the count does not matter and i get satisfaction from my work, hehe...so thats it for the day, with the only thing left being

manuscrypts trivia

a fwd i got...An elderly couple are sitting around one evening and the man says to the wife, "Marsha, we are about to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary.We've had a wonderful life together, full of contentment and blessings.But there's something I've always wondered about.Tell me the truth.Have you ever been unfaithful to me?"She hesitates a moment, then says, "Yes, 3 times,Sidney.""Three times? How could that happen?" Sidney asks.The wife begins recalling slowly, "Well, do you remember right after we were married and we were so broke, and the bank wasgoing to foreclose on our little house?""Yes, dear, that was really a terrible time" replies the man.Marsha continued, "And remember when I went to see the banker one night and the next day the bank extended our loan?""That's hard to take" the man says, "but I guess it really was for us,so I can forgive you.""What was the second time?""Well," she continued, "do you remember years later when you almost died from the heart problem because we couldn't afford theoperation?""Yes, of course" the man replies."Then you will remember that right after I went to see the doctor, he did your operation at no cost?" she explained."That's true" Sidney nodded. "That shocks me, Marsha, but I do understand that you did it out of love for me, and I forgive you.So, what was the third time?"Marsha lowers her head and says, "Sidney, do you remember when you ran for Country Club President and you needed 62 morevotes?"Sidney fainted......

The age of innocence

and the dream is finally over....yesterday i told my wife that this week i would be taken off from the main page, have almost understood the rediff cycle, will try a prediction on my second coming, soon.. :-)

since i had a 3 day weekend, lots of time for contemplation... was wondering, kids grow up very fast these days, thats only a noticed phenomenon, no practical experience.... but the things they think about and talk about, if i do a comparison to my generation's mindshare items, i guess i would be in for a massive complex.. they do grow up faster, dont they?? and so, the age of innocence is becoming smaller...at some point of time, mentally and emotionally, we wouldnt be able to differentiate between kids and adults...another thought crossed my mind, the numerical difference between ages 20 & 40 and 70 & 90, are same, but the practicalities are so different??

cola bashers, one for you, india has reasons for attacking Us and most of the world, coz they have WMD.... colas!!! ;-)

i read an article today in ToI, it seems arun nayar, would-be hubby of Liz Hurley (ooooomph!!), had poured hydrochloric acid in a public pool, no damages coz some pool attendants saw it, now the press is gonna skeleton hunting in cupboards...must be the result of the prayers of a few million heartbroken males, and i guess some females too ;-)

check out this feature that appeared on rediff....manu's team ManU has just registered its first win in the league... did u know that it beat arsenal in a pre-season friendly... red devils, thats the way to march...have finished roald dahl, the guy becomes good, in an eerie way, in his later stories, so if you are buying the book, (the best of roald dahl) start from the end....theres an especially good story on adolf hitler, have to hand it to dahl, he has a way about macabreness and eeriness..hehe

have started on "where the rain is born", edited by anita nair (link on my medialist), its a compilation, stories, articles, poems about kerala.... so far, good.....i read a review on some book in ToI, the person who wrote the review (shit, i cant get her name, would love to do some mudslinging with the name ;-) ) writes that the particular book, though it is from an indian author, is not about kerala nostalgia, and stories swirling in mango curry...... hello, its not our fault if we happen to be a very literate state, and kinda expressive, and who manage to attract tourists consistently, and keep them happy, so that they write about it!! (ok, anger vented)now for some

manuscrypts trivia

all those who frequent elevators, this one's for you

oh copyrights-wise, its a forward :-)

Things to do in a Lift

When there's only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.

Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock.

Smile, and go back for more.

Ask if you can push the buttons for other people, but push the wrong ones

Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor you're on.

Drop a pen and wait until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"

Hold the doors open and say you're waiting for your friend.

After awhile, let the doors close and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.

Move your desk in to the elevator and whenever someone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.

Lay down a Twister mat and ask people if they'd like to play.

Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on ask them if they hear something ticking.

Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exit with the passengers.

Ask, "Did you feel that?

"Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally. When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay. Don't panic, they open up again."

Swat at flies that don't exist.

Tell people that you can see their aura

Call out, "Group hug!" then enforce it.

Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"

Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"

Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "You're one of THEM!" and back away slowly.

Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.

Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope

Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.

Grinning, stare at another passenger for a while, and then announce, "I have new socks on."

Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is my personal space."

Independence, but..

tomorrow we start off our version of the independence day weekend, but a question still bothers me, how come we are celebrating independence day?? we were never dependent on our british conquerors at any point of time, in fact they were dependent on us for the smooth running of their economy, whether it be for cheap labour, market for the products of their industrial revolution or even as vacation spots for the sahibs...... so shouldnt we be actually calling it freedom day??

and in any case, i believe it should only be called freedom day version 1, v1 because we still havent become free of the ultra dumb bueraucracy or the ultra corrupt political system, and we are still not free from illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, only when we become totally free as a country can we ever claim to have the complete version , and yes, at athat point of time, we will still have other issues, which we cant imagine today...i was just thinking, i dont have the sufficient literary skills to write a book or even a short story....but why cant i write a bloggers anthology, history will remember us as the first generation of bloggers, and we should be doing something to chronicle it, what say????

in case u r wondering, how the blog's posted early today, boss is on vacation and as the saying goes, "when the cat's out, the mice will play"... :-)am leaving you with

manuscrypts trivia

another fwd i got...We r living in 2003 where .....

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail your mate who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they do not have e-mail addresses.

6. When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.

7. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally insert a "0" to get an outside line.

8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.

10. Your CV is on a disk in your pocket.

11. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.

12. Your biggest loss from a system crash was when you lost all of your best jokes.

13. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.

14. Contract workers outnumber permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards.

15. Board members salaries are higher than all the Third World countries annual budgets combined.

16. Interviewees, despite not having the relevant knowledge or experience,terminate the interview when told of the starting salary.

17. Free food left over from meetings is your staple diet.

18. Your boss gets a brand-new state-of-the-art laptop with all the latest features, but you have time to go for lunch while yours boots up.

19. Being sick is defined as you can't walk or you're in hospital.

20. There's no money in the budget for the five permanent staff your department desperately needs, but they can afford four full-time management consultants advising your boss's boss on strategy.

21. Your relatives and family describe your job as "works with computers".

AND THE CLINCHERS ARE.

22. You read this entire list, and kept nodding and smiling.

23. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to your "friends".

24. You got this email from a friend that never talks to you often anymore(with exceptions),except to send you jokes from the net.

25. AND YOU ARE TOO BUSY TO NOTICE THAT THERE WAS NO NUMBER 9!

Ancestral Traits

thats because, in my blog habits, i am exhibiting some ancestral traits, i visited gandalf's blog in the morning, got a link to a toon site and a copyrights site from there, so have added them, visit gandalf's site, good piece of work.....also read wonderbug's post (thats staple diet), today's is especially good..so go have a look at that... essentially, i have been scavenging, and thats what some of my ancestors did, yours too, :-)

will write my bit on the same premise that w-bug's post was, it basically says that after a certain age, you no longer feel you are 'with it'.... i have experienced that feeling too, many times, i can recall one particular instance a couple of years back, i met this girl who was in kindergarten the last time i saw her, and a couple of years back she had just completed her class 10 exams, i realised that time was indeed flying, and the kind of things that were important to her and on which she spent 'thinking time' on, were not at all what i had in my set, when i was her age.....but , do i want to f9 my life, i guess not....my perceptions have changed, as each day passes, i become more defined as a person, i understand myself more and more, and i can relate better to myself......so i will agree with w-bug on that, at 25, i am happy, the way i am....now, for

manuscrypts trivia

a fwd i got...Three HDFC employees and three ICICI employees are traveling by train to a conference. At the station, the three ICICI employees each buy tickets and watch as the three HDFC employees buy only one ticket. "How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?" asks a ICICI employee. "Watch and youll see", answers an HDFC employee. They all board the train. The ICICI employees take their respective seats but all three HDFC employees cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, "ticket please". The door opens just a little and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on. The ICICI employees saw this and agreed it was a clever idea. After the conference, the ICICI employees decide to copy the HDFC employees (.....as they know how.......) on the return trip and save some money (being clever with money and all). When they get to the station,they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the HDFC employees dont buy a ticket. "How are you going to travel without a ticket?" asks a ICICI employee. "Watch and youll see," answers the HDFC employee. When they board, the three ICICI employees cram into a restroom and the three HDFC employees cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the HDFC employee leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the ICICI employees are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, "Ticket, please..." The door opens just a little and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand the HDFC employee grabs the ticket and runs to his restroom. MORALE OF THE STORY: DONT IMITATE---INNOVATE!!

One step at a time, still

have been wondering about the roller coaster ride called life, much like wonderbug, in her post.......yesterday was another 'gaze at the stars' night, so there was lucky ali playing in the background, a pepsi in hand and star gazing, although, being a cloudy night, there were hardly any stars, but the sky served the purpose....

i am generally cautious by nature, but what i was wondering was that there were so many defining moments in my life so far, where one moment's thought or decision has effectively set my life on a particular track.....now when i think of it, there are a 101 ( in management lingo) opportunity costs.....

for example what if i had decided that i would focus on only bio and no maths during my +2, i might have lost a year, i might have been still studying medicine or i might have become a good doctor by now......what if i decided i didnt want to go for a pg, i might have been a programmer...and so, with each action/inaction i have changed all things associated with it, and thereby created or destroyed so many manu's, and i guess, so also altered the people in my life......according to one space/time theory, they are all existing in parallel universes, leading parallel lives..... my guess, they must all be blogging.... :-)

all ye budding storywriters, ram gopal varma is on the lookout, so if you wanna get famous post, read this article

have got a humour board , thanks to wonderbug.....all u bloggers, its free and quite good.....thanks for tuning in, will leave you with

manuscrypts trivia

fwdd by a guy working in tcs

One day, three consultants, one from Wipro, one from Infosys and one from TCS, went out for a walk. They were old buddies from engg college, and they were together for a college reunion..For no apparent reason, they went into this zoo and passed a monkey. Being in the same business and from the same college, there was a little bit of a peer competition going on between themselves - they couldn't resist testing themselves against each other - especially the Infosys guy. Said he to the others:"Why don't we prove who is the best among ourselves?". Why not, said the other two.The Infoscion said "Let's have a test. Whoever makes this monkey laugh, works for the best firm".By mutual agreement, the Infoscion took the first turn. Being a pure logical strategist, the Infoscion tried to make the monkey laugh by telling jokes. The monkey stayed still. As a more practical consultant, the Wipro guy tried to make funny gestures... no good, the monkey stayed put... Now, comes the TCSer... being the practical guy he was always trained to be, he whispered something into the monkey's ear, and it burst out laughing at him.The other two were astonished. How did this TCS guy manage to beat them?No way they were going to accept defeat so easily.So the Wipro guy said "OK, let's take another test. Let's make this monkey cry !!"So there they went again, applying the same methods as before. The Infosys guy narrated sad stories, the Wipro guy made sad gestures, and they failed again...Then, the TCSer again whispered something into the monkey's ear and lo! It started crying, patting the TCSer's shoulder!The other two just could not believe their eyes!So the Infoscion said "OK, you've won twice. If you can win just this one, we will bow to you. Let's make this monkey run". And he barked at the monkey and ordered him to run. Of course, it stayed where it was. The Wipro guy, true to his type, pushed and prodded the monkey - still No go. So...here comes our TCS guy, again, and whispers into the monkey's ear. The monkey just takes off! It runs and runs as fast as it can, as if it was scared to death!The other two surrendered. Said they: "OK, we give up. You're the best among us, and you work for the Best firm of the three.But please, please tell us your secret," they begged him. "Well", said the TCSer,"The first time I made it laugh, I told it I work for TCS. The next time, I told the monkey how much I get paid...so it started crying. And then I told him that I was here for recruitment!!!"

Finally...

today's post is going to be bollywood based......the title because finally i saw a good movie, 3 dewarein by nagesh k (i dont want to spoil the guy's surname)... the plot , seems to me, is based on an old short story/joke, but i am not taking away anything from the guy, because he has made one hell of a movie..... and an absolute stunning background track, and some of the best performances, everyone's good, my fave would be jackie, then naseruddin shah, nagesh k and juhi chawla, gulshan grover is also good.... you can see many actors/tresses from hyderabad blues, ones who played the best friend, the aunty who wants to get her daughter married off to nagesh....i watched the movie twice, must be the only time i watched the same movie twice in a day....

i simply loved much of the philosophy (of the characters) in the movie, like when juhi asks naseer whether he feels any guilt after killing a person, he says, what is the point? guilt means i wont do it again, theek hai, i wont...but my feeling guilty will not bring the dead person back to life.....so , watch it, watch it, watch it!!!!

also saw hungama, it is a hindi version of priyadarshan's first mallu movie, and all i can say is that akshaye khanna is not mohanlal....and the only actor who can be compared to the malayali counterpart is paresh rawal....i honestly cant see why people rave about a. khanna, he is ok, but not spectacular....

cola bashing daemons, did you see the ads given out by both pepsi and coke regarding those test finds? results in bangalore are well and truly below the specified norms, so wonderbug, Anu...stop PESTering the poor souls who treat Pepsi as staple diet :-)

and yes, i have to address this issue, i dont think i have ever claimed originality rights to the stuff i post, it is only meant for pure entertainment ..... for me as well as others who read this...be fair to me, i always quote my sources....if i find a funny or 'food for thought' message or forward, i will just go ahead and post it, coz maybe i like making people happy and seeing them smile.....so spare me lectures on CCPs and anti plagiarism ...lemme be....and like i have quoted once, "if you want to create an apple pie from scratch, you have to create the universe first", so once and for all, i am indian, i dont believe in copyrights....

manuscrypts trivia

"my thoughts are mine

mine alone to keep,

and mine to hide

deep, deep, deep"

------- jaggu in 3 dewarein....

The fifth p

as the title implies, this post is going to have a lil bit of marketing in it... i read an article in economic times, so i thought i'll put it here....the four P's in marketing by kotler are famous enough, and there have been several wannabe's trying for the fifth position, like 'people', 'packaging' etc, but this one takes the cake...it is very indian, thats why i loved it...it is the 'paanwala'.....

brands are now competing with each other to make their presence felt in the small paan dukan.... from fmcg co:s like hll and nestle to telecom players like hutch, everyone wants to be in a paan shop, and in the process, the old paanwala is slowly being phased out and he is being replaced by the new paanwala dude who is himself a walking promotion, coz he is sporting reebok, levis, raybaan etc.....read more

was slightly skeptical about putting the bihar stuff yesterday, but it has got a good response, so i'm happy...and yahoooooo, its the weekend, two days of solid nothingness, only a lil shopping.... guys in bangalore and mumbai,tomorrow, watch out for WorldSpace's ad in times of india, and bombay times respectively and gimme a feedback...so happy weekend , people, enjoy yourself, take care and be back on monday for the latest edition of manuscrypts...whats left is

manuscrypts trivia

just a lil dig at management... ;-)

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Sooner enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey. One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why. And that's how any company's policies get established.

Behind every succesful blog...

so, finally there is a comment section for each post....and its not the s/w guy in the ofice who's behind it, but my very own personal sweet wife...she has been insisting that this template has a comments option and i have been vehemently refusing...now she has another point on her side when we dicuss computers, software and all the stuff thats in the same jungle......

saw darna mana hai, good concept , but one of the worst climaxes ever.... he did it with bhoot, and now with this....wonder when he will get out of the bad climax genre... ;-)i got a thought from one of aftab's dialogues, my wife thinks i have gone loony, its an abstract question, " when a guy runs a race alone and finishes it, is he first or last"...

theres an ok article on rediff about netiquette, catch it here...there are things turning up in all the places they shouldnt be, an unmentionable in stew, pesticides in coke , and pepsi and most of the other soft drinks...and that still leaves their sales unaffected!!, read it here...the new joke on colas are that there is a whole lot of demand for them in punjab , kerala etc, farmers are stocking cans and bottles to use them as pesticides....if you have an opinion on the race last sunday, especially if you are a staunch williams fan, have your say here...and finally in

manuscrypts trivia

its from bihar....DRIVING LICENSE APPLIKASON PHARUMNOTE: If you dont know the answers, please copy from another applikasonphorum and submit. For further instructions, see bottom of applikason.Please do not shoot the person at the applikason kounter. He will giveyou the license immediately.Last name: (Yadav/Sinha/Pandey/Mishra/do not know)First name:( _ ) Ramprasad( _ ) Lakhan( _ ) Sivaprasad( _ ) Lalooprasad( _ ) Dont know(Tick in appropriate box)Age:( _ ) Less than gero( _ ) Gero( _ ) Greater than gero( _ ) Don't knowSex: ____ M _____ F _____ not sure _____ not applicableChappal Size: ____ Left ____ RightOccupation:( _ ) Politician( _ ) Doodhwala( _ ) Pehelwaan( _ ) House wife( _ ) Un-employed( _ ) GoondaSpouse's Name: __________________________Relationship with spouse :( _ ) Sister( _ ) Brother( _ ) Aunt( _ ) Uncle( _ ) Cousin( _ ) PetNumber of children living in household: ___dozNumber that are yours: ___Mother's Name: _______________________Her Husband's name: _______________________(If not sure, leave blank)Ejjucason: 1 2 3 4 (Circle highest grade completed)Do you ( _ )own or ( _ )rent( _ )or forcibly occupy your home? (Checkappropriate box)___ Total number of vehicles you own___ Number of vehicals that still crank___ Number of vehicals in front yard___ Number of vehicals in back yard___ Number of vehicals on cement blocks___ Number of vehicals on four legsFirearms you own and where you keep them:____ truck____ bedroom____ bathroom____ kitchen____ shed____ WaistModel and year of your vehical(s) _____________ 194_Do you have a gun rack? ( _ )Yes ( _ ) No; If no, please explain:Newspapers/magazines you subscribe to, though you cannot read,( _ ) Champak( _ ) Indrajal( _ ) Chacha Choudhary( _ ) The great Bihar Dairy( _ ) Blank sheets___ Number of times you've SHOT a political leader/policeman/anybody___ Number of times you've SHOT another person exactly like you ___Number of times you've SHOT yourself.(SHOOTING YOURSELF IN MIRROR ISPOOR SHOOTING)Do you bathe?( _ ) Yes( _ ) No( _ ) Not applicableIf yes, how often do you bathe?( _ ) Weekly( _ ) Monthly( _ ) YearlyColor of teeth:( _ ) Yellow( _ ) Brownish-Yellow( _ ) Paan Brown( _ ) Black( _ ) Others - Give exact color (call nearest Asian Paints dealer if Udon't know the color of your teeth) :______________( _ ) Not applicableHow far is your home from a paved road?( _ )10 miles ( _ )20miles ( _ )don't know what road is____________________Your thumb imparesson(If you are copying from another applikason pharom, please do not copythumb impresson also. Please provide your own thumb impresson.PLEASE DO NOT USE FINGERS OF YOUR LEGS.Use thumb on your left hand only. If you dont have left hand, use yourthumb on right hand. If you do not have right hand, use thumb on lefthand.NOTE : IF YOU DON'T HAVE BOTH HANDS, YOU CANNOT DRIVE

Faithfully Yours

guess what, jethrotull won out in the battle between the corrs and john denver...for those who are doubting my sanity, that was about the cd i bought yesterday..a couple of days back, i read a good article about something called 'emotional infidelity'...basically relates to people who are committed already spending a whole lot of time or devoting a lot of mindshare to others, especially of the opposite gender (if that applies, hehe)....it might be people at work, chat friends, blogpals , whatever..the author feels that if i do spend that extra amount of time with any of the above, i am exhibiting emotional infidelity.... he even says that if i happen to share a joke with someone of the opposite sex without first checking it out with my wife, i am being emotionally unfaithful..a lot of the stuff is overboard, but it does give points to ponder..what say, guys??

those monkeys at manchester united are now selling off veron to chelsea, read all about it here...and check out the actual beginnings of terminator here.....now for

manuscrypts trivia

"This is an actual letter of resignation from an employee at Zantex Computers, USA, to his boss. His boss apparently resigned very soon afterwards!"Dear Mr Baker,As an employee of an institution of higher education, I have a few very basic expectations. Chief among these is that my direct superiors have an intellect that ranges above the common ground squirrel. Afteryour consistent and annoying harassment of my co-workers and myself during the commission of our duties, I can only surmise that you are one of the few true genetic wastes of our time. Asking me, a network administrator, to explain every little nuance of everything I do each time you happen to stroll into my office is not only a waste of time,but also a waste of precious oxygen. I was hired because I know how to network computer systems, and you were apparently hired to provide amusement to myself and other employees, who watch you vainly attempt to understand the concept of "cut and paste" for the .......hundredth time.You will never understand computers. Something as incredibly simple as binary still gives you too many options. You will also never understand why people hate you, but I am going to try and explain it to you, even though I am sure this will be just as effective astelling you what an IP is. Your shiny new iMac has more personality than you ever will. You walk around the building all day, shiftlessly looking for fault in others. You have a sharp dressed useless look about you that may have worked for your interview, but now that you actually have responsibility, you pawn it off on overworked staff, hoping their talent will cover for your glaring ineptitude. In a world of managerial evolution, you are the blue-green algae that everyone else eats and laughs at. Managers like you are a sad proof ofthe Dilbert principle.Seeing as this situation is unlikely to change without you getting a full frontal lobotomy reversal, I am forced to tender myresignation; however I have a few parting thoughts.1. When someone calls you in reference to employment, it is illegal to give me a bad recommendation. The most you can say to hurt me is "I prefer not to comment." I will have friends randomly call you overthe next couple of years to keep you honest, because I know you would be unable to do it on your own.2. I have all the passwords to every account on the system, and I know every password you have used for the last five years. If you decide to get cute, I am going to publish your "favourites list", which Iconveniently saved when you made me "back up" your useless files. I do believe that terms like "Lolita" are not usually viewed favourably by the administration.3. When you borrowed the digital camera to "take pictures of your mothers b-day", you neglected to mention that you were going totake pictures of yourself in the mirror nude. Then you forgot to erase them like the techno-moron you really are. Suffice it to say I have never seen such odd acts with a ketchup bottle, but I assure you thatthose have been copied and kept in safe places pending the authoring of a glowing letter of recommendation. (Try to use a spell check please. I hate having to correct your mistakes.)Thank you for your time, and I expect the letter of recommendation on my desk by 8:00 am tomorrow. One word of this to anybody, and all of your little twisted repugnant obsessions will be open to the public. Never f*** with your systems administrator. Why? Because they know what you do with all that free time!SincerelyDarryl Brewer

Exact vs Abstract

i will most prob buy a cd today, but am finding it difficult to choose between john denver and the corrs.. i know, the genres are different, i have listened to a couple of songs of both, so....will share the other point that is inspired by a 'spark' from 'india unbound'..unfortunately the author does not give a great deal of space to it in the book...it is to do with exact vs abstract....we pursue the study of exact (science) more than the study of abstract (art)...maybe because it is more difficult to make our mark in the latter, and only when we make a mark do we get some monetary returns on it....but in the former, we dont need to be extra special to make money...but i envy americans coz they somehow manage to pursue their dreams, i am speaking in generalities, but if i sing reasonably well here, i wouldnt try all my best to do that, it is subjective but i am speaking more or less for a majority of indians .... i think it is do with a lot of factors - culture, attitude, conditions.....i hope we can reach that stage one day, coz if our work is based on our passion, we will be successful and happy, right??thats it for today, heres

manuscrypts trivia

just a forward i got...TWO TOUGH QUESTIONS Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? Read the next question before looking at the answer for this one. Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates. Candidate A - Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day. Candidate B - He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife. Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide first, no peeking, then scroll down for the answer. ANSWERS Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Candidate B is Winston Churchill. Candidate C is Adolph Hitler. And, by the way, the answer to the abortion question: If you said "YES", you just killed Beethoven. Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone.

Our kinda modern

first up, a very happy friendship (yester) day to all of you...though to be honest, there shouldnt be a day for this, friends are forever... oh, well, those poor archies guys have to find ways to make money, dont they..hehei have finally finished 'india unbound', and am now reading roald dahl's supposedly best stories, and to be very honest, after 110 pages out of 360 odd, it still hasnt delivered the kind of stuff it promises on the back cover, so it is not on my medialist...!!

there are some guys outside my office protesting against the government for something, regular stuff in india, but the difference today is that they have stripped down to their undies...hehe, gives a whole new meaning to 'india unbound'..yeah, speaking of that book, stll a couple of good points to share...one, about our concept of modern....our modern is mostly 'western'... whatever is accepted there gets accepted here too.... from pizzas to music videos, oit is ironic that there is a jam packed crowd for every performance of indian maestros in the west, but here, its is only a niche audience....i dont think quality is the chief criterion we employ when we choose goods, services or whatever, there is basically a bias towards whatever is western, and thus we tend to kill whatever is homegrown, yes there are brands that survive, but i believe they entered the indian consumer's brain before the concept of 'western-modern' came about......the other point, tomorrow's post....meanwhile

manuscrypts trivia

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." - Carl Sagan

If its ok with them...

it seems the quest for happiness is dogging everyone, (read wonderbug's post today)...like i wrote a couple of days back, 'true happiness' is so dynamic, that we only have just enough time to experience it, so defining it is way way off....Carrying on from yesterday, with most 'sparks' from the book i am reading now.....i doubt if our generation can produce a bhagat singh.....who would die for a cause.... just a thought, who knows what his intentions were, maybe he measured his happiness by his martyr status, and made a gamble....but i doubt.. i am still a fan, and believe in the nobility of his intentions...we have produced individuals who would endure for a cause they believe in, the cause is usually money...the college dropout who is the richest guy in the world, the petro giants whose dad started out as a petrol pump attendant in yemen... only stating the rule, not the exceptions.... not taking anything away from their achievements,but the motive..and so it is that most heroes today are industrial giants, and not gandhis and nehrus...again the rule, not the exception....so , society has changed in terms of aspirations and therefore motives...i am not talking of sailors who went in search of treasures, i am talking of commonfolk...where did it all start, hmm, not here, though we had our tatas and birlas, the industrial revolution really happened in europe and america...is that why we always look for endorsements from there...why we compare our quality of life with them, love the coke, mtv lifestyle...dont mistake me, i am not talking swadeshi here, just wondering....prof. amartya sen lauded kerala yesterday for its high life expectancy, low infant mortality rate etc..but with all that, kerala is on a downhill now, the attitude hasnt undergone much change...kerala does have all the indeces of quality of life in a position, where it compares favorably, even with the west...but.....to be continuedmeanwhile, all you guys interested in a kind of lateral thinking, check out this have a great weekend, everyone, not before you check out

manuscrypts trivia

"You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created."~ Albert Einstein

Its all about money, honey?

That was borrowed from the tagline of indiainfoline.com, i dont see it much these days, wonder if they still use it...but that also is what i am going to write on today...i am reading 'india unbound' by gurcharan das(see my medialist), almost finished it...and i am able to relate yesterday's post to some of the stuff in the book...so, will continue on the path....but i believe, i will be backtracking by the time i finish the entire series..today's generation, as compared to the ones earlier, gets a lot of money related happiness, mostly because of rising consumerism, which has almost enveloped the more developed countries and is rapidly aadvancing in india...we like to have things literally at our fingertips, and the mouse is a powerful tool.. we order books, gifts and many other things under the sun online, it definitely is convenient....the mobile is also a powerful tool, most of the restaurants here, have introduced home delivery, again the fingertips can get the job done....result of all this is a decrease in the kind of social interaction we grew up with...and whether it is online purchases or home delivery, there is definitely an extra price we pay for it......the BPOs (call centers, in regular parlance) that are spreading like a virus, not necessarily with the same dire consequences, hehe, they are either making calls or receiving calls,giving customers from far flung corners of the globe, info about a variety of products and services....so we have convenience, better economies coz these call center employees make good money, so more disposable income....but are we losing ourselves in the turn of the merry go round, why do we have waves of nostalgia? why do we turn to our blogs as outlets? a query, can our generation produce a bhagat singh or an aung san suu kyi, who would endure purely for what they believe in .....we have, but in a different mould, more on that tomorrow.... leaving you with

manuscrypts trivia

'If somebody gives you a free ticket for a tour, you cannot fight with the person because of the troubles you meet while on the journey.'....leena chandavarkar, on life

Is this evolution?

i read a post in someone's blog yesterday, i think it was wonderbug (new entrant in bloggers park), old post but good food for thought, the subject was "Has our self-created society and its by-products ruined our personal peace and happiness?"...this is my version of the same argument.... to start with, the concept of society, as we see it, is extremely dynamic....every time we say 'times have changed', society is implicitly present....at the same time personal peace and happiness is a subjective issue and itself changes with time....an example materialistically, i was happy with cassettes 5 years back, now i hunt for cds....it makes me happier...in terms of other happiness, 5 years back, i could stare at stars and feel peace, now the scene would also include my wife..hehe...change again....

i will again choose social interaction as an arbitrary parameter to judge the changes in society, judge is not the appropriate word, coz the judgement is too subjective to be of any use....mobiles, the internet etc has reduced interaction as we used to know it, but it has also brought in chat and blog communities, which transcend geographical barriers, good, you say?, but it also has brought down long chats with siblings, neighbourhood friends etc... isnt that bad?..a balance, but how many of us are able to achieve it, so, is it all that good, or all that bad??joint families are almost extinct, nuclear families are in...extended families are also a minor statistic...i can go to all the entertainment spots with just my wife for company , happy ? yes....but the sense of security and the good feeling arising out of the dependancies and mutual harmony and sometimes lil disharmonies in a joint family is thrown out of the window? a balance again, sorry boss, in this case it is almost impossible....

yes, it is not possible to get everything in life, but it is also not possible to not think about opportunity costs and 'what might have beens'...a kid born today will not miss the joy of being cuddled and pampered by grandparents, because he might not experience it at all, the grandparents will not miss pizza coz they have not experienced it at all....i will miss both :-) .....but thats not something exclusive to me or my generation...lucky kids?? because they can buy most of the stuff that gives them happiness..or lucky grandparents ?? coz they are happy with the simple pleasures in life.....whos to decide??thats life, the most undefinable, unpredictable, unfathomable thing i have come across......almost done, but not before

manuscrypts trivia

got it from one of my egroups...F-aiku: A Japanese PoemI tried my hand at poetry the other day. It's called "Happiness". And it goes like this…Free beer,Naked women,Paid vacation,Free beer,Happiness.Some of my poet friends suggested I turn it into haiku. A haiku, basically, is a Japanese poem that contains 17 syllables. Mine had 16. And no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't make it a haiku. So now it reads like this…Free beer,Naked women,Paid vacation,Free beer,Happiness.Fuck haiku.:o)- vikramwww.vikramchauhan.com

A whole lot of crap

i am not flattered by the attention i seem to be getting from miscellaneous poeple on the net, who send me mails everyday, telling me to-take pills, so i can reduce 40 kilos in 5 days-again take pills, so i can increase the size of my u-know-what-gamble in online casinos-date girls(thankfully no pills for that, guess they thought my natural charm would work)-eat viagra in wholesale measuresamong a whole lot of other things.. i was generally getting irritated because they keep coming even when i have it blocked under spam, so i was generally reading about this menace, when i came across this article, wish someone did it here....i have a feeling da vinci is rolling around in his grave, you can know why if you click here.

now, a general question as food for thought, are you comfortable with the pace at which your general existence goes, would you like it slower or faster...i just want to know whether i am a majority or minority statistic....generally i fit into the former, coz whether i am checking out mutual funds or online railway reservations, i usually find a rediff article on it, in 3-4 days....kinda deflating sometimes, coz i get into it , thinking i am part of a select few...hehe.. reminds me of a phrase, "you are unique, just like everyone else"will leave you with

manuscrypts trivia

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic."~ Anonymous

Bollywood and the big picture

thats the basic premise i am going to post on today, coz i caught up with a lil of my backlog in that area, saw khwaish and qayamat...so will bore you with mini reviews....khwaish is a very down to earth movie, totally unpretentious, and if it had the right hero and good promos, instead of harping on the smooches (which werent all that good), it might just have clicked... the hero dude is way too wooden to do any good, he should audition for a terminator role (he's more deadpan that arnie), it took till the last scene to squeeze out the actor in him...the movie touched me coz of the simplicity...and i have always been a sucker for pathos...qayamat, all u have to do to make this movie work is replace arbaaz, sanjay kapoor and that chunkey pandey..(u would expect some kind of improvement when the guy has been out for years, and become a star in bangladesh, but some things never change).. oh, what the hell, qayamat is basically 'the rock' , the cage and connery hollywood flick....it seems ram gopal varma is doing a sequel of darna mana hai, to be titled darna zaroori hai...i think i can see the version 1 by next week.the national awards were announced, and ajay devgan is best actor for 'the legend of bhagat singh'...u have to see it to believe it, what a performance, he really made you feel for bhagat singh and his ideologies..'mr and mrs iyer' got 4 awards, again well deserved, another simple movie, which could have been made complicated, but thankfully was not.....hey, any budding writers out there, do check this out.

and yes michelle, the big picture, before that, i want to sidetrack, otherwise i'll forget about it, some hindus believe that you acquire the karma of the animal you eat, so its best to be vegetarian...as regards the iranian twins, for now i can only quote malcolm muggeridge(journalist/tv host/writer)' " in all the larger shaping of life, there is a plan already, into which one has no choice but to fit".....isnt death itself a part of the big picture? arent there a whole lot of people who die before 28? and maybe, just maybe, if thay had waited for some more time, we might have had a different ending??and a t-shirt for our kinda people, bloggers, here..hmm, i just might get a few "is that the first time you are seeing it" responses for that, wont i??......relax, the ranting stops with

manuscrypts trivia

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls "a butterfly" - Richard Bach

So, whats the point?

that was inspired by a calvin and hobbes cartoon, if you thought indians were fatalistic, this is one guy who will top us too, but he's too cool...the first shot is him raising his hand in class, he then asks the teacher,"since we are all going to die one day, is it absolutely necessary to understand the concept of integers?" the next shot is him muttering, "nobody understands us 'big picture' people".........its 'humour' + 'food for thought"...my kind of combination.

theres a nice site on reverse speech, for those of you who are into music, and who have good speakers connected to your comp, definitely check out this site....a girl in china is going to undergo surgery for six months to become a perfect beauty...the philosophy is very simple, she says she is all for inner beauty, but if she can have external beauty to go along with it, wouldnt that be great!!another review on rediff of my most awaited movie - Darna mana hai....hope i can catch it this weekend....the other good article on rediff was about shakespeare's hand, will give you the gist of it below, "Well, this handshake goes all the way back to Shakespeare, the first poet," he said. "You see, just as you're shaking my hand, I shook Eliot's hand, he shook Yeats' hand, Yeats shook Tennyson's hand, Tennyson shook Keats' hand" and so it went, all the way back to Shakespeare"... dom moraes to jeet thayil

and yes, i have to do this... in case you are wondering why there are so many links back to rediff, i am ass-kissing for putting me on the front page, hehe, just kidding....and now, since everyone's bored of tongue twisters, (its longish, but good) chew this instead in

manuscrypts trivia

Faith for Dummies

"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ."The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand."You're a Christian, aren't you, son?""Yes sir," the student says."So you believe in God?""Absolutely.""Is God good?""Sure! God's good.""Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?""Yes.""Are you good or evil?""The Bible says I'm evil."The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!"He considers for a moment 'Here's one for you.Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?""Yes sir, I would.""So you're good...!""I wouldn't say that.""But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't."The student does not answer, so the professor continues. "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"The student remains silent."No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give thestudent time to relax. "Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?""Er... Yes," the student says."Is Satan good?"The student doesn't hesitate on this one. "No.""Then where does Satan come from?"The student falters. "From... God...""That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?""Yes, sir.""Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?""Yes.""So who created evil?"Again, the student has no answer."Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"The student squirms on his feet. "Yes.""So who created them?"The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question,"Who created them? "There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized."Tell me," he continues. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"The student's voice betrays him and cracks."Yes, professor. I do."The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?""No sir. I've never seen"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?""No, sir. I have not.""Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter."No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.""Yet you still believe in him?""Yes.""According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?""Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith.""Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith."The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of his own."Professor, is there such thing as heat?""Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat.""And is there such a thing as cold?""Yes, son, there's cold too.""No sir, there isn't."The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain."You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'.We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than -458 degrees.You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer."What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?""Yes," the professor replies without hesitation."What is night if it isn't darkness?""You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light... but if you have no light constantly you havenothing and it's called darkness, isn't it?That's the meaning we define the word.In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester."So what point are you making, young man?""Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must also be flawed."The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. "Flawed? Can you explain how?""You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains."You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing theconcept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?""If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.""Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester indeed."Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided."To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean?" The student looks around the room."Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?"The class breaks out into laughter."Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?No one appears to have done so. "So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers."I guess you'll have to take them on faith."