Thats what I've been trying to say

but never found the words..so when i got this mail, i had to share it....here it goes
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or close the window.
Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

now, to more mundane things.....this is shocking to most guys my age, whose imagination was triggered by 'baywatch'. :-)
loved billy crystal in the academy awards...especially this "the last time i compered was 13 years back, and things were so different - bush was president, the economy was down, and we had just finished a war in iraq.."

and yippeeee for schumi, he has started the season with a bang...which leads to
manuscrypts trivia
"All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath. So, what does that make today worth?"
~ Og Mandino
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
~ Albert Einstein
"i am objective, i object to everything" ~ manu.....(naw!!, he just saw it on a t-shirt) :-)

Moving On

once upon a time there was a town. the geography of it does matter, but we will come to it later. the town had a decent share of manufacturing units, and fairly big ones at that. these units understood their social responsibilities very well. they built their share of the infrastructure - roads, parks, living quarters; and since the aspiration levels of the citizens were at a reasonable level, life seemed to be good all around. people started settling there after their retirement coz of the good infrastructure and excellent climate. you could see happy smiles all around, no traffic snarls, no road rage, slow paperwork instead of frenzied mails, (no blogs too, but thats okay, i doubt whether any of us could do anything worthwhile then ;-)), altogether a leisurely pace of life. pops have enough money, so kids can enjoy at the pubs, which have started to happen. but life is one phenomenon where the laws of inertia does not work.
enter the 90's, entrepreneurism is the happening thing, software companies , (read start ups) appear on the horizon, a new breed of techies are born, they have the money, they have the career path figured out, they wanna spend, baby, and rao obliges, liberalisation is in...infrastructure has not exactly kept up with the pace coz these companies are more into branding than infrastructure, but still not that bad... pubs mushroom, discos are in place, life is a party and the animals are evolving. life is slightly hurried, hey, but what the hell, we are enjoying it!! inertia doesnt work, we have to move on.
the 2000's....the first gen techies are in middle age, but the new gen has almost the same mantras in place. then come the call centres, kids after college (some before college too) have access to quick money, so what if they have to be nocturnal !! kids, no i am not demeaning them in any way, but kids.... kids who have a limited, skewed view of life, kids who have no career path, kids who have no clue, no, have not thought about what life will be 10 years later, kids who will buy fast machines so they look 'cool' in front of their friends, kids who do not realise that their ol' city hasnt got the infrastructure to support their lifestyle(infrastructure?? my a**, we are into cost cutting) , a city that has to adjust to the nocturnal needs of the new breed, but hey wait, there are guys who say it is shining, so it must be.... kids now, kids hoping to be kids forever.....inertia?? uh-huh
2010's.... the call centres that came in zooming are zooming out, the kids are told that their counterparts in a remote part of the world they have only heard about, can do work at a lower cost...so in the larger interests of the organisation the jobs are being sent there....the kids' future just collapsed coz there aint no plan b.
look at the town, no, the city- the plazas, the malls, the complexes are all empty coz the kids now have no money to spend, the new techies are too busy, the old techies have lost the fire...the manufacturing units are closed a long time back coz the kids never wanted to work there. somewhere along the line, it ceased to become a pensioners paradise coz the traffic got too heavy, the atmosphere too polluted, and life too fast. a city dying.....
we can be happy now, coz this is not happening here. but this is my expanded view of what happened here. i am not a pessimist, lennon would hardly call me a dreamer, but realistic?? i think so......
the political system 'there' is much less volatile, what about 'here'? in a society and politic that is already divided and subdivided on regionalism, religionalism, casteism etc, can we afford the volatility when (and if) the jobs (which were an integral part of the shining) left us??
sam pitroda, the man behind the std booths you see all around, says the telecom boom we see are a result of the seeds sown a couple of decades ago.... what are the seeds we have sown for tomorrow??
check this out, not exactly in the realm, but getting there................but hey, maybe "its not for us to question why, its only for us to do and die"
and so in
manuscrypts trivia
this is about us...., this is the link to the 'bad sex' awards, and my usual quotes
"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness" ~ James Thurber
"Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations." and "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."~ Einstein
"why cant male sheep be called heep?" ~ manu (couldnt resist)

Janus Battles

A few days back a cold realisation hit me, that i had taken off the rediff ad banner from my blog.... if they were ever to do an audit, manuscrypts' future looks bleak.. i know for a fact that simon has also discarded rediff, lots of others too, just cant remember who...
but in case, someone from rediff is reading this, my sincere apologies....hehe.. but it seriously makes me feel a tad guilty coz rediff introduced me to the concept of blogging...
it is said that the answer to 'who am i?' holds the key to unlocking a whole lot of mysteries about the self and its relationship with the universe in general...but even thats a difficult question to answer, isnt it?... like the alcohol ad that has 'one part hot blooded, one part chivalry, one part foresight....' , i have a part of me thats cold, selfish, uncaring etc, but i also have a part thats caring, considerate, kind etc.... i have a part of me that prefers solitude, easy listening music and books, i also have a part thats into having fun, playing pranks, raising hell and metalling heavily..hehe..its easy to answer this by saying that all of them are me, or even by saying that it depends on where i am and who i am with, but if i have to objectively say which is the dominant person..hmmm...its a daily battle, and the only consolation is that in the first set, i am kinda getting the good kind to win :-)....
so, who am i.......... still downloading................hehe
on a sidenote, the people friendly part of me always poses the question whether i 'blog socialise' enough, virtually or really!!
Apologies to all those who thought this post was about the trials in the life of a south indian woman, i was referring to the two faced roman god, janus!!
this is something i picked up, when on my virtual jaunts,from a site called craphound, definitely awesome!!
"I went back to my old haunts, the saloons where I'd gone for a beer after a day's work at the docks, and the dance-halls, and the theatres, and I saw my old chums. That was hard, James."
He stopped then. I found myself saying, "How was it hard, Mr Adelson?"
He looked surprised, like he'd forgotten that he was talking to me. "Well, James, it's like this: when you're away that long, you get to invent yourself all over again. Of course, everyone invents themselves as they grow up. Your chums there --" he gestured at the boys, who were now trying, with varying success, to turn somersaults, dirtying their school clothes "-- they're inventing themselves right now, whether they know it or not. The smart one, the strong one, the brave one, the sad one. It's going on while we watch!
"But when you go away, nobody knows you, and you can be whoever you want. You can shed your old skin and grow a new one."....
""And then I came home.
"As far as the folks back home were concerned, I was the kid they'd said good-bye to five years before. My father thought I was still a kid, even though I'd fought pirates and weathered storms. My chums wanted me to be the kid I'd been, and do all the boring, kid things we'd done before I left -- riding the trolleys, watching the vaudeville shows, fishing off the docks.
"Even though that stuff was still fun, it wasn't _me_, not anymore. I missed the old me, and felt him slipping away."....
while on the subject, check out these two statements, different perspectives
"the ant is disciplined, proper and obeys authorities. That's why after five million years of evolution it's still an ant"
"the ant is disciplined, proper and obeys authorities. That's why after five million years of evolution it is still around where dinosaurs havent survived"
manuscrypts trivia
check out this sign, some bollywood bloopers, and a few quotes
"To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the ocean by the frailty of its foam. To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistencies." ~ Kahlil Gibran
"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." ` Einstein
and a personal favourite
"Why are we scared to die? Do any of us remember being scared when we were born?" ~ Trevor Kay"
"Should a female papaya be called mamaya?" ~ Manu (sorreeeee :-)))

Three's Company?

As part of the 'made in india' series on star movies, 'split wide open' was aired yesterday... a good movie, though constantly teetering on the fine line between raw portrayal and vulgarism, primarily because a lot of the movie's content was sex, and not the kind thats publicly common in india - gay/lesbianism to start off, bigamy, couple sharing the male servant in bed, father in law stepping in coz the son is impotent, pedophily, to name a few......

raised some questions in my mind - the lil girl involved in the pedophily episode, aged around 10, had been picked up by a guy from the street, and was treated quite well, to the extent that she didnt want to leave when her 'brother' tries to rescue her.... now, does she have the freedom to choose her way of life, does the brother have the right to choose right and wrong for her?.... not that the issues are similar, but is it kinda like a kid saying it doesnt want to go to school??
the other food for thought is if three people feel they are perfectly happy together (would amount to bigamy), is the law justified in proclaiming it illegal?? so if someone finds three to be company, should he/she be given the freedom to live life that way?? all this would boil down to a simple question "should convenience of the majority be the only parameter while setting laws??"
since we are on the topic, harvard is cool on the sexual explicitness front, so says this article. this article is about 2 guys getting caught for sending porn to a girl in mumbai.
Two more totally unrelated links, this one describes your character based on alphabet......
This article throws some light on my favourite actor of all time, mohanlal...guys north of the vindhyas wouldnt know him, except for a cameo in "company", but for sheer talent, he remains the best i have seen....
another best i have seen is my oldest and only chat friend, 'doc' amrutha, who, on valentine's day elicited a whole gamut of emotions from me, ranging from absolute surprise to absolute happiness, by sending me flowers. totally totally unexpected, the only thing that could beat that was her dropping in, doc u hear that??
which brings me to
manuscrypts trivia
have still not exhausted my quotes quota, so here goes
"Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me." ~ Robert Frost
"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." ~ Isaac Newton
"Life is not lost by dying. Life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways." ~ Stephen Vincent Benet

Special Post

this one's to wish you all a very happy valentine's day, not exactly a great believer myself, but for those who do, have a blast. and this one's for my one and only lovely wifey, who's gonna read this blog after a long time (coz the poor thing has got conditional (!!) net access at work), i looooooooooooooove you!!
and in
manuscrypts trivia
a link, for those against the day
& a good joke
A couple was celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. Their domestic tranquillity had long been the talk of the town."What a peaceful & loving couple". A local newspaper reporter was inquiring as to the secret of their long and happy marriage."Well, it dates back to our honeymoon,"explained the man. "We visited the Grand Canyon and took a trip down to the bottom of the canyon by horse. We hadn't gone too far when my wife's horse stumbled. My wife quietly said, 'That's once.' We proceeded a little further and the horse stumbled again. Once more my wife quietly said,'That's twice.'"We hadn't gone a half-mile when the horse stumbled the third time. My wife quietly removed a revolver from her purse and shot the horse dead.
"I started an angry protest over her treatment of the horse, when she lookedat me, and quietly said,'That's once'.

"And we lived happily ever after".

We don't need no India Shining

thats probably what the IIMs want to be singing after the govt slashed their fee structure..... i am actually confused, and have very ambivalent thoughts on the issue...on one hand, i dont like the govt sticking its hands into something thats an established brand, and has shown thats its perfectly capable of handling its business, it looks like they wanna have a share of a good thing, maybe even use that in the 'india shining' campaign.... on the other hand, i also feel that a govt influence might make the IIMs more accessible....

btw, the election commission has warned the govt not to spend the revenue from taxes for the campaign, so we might get a breather.. :-)

speaking of IIMs, i just had a thought, humankind protests against all kinds of disparities - race, sex, age etc..but arent institutions like IIMs promoting discrimination based on intellectual aptitude.... at every level of academic life, we strive to take tests and pass, arent we therefore subjecting ourselves to a screening for checking our levels of intellect....they are just standards that suit the majority... i get admission in a good college coz i performed well in school, i get a good job coz i did well in college, the list goes on....but what gives us the right to discriminate against those who arent as bright?? ... is it right to condemn them to a life of misery, self doubt and frustration just because they cant utilise their brains to the extent we can?? but we do, coz if we dont, a lot of existing systems would crash!!

saw "plan" during the weekend, expectations were close to nil coz of the reviews, but surprise, surprise, it wasnt that bad, which goes to show that you cant trust reviews all the time....sanjay dutt seems to be perfecting the 'comic don' character.... the movie has some corny shayari, courtesy, dutt and mahesh manjrekar, who has also done a good job..think this one takes the cake "sher ke saamne sher bolne se chooha sher nahi banta; bache paida karne hote hain, god lene se koi baap nahi banta"....... :-)

been reading a whole cartload of articles on 'outsourcing', am actually wondering whether He has outsourced sustenance to someone, that would answer a lot of questions regarding the way humankind is evolving, the 'quality' issues....btw, have a look at this link, a good read.which brings me to

manuscrypts triviadont remember where i got it from, but its good

In The Adventures of Griswald Gnome: A Fairy Tale for Children of all Ages, the magician gnome starts by saying, "I am a Peristaltic Basaltic Cabalist.""A reformed deformer, searcher for research, a regrind grinder, one who once faltered, but reflated and did rejoin as a joiner. If I might presume, I'm going to lecture you. This statement is my testament: my supreme objective is to preserve the perverse,"and the usual quotes

"To a large degree reality is whatever the people who are around at the time agree to."~ Milton Miller

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~ Einstein

Guest appearances on my own blog

Thats what it has come to, as the time between each post gets longer...once upon a time, it was a daily ritual.... but i cant bring myself to write something everyday just for the heck of writing it, i dont think i can be the 'daily writing' kinda guy anymore...the interim budget is likely to add more gloss to the 'shining india'... inspite of everything, i still believe that the shine should happen in my mind, and not stare back at me each time a i pick a newspaper or watch television.....by the way, read this and this if you are interested in the topic

i watched "LoC" and "Khakee".. for the guys who said 'whats that", they are just two movies, extra special because the former has more than a dozen stars, and the latter has four.... judging by the number of "behen****" and "ma*******" in LoC , it is fair to say that the censor board has become more lenient, not a very 'must see' movie , if you discount the stars..but it did convey to me the kind of life a soldier leads, just so that me and my countrymen sleep in peace....."

khakee' was good, trashed a whole lot of bollywood cliches, showed the characters as raw human beings, not even the 'shades of grey' that bollywood usually says it has now, but normal human beings....

i am not a follower of Superbowl but this image certainly caught my attention :-)....intentional or not is still being debated, but what the hell, theres nothing called bad publicity!!Some kind soul needs to give me tips on my blog's aesthetics, no cash here, only good publicity and loads of appreciation..hehe

now, i know it isnt a burning question, but this is a good article on whether you have a journal or blog....will leave you with

manuscrypts trivia

will continue with three good quotes , first two by Einstein and the last by Gandhi

"The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. "

"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for insects as well as for the stars. Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance. "

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."

So, how's India Shining?

hey, hey, hey, my first post for the new year, hope all of you guys had a blast....and have gotten rid of the hangovers!! i snored my way into new year, which is a ritual..cant be changed.... :-)

now, where cricket is concerned, india was certainly shining yesterday, felt very happy for the debutant rohan gavaskar...must be so difficult for the guy, to make a niche for himself in the game, with the shadow of sunil gavaskar looming over him perpetually. it takes solid guts to get into the field where his dad earned the title 'little master'. there have been many instances where i thought the guy would make it into the playing eleven, only to be rejected in the end. sometimes, i felt the selectors shied away from him, coz they didnt want charges of bias leveled against them...nyways hope he does well.....and yes, i honestly feel like starting a forum to stop steve bucknor from refereeing India's matches!!!!

but the recent ads that are being aired on tv and splattered on print, look too much like a well orchestrated PR campaign, to ignite the patriotism in me... add to it the discussion forums, and the cartoons about the 'shining' and the 'feel good factor', and i see a lot of reasons why just some infrastructural and sector specific (read BPO, ITES, IT) booms dont actually make me feel that good... one simple example would be my state,no, not my personal state, hehe, but that of "god's own country"- Kerala.... a hartal every 3 days, extortion mafias mushrooming, no self respecting IT company (yes, there is an infy, but thats an exception to the rule) willing to invest, and that, in the state that has the second highest literacy, and indeces and statistics, that could give the west a run for their money.. the rest of the country still has its share of foreigners getting raped, dowry deaths (i recently saw a very gruesome report on, i think ndtv, where an iron rod was pushed into a 4 year old girl's genitals, while her mother was being tortured for more dowry), corrupt politicians who make the policy decisions for the country..so while i agree that india is gaining, i am not so sure of the shining bit!!

this article is worth a read, on this topic.a couple of links that you guys should have a look at, one is the delhi bloggers meet photographs, for which i should be thanking simon and w-bug, hell, i havent yet asked them if it is ok to post it, guys, if theres a problem just post a message. the other link, is a total whacko, have a look at it, its totally out of the box, trust me.which brings me to

manuscrypts trivia

i have come across a few einstein quotes, so am gonna post them in small doses

"The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books; a mysterious order it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. BUThe also says

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. " :-)

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.