Calls...........

Nature sends messages.
If you dont respond, she calls...
There is no such thing as a missed call.....

until next time, dont get pissed off...

Fix you...

Once again, so what exactly is it that we would love to do.. while it is an interesting debate whether we would stop loving things if we began to get paid for it, are there still things that fall outside that set, and which we would love doing irrespective of anything else...

I, for one, would love to sing for a living, not at concerts, but more of a wandering bard...would love to write a book, and be happy if 5 people read it, loved it and felt it had made a difference in their lives.. would love to have my own chat shows and crack the kind of PJs that would help create homicidal maniacs..:).. some of the above are stuff which i might be able to pull off, and some i might realise that i wasnt quite cut out for...maybe thats what living a full life is all about... doing all these and being able to say that i tried everything.. maybe thats what makes happiness...

or maybe its about knowing exactly what is it that you can do and want to do.. and then setting about achieving it whatever be the odds...which is perhaps what makes alonso world champion at 24, or sachin a treat to watch after more than decade of watching him... or an amitabh bachchan a star twice over.. maybe thats what makes happiness....

maybe its about finding love, and keeping it, and knowing that whatever else happens, that person will always be by your side.. maybe thats what makes happiness...

and meanwhile we walk the paths, some common, some uncommon and hope that God is singing to us(instead of Coldplay)

Lights will guide you home..

and ignite your bones...

and i will try and fix you...

until next time, are we in a fix??

Private eye

A few weeks back, a lil spat reminded me of the fact that we really dont know each other at all.. we are connected only by thoughts and words, and while it could be that our personality is reflected in blogs, the reverse could also hold true.. that we are competely different from our blogs..

And its not just blogs, our entire persona thats on display all the time, may only be a part of what we are.. and there may be parts of us which we even hide from ourselves.. a secret that we keep even from ourselves, thoughts and emotions which, if expressed might end up hurting ourselves and others, and could be totally against the social norms that we follow...

and while we judge people on a regular basis, unwittingly, we also end up judging ourselves..judging ourselves with a private eye, that reveals itself rarely, and lets us know that perhaps even we dont know ourselves well enough.. maybe i should try and discover more about myself .... and get in touch with the private I...
until next time, maybe we should also respect privacy....

G MS Y?

While all the wars were being fought in recent times over virtual space, one player was conspicuous by its absence - but some announcements in the last few days got the gates backwide open...

the good part is, i am not geek enough to analyse the services of the three major players in virtual space... the bad news is, that doesnt stop me from writing about it...:)

Good Ol' Bill is an icon, theres no denying it... but unfortunately he has never been able to translate that into a favourable opinion about his enterprise... while there are a lot of us who display 'Get firefox' icons, havent seen any 'I use E' (yup, bad one acknowledged) buttons... also, theres no denying the fact to a lot of us, Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc are still THE applications and they have indeed made lives a lot easier (hmm, not powerpoint,on second thoughts..hehe), and when you add MSN chat and Hotmail into the mix, MS automatically becomes an integral part of our automated life.. normally that gives a load of ammunition forworship, but surprisingly all that doesnt make us say 'I Love MS'...

Is it that we love the underdog? or is it that we hate the way MS has been getting too many dollar bills? if it is the latter, is there too much of a harm in a guy making money out ofhis ideas and work? isnt that supposed to be the mantra of knowledge working and the basis of copyrights? why should we be having a problem with the money being made? why should it be open source??

i wonder if the 'no love' is because it has changed the way we work... or is it something like school?.. none of us liked it when we had to go to school, but down the line there is also a realisation that perhaps it did do some good for us, or more importantly, it made a difference in the direction of our lives...perhaps, Bill, you have to wait some more for the idolising...

until next time, yahoo!!! Gmail is moving towards 3 GB....:)

Twins

After putting aside concepts like love and money, perhaps the two most important things in life would be the marriage and the career... and if you put a lil bit of thought to it, there are some striking similarities..

Both are things that you get to hear about early in life, but get to experience only at a relatively later stage.. and you get to hear about it from anyone who's remotely elder to you.. there are so many versions... and when its happening to you, everyone has an interest in it and an advice to give on it... and anything 'different' from the norm is usually met with a frown...

in both cases, there are roughly two paths you can take - one that you want to do due to your desire and aspiration, and the other thats financially and socially seen as 'safe'..in both the cases,the exceptions are also similar... you might want to be a doctor/engineer etc and you get to do exactly that.. and you happen to love a girl/guy who meets all the conditions and succeeds in all the parameters that are set out by those who are supposed to decide your fate - parents, relatives etc, and can therefore marry him/her without a problem.. whether the path has been by choice or forced on one, both perhaps require a certain amount of compromise.. you might end up liking the career you had no specific interest initially, and you might end up liking your arranged spouse..in both the cases, you might realise after a point of time, that it is no longer what you want, and there's something or someone else that you really want to spend your time and energy on..and yes, getting fired in both cases, is a pain....

you want to maintain that correct balance between both, and yes, most importantly, you expect both to be some kind of anchor in your life, and to derive some joy out of the experiences..and like everything else, you know that both have to end, at some point of time..

until next time, identical or non identical??

ITs a Dog's life....?

From the recently concluded IT.com in Bangalore (Image courtesy: The Hindu)

ITs gone to the dogs, you think??

A Higher Power

An entity that is revered by millions, who are driven by a desire just to be in its presence.. its physical manifestation can be touched and felt, but nothing beyond that... as with other higher powers, there is a human who can guide you on... in front of it, superstars and common man are all alike.. people stare all agog at the throes of despair and ecstasy that it bestows on those who appear before it.. it affects people so much that it is almost treated as a human, rather than a different entity.. and yes, they say it helps those who help themselves..it knows all the answers, and offers lifelines to those who come before it..it can change your fortune, on weekends, on star plus at 9.00, its computerji on KBC dvitiya!!

until next time, oh, samay samaapt!!

Blogger...

Its that time of the year again.... and i have been seeing a lot of guys taking a sabbatical from blogging, hopefully they'll return... reminds me of the last wave of goodbye in school, hoping your friends will be there next year too - to share chocolates, to play pranks, to fight,to belong... i guess we still are the same children, hoping to still retain our small comforts while the rest of the things around us change.. and somewhere down the line, moving on, making new friends, making new comfort zones, hoping we will never have to move out of them..

and thus we are - kids who are software engineers, kids who are advertising or marketing pros, kids who are married and who have their own kids, kids who are out to discover their dreams,and perhaps fulfil them - who would have nothing in common except for the thoughts they share,the music they like, the issues they talk about, kids who may not know each other if they met on the streets.. kids with nothing in common, except their blogs...

and thus its maybe only that commonness that keeps me going, for in a life where everything else changes, and everyone changes, this has become a comfort zone .. and when i see '1 postscrypt' and agree or disagree with a parna or a deez or an aqua or an SwB or anyone of you, i feel someone is listening to me... for maybe, at the end of it all, i just want to belong...
until next time, keep blogging..

Out of control

While there was a Hindi movie by that name which pretty much succeeded in its stated objective, at least as far as audience temper goes, this title is more a description of the post, and my state of mind...remember this post, where i realised the uselessness of certain keys.. well, this post can be seen as a corollary... and yes,it aint supposed to be a serious post :)

you are sitting in a meeting that has been going on for quite sometime, one which is so important that you cant step out of it for some time, and some freak has made sure that the air conditioning settings match the natural settings of siberia, and you get a call, from nature... how useful would it be to use 'Ctrl P'..

how about the meteorology guys get to know of a seismic occurence that would result in a tsunami which could wipe out entire populations, and all they would have to prevent it is to use 'Ctrl C'...

and while we are on this horribly imaginative ride, theres something i have always wanted in life- an undo function, and i, for one would be extremely happy in my professional life,if i could have an option that said 'Save Ass'...

until next time, i'm scared, whos gonna Ctrl U?? ;)

A watered down version of bangalore!!

Yup, its true!! Bangalore has a huge floating population these days!!
(Image source: Times of India :( )

Art of Live in

Like i commented on Stone's post sometime ago, the makers of Salaam Namaste indeed did some pathbreaking stuff,as they have (apparently) made an entire Bollywood movie about live in relationships..whether or not it is a good movie is not within the scope of this post, but what is within the scope are live in relationships...of course, it goes without saying that the views are personal..

Without marriage there wouldnt be LIR (Live In Relationships, its a long phrase, cant keep typing it always).. the classification happened because of the institution called marriage.. Somewhere down the line, the wise men of the age recognised that society needs to be arranged in some patterns for it to survive, and the immediate higher unit after individual became the family, which (also)involved two individuals living together with the blessings of the law of the land.....

we are now in an age where convenience is the mantra.. from credit cards to communication through handhelds and home deliveries to old age homes, its all about how easy it can be made.. and therefore an LIR fits the bill perfectly, because from sex to apartment rentals, most of everything gets convenient... and i do agree, but with one lil reservation about an antique thing that does not have much relevance today - emotions...

we are perhaps seeing the first generation with an actual choice about relationships- live in or marriage.. i am wondering what a 'no emotional strings attached' relationship now would evolve into/result in, 30 years down the line when love and companionship might make a lot more sense... as with most other things in life, theres no second chance...

until next time, do we pass on live in genes to the next generation??

They may be dead...

But they still send me messages.. The last one i got was from Kishore,and a few days before that, i had got one from RD Burman... both of them messaged me for the same reason, that their songs were now available as ring tones, and all i had to do to was sms my choice to a certain number..i guess heaven must be a very costly place, for them to be actually selling tunes after their death... The mobile service providers must be surely making money out of this, and i guess they would be paying the record labels..

Now, do you think the above two eminent personalities, got anything from the record labels for the revenue their work would generate in the future.. because even royalties would be paid only on short timeframes like a year... but that left me wondering, we are now in an age, where we actually pledge our anticipated incomes for different purchases, in the form of EMIs.. so do you think that the artists, writers etc of this age are getting any money for the revenue their work would accumulate in the future.. what i'mtrying to say is that could RD Burman have anticipated the internet ormobile phones in an age when even telephones were a gizmo??so though JK Rowling has a share in the earnings on the internet, movies,palmtop devices etc, would she (for example) anticipate the revenues from 'Customised psychiatric sessions with your favorite fantasy character'..and even if she did, how many could she imagine?? thats what, i guess, they call loss in profit...
until next time, even royalty has limits....

Jammin' in Goa

No, not exactly, but yes, one of these days, i certainly will...a couple of posts brought back memories of the place, and hence the title..

the first one, by Mirage, brought a sweet wave of nostalgia, specially when she mentioned all the places we used to haunt.. oh yes, those were indeed the days.. i still believe that the immediate time before we get out into the world and be part of it as individuals who fend for themselves, both from a financial as well as a relationship standpoint, are the best possible days.. while we still might be suffering from doses of education,and the rough and tumble of assignments and tests, it still remains a time of at least partial abandon, coz you know dad is going to send the cheque next month too..:)

but the next one, that by an individual who works for the JAM magazine, also brought back memories of Goa (that was where i started reading JAM, and continued for almost 3 years), but accompanied by the rude awakening that as much as we like to think that the blogosphere is a mature entity, it is not always so, and sometimes the unpleasantness of the real world is dragged into it.. while i dont intend a detailed version of the controversy,in my mind, JAM has done no wrong.. but more importantly even if it has,the comments left on the post were in extremely bad taste...

and as people who have a stake in the future of blogs, it is important for us to drop in here, read about the subject, make up our mind, and offer our support.. because i think this is about an individual who seems to be doing something she believes in, and just because she happened to express herself, and that expression wasn't particularly pleasing to a group/institution, she shouldn't feel she has done something wrong, and more importantly feel isolated.. so do drop in, and for instructions on helping out, drop in here..
until next time, its Just Another Manuscrypts post!! :)

Its Party time..............

..but its nothing to celebrate, because its only a poliical parties we are talking about...

the first one is the proposed party by the CITU whose members would be from the IT and ITES communities.. and the name that i believe would reflect their objective best would be be SHIT workers - Stop Harassment of IT workers..now i am totally for the formation of an entity to protect the interests of the IT guys, but theres no need for CITU to be involved in it....

the second one has just happened at home, and the fact that its origins are in kerala is not the only thing that caught my eye.. while the founder, ex-congressman K.Karunakaran had initially wanted the name 'Indira Congress', the election commission felt it was too similar to existing parties, and therefore refused to give him permission to use that name for his party.. so, our man, not to be undone,tried to get permission for a new name, and got it!! and that resulted in the Democratic Indira Congress.. and the media went ahead and proclaimed that DIC was here,and in case there was a shadow of a doubt, there was a photo of a beaming Karunakaran, and just so it would be clear to everyone, as to who had founded the party, he made a minor modification to his party name, in contemporary style, and its now officiallyDIC(K) !!

and while speaking of acronyms, with the email scandal, injuries and the challenger series coming up, me thinks its not going to be easy being Bored of Control for Cricket in India..
until next time, GTG..:)

Massage Parlour

He was not exactly sure whether he should have come here at all.. the reason he was in two minds was because on the one side, he had felt the massage would do him good.. it was not exactly the best times of his life - a thoroughly competitive professional life, with all the perks like backbiting, idea hijacking, impossible sales targets etc, and a not so rosy personal life with looming problems like kids' education, lack of enough savings etc.. all in all, his confidence was at an all time low, and a massage would really do him good...

on the other hand,he had also heard a lot of not-so-encouraging things about massage parlours, about how they served as a front for a whole bunch of shady activities... he had been tempted to go for one of those which offered services at one's home, but he wasnt quite sure how his wife would react...But after the first few minutes into the place, he lost all his discomfort, because he was being treated like a king..

and although he knew he was paying for all of it, the sheer extravagance of the service floored him... while they gave him the initial generic massage,they asked him whether he would like to talk a bit about his professional life too, and as the conversation progressed, he felt a lot of his self confidence return... and as it moved further into his personal life, he felt that he had the solutions to all the problems, which a few hours back, he had felt were insurmountable...

a few hours later, he left the place, leaving a huge tip, and thanked profusely his good fortune,which had made him seen the ad on a rare lazy sunday, and when he had finally made the decision to go to the place which boldly said 'Massage Parlour', and in little fine print said 'all kinds of ego massages provided'...
on a sidenote, is a belief that one has controlled the ego, also an ego??

until next time, alter the ego........