Hsyteria deferred

the hysteria surrounding pending verdict of allahabad high court on babri-ramjanmabhoomi is deferred to our horror again. i say, if we have faith in our judiciary let’s allow it to take its own path. what say guys?

Hello world!

Welcome to my new blog. This is my first post!

Mahesh finds a new doubles partner in Lara…

After breaking up with long time partner Leander Paes and the Belarusian hunk Max Mirnyi, Mahesh Bhupathi has finally decided to settle for a Lara. Even though the not-so-straight-preferences of Mahesh & our scheme of plot, point directly to one Brian Lara, you got it all wrong, pal! This time it’s the ravishing former Miss Universe turned Bollywood damsel Lara Dutta. Bhupathi was claimed to be the apparent reason behind Lara dumping Dino Morea (a ‘who’?). The lady has been held responsible for the divorce between Bhupathi and Shwetha Jaishankar (another ‘who’?). The couple has of late given ample indications of their closeness, including hand-in-hand appearances at many award shows.

Then why the delayed announcement?

In a clandestine revelation, Lara’s confessional stated that she feared being Mahesh’s doubles partner, as it meant, performing the famous heart-wrenching ‘Lee-Hesh’ ‘chest bump’ after every volley won. To watch it on T.V. while sipping a health drink is one thing, but on the field, especially with a madman fuming with pride for ones’ nation, it’s one ridiculously insane act. PERIOD. What if the silicone implants get permanently distorted like what happened to Sania Mirza? No, it’s definitely not her cup of herbal tea.

Thus, it took a while for Mahesh to convince Lara, who decided to nod in approval only when a pleading Mahesh recited his wedding vows in filmy style.

“I, (Mahesh), take you (Lara), to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold (without any chest bumping) from this day forward, for better (Martina Hingis) or for worse (Rakhi Sawant), for richer (Neeta Ambani), for poorer (again Rakhi Sawant), in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”

P.S. When asked, Rakhi was very much excited to do the chest bumping thingy along with anyone except Mika Singh, sources said.

Heights of Selfishness!

Two schools of thoughts are vying with each other – – for my attention, which is usually followed by rationalization and giving them a logical conclusion.

Recently, I had come across reports that violence has flared up in Congo. In this month’s GQ mag, I came across a letter to the editor where the reader had written about an article that was published in an earlier edition of the mag. The article “Congo: The Horror” written by Ed Caesar.

I did a quick Google search and got the article, but what impressed me was that situation in Congo was given print space in one of the elite magazines’. My enthusiasm was however, short-lived as I wondered how many people would really care (as most of the people subscribing to this magazine would be the upper crest of the society). Then reality struck me; even if the above mentioned article had appeared on the front page of all the leading Indian dailies’, nobody would have cared. Even if someone did, what could they do? There is enough crap in our own homes, why worry about somebody else’s crap?

What Congo needs is action. What is being done right now is not enough. Empathy, pity and care are nothing but feelings that soothe our guilt of inaction and their contribution towards solving / finding a solution to Congo’s problem, is ZERO. However, there are people who have set up camps decades ago, dedicating their lives to helping the people (by setting up aid and medical camps) of Congo. We need more of them, very badly.

I am tired of writing about the inhumane horrors the fighting in Congo has brought about. You can do a Google search and read for yourself. But what caught my eye was that men are now being raped in Congo.

I had read some where that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Right now there are very few good people who are doing their bit, but they are powerless to bring about a change. Change is what the people of Congo need.

The colored people had played their part in the revolution that saw slavery being abolished and racial discrimination being made unlawful. But what I do not understand is why this racial discrimination is being perpetrated by the colored people on their own kind.

It reminds me of a line spoken by the protagonist in the movie “Hotel Rwanda” where he laments that the ‘whites’ have abandoned them to their fate cause they are nothing but dirt to them (whites). In the case of Congo, the world has abandoned it. Nobody cares about what is happening in one of the poorest countries of the world. Let them die. They are nothing but cockroaches. Apparently, it is good for us that these cockroaches are killing each other as the world becomes a better place to live in with fewer roaches.

Now about things more local in nature, I saw our Honorable Chief Minister, on TV, allotting crores’ of rupees at the drop of an hat, to build memorials, for two noted film and theater / music personalities who had recently passed away. I cannot comprehend how the CM can allot crores’ of Indian rupees for memorials. That is criminal waste of the taxpayers’ (our) money.

There are far more pressing issues at hand to deal with and that require such sums of money. Is there no one to question the rationale behind such idiosyncrasy? Why are we letting this happen, unless this is nothing but a gimmick and everybody is in on it, except me?

In another part of our country, another Chief Minister is on a mission to erect statues of her mentor, party symbol and of course, her statues all over the state; all at the cost of thousand crores plus to the exchequer. The law has somewhat woken up and put a halt to it, but there are strong indications that the government will get away with it. Substantial amounts of money have already gone down the drain.

I did not realize that India is such a RICH country. We spend billions to satisfy petty whimsical notions that do nothing but assuage the egos of such ministers. Lots of Indians are getting onto the Forbes’s Billionaire list. But, when you go deeper, it hits you like a Shatabdi running on nitrous. We are selfish. I might be wrong, but I read somewhere that India is a country that has the largest number of billionaire’s (includes both legal and illegal). Yet, we are a poor country, still stuck with the tag “developing nation”. I have been hearing that since I was a small kid. We have billions to erect statues and build memorials, but we do not have money to build proper roads, public sanitary facilities and put in place an efficient public transport system. I am not even going to bother to talk about the corruption that has saturated our lives.

In both cases, of Congo’s and ours, we have accepted it. The people of Congo are used to the violence as generations have born and died under the umbrella of war, accompanied by the violence that is unique to the region. We Indians, we have accepted it, cause we are so selfish. We go to work, earn money, take care of our family and enjoy life. We do not worry about our neighbors and friends, apart from the show of concern. How many people go out of their way to help out? Very few. What about complete strangers. We certainly do not give a shit about them, do we? Why the hell should I worry about them? I have got enough to worry about – my job, my family, etc. That is why we have Governments. Is it not? To take care of the welfare of the citizens as a whole. And what is the Government doing? It is taking care of itself. Nobody cares. Complains fall on deaf ears. Life goes on…..

Sometimes I wonder, whether India would become as lawless as a Congo or a Somalia. But if such a thing were to happen, I wish it would happen after my time. Long after I am dead and gone. See, I am selfish!

But wait. Can we change? Is there hope for humanity? Will the world awaken and bring about a change in Congo? Will India get rid of corruption and become a transparent, peaceful and an honest country to live in. I certainly hope so. Do you know why? I am SELFISH!!!

Product of intense surfing through the Official Attyachar site; when bored at work!

Coastal Treat – Fall 2010

Nirvāna is a central concept in Indian religions – ohh yes I enjoyed a bounty of the phenomenon recently. To free ourselves (me and my wife) from the mundane, we managed an escape to Bekal, a small coastal hamlet located at the tip of Kerala bordering Karnataka. Interestingly, the resort cottage we had booked was a namesake of the phenomenon…not bad.

Some 500 odd kms from Bangalore westwards, the blue Arabian sea makes rough roaring sounds when it hits the giant rocks in the shoreline of Bekal. A sound that proved to be soothing, wiping away the toxis decibels accumulated in a week of travel inside a city – huff, such a relief. Striking differences in the small beaches were noticeable in Bekal as it was hard to find tourists even to click a picture of us together….in a positive way, its heaven for someone looking to relax. Sun played hide and seek throughout the day as heavy monsoon winds hovered above the west coast regularly.

Opposite to the resort was the Bekal Fort, which was noticeable for more than one reason. Apart from being the largest in Kerala, the fort has a Hanuman Temple inside and an ancient Muslim Mosque nearby – bearing testimony of harmony. Googling would yield more information as fort premises has nil information about its history (though its caretaken by Arch. Survey of India).

The West Coastal Railway passing through most of the north Malabar presents a great spectacle. During our journey back to Bangalore, we chose to board a train to Mangalore and it was refreshing matching our expectations. Well, locomotives with their respective shed livery and Indian Railways has always fascinated me.

Small private beach areas and serene surroundings definitely makes up for the sub-standard connectivity to Bangalore and limited fooding and lodging facilities.

Will update about upcoming trips.

Debanjan

Thrilling Life of a Media Analyst!

Bean Avatar!

How Instant Can Google Instant Be ?

Well we all know how fast Google is. Better than most of the search engines are and it takes just a few Milli-secs to get your thoughts searched through huge bytes of data. As always Google is setting the benchmark of sorts in the race for quicker access to data you need.

Introducing Google Instant with the tag line “search-before-you-type” – well you may ask, what’s new in this? Many of us usually use ‘Google Suggest’ to get instant suggestions.. Google Instant takes this process a step further is my answer. Not only do you get the dandy suggestions, but u get the search page refreshed in micro-secs. Howzzat..

Here is what Google’s Blog has to say, “Instant takes what you have typed already, predicts the most likely completion and streams results in real-time for those predictions—yielding a smarter and faster search that is interactive, predictive and powerful.”

The screenshot below shows u everything and do note, it took Google just 0.05 seconds to go through about 134,000,000 results. Whoa!

Yesterday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt did hint about this change on his Twitter page (https://twitter.com/ericschmidt). 😛

All the speed with which we access data is a bit overwhelming sometimes, makes me wonder when Google or for that matter any data retrieval system/process will be faster than the human mind. Will discuss this in a future post.

So try it out here.. Google Instant and yes you can find a turn on/off switch on your top right hand side. If you want to switch the functionality off, then just hit the ‘Search’ button or the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard.

Verdict: I did find Google Instant handy, as you don’t have to hit that Search button no more. Just one question that crops up is: how accurate is the search? Hope not to get addicted to it though. 😛

Obama’s Fear of the Darkness a.k.a. Outsourcing!

Jittered by the sight of Indo-Pak duo Rohan Bopanna & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi continuing to make history at the US Open, reaching their maiden grand slam final, top seeded Bryan Brothers approached President Barack Obama, in an incognito summit, to put a halt to their winning streak. Obama was more than happy to oblige ever since he had a ‘big time’ complex with the Bollywood hunk John Abraham’s butt.

Consequence: OHIO BANNING OUTSOURCING

Reasoning: Discouraging the creation of jobs & profits in other countries will aid in hindering the progress of the developing nations, rendering them poor, fighting for survival!

“i.e. death of tennis, chess, soccer and snooker in the subcontinent. We no longer need to be afraid of the likes of Vishwanathan Anand, Paes/Bhupathi pair or even Pankaj Advani/Geet Sethi for that matter. Beware! Don’t stifle them in Cricket, yet. Then they may think of championing in other sports. Let them play cricket till we build up a ‘National Team’. By that time, even the stalwarts like Sachin & Sehwag will hopefully retire and hence winning wouldn’t be that difficult. Yes, We Can!” said an elated Obama after the hardcore threesome brainstorming session.

He also came up with a blinder of a speech by modifying some verses from Marianne Williamson’s book ‘A Return to Love’ saying, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is those third-world call centers who take our jobs away. It is our darkness (Precisely when it’s daytime for Indian call centers), not our light that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in every Americans (Screw the rest!). And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same (But don’t let those ‘Indian Slumdogs’ come up in life). As we are liberated from our own fear (outsourcing), our presence will automatically screw others and compel them to write their own epitaph.”