"Oh, You're Back?"

Life after IPL???

2008-06-03T02:03:00.006+05:30

This thought came into my mind couple of weeks back, when SRK’s team was making a way out of IPL and those TV Channels had already started asking about his team’s future. SRK said, he is gonna sit with his team and decide what patch work would this team require, at times he sounded like a CEO of age-old Indian Company who just announced a disappointing annual numbers and tried hard to prove his commitment to shareholders. Most of the franchisee owners must have started contemplating on some of the ratios like Dada’s Salary to Total Investment, Total runs taken Symonds to his age etc. I am sure these financial and non-financial ratios will change the face of their next outing. For the owners it would be return on investment, opportunity cost analysis and may be a future IPO.

Players, be it Royals or Chargers, would have started licking the h(m)oney they earned. Some of them would have already started searching marketing agencies for good deal in the next edition. I would not be surprised if The Hindu comes up with a cricket classifieds on Saturdays and on rest of the days. All Dravidians and Dadas will now start scouting for retaining their national team membership. Intelligent ones will now focus on such leagues than an entry into the national team, esp. the ones who are already in the hanging mode (in their respective national teams).

I never knew that cheerleaders exist in this world, I thought they were just a bunch of girls who comes with a dress-code and some crap in their hands just to get camera man’s attention. I am sure next year we will see lots of Indian cheerleaders, I really wish they keep the same dress code as their western counterparts. (Shhhh, don’t tell anybody; I was told by my friend that cheerleaders will be performing Bharathantyam in real cheerleaders’ costume, and that was main reason for me to watch Chennai’s first match in MAC Stadium).

IPL and cheerleaders had become a part of our life in the first couple of week of IPL itself. A recent event conducted by my Bank on one of the most relevant topics and in the best hotel in Chennai was a complete failure. Not many people attended the function just because Chennai team was playing decider that evening. Poor organisers we are, we never thought of this trap. Somebody even suggested, “Let’s call all the invitees to inform that the cricket match will be shown through-out the seminar and there will be cheerleaders, who will dance for flip of each presentation slide”.

We’re in to the second day after IPL. I saw NDTVs and IBNs still talking about IPL and announcing their new programs on IPL. You can definitely expect a program where the camera following new-finds of the tournament wherever they go and asking them is there any difference in the way you shit after playing so well in IPL???

Watching those matches (not all of them) was so much fun. This evening I ended up watching the same murder case probes and stories of fight for justice. Suddenly came this TV commercial of Zapak, with lingo “Cricket Se Aapko Kya Milaaa???”.

I switched off the television.

Onam with a difference

2007-08-29T23:10:00.000+05:30

Mind was full of Onam ever since my leave got approved in early July. Boss' unfortunate sickness and long leave had thrown shadows on my already approved holidays. Nostalgic Onam memories were back with more clarity when my mallu super boss allowed me four days of Onam at home.

It was a special train, and there was nothing special about it. Special trains are normally treated inferior to regular trains, may be the only context where the word ‘special’ had no significance. I was very excited about the whole trip; I was so happy that I did not even bother to say a word to the auto driver who broke my new bike’s indicator on my way to railway station as against my usual fiercest unparliamentary words in Tamil. I had already started celebrating onam in my heart. I was in the riverside, taking a deep dive into the water and not coming up for a few seconds, and swim across until I get tired, and tried swimming against the flow when I was out of tiredness. After that unusually long bathing session I would run to temple, at same time answering to questions like “when did you come? Will you be there until ‘naalam onam’(fourth day of Onam)?” Etc. I will have quick round of prayer session in temple and get back to home. Amma would be waiting with breakfast. Breakfast will be served with chides for not drying hair properly after the bath. Have a quick bite and go to moola (a place where we friends meet). Then it was full of onam preparations like plucking flowers for next day’s pookkalam, making ‘thrikkarappan’ for thiruvonam, planning thiruvonam activities etc etc. Then rush back to kitchen and help amma in preparing banana chips and ‘pulinchi’(a dish prepared using tamarind), cut vegetables for ‘Aviyal’ and feel the smell of onam special dishes.

I was so occupied in these thoughts that I didn’t realize that my special train has not even come to the station. The delay put pressure on my already tight schedule for next day at home. When the train was rolling in to the platform I was literally shouting at the loco engine for being late. At last train left the station, 2 hours late from the scheduled departure time. The news of strike for new Salem railway division came as a blow to my Onam dreams. I had not even reached Erode when I was actually supposed to be in the bus to my home from Shornur. Somebody said all trains in the route are blocked due to the strike.

Finally I reached home late by 8 hours, Onam excitement had transformed to a kind of happy screaming while entering my village premises. It was 2 in the after noon when I reached home, and I wanted to have a bath in river as against what a normal person would prefer to do at that time. Took towel & soap and rushed to river. There was no water!, Of course there was some, but not what I used to see during Onam, and not something I was dreaming about over the last one month. There was no diving-in or a satisfactory swim to the other side of the river. I somehow managed finish bath and got back. Next in agenda was meeting friends. I Knew that there were not many now, all have started implementing “Quit India” after 60 year of independence. Of late all my friends were targeting jobs outside the county (the Gulf) and many of them managed to get that. I found it real hard find a couple of the remaining. Sad-fully, those Onam discussions and joke sessions were replaced by drink-meetings in the nearby bars and there were nobody at village library and ‘moola’, where we used to spend hours during Onam.
Amma told me with sadness on her face that she did not want to celebrate Onam this time due to grandmother's demise last year. I could see her disappointment for having told that to me, since it was after quite sometime I am coming home. This time she did not prepare onam special banana chips. she had bought it from Devassi’s shop. There was Onam special lunch but it did not have the taste and feel of Onam. Whenever I went out, I hardly saw anybody in the streets, there were no ‘kummaattis’, no friends to plan thiruvonam; everything was missing. I was forced to join the league of those who celebrated onam in front of television. May be next year will also be like, may be the years to come.

I remember to have read this somewhere; “Onam is heart-full memories of how you celebrated it in your childhood than the festival itself. It is best enjoyed when you cherish those days”. How true???

Memories of I-Day

2007-08-15T23:40:00.000+05:30

Until I lost interest in sweets (hereafter ‘Mittayi’), Independence Days were so much fun. I used to dream of a divine power taking incarnation just to distribute Mittayi to all kids of which I get the most. Independence days were actually my dream-come-true days. Look at this, everybody down the street distributes sweets of different types, of attractive colors and tastes that too for no reason. At least I didn’t know why they are being so generous “just for a day”. Being ignorant to the reason was ok with me, as long as they distributed the mittayi on time.

“Independence day season” always started with a trouble, in the first week of Aug. Every year, our class teacher used to ask us to prepare a flag/Country’s Map/list of freedom fighters etc. Ingredients for a flag used to be; green leaves (for green color), a white paper, BJP’s flag (for saffron), navy blue color pencil, cooked-rice-as gum to paste the paper to-, and a stick …But I must say, doing it every year was unexciting, even Pingali Venkayya would have found it boring. But the thoughts of the “mittayi day” ahead made me forget the boredom and compete for becoming the maker of the best flag so that I will get a special mittayi as prize.

The function in my school used to start only by 10 AM. By the time it started, we had to cover a large area consisting of NSS Office, BJP/Congress/CPM party offices, balavadi (nursery school), Co-operative Society, Madhavettan’s Tea Shop (Chaaya-Kkada), Jupiter Club, and Pallissery LP School. As I mentioned earlier, these mittayis used to be of different color, flavor and size. The most common of them was an Orange flavored, round one. It was very hard; I liked it very much just because it lasted for unusually long time, unless i crush it as soon as i “throw” it to my mouth. I never faced the problem of plenty; my unending love for mittayis was so irritating for all (sweet-Gods of Independence Day) that I always tried for a second round collection.

That day I normally don’t take lunch. Where is the hunger anyway when you have stomach full of mittayis! Even if I am hungry, I used to postpone it as much as possible. According to Amma Independence Day is only up to Lunch, after that I should go back to my study and prepare for next day’s class. How stupid, no freedom even on Independence Day! I used to think.

I used to miss most of Doordarsan’s live telecast of Prime Minister’s address to the nation in Red Fort. The only interesting thing in that speech happens when the PM finishes it, where he will speak out loud “Jai Hind” thrice which kids gathered around repeated after him. The rhyming was so good that, even now I wait to watch it in TV on Independence Day. Another vivid memory is of watching Independence Day special movies in TV. I remember to have seen “Roja” at least three years in a raw.

Things have changed a lot now. I did not think about making a flag, or attending the flag hoisting ceremony in the beach. I just browsed through TV channels covering the Independence day celebrations across the country, watched the movie “Chak De India” in line with the Independence Day mood, an amazing lunch and pleasant sleep in the after noon,

Just like any other holiday.

A long “long-seat” journey!

2007-02-09T11:52:00.000+05:30

This post is pending for a long time in my draft folder. Context: My journey to home for Christmas, Scribbled down in my notepad while traveling from Thiruppothur to Dharmapuri.

I refer to the same long seat in buses, which is normally occupied by ladies, in Chennai, and school-college students and established drunkards, in my native! This seat is normally ignored by the pilot, i mean the driver! Regular Occupants of this seat are the real pain takers and victims of the even minutest speed breakers in the roads.

I was always fascinated about this seat. Because it gave a bunch of advantages apart from the natural benefit of getting trained on how to survive or balance oneself in sudden tremors or minor earth quakes. Sitting in this seat will give you a holistic view of happenings in a bus. If it is an empty bus, you can see, what a driver can also see. Being able to see something, which our savior is seeing is really great, isn't it? This view has significant importance if you are traveling in Thrissur-Kodungallur route buses. A rear view is just a turn away, if you are sitting in this long seat. And if the bus is crowed this seating position gives you better access to beautiful school and college girls, who make a back door entry! Better access to girls has nothing to do with what you think right now. This situation used to be really useful in extending your helping hands to those school girls who are standing by holding their huge bags until their destination. To and from school journeys in “Kissan” and “Delight” buses were thus enchanting experiences!

Another interesting thing about this seat is the established drunkards, who prefer to sit here even the whole seats in the bus including that of driver is free. They enjoy sitting there, holding on to an imaginary pole. For each speed breaker, they jumped from the seat as if the liquor inside has transformed to some coil springs on their ass! After each such speed breaker, they will laugh (a clear indication of how it feels to be drunk). This unusually lengthy laugh session will be followed by some ancient, historic unparliamentary words and curses on the driver.

Every year during December end i wished to travel back to home. It is the time of the year i get to meet my old college-friends. This time it was more special since i was itching to see my 3-month old niece, Momo. My efficient time management and planning skills resulted in no available tickets either in buses or in trains. I decided to go to Koyambedu bus stand, thinking that one heavenly ticket agent will fall up on me and offer a ticket to Arattupuzha (that’s my home). Unlike the previous occasions, i did not see any such agents around. I managed to get hold of one of the regular agents. Asked him for a ticket and i don’t how i managed to escape from his exasperating look at me. The only option left for me was the government busses. In this 15-hour journey, I traveled in 9 different buses and I don’t know whether it’s a coincidence or destiny, I ended up sitting in the long seat in all these buses. What an occasion to hate the beloved! I never knew that my fascination towards this long seat would make an abrupt end with this Christmas trip to home.

if she needs me....

2006-06-30T16:46:00.000+05:30

It’s raining outside, heavily. Atmosphere has become slightly colder, adding to that AC in the office. I used to play in rain when I was kid. But now am bit hesitant in going out in the rain with out umbrella, even with umbrella. I opt to enjoy the rain with out allowing the raindrops touching my body. Went and stood in the balcony to meet my old pal. I remember, last October, it rained heavily in Chennai. It was working day, went up to the Bus Depot, then changed the plan and came back to room. After that, Me Babu, BigM and Kama went for ride in East Coast Road. We drove about 20 kilometer in that heavy downpour. That was the last time I went out in rain. Today’s rain is also tempting, but cannot go out now. It is only 4:30 now and am still in office, have to be here at least until 6. But rain did not let me avoid her. She traveled on the wings of wind and touched me. For each raindrop falling at me, I took one step back. Finally, I surrendered and decided to go back to my desk. Within five minutes after reaching my desk, I shutdown my system and left the office.

Why should I say no to her, if she needs me?

India’s Chances of Winning World Cup 2006, Germany!

2006-06-16T18:08:00.000+05:30

Indian Fan 1- Khaitan
Indian Fan 2- Crompton Greaves

Khaitan: Da when are the India-brazil and India England match being played??? I am waiting to see I M Vijayan and Ronaldinho playing together. Has
Baichung Bhutia's injury healed?

Crompton Greaves: India's first match is against Tunisia, which is on 11th.
next against England on 15th at 930 in the night. I think I will be able
to watch that match. and the last group match against the Biggie, Brazil
on 19th....am waiting for that grand match. heard Bhutia has
recovered and will be ready for the first match against Tunisia.

Khaitan: Where are these matches being held? Are you planning to go this time?

Crompton Greaves: India's all matches are being played in Munich, Stuttgart, which are
quite far from Frankfurt, where friend is staying...no am not going…may be next WC in South Africa, where India will surely lift the trophy!

Khaitan: Ok... What are india's chances?

Crompton Greaves: We have good chances against Tunisia. But against, Eng and Brazil
chances are 50-50. since India has been performing well these days, anything can
happen...lets wait n see

Khaitan: Yeah..... India will win against brazil also. Jo paul ancheri is playing...
He is better than roberto carlos in free kicks... And all this while he
has been the spearhead for Real Madrid

Crompton Greaves: Bruno Kutinjho and Deependar Biswas are also fuelling great strength to
the Indian Line-up. you should have seen the practice match they played against Italy.
Amazing performance by the Indians, otherwise beating a team like
Italy(with such a great defence) is impossible...

Khaitan: Any bongs in the indian line up???

Crompton Greaves: yeah yeah, there is a chap named Budhadeb Battacharya. He was an amazing dribbler. Anyway better than Ronaldinjho…

Khaitan: Oh... Is it so?? He plays for liverpool doesn't he? Or does he play in
the Italian League?

Crompton Greaves: you're right, he is in Liverpool. Another player from WB plays in
Italian League, I suppose he is in Juventus. don't remember his name.

Khaitan: But no one can beat deep dasgupta, india's goal keeper..

Crompton Greaves: I would say he is total waste, otherwise Poland wouldn't have scored a
single goal in last night's practice match against India. but he is
better than the reserve one's...I think goal keeping is one of the main
draw-backs as far as India is concerned!

Khaitan: The positive thing to note is that ever since maradona became india's
coach we have been doing well. Our world rankings have gone up to 14
now.... The main issue as u said is goalkeeping... They also considered
parthiv patel.. He has been playing in the J league for 2-3 years now.
But still they have taken pullela gopichand as the reserve goalkeeper.

Crompton Greaves: Yeah that's true, Maradona is the man behind this, he is just like
Chappel to the Indian Hockey Team. Heard they are bringing jonty Rhods
as a goalkeeping coach, is that true?

Khaitan: Yeah... The media has been creating lot of unnecessary hype about
rhodes. Yesterday rajdeep sardesai was saying that there is a
sponsorship issue. Dinesh Beedi is the official sponsor of the team but
it seems they have also signed Roja Paakku... There is a court case on
who the rightful sponsor of the team is

Crompton Greaves: I think DBC (Dinesh Beedi Corp) should get it, they have been sponsoring the team for the past 5 years. And moreover it is very important for
them to get this contract through since they are going to launch thier
Low-Cost Airline in second week of this month. Sponsoring Indian team
will definitly give some visibilty for their new business.

Khaitan: Even if india doesn't win this time its ok. It has already won the
football world cup so many times.. I remember the match in mexico 1986
when our strikers dasappankutty and eenaashu almost scored a goal
against argentina in the finals. But the referee showed them the red
card for being lbw and they were out.

Crompton Greaves: CV Paappachan also played really well in that edition of World Cup...
we had many such players in that WC. ……..Kurikes Mathew, Sanjay Gandhi, Kunjaalikutty, jyothibasu, Lala Amarnath and MGR...It was an
amazing line-up..

Khaitan: If u compare the present Indian team with that dream team u will find
that standards have deteriorated. Nowadays they don't even know how to
score a three-pointer and sometimes they also tend to get out too soon

Nanni: kaarnnore

Festival of Gods (Contd)-photos

2006-04-23T20:20:00.000+05:30

Blind Old Man

2006-04-20T12:56:00.000+05:30

I parked my bike and was walking towards the office. I saw a blind old man trying to cross the road. I went and held his hand and asked where he was to go. He said he wants to go to the "devaneya library" in the opposite side. And he wanted me to help him cross the road. I knew that it would take another half an hour to reach office if I help him cross the road. Reluctantly I took my hands off his shoulder. And said "Sorry, I am already late to the office, I will not be able to help you crossing the road"...

I felt so bad for not to have helped that old man...After entering the office I closed my eyes and tried reaching my seat. On the way to the seat I bumped against every possible things and people.

I realize how tough it is....

Festival of Gods

2006-04-19T12:20:00.000+05:30

The famous Sastha Temple is situated it Arattupuzha, a beautiful quiet village located 15 km away from Thrissur Town. This small village celebrated its annual Pooram Festival during the second week of April. The antiquity of this temple dates back to 3000 years. This temple has been the host of the most ancient and well-known yearly "Devamela" (Pooram, a festival when all gods and goddesses assemble) at Arattupuzha.

Arattupuzha Pooram, the most renowned as festival of festivals is one of the most ancient festivals of Kerala. The grand assembly of Gods similar to 'Srivaikuntam', the holy dip in the presence of Lord Kashi Viswanathan and Godess Ganga Devi and the divine presence of all forms of Gods(Yaksha Kinnara Gandharva Pisacha Rakshoganangal etc) are the uniqueness of this festival

The festival commences 28 days before Devamela, when the flag post is being erected in celebrity at Cherpu Bhagavathy temple, and flag hoisting is also performed at Thiruvullakkavu Sree Dharma Sastha temple also. The arecanut tree is chosen as the flag post, The whole process from cutting the tree to hoisting the flag is done in the presence of devotees with great reverence. After this flag hoisting, a great festive mood spreads in all other temples which ultimately culminates at Arattupuzha pooram. It is believed that the Gods shower their blessings on the devotees with their presence of divinity. The rituals as well as ceremonies of the pooram are of great 'Tantric' and 'Vedic' importance. With the whole-hearted co-operation and participation of the community and devotees, the pooram has attained the new heights.

Will Upload some festival photos later....

OM SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI

2006-03-22T07:27:00.000+05:30

Traveling everyday from home to work & back is indeed a stressful experience given the increased number of vehicles in the road and the terrible weather condition. I felt I am always unlucky to have caught-up in almost all traffic signals on the way to office. I am spending almost 2-3 hours a day in traveling, which would actually take hardly one and half hours if there were no heavy traffic in the roads of Chennai. With this thoughts ringing in my mind, I decided to try something unique while traveling. Meditation!!! Yes, I am going to meditate.

After all those good morning SMS, songs in Sun Music & Zoom, News in NDTV and, sumptuous breakfast (everyday it is Dosa and Chutney for bf ;-)), I along with my friend Praabhu headed to the place where I spend most of the time, my office. Everyday we try to catch a limited stop bus, which will take us to the office relatively faster. There is one more attraction to that bus; a Lady drives it. She is really fast but the problem is that she has a tendency to honk frequently and apply sudden breaks. I thought this would cause distraction for my proposed meditation exercise. So I opted out that bus. Got into the next bus, which was relatively free and I got a seat somewhere in the middle.

I was back in the “Road of Reality”. All the energy, composure, and motivation started evaporating on seeing the traffic. My tolerance levels seem to fade very fast but I controlled myself. The first traffic signal is passed-by and I thought it’s high time I started doing “the exercise”. As I was trying to get into the world of tranquility, the noise of the horns and the crowd in the bus woke me up. I decided to resume meditating after the bus crossed Adyar signal, till there traffic used to be at it’s peak. In the mean time I browsed through the small note containing tips on “how to mediate?” which I collected from various websites.

Once the Bus crossed Adyar fly-over I closed my eyes, and made myself comfortable by loosening the muscles. Initially I struggled a bit to concentrate but slowly started falling into the world of serenity. I imagined myself as a rock in the midst of an ocean (as I was supposed to do according the tips on meditation). Waves arise; they dashed the rock several times. The rock is unaffected, calm, tranquil, peaceful and serene. That was the last thing I could remember, I didn’t know what was happening around me. After some time I felt somebody is tapping my shoulder. I vehemently tried keeping my eyes closed, as I didn’t want to get distracted. The gentle tap turned to be a sturdy shake. I had no way other than opening my eyes. I turned back to see who woke me up from the world of tranquility. It was Praabhu, my friend. He said, “Bus stop has come, lets get down”.

As we both were walking towards the office from the bus stop I gave myself a mental pat for having meditated for more than half an our with out any distractions. I told Praabhu what I was doing and how happy I am on this. He smiled gently and told, “Actually you were snoring”.

"Meditation is an effort in the beginning. Later on it becomes habitual and gives bliss, joy and peace." – Swami Sivananda

En-Route My Village

2006-03-09T11:40:00.000+05:30

“It was Hartal yesterday”, told the Auto driver who took me from Thrissur Railway station to home. The reason for Hartal was not so surprising as I am used to such “Silly Hartals” in Kerala. This time it was against American President George Bush’s India Visit. My home state is going global, thanks to all behind this.

It was first of my three-day visit to hometown, Thrissur. The place is beautiful and affable as ever. I couldn’t sleep after Palakkad, which is around one hour before Thrissur. I bought a Malayala-Manorama and relished a hot (paper) cup of tea while the train moved fast towards “my home”. Chennai-Trivandrum mail-which was late by one hour-reached Thrissur station by around 6 in the morning. I was engaged in a small chitchat with the auto driver, by the time auto had crossed the Railway Station premises. The road was empty except for the vehicles carrying vegetables and fruits to the nearby market. I asked the driver to go to the market so that I can get some fruits. On the way to the market we passed-through the Municipal Bus stand, which is located in front of the South Gate of Famous Vadakkumnathan Temple. The temple looked amazingly beautiful in that early morning. After buying the fruits I continued the journey in the same auto. My home is on the way to Kodungallur, which is around 35 Km from Thrissur. Believe it or not, Thrissur-Kodungallur Road is considered to be one of the fastest bus routes in the World!

I am very familiar with that road, through which I had traveled countless number of times. I wish I had a camera to capture those beautiful sights en-route my home. It was like a stream, which took different shapes but always looked beautiful. Here comes the Sakthan Tampuran Bus Stand named after the famous King of Cochin State. Before seeing Koyambedu Bus Stand I thought this one is the biggest bus stand in the world. It could accommodate 48 buses at a time and there was parking space for the same number. Iyyappan (read e-yya-ppan) Soap Company is a kilometer away from the bus stand. This Company is more than 100 years old; they are into detergent soap manufacturing. It was surprising for me to know that the Company is surviving in spite of the competition from the FMCG majors or vice-versa. No FMCG Company can match their rural distribution network. The next major attraction is the place called “Chevoor”, which is known for its furniture industry. Every home in this 2-kilometer stretch is a manufacturing unit and adjacent to the home there will be huge showroom. Moving on I crossed my school, nearby temple and the large
paddy fields.

Arattupuzha is the name of my village, which is located 15 Km away from Thrissur town. It is famous for the Sree Sastha Temple. The antiquity of this temple dates back to 3000 years. Also, this temple has been the host of the most ancient and well-known yearly "Pooram" (a festival when all gods and goddesses assemble) at Arattupuzha. The road that leads to this place is 2 Km towards east from the Thrissur-Kodungallur main road. The tarred road was over and the driver started cribbing about the pathetic village roads. As soon as I reached home my Amma started complaining about my Tummy, which has grown “disproportionately” over the last six months. My Ammavan (uncle) had a doubt that I am taking beer frequently. I managed to get out of the place saying that I want to go to river. It was the best time of the year to enjoy the bath in the river since it was full of water and slightly cold. I swam across the river once with my friends, who continued swimming a couple of times more. I was tired after the first round itself, may be an effect of banking job (joblessness).

Time passed-by very fast and it was time for me to leave. I couldn’t believe that I spent three days in home. I played cricket, football and even golf (in the paddy field), went for second show, ate, drank and did everything possible, but still not satisfied. And while coming back I saw a procession by one of the political parties. Slogans were beating the bus-horn; they were proclaiming their “war against terrorism”. A group of ten people, fighting for World Peace.

Truly God’s Own Country!

Rs.10 lakhs for one hand!

2006-02-27T16:43:00.000+05:30

Interested?

The Shiv Sena Has offered ten lakhs rupees to anyone who chops off the hands of famous painter M F Hussain. The artist’s recent painting, which portrays “Mother India” in the nude, is the issue. Recently an UP minister announced Rs.51 Crore for anyone who beheads the Danish cartoonist who caricatured Prophet Mohammed. These are voices of someone whose religious sentiments have been hurt. Now these announcements and protests have become a daily affair in India. Indian media is celebrating all these protests by conducting hours long discussions, and SMS polls. Latest of the lot is Jessica Lal’s murder case. One channel received around 2 Lakhs SMS on this issue. I feel, apart from finding its place in discussions and SMS polls in news channels, these protests achieve nothing commendable. But the issue of Jessica Lal’s murder case and the acquittal of the people involved is turning out to be a different one.

The nation-wide protest is lead by some of the news channels along with some organizations. But did you notice the ignominious silence from the politicians of India? They are the people who are supposed to represent the public in fighting against such injustice. The speechless politicians, who had opinion on every damn thing around them, make the protest from the public and the media a different one. I think this is the first instance where our politicians don’t have a view! Reprehensible it is!

Ironically this parliament has the maximum number of young MPs, even these young ones are not ready to give their views on this issue. No one is expecting them to come out to the streets and lead a demonstration against those criminals. But there has been total silence on this issue from all political parties. The public should protest not only against the verdict on the case but also against the politicians who have gone speechless over the past few days.

The Question is; how long will this campaign last? And will this campaign serve any purpose? Even though it was money-spinning issue, channels did a good job in this case. Their hours long discussions and frequent updates created an opinion and they could succeed in making people aware whats happening in our society. But the forthcoming Budget is going to push this case from the news-desks to the dustbins. The public outcry will take an abrupt stop here and in-turn it will become Jessica’s family quandary. This is the fate of any socially relevant issue in India.

Jessica…May you Rest In Peace!

a love story

2006-02-16T13:07:00.000+05:30

Oh My God!!

2006-02-15T15:44:00.000+05:30

During the last couple of weeks we have been watching and reading a lot about prophet cartoon fiasco. Now it is the turn of Hindu Goddess Durga to be taken to the protests & debates. A disco bar in Athens, Greece displayed posters of Goddess promoting a Whiskey brand. With this the “Balon Oriental Disco Bar” has invited troubles and fury from the entire Hindu community. But the most surprising fact is that the disco bar has been using this poster for the last three months and all the efforts by the local Hindu bodies went futile.

The immediate response of my colleague on seeing this was “why don’t they do it with Jesus?” but mine was something different. I was trying to find out, which brand of whiskey is Durga holding in her Hands. It doesn’t mean that I am totally insensitive to such issues. Of course I protest. I am cursing who ever behind this, ‘silently’ (coz, I know its going to be of no use). Such acts will stir up communal hatred and violence. What would have happened if Jesus was shown with such stuff in public places?, it would surely promote anger and hatred in the mindset of people because religion is very sensitive in nature, and it has to be handled carefully. The recent Prophet cartoon issue is a good example in this scenario.

In the next couple of days this issue will brew-up in all kinds of media in India and abroad. Overnight this whiskey brand is going to be in international news. That is what the promoters of this brand want to happen. This is not an unknowing act, but a deliberate one. But they would be hardly bothered about the consequences. Nobody is going to stop consuming liquor for this reason. The possible punishments are closing down that Bar, banning the Brand of whiskey in India, and…. that’s all!! The whole purpose of giving such a punishment is that, such acts should not be repeated. But will this have any effect on Goddess Durga, who is considered to be the manifestation of extreme beauty and lethal powers?

I believe there are lots of issues in India, which requires immediate attention. Of course acts like this are condemnable but it should not waste precious time of youngsters in demonstrating against the culprits and destroying the public properties.

Friends, come back to reality…Did you know, India’s fastest train went on tracks today? India is moving fast; let us not go back to the epoch of Lords!!

Soaps and top 10s

2006-02-08T16:00:00.000+05:30

TV watching can be an experience, now that cable dealers have got more than 50 channels to offer. You want live India/Pak cricket matches, Koundamani/senthil comedy or a detailed report on Reliance Brothers fiasco by Rajdeep Sardesai, all you have to do is flip through the channels. Any given time, you are guaranteed to watch “Devooda Devooda Ezhimala Devooda”, of Superstar Rajnikant in one channel or other. All channels have its prime time TV serial shows, which are boring to death. I don’t understand how my mother managed to tolerate them. The stories are so complicated that even Stephen Spielberg would love to copy them. I remember to have watched one such episode 6 months back. When I watched the same serial yesterday, I couldn’t find much development in the story line.

Most of the time there will always be a top 10 countdown going on in some channel or other, except that each channel has its own top ten list. I think, the top ten saga became very popular with “BPL Ek Se Badkar Ek”, which appeared in DD many years back. Now that almost all channels have more than one top ten lists for songs and one for movies. Music channels are the main contenders in the top ten races. The phone-in program is another thing, which deserve a special mention here. SUN network’s Sun Music is intolerable these days because of back-to-back phone-in programs. Gone are those good old days of phone-in programs of “Pepsi Uma” and her ilk.

Nowadays they have a movie quiz also for the (unfortunate, I would say) callers. First thing the presenter would be telling the caller is to reduce the TV volume to the lowest level. Bloody hell, the whole purpose of calling to this program is to listen to my voice through TV and now that they are asking me mute down the TV. Here comes the question for you, which is the latest movie of superstar Rajnikant???…You must be thinking, “How dumb is she to ask such an easy question?” Wait wait, don’t conclude like that. The caller is even worse. She doesn’t know the answer. Here comes the clue…The Movie name has two parts, one is “Chandra” and another is “Mukhi”. With a few seconds of thinking, “Got the answer, it’s “Chandramukhi””, said the caller!!…. “Wow, very good answer”, said the presenter. Here comes the participant’s assertion (in Tanglish), I don’t watch Tamil movies these days, that’s why I struggled in the beginning. This conversation takes hardly 2 minutes then followed by the song. Nothing special about the song, that would be the 100 time you are watching it. What more can happen to a phone-in program?

That's Funny!!

2006-02-03T13:25:00.001+05:30

Everyday I wake up looking at a daily sheet calendar in the drawing room (yeah I sleep there), with a picture of my friend and his wife smiling shyly at me. I got this daily sheet calendar when I attended their marriage sometime back, in November, I guess. It’s very common in Tamil marriages to gift something to those who attend the function; you will get a coconut (after peeling off the outer most cover) too. But a daily sheet calendar with photo “ just married” was something new to all who attended the marriage. After all its from a MBA brain; my friend who got married was also my MBA batch mate. We were taught in MBA “differentiation is the best strategy to be successful in a competitive market”. I think he just applied (rather tried) it immediately after finishing the course. But, where is the market? And who are the competitors? Ok, cut the crap...

Last Month was that time of the year when the stores doled out calendars to their customers and every second person who visited their shop. I remember, during school days I used to go to big textile and jewel shops just to get some calendars. Wrapping the textbooks and notebook using an on-going year calendar is something special; a “differentiation strategy”. Also by the time of New Year all books would have become messed-up and the brown-paper wrapping, which was done in the beginning of the academic year would have gone. So it’s better to get the books wrapped again otherwise you will end up in a punishment of writing “I will always keep my books neat” a 1000 times. This writing punishment used to be my class teacher’s (Raman Sir, my biology teacher) favorite one. Other modes of punishments include cleaning the black board everyday, standing up on the bench in all his classes (this is a good one), etc. Standing on the bench gives you far better view of the world,

Coming back to calendars. Normally “calendars of Tamilnadu” are characterized by Attractive fluorescent color (multi color) with a picture of some god or goddesses on it. Calendars here are very advanced these days. It provides hell a lot of information right from festival schedules to famous personalities’ birthdays, and Train timings to your “Marana Yogam”. You can find details on Tamil months, muhurthams for various auspicious occasions etc. Along with all the religious events and almanac specifics, one of the calendars, which I saw this year mentions that February 20th is ‘Selvi Jayalalitha’s Birthday’! Talking of birthdays, it was Rajnikanth’s birthday sometime in December and even though Bharathiyar’s is also around the same time (I Believe), he lost out to the celluloid star!

Surely, a sign of the time we live in.

nothing to prove!!

2006-01-30T13:35:00.000+05:30

I want a ticket to anywhere..
Maybe we make a deal...
Maybe together we can get somewhere..
Any place is better....
Starting from zero got nothing to lose...
Maybe we’ll make something...
But me myself I got nothing to prove...