Thursday, April 16, 2009

Valid Excuses For A Pseudo-Break

I would be relatively inactive in blogosphere for the next fifty days. Various reasons are listed down later in the post. Have been fairly disciplined with the rule "at least one post per ten days" , exceptions being a couple of vacations when I was not in Bangalore. The reason for the rule was the observation that most of the blogs that are now dormant were marred with irregularity. Increasing gaps between the posts presaged the imminent death.

Many bloggers face a trade-off between quality and quantity, especially when pressed for time. So do I for the next 7 weeks. "Quality or Quantity?" is the question. I am going to use the management mantra of "Power of And" ; would screw both of them. There would be infrequent filler-posts that which would take less than half an hour to compile as opposed to the usual 2-3 hours and I would tag the posts as Fillers. I am totally non-committal about that though as of now. The bigger loss, however, would be the reduction in communication with fellow bloggers, which is even more critical for blogs that are as young as this. But then, there are reasons for going slow, which are :

1. LSE Exams: I've confessed my love for mathematics in quite a few posts. Economics is another very interesting subject and I would strongly recommend to have at least basic understanding of economics if you are interested to develop a better understanding of the world around you. Economics is not all about money, we have "Finance" for the purpose. Economics (moreover microeconomics) is about choices, how and why we make them. The principle of "diminishing marginal returns" made me trade the ninth hour of my sleep for Yoga everyday. We all know that Yoga/exercise is good for health. However, after reading economics, it sounds foolish not to do so, considering the marginal returns vs marginal costs analysis for one hour of Yoga vs ninth hour of sleep.

I am studying this very interesting course since last three years and have my exams in late May and early June. Blogging has ensured that this year my subjects at LSE haven't received the desired devotion until now and now is the time to compensate for that.

2. IPL: Being a logical Indian male in late twenties, I am supposed to be crazy about cricket and I am predictable here.

The plan is to use the laptop as little as possible for the next few weeks and I know that if at all I log-on to the net on pretext of blogging, all I would do is follow live matches on net. Can't stop myself from predicting a few outcomes though. Last year's winners Rajasthan Royals would not make it to semis this year; neither will Kolkata Knight Riders. I see two new entrants to semis this year: Mumbai & Bangalore. Chennai should make it too. I rank Delhi, Chandigarh & Hyderabad in that very order as probables for the fourth berth in semis.

3. Work Load: Two of my projects are expected to be launched in coming months. That should explain, I reckon. Besides, I've also committed two posts per month to my other blog here and posts there need more time due to the professional nature of the blog.

4. Expected rise in frequency of social gatherings: Almost all of my current friend circle was born between March to May. That includes all the males in our family too: Dad, Bro & me. Usually, none of the males being discussed here have any specail feelings about their B'days and a typical "Happy B'day" phone call goes like this:

The phone rings. B'day boy picks up the phone," Haan bhai. Bol do tum bhi "
Friend : "Kya kar sakte hain yaar. Angrejo ki dee hui bimari hain. Le lo happy b'day"
B'day boy, "Saalon ne mobile bhi banaa diya hain. Dhung se neend bhi nahi ho paayi hain aaj."
Friend, "Sahi baat. Kitne thuk jayenge aaj ?"
B'day boy," Dekhte hain yaar, chocolate me tarka sake office ke logo ko to sasta rahega mamla. Tum log bhi thoosne ke mood me ho kya? "
Friend, "Yaar khilaoge to kha lenge, but aaj nahi; weekend pe set karo."
B'day boy, "Haan, aaj wise bhi emotionaly drain ho jaate hain free me smile kar kar ke."
Friend, "Chalo thik hain fir. Bataa dena jo bhi ho."
B'day boy, "hmmm."
The call is disconnected.

Life, in this part of the universe, has mostly been simple.

Monday, April 6, 2009

So Far Away

Beautiful Joanna lays naked on the beach, sipping her Pina-colada from the crystal glass. Sky is blue and the water green. Waves come and go, and theirs’ is the only sound to be heard; cool breeze blows silently.

Ain’t this lovely, Sammy?” Joanna chirps as she takes the last sip. She lets the empty glass roll over by her side.

“Sure is, honey” comes the voice from between her toes. Sam continues to pedicure her.

“I wonder how far away I am from my natural self, the pure untouched soul, once born with only the basic instincts. I so wish I would know” her drunken words dream aloud.

“Ouch..SAMMYY!!!!”, she squeaked as Sammy pulled her toes, not gently at all. He pauses to think for a moment.

“You’re hurting me, Ouch …Ouch!! Stop it you monster, will you!! ” are Joanna’s angry pleas as Sam twists her feet.

Sam waits for less than a second this time and then he pricks the pedicure knife in her long pink toe.

EEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH” Joanna screams, louder than an animal, at the top of her voice as Sam leaps forward to shut her mouth.

SHHHHHhhh” Sam looks in her eyes and slowly slides his hand away from her mouth.

Joanna watches dumbstruck as tears roll down on her sunscreen covered cheeks. Her toe is bleeding.

Sam picks up the crystal glass and let Joanna’s blood drip into it, drop by drop. Bleeding stops after a while, sobbing too.

Sam shows her the quarter filled glass. Red looks good in crystal.

This far away”

Joanna smiles and pulls the towel on.

Friday, April 3, 2009

We The People

Scenario 1 : Two kids with their Mom
Mom : Sonu, Monu ! Come let's go to the Tagore Academy. There's an exhibition on Chola dynasty sculptures.
Sonu : Would there be any puppet show ?
Monu : Mom, why can't we go play football instead.
Kids sulk and then escape to the playground.

Mom learns that she was being foolish. Next day,
Mom: Sonu, Monu ! Let's go to the circus.
Sonu, Monu : Yay !!!!!!!!!
The kids start jumping around.
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Scenario 2 : A group of engineering students in the boys' hostel
Ramesh : Hey Guys ! I've a cool idea. Let's start watching "Bidaai" every day.
Shyam : Brilliant !!
Mohan : And we would watch "Balika Vadhu" after every dinner ??
Shyam & Mohan mail a morphed photo of Ramesh in Ghagra-choli to everyone in the hostel.

Ramesh learns that he was being foolish. Next Day,
Ramesh : IPL season starts tomorrow.
Shyam : I love those words.
Mohan pretends playing a cover drive with his hands. Shyam catches the non-existent ball.
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Scenario 3 : Election time in India
Politician : I promise roads, electricity and water to your village.
Voter1 : Yeah right !!
Voter2 : If not for those fifty rupees, I wouldn't be listening to these boring bluffs a hundredth time.
Crowd looks disinterested and not many claps and slogans are heard.

The politicians learn that they are being foolish. Next day,
Politician 1 : The community X is a threat. Look what they've been doing here....
Voter1 & Voter2 : He is so right !! Those b***rds need a lesson.
Deafening claps & slogan-shouting.

Politician 2 : The community Y has been suppressing you. I'll empower you .
Voter3 & Voter4 : He is our saviour. Those pigs would never be nice to us.

Deafening claps & slogan-shouting.


Politician 3: That businessman would take away your land. What's the use of jobs and progress.
Voter5 & Voter6 : God bless her. Let's chase that devil and his factory out of here.
Deafening claps & slogan-shouting.