THINSHARK

The Bard Signs Off

2009-11-03T15:10:00.001+04:00

Foreword:
Read on...

The Article:
11th August 2004 is still etched clearly in my memory. It was the dayI walked into the maze called ‘Sharda Center’ without knowing whereexactly I was going.
Coming from a string of small names, working with a brand ‘MBT’ wassomething I hadn’t realized would happen so soon. Little did I realizethat it was the beginning of a rather wonderful, intriguing, mindboggling journey that ends today. Today marks an end to one of themost enriching phases of my life in terms of both professional andpersonal growth
Starting as a subcontractor (C2995) the journey began with the i-MBTteam, easily one of the best teams and one of the most wonderful setof people I’ve worked with.The ever smiling Santosh Gokhale (I still haven’t figured out why hewas smiling all the way thru my interview) who taught me to navigate thru Sharda Center. The wise man Dinesh Velhal, Hrishikesh Das (DasBabu), Abhi, Nishit, GaG, Sunil, Spanati, Amey, Anoop (Guptajee),Niladri (Tan), Snigdha, Poonam, Nivedita and not to forget VarshaMehendale (the best manager I’ve worked with).
Somewhere in the middle of all this on 5th May 2005 I came on payrollof MBT (10978).
We were infact the first team to be moved to what we called Kalapaniduring that time, what is now known as Panchsheel. A couple ofarticles written by a couple of us during that time will give you afair idea of what it was during that time. Yet we survived ... theroads, the arduous bus journeys from Sharda to Panchsheel, the 5 floortreks (there was no lift in the Panchsheel building when we moved).Gradually each one of moved out of the project to go our separateways. Komodo, AHAK, Antya, GaG were born during that time, and sowere thinshark and fiteklub , the blog wars, the incessant banter issomething none of us will ever forget.
I still remember the time when I got married. Tan, Amey and Abhijitused to draw on my whiteboard on my desk. A man hanging from a noosewith a caption ‘x days to go’ with x being the number of days as acountdown to my marriage. And when I came back from leave all I saywas a man hanging from the noose. Guys, that was pretty prophetic.
The last of my assignments on i-MBT was the rechristening of i-MBT towhat you now call ‘Spectrum’.
Then came the shift from .NET to Siebel, frustrating at first andthen interesting and intriguing and pretty enriching finally.Work pressure, and more work pressure, a new horizon , new challengesand roles were a hallmark of this stint, a stint that ends today.
Was lucky to have met some really interesting people as well during this time.The ever so humble, Sanjay Tajne and Ravi Natekar ... immensestorehouses of knowledge, the people who helped me grind my teeth inSiebel.Jaisith, Achal, Rajitha, Raveendra, Pramod Patil, Pritam, ManojPatil, Avinash Burgula, Dhaval, Vishal, Lokpal, Anindo, SudhanshuAgashe, Ambrish Raval, Priyadarshani Jadhav, from Pune ... all uniquein their own way. Many forgettable ones as well, hence forgotten. Manyother interesting persons from each of whom I gained a unique outlookabout life. Each a gem, it was really a pleasure to have known themall.
Then the move to Bangalore for reasons now known to a select few.
More pressure and more interesting people. A totally new mindset, atotally new life. The entire T2R team, again one of the mosteffervescent teams I have worked with. Specially people like Bimal,Vinod Nair, Vinod Bagi, Vikranth (Wishing him a happy married life),Anil and his entire test team, Duttsaab, the 3 Rajesh’s (Naik, Mysoreand N) who are great friends. Bhagwan , Bharat (never seen him getangry). From all these people I’ve learnt something or the other.
Then a short stint with Huawei and a special thank you to Vinod Vermaand Ravi Charan without whose support I could not have survived one ofthe toughest phases in my personal life. A special thank you to bothof you.
I have had the opportunity of working under the best managers andworking for the best people in this organization, this note willdefinitely not be complete without mentioning the contribution ofVarsha Mehendale, Vivek Takawale, Vaijayanthi Rangarajan, HrishikeshDas and Sushil Kurian without whose guidance and mentoring thisjourney would not have been so enriching and easy.
Also the Techmate editorial group , the journey from a 2 membereditorial board to what it is know. These are the people who made lifebearable in times of crisis and pressure. Hawkeye, TP, Mav, Mystique,Nirvana, Ramlal , Omshafu, Saricaustic you guys rock.
As I look back on the last 5 years, I realize that I have gained a lotof experience, am enriched. There’s a fond wish that this journeycould have continued further but there comes a time in life where youhave to make a choice. This is the choice I made, and as I now set tostart life afresh (sometimes life leads you and you do not end uphaving a choice at all ;)), I would like to thank all those who havemade this journey worthwhile. Without you all this journey never wouldhave been possible.
29th October 2009, As I look around, I realize that from tomorrowonwards I will not walk these corridors again, something I felt that Imoved to Bangalore, but then this is what it is with Tech M. It growson you. It has become a part of me, something that will be confined tomemories from tomorrow. Something that will be a cherished memory fortimes to come. A part of me feels bad to leave behind something I’vealways held close to my heart while another part of me is ready totake flight towards a new horizon.
To all those who were a part of me in this journey I wish you ‘All theBest’ in life. Be true to yourself and you will achieve what you want.
To all the rest of my friends (Juri , Reuben, Kanchan, Amar , Ranji,Dr Manish … the list is mighty big it might take a further page but Iguess they got the message),a big thank you for tolerating myidiosyncrasies, all of you will be sorely missed.
I carry fond memories from this place, and the time spent and friendsearned during my tenure here will always be special… veddy veddyspecial…J
And to the select few who managed to decipher me in these 5 years… ‘S’long and thanks for all the fish’ :)

Swine flew over the cuckoo’s nest

2009-08-13T08:19:00.003+04:00

What this place’s infested with:
1) Tourists (Flying about)
2) Swine (Complaining... probably)
3) Tourist swine (Flying about and complaining)

What this place isn’t infested with:
1) Decent medical infrastructure
2) Does anything else really matter?

So, basically… I’m shittin in my pants… but then considering I’m in the cuckoo’s nest, this seems to be fairly acceptable behavior and not symptoms of the "flew".

The Storm

2009-08-12T06:04:00.002+04:00

Darkness, my lovely shroud of comfort
protecting me, while unveiling me
permitting my hollowness to swell
to rise, to be seen

A costume providing no cover at all
yet calling, so lulling
everyday for me if no one else
never failing, always present

I close my eyes and sink into your beauty
my abyss, my sweet surender
your calming nature is my soul's perfect pleasure
hold me, obey me

Envelop me in your arms
always, and eternity
I yearn for your gentle kiss
tasteless, and I savor..

I gaze upon five billion stars
so many, all lonely
One pivotal point alone on the Earth
so blinding, yet fading

Fervently, I scream out into the night
two eyes unseeing
everything appears imperfectly clear
rippled, yet flawless

Emotions run rampant with great speed and time
anger and loathing and resentment and .....love?
memories attack like a thousand tidal waves
I'm drowning, who will save me

The wind tears full on my temple
and harshly, so kindly
I welcome the pain, the adrenaline rush
resounding right through me

Then....The Thunder!!-the sky answers back
I'm here, I am waiting
Bolts and flashes like visions of truth
I can't take it, I won't make it

A shower errupts, I peer to the sky
It stings, I embrace it
The water I fear, erodes my facade
I want to keep hiding----now the lightning

Epiphanies from old, come claw at my face
the pleasure, so degrading
The chaos inside grows with the storm
inviting, yet so smiting

I feel my will rise like howls in the breeze
come and get me, wont you take me
I am your puppet--I do what I please!!!
I love it, I can't stand it

More desolate now than ever before
the drops drenching, my heart wrenching
such immaculate pain, just reciting my name
fragile whisper--so diminish

Then stopped the rain

Alone once again......

-Antya

Sickness

2009-07-31T10:49:00.006+04:00

I live in silence
yet my world is deafening
I exist alone
yet am surrounded by the hounding presence
of those that love.

Their love burns
and blisters
I turn my face from their tears
so as they cannot see mine gleam as well
And I shy away from their touch
only to find that they cower from mine.

I am a beacon of spirit
yet am crushed beneath the shadows of my sickness
the sickness that shuns the morning light
yet cries out when the moon glistens in the nights sky
constantly the pain is etched across my brow
but none dare to notice
as they dare not notice the slipping of my soul into the black abyss
the aching of my soul.

I cry out in the fervent night
when the darkened creatures show their beauty
beneath the night's starry hide
but I know none will hear me.

For I only cry within myself
and cast an emotionless gaze for the rest of the world to see.

It is my mask
and my curse to suffer in silence
while others go about in the wonders of life.

I am stuck in the shadows
alone,cold, barely breathing as the pain erupts
reminding me of the scars
from the pain i have endured over the years
reminding me
and telling me
laughing at me.

it is a message
it is my destiny
a destiny to be...
to be at one with the darkness

For never will you leave its comfort
its prison
you are but a slave to your pain
and are dead in a live body
and this is how it shall be
until the end

-Antya

...or is it being driven by someone else

2009-07-16T10:24:00.001+04:00

Sometimes one feels that the journey of life that they are on.
Is not going the way they want it to.
It seems to be going out of control
Making one anxious every step of the way.
Making one frustrated every sec of the day
Making one wait to go out of the way
For trying to figure out what can get life back on track.
But no matter how hard one tries,
One just can’t find reason for all this mental-chaos,
The fight with your own conscience,
The uncertainty that clouds ones decisions,
The relentless war with your spiritual self,
The battle of conscious vs sub-conscious mind,
All of this just doesn't seem to cease within.

When one feels that life is going out of control,
One doesn't need to look for answers anywhere else,
It’s all hidden deeper within.
How can this anxiety, frustration, restlessness be removed?
The truth everyone ends up ignoring is that,
At these moments, lifes actually not being driven by you,
You are that pillion, who feels he trusts the rider,
But ends up being uncertain and anxious all along,
Every mistake the rider makes,
It makes you regret your decision all the more,

You are that pillion, who is neither invincible nor unbreakable,
Who instead of enjoying the cruise coupled with beautiful sights on both the sides of the road,
Ends up being tensed and terrified all along,
Every mistake the rider makes,
It makes you want to end this journey as quickly as possible.

All one needs to do to be content and satisfied of this journey of life,
Is to become the rider,
Cruise smoothly through the journey,
Savour each and every moment of it,
Relish each and every ups and downs,
After all, it’s you who's driving it.

When one feels that the journey of life that they are on.
Is not going the way they want it to.
When one feels that life is going out of control,
All one needs to do to do is
To go in deeper layers of own self,
Connect spritually to one self, find peace and solace.
The journey of life then will seem all the more interesting and satisfying!

So, all one needs to ask oneself is,
Are you driving your life or is it being driven by someone else!

-Antya

Thank you

2009-06-17T08:52:00.004+04:00

I've been listening to a lot of new stuff lately...
new to me i mean... the stuff isn't exactly new... not even close to new actually... grateful dead, bob dylan, chuck berry, hendrix and so on... (knew a bit about the dead and used to listen to hendrix quite a bit too, but now im like big time hooked)

occured to me, this is quite a bit like me in college... all curious, wanting to know about different bands, finding out new stuff all the time, generally in awe of the kind of geniuses the years gone by have produced... and then a while after college, it all seemed to go away... like i wasnt curious anymore, happy with the music i already knew about, not too bothered about anything else... content

that's a fairly decent state to exist in, but that's it... it's just a state of existence.

thank you for bringing back in me the side that was almost buried, almost forgotten... almost.
thank you... for reminding me...

p.s. ...grateful dead, bob dylan, chuck berry, hendrix in one sentence... phew... did i just write that?
anyway, just taking this post further random, the dead collaborate with dylan in one album (at least), the dead (like hundreds of others) played "johnny b goode" which is a chuck berry original, hendrix played dylan's "all along the watchtower" and played it so well that dylan started playing hendrix's version of his own song from then on...
but then that's hendrix for you, he apparently played "sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band" 2 days after it was released, and actually decided back stage to play this song or something like that. (that was me unnecessarily dragging the beatles into this post).
note, i havent written about dylan's "like a rolling stone" in this post and have not dragged the rolling stones into it yet :)

guess we can also thank the geniuses who shaped rock and roll considering this post is about thanking people anyway

2 down... ok, almost

2008-11-03T06:33:00.003+04:00

I started following cricket when I was 8. So it's been 18years now. Thats how long Anil Kumble has been playing before he finally went out, as he said, on his own terms.

How about that for a void...

I grudgingly admire Ganguly too... the change he brought about in the team and all that... but I guess I'll leave the writing about him to gag or one of the others who genuinely admired him right through.

The departure of the next 3 is only going to be more painful.

ok, lets not get all sentimental here now, that isn't something that happens on this blog on a regular basis. Look someplace else if you want tears, flowery language and all that.

On the practical side... Rohit, Badri, Raina are being billed as the future of Indian batting right?
Has it occured to anybody that the starts they have had to their careers have shown mostly flashes of brilliance and hardly any consistency?
And do they have quite the reputation in the domestic level right now that any of the big 5 had when they started out?

The new bunch sure is talented, attractive to watch and most of them do seem gritty as well, let's not take that away from them. The only problem is, they have very very big shoes to fill. With everybody being excited about the new look team after what they accomplished in Australia and Sri Lanka, the expectations are unrealistic. I almost pity them.

why3 (or is it 4?)

2008-10-15T05:58:00.003+04:00

Why do people have to have an opinion on,
1) Stuff they know nothing about.
2) Stuff that has nothing to do with their lives.

(1)
He: hey that isn’t a goal
me: (mildly surprised) huh?? didn’t you see the ball go between the posts, under the horizontal and into the side netting?
he: no, I meant that was offside...
me: offside? but look at that (replay on at this point). The leftback’s broken the line, the forward isn’t behind him, so it isn’t offside.
he: what nonsense? see where he is when he gets the ball, he’s far behind the leftback.
me: dude... it doesn’t matter where he is now, all that matters is where he was when the pass happened.
he: you obviously don’t know the rules, it’s when he gets the ball... (sees me sniggering)... oh, it’s when the other guy passes is it?
me: hahaha yeah...
he: ok, I got confused, thing is, it isn’t like that in hockey...
me: eh? I thought, there isn’t any offside concept in hockey, not sure, they might have brought it back...
he: (all charged up) no way... in hockey, there is offside, and there they see where the player was when he got the ball!!!
me: (half sympathizing) ok, watch the match now...

(2)
he: can you believe what srk said about ash... what does he think of himself?
me: huh?
he: who is he to say that man?
me: huh?
he: oh you dont know...
me: huh?
he: he said... he said... you don’t care what he said do you?
me: huh?
he: forget it!

couple of days later
(out of the blue)
he: jaya auntie gave him a good reply no?
me: HUH!!!!!
he: jaya bachchchan man... remember I told you about srk and ash...
me: huh?
he: see man, I don’t know what rajnikanth is doing, so I tell you about srk-ash...
me: huh?
he: oh, you don’t like him either
me: huh?
he: hey if you don’t like anybody in India, why don’t you go settle abroad... USA or UK or something
me: huh?

and then one day...

2008-09-10T06:31:00.008+04:00

Well... it’s been a while right? A few months at least. And to be honest, I don’t think I’m back so to speak.
Updates being, I moved to this place called Phnom Penh and have been having what can roughly be summarized as the best time I’ve had over a fair period of time in any given town.

I guess I belong to the category of people who have a saturnine view towards the present and not so towards the past. So going by that generalization, I guess it does speak a lot about the town eh?

Now for what I want to write about, like I told you, I’m not exactly back. I still prefer the quiet, the sit back and watch amused kinda lifestyle. But this, I had to put up. Was insane when it happened I tell ya.

For starters, I agree with most girls I know when they tell me that the flirting techniques most software dudes seem to possess (and seem to be convinced about it’s hit-rate) leave a lot to be desired.
for example, this is what happened today, this chap and me are walking down the corridor, and this lady who works at the client place turns up from the opposite direction. I go about the usual routine which has me midway between smiling and saying ‘hmmpfh’.
Anyway, our man goes “hi”
so she replies “hi”
he: how are you?
she: fine... (muted)whatev
he: that’s not a good reply
she: eh?
he: you should say, I'm always fine hahahaha

and you know that look people give right, when they think they’ve said something extremely intelligent or something, and they’re now giving you time to analyze whatever it is that they said, cause you aren’t intelligent enough to figure it out straight away... and so when you do figure it out, and you come up with a look of genuine appreciation, they’d have a kindly smile which tries to at the same time also be, marginally humble, consoling, encouraging and grateful (for the appreciation).

Well, he was trying to fit his face into the aforementioned look, and was beginning to seriously resemble a plateful of a cross between a scrambled egg and thick noodles.

Subtle... hahaha

And in the meanwhile, the lady looks at me like I AM SOMEHOW RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS.
I mean, lady, seriously, I don’t know if you got the idea from movies or something, but really, guys DO NOT discuss pickup lines (if you could call “you should say, I’m always fine” one).
I didn’t actually bother telling her that. I was more like trying to blend into the background, which being mostly glass walls wasn’t much help.

She probably was expecting a rational explanation from me or something. When she realized it wasn’t forthcoming, she decided to move on looking fairly amused.

And as we walked along, our man gives me the “now that’ll surely land her in bed” look.
I couldn’t help but retort with a “it’ll land her in bed alright, but not with YOU!!” look.

He probably was basking in his own glory way too much to be noticing second halves of sentences people’s looks are supposed to convey. So effectively, my look conveyed “it’ll land her in bed alright”. That probably glorified his achievements further. Made his day.
Or maybe he got the whole sentence and assumed I was just jealous. Similar results.

And the world goes round...

BAM

2008-03-21T06:18:00.004+04:00

First of all... our blog completes 2 years today. Yay!!!
We'll try and have a party sometime. Not sure the 3 of us are going to be in the same country at the same time anytime in the near future though. The party's on nonetheless... everybody's invited. Get in touch with one of the other 2 for details.
Other 2: make details up as you speak... should be fun that way... ok FUNNY at least... ok funny TO US at least.

There's also this other deal. Antya had forwarded one of our very old writeups a few days ago. The writeup is one our first few. Even before thinshark. Anyway, I dont think we'll be putting up that writeup here. Just that it was kinda nice in a way to see how much we've changed. We've really come a long way since...

This is more about myself actually. I wrote with a contempt then... even towards the reader. Without really giving a damn what he made of it. I'm not sure i care about it now either, it's probably just that i've mellowed down a bit... a lot...
I guess this has been pointed out by one of our regular readers once or twice as well. The good old bite missing and all that.

Anyway, i agree with the reader. i somehow prefer the old self. There was a joy to writing then... at least something to stand against... and vent. Now it's more like an air of resignation about things i guess... and the posts have gone a little too serious too.

So... to break the news straight away... i'm off... i'm taking a break. There are a couple more things i have to say... to question actually and that would be it for a while. Most probably a long while. Might even be permanent... who knows?

So for now, adios...

way to go

2008-03-17T06:30:00.003+04:00

Way to go Bangalore RC.

Red and yellow?
why don't you throw in some green? you can then call yourselves 'bangalore traffic signals'.

Should be marginally funny for someone watching you for the first time you know.

The sot-weed factor & misc

2008-03-06T15:30:00.004+04:00

That's the next book in my wishlist. The more i read about that book, the more i want to get around to reading it.

As for all those who thought this post was a joke with a reference to current affairs and all that, well, the joke is one you hahahahaha.

Have been reading too much heavy stuff lately. Time for something funny now...

See you around. Me heading out for some seafood in floating restaurants... ok not exactly floating, but they're on the sea and they kinda sway with the waves.
Man!!! Pasir Gudang is heavenly I tell you.

Make it a point to visit this place if you ever are in Malaysia, the food alone makes it worth it

The problem

2008-02-23T17:33:00.004+04:00

The major problem or one of the major problems for there are many...
ok lets not ape douglas adams here (again)

The real problem we're facing is that nothing of note has happened in our country in the last 20 years. Nothing major that could like occupy a significant portion of the average person's mind for significant parts of the day at least.

Everybody's bored.

If we make a list of people who're at a position of loss because of this, the first place would go to the media. The media's facing the brunt of it... hence the quality we're so used to.

The 'leaders' would be the next in line. Look at it from their point of view... You cant really generate a following unless you have people interested in what you're doing. And this isnt possible if everybody's bored.
I dont know what the best option a leader (or a wannabe leader) has available is. The option currently regarded as best by the people that be is embracing the absolutely ridiculous i guess.

How else can you explain northies being driven out of Bombay? If whoever's driving them out has a cause and a valid reason, then what was everybody doing all these days?
And then, if somebody's trying to get to power using a particular system, then doesn't the fact that he's imprisoned by that very system actually deal a severe, non recoverable blow to his chances rather than elivate him to the status of a pre-death martyr or sorts?
Incredible how people want to be imprisoned in the glare so that they get political mileage out of it.

Getting into prison doesnt make one a Gandhi or a Mandela. It doesn't make you Ed Norton either. But who's listening?

And then there's the left who's protesting against T20 cricket. WTF!!!! Where did that come from? What does T20 have to do with anything? Who are these morons? Who let them in? I'd love to know Ganguly's reaction to all this.

Anyway. This is the point where I (like everybody else in the country) get seriously bored... and also (like everybody else in the country again) ponder on the pointlessness of it all... and finally (like everybody else blah blah) realise that the everybody else I've been alluding to do not make the numbers in the country and hence are nobodys.

"The others" are happy. They're kept ignorant enough to feel they're a part of something and that they should form mobs and try and become deciding factors and all that. The chain's only going to break when somebody realises that the mob characters have been living tragic lifes for generations now and all their getting-up-in-arms-to-protest-aginst-the-system deals hasn't improved things one bit. But that's going to take a long while coming."Everybody" knows that.

life's not always good

2008-02-23T17:02:00.003+04:00

it's generally quite tragic actually... but then every once in a while, some insane person comes up with an idea like this and totally makes your day

anyway... more soon... gotta complete a tag as well

Shilpa Shetty anybody?

2008-01-10T11:28:00.000+04:00

I am quite sure 2008 is going to be one hell of an eventful year, considering the way it has started. With the Indian cricket team going through a rough patch and the Australian team facing severe criticism, we have already had our share of entertainment and drama. The Australian team should be thanking God and the ICC for conducting the series in their country because had it been in India, I am sure Ricky ‘So called aggressive’ Ponting would have had to face dire consequences. I am not a major cricket fan but have always enjoyed test matches and I witnessed some brilliant cricket the Sydney test, despite the horrendous errors committed by the umpires and the not-so-desirous attitude of the Australians. What was Ponting thinking when he walked down to the umpire and complained like a three year old kid? If the Australian sledging history is taken into consideration, then each of these guys should be handed over to Al Qeada for whatever they have done till date. I have no clue why one Mr. Andrew Symonds is obsessed with the word ‘Monkey’. Frankly, what’s wrong in calling a Monkey a Monkey? I would advise him to take it as a compliment hereafter as I am certain that given a choice anyone would prefer a Monkey to Symonds. Despite all the nonsense he created, I must admire him for being a real opportunist and using the word, which we supposedly gave him against us. Brilliant strategy there!

Now our good old angry young man Bhajji is in the middle of a controversy again. Looking at the footage, even a savage creature would be able to make out that there was nothing going on, on the field. And Singh’s startled reaction during the discussion with the umpire is a testimony to the fact. Add to all this a soft stand by the BCCI against the decisions. It is quite evident from this saga that commercial interests precede any other interests. The BCCI was more concerned about the eight crore that they had to pay as a fine if the tour was called off. Personally, I do not agree with the advice of canceling the tour, which was advocated by most of the ex-players. However, eight crore is as good as a drop in the ocean for the richest and mightiest cricket board in the world. This whole incident clearly brings forth the politician in Mr. Pawar, who is busy eyeing the chair of the CEO of the ICC and is unable to look beyond that. And why will he? He is after all one of the partners in crime. Thanks to the pressure from the public, the BCCI at least managed to retain whatever’s left of its already tainted reputation.

It is really sad to note that, despite being one of the richest and most powerful nations, we have never realised our strengths and have always accepted what others have dictated. This attitude is not just limited to the BCCI. Consider the recent nuclear deal issue. Everyone is cognizant of what the US did to Iraq and most of us are also aware that the all of a sudden friendly attitude the US is trying to portray towards India is to satisfy its selfish needs. India is a rich country and all the US wants is to suck the available resources out of this country. Well, it has been doing so since the last few decades when Americanization of this country started. Just give a thought to this. Would the US have done the same to Iraq if it were a cotton-producing or rice-producing nation instead of being an oil-producing nation? The answer is NO. I am not against the nuclear deal, but I strongly oppose the attitude of people who think we cannot do without the agreement, as if the nuclear deal is the only measure that can save India from drowning. We are looking up to a country that boasts of the being one with the highest crime rate. A country with more than 50% of the black population living below the poverty line. Sad situation.

We are highly capable! That’s the first and foremost fact that we need to accept in order to develop.

PS: Long time since I came up with an article. I have been at home these days. My employer offered me peanuts for every 12-13 hours in a day I spent at the office during the last one year and as advised by KD, I said “Sorry, I am allergic to peanuts”. Right now I am dedicating most of my time to pursue higher studies. Waiting for developments now. Will keep you guys posted.

Sorry times indeed

2007-12-02T11:46:00.000+04:00

Well for starters, I’ve been in India for over a month now. Got here for my brother's wedding and all. Will be writing about it sometime... the entire party, drives etc...

This first though... Also, let me tell you this isn't a sequel or anything. It does have "Sorry times" in the title and might have a passing reference to the ToI, but that's about it.

I headed out to a shuttle court last evening to get some of the old fitness back. Or rather to get rid of the layer of fat that seems to be clouding everything up... Jeez... never thought I’d ever want to shed weight in all my life... well u get to see strange days if u live long enough or unhealthy enough.
Played around 4 hours straight and by the end of it, seemed to get a bit of the old smash back. Damn satisfying I tell u... especially after the way i played in the first hour. I wouldn’t talk much about that as its real embarrassing.

Anyway, the court being down the lane parallel to my lane, i generally walk up to the place.
Scene's me returning home al close to 10pm... Close to exhausted turn into my lane. Now most of that area (down the lane) is kinda dark. Not many houses in that half and the usual Bangalore deal with street lights completely surrounded by tree branches. So the roads are mostly a bunch of shadows post dusk.
So me walking in the quiet dark road and from out of nowhere, a dog turns up and starts barking its head off. I decide to walk on ignoring it before it’s joined by another canine... and then a third which was right in front of me. So now I have 3 dogs within a yards radius of me... and a broken brick... and damn good aim (play a good round of shuttle and you'd know a thing or 2 about hitting the target). I picked up the stone (momentarily leaving my position severely compromised) and this got the dogs way more aggressive, and worse, they have damn good reinforcements. I was in no time surrounded by around 12-15 mongrels... all equally ready to bite. Me armed with a brick and a flimsy racquet. Made a few quick calculations, Figured I could take 3 dogs down at max. The rest - if the reaction to me picking the stone was anything to go by - wouldn’t run at the sight of an attacking aggressive human. So all I could do was walk along hoping not be attacked. Trust me it was hard to just walk along with so many dogs all around you and being real aggressive.
Point to note... I’m one of those fairly huge chaps. Meaning the dogs have had their day attacking kids and have now moved to attacking adults as well.

Back to the incident, I walked up in silence to the upper half of the road which has a few more houses and is less dark... all the while tapping the racquet against my shin for god knows what.

On reaching home, I asked dad about the whole deal and why nobody's done anything about it, which is quite surprising in the locality I live in. Most people here don’t take nonsense and are generally the types authorities hate, in that they demand their rights are a very united bunch. So most "requests" are signed by like 500 people and are brought to the authorities by a coupla arm twister type characters.

Dad tells me that there have been 3 complaints already about the state of our road. The first 2 having the authority characters telling them that there's no point taking it forth as the animal rights NGOs would eventually turn up and force the whole thing shut. The third time around, a man new to the place got bit pretty badly. This pissed the locals off big time. They got the authorities to get to work in spite of the warnings. As predicted, an NGO did eventually turn up and gave everybody a whole load of crap that had nothing to do with anything, they probably even threatened to go on a fast. That's how things work out nowadays.

Now why aren’t issues like this in the newspapers? Why do we have headlines like 'the richer get more sex' instead. Is it because the moron who wrote it isn't rich? or lacks a sex life? or both? Fine, it doesn’t matter what the newspapers say now, but shouldn’t what the newspapers don’t say matter. Or is it a bigger matter or concern for the editors that the people richer than them get to have more sex as against arbit innocents walking on the roads getting unnecessarily attacked by dogs?

As for the NGO characters, I’d love to have a few of them walking on different streets in Bangalore after dark... alone.

Oh and there's an NGO I know a bit about. This one isn’t even from Bangalore but I wouldn’t be surprised if most NGOs are almost the same in their respective lifecycles. This particular NGO was started by a few neighbors or something who were fairly passionate about animal welfare and all... the whole org was a part time thing then and voluntary. The problems started when it grew. Now it’s a full time thing. People work there full time and earn full time salaries. The initial members got pushed to the sidelines and people who were more interested in appearing on the newspapers seemed to take centre stage. The place is now filled with people who're either there for the pics in the papers or because they didn’t find a job anywhere else... u know this can be easy money if you’re so inclined. These people are terribly misguided and the ones in the know don’t make up the numbers and aren’t involved in the decision making.
I had been to a party with these jokers. The usual friday night speeches and booze. A whole lot of people bragging about their latest achievement. They had stopped the government from moving a herd of donkeys from a particular place where they were causing traffic jams. The reason for all this being, they (the ngo) believe donkeys get depressed on being forced out of their territory. I almost puked... quite a few times. It took a lot out of me to keep from laughing that day. I decided to never be stupid enough to be dragged to anything of the sort again.

oh yeah the killer statement was "if we allow these people to move donkeys today, god knows what they will do tomorrow" I probably laughed, if I did, it probably got covered up by the boisterous applause. If it wasn’t, who cares?
What do you expect the humans to do? Make out with the donkeys? And what's with referring to humans as 'them'? Ok u want to display love for animals and all... but calling humans 'them' is taking things too far don’t u think?

Not all animal rights orgs are as bad as I just described. But really, protecting animals that have taken to attacking innocent bystanders is real stupid...
Ridiculous times to live in... having such losers taking all the decisions. I wonder if most such people even know what animal rights stand for.
There a few smart ones who know what they stand for, but they are surrounded by political minded cheapos, morons without a clue... kinda similar to me being surrounded by the dogs. I guess it’s their compassion towards animals that keeps them going; lesser mortals would've quit or gone on shooting sprees.

Sorry times for ToI

2007-11-01T13:25:00.000+04:00

“He just knows how to press the right buttons, he licks me on my face , my neck, my stomach and I explode. I just lose control when he gets on top of me”. This is a statement by Katya Prudnikova or something .. some model of some kind on Chelsea footballer Claude Makalele.
And where did I find this confession??
This and a skimpily clad beyonce knowles’s pic on the Front Page.

Nope, this is not from a porn site or a pornographic confession diary.
Absolutely not, this comes from TOI our very own Times Of India

This is the regular stuff that TOI’s been dishing out for quite sometime now.
The once mouthpiece of the government is now resorting to basal tactics to sell the newspaper. Not so long ago , getting up in the morning and reading the newspaper was a pleasure, a non biased stance , clean to the point stuff which dealt mainly with happenings around us and the last couple of pages reserved for sport.

WAG’s (wifes and girlfriends) is the most common word found on the sports page these days. Followed by pictures of a couple of bikini clad babes. Who cares how many times Wayne Rooney sleeps around with his girl, who cares about the size of Enrique iglesias’s you know what… or rather who cares which spice girl is having an affair with whom.

Somebody needs to knock some sense into the Bennet and Coleman guys (if they own this porn show now) that a newspaper finds the first use in “Being Read for its news value” in the morning.

A neighbor of mine said he reads TOI these days for the following things necessarily in this order
Babes and boobs. (sports page)
Rape Stories (they abound in the middle pages)
Adverts of social groups, friendship groups and massage parlours. (steadily increasing)
And if anything in the above 3 don’t exist then he goes for the good old quotes and You Said It section (thankfully they still exist).

A sorry state the one time Mouthpiece of the Government is in.

-Antya
[accessibility issues, hence kd posting]

Government

2007-10-09T10:00:00.000+04:00

The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to dothe job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.

[from the book "The restaurant at the end of the universe" by Douglas Adams]

Re-elections in Karnataka because one set of people 'promised' to transfer power after a few months and another set 'actually believed' the first set.

And what's happening in the centre?
Something to do with nukes and progress and the US of A i gather. You guys tell me. I'm too far away to know for sure.

The worst review ever

2007-10-04T14:23:00.000+04:00

Don’t ask y… but I ended up in a local amphi something theater watching dhoom 2.

Watched it for a bit… when hritik turns up for the first time, the girl next to me whistled… damn loud and shrill… my ear still rings. And I suffer an inferiority complex now… I cant whistle for nuts
And the movie went exactly as an old friend of mine had once summarized it.
Hritik wears his sunglasses, a chick sings dhoooom..dhoooom…dhoooooom
Hritik turns to the left, a chick sings dhoooom..dhoooom…dhoooooom
Hritik fakes left and turns to the right, a chick sings dhoooom..dhoooom…dhoooooom
Hritik walks towards the camera, a chick sings dhoooom..dhoooom…dhoooooom
Aishwarya pouts, a chick sings dhoooom..dhoooom…dhoooooom
Hritik flexes his biceps… a chick… u get the gist.

I cudnt take this after a while… worse, there was a kid to my right who wanted the ridiculously tall uncle to his left (me that is) to translate everything being said.
Like I can understand complex plots and all…

I walked out.

As for the girl to my left… We aren’t on talking terms now… or we probably are… not sure… I’m stone deaf to anything emanating from her mouth.

My mind's kinda clouded about the whole thing… u might get a better review someplace else.

congratulations

2007-09-26T12:53:00.000+04:00

congrats antya.

three cheers...

now, tell us more...

more than meets the eye

2007-09-21T13:47:00.000+04:00

Do u really think the Indians were so convincing in the do-or-die against SA courtesy their skill and fighting spirit? There was this incident that seems to prove otherwise. This was not broadcast to ur living rooms. The clipping off of the incident was possible because most cricket coverage is not actually live… we get it delayed by a couple of minutes or so. Check out the pic (which got accidentally leaked out) to know more about the incident.

Boucher displaying obvious angst towards Morkel with a visibly shocked Sharma looking on and Kemp rushing in to stop the already unsavory situation from getting worse.

Hahahah
Truth is, it was just a bad cam angle that’s all. You guys believe anything that sounds remotely controversial.

pic source (pic 4)

Nothing in particular

2007-09-10T07:10:00.000+04:00

Now Shoaib Akhtar goes hammering his buddies with bats.
I beat you to that sir.

That apart, it's sad that we never seem to get to see Shoaib and Asif bowling together. Cricket being the biggest loser.
And it was a valid point that Shoaib raised about the game getting very batsman friendly. It's becoming very one dimensional now... gradual but definite.

Ex: The six Hayden hit of Marlon Samuels was disgusting. You have a bowler who's beaten the batsman in the air and off the pitch and yet gets tonked for a maximum. OK Hayden is one of the strongest around, but mishits, one handed hits with the batsman in a tangle going all the way is ridiculous. Bigger boundaries please.

Hope the big people in cricket management learn from their tennis countrparts and get the game to go back a few years.
Watching tennis is real fun these days with real good players battling it out (if the last 3 grand slams are anything to go by). Compare this to the mid, late nineties when Sampras kept winning the wimbledon. He was good, but damn boring.

Bring back the good old days with big fast bowlers charging in and all.

And finally. Upul Chandana retired. YAY!!!
I heard from a source that they arranged a 24 gun salute for him or something. The soldiers were specifically told to shoot at the sky and not at the chief guest.

The source is not very reliable. So you don't need to believe the piece of news.

Duttography

2007-09-03T06:18:00.000+04:00

Words out… Dutt’s out. Dutt’s the word. In my last post I mentioned about Dutt getting out. An ardent fan of Dutt I may be but that doesn’t discount the fact that he assisted the perpetrators of the heinous crimes commited in erstwhile Bombay more than a decade and half ago. The yellow guys that run most of the software in the idiot box have this utterly disgusting habit of putting up people on a pedestal and then bringing them down. Same case with this fella too.

This is the same fellow who was propelled into stardom as a kid coz his dad n mom were superstars. He was famous even before he knew it. Many people can handle that .. some can’t . .. this one couldn’t. Got involved with the wrong set of people with the wrong substances. Forgivable.. totally forgivable coz all he did there was to harm himself.

Couldn’t act.. that’s forgivable too.. who can forget a sleepy Sanjay Dutt stuttering (abuubaaaa (actually supposed to mean abu baba)) in vidhata (if they’ve even got around to seeing the movie) .. Kicked the habit of drugs.. got divorced and the messed up his life. And then one fine day somebody said he could “Act” . Then started his golden period and he became a bankable star. But then that’s about as good as it can get.

The guy got carried away and got involved with the wrong set of people. In a bid to carry the tough guy image the “Khalnayak” types he just borrowed a banned weapon and gave it to the wrong people. We all know what they did with it. The Mumbai blasts bear testimony to one of the most heinous crimes in our recent past. That done he then tried to dispose off the weapon. For that he was caught and sent to 16 months behind bars. But then let off coz Dutt Sr was a politico. No matter he let a whole horde of Bangladeshis set up slums in Mumbai. No matter if he set them ablaze and got permanent houses made for those refugees. We have a pretty short memory here. Duttsaab as they called Sr Dutt affectionately was always highly revered coz he acted in a few good things.. stood by his dying wife and turned up occasionally in track gear for the “Mumbai Marathon”.

Coming back to Sanjay Dutt. The media started projecting him as a person who was “wronged”. Picture this
A guy helps the bad guys harbor a weapon.. the bad guys kill lots of people with that.. he destroys it.. and gets the slammer. How do you call him “wronged”. I would call that justice. The media further accentuated their claims by saying that nobody stood by the poor boy in his hour of need. The morons in showbiz didn’t have the corporate culture running in their veins then I guess.

A few successful movies over the years and an image resurrection thanks to the “Gandhigiri” movies the law has caught up with him again.. and I thought this time it would be for keeps. Indians are a sentimental lot and we do not realize that if we need movies to keep the Mahatma’s ideals alive then we are the morons. The guy was just using the Mahatma as vehicle to freedom. Just another one of the tremendous “good deeds” labeled by the fifth estate. And now we have the whole film industry rallying behind “good boy” dutt coz theres money at stake there. Money does the talking here they say .. and that’s what’s happening in this case.

In a list of more than 150 convicts Dutts hearing was reserved till the last. And for one I was happy to see justice being done when judge Kode gave him 6 yrs. “He broke down” they said in the news and asked the judge to have mercy coz his sis was pregnant and his daughter was studying in the US. I personally find this argument ridiculous. The Mumbai blasts would have extinguished many a dream of students and parents alike. Forget the US even dreams of their kids studying further would have gotten blown apart and the man in question here.. was a part of the whole act committed. So whatever it may have been I still personally feel the guy got less than he deserved. He should have at least gotten a lifetime.

Hats off to judge Kode for upholding the law. But on the other hand my better half argues that our esteemed house is full of people who’ve knowingly committed the crimes they did and still represent us unabashedly.. if they have been let off the hook coz they’re public figures then why does Sanjay Dutt have to suffer.

He wasted no time in moving the highest court and is out on bail till the end of September. I sincerely hope here that justice will be done and he gets the punishment he deserves.

Antya

Whingings and Happenings

2007-08-30T08:31:00.000+04:00

Another one bites the dust. So… who’s the one? Well.. if u ask me even I’d be at a loss to answer. The defunct parliament for one.. the esteemed upper house as well. Them biting the dust is no big deal. The moment the septuagenarian of the fairer sex was installed on the office that once boasted of the guy who made India a nuclear force to reckon with.. the credibility of the process of electing the first person in the country got lost on me. Many would argue that even the installation of “Giani Zail Singh” on the highest office was a similar situation.. but then theres a difference .. I wasn’t thinking or voicing my opinions at that point of time.

A group of good for nothings met and we got our nth president and the first one of the fairer sex for that. Pratibha Patil was installed in the “Rashtrapati Bhavan”. Nothing of note has actually been happening except work at my end and a few glances at the idiot box lets me know whats happening in the world. The most refreshing part in the last few days was that there was no HR or RS in the news (for those who didn’t guess it.. one is a singer that cant act .. and the other one is ??? well description fails me so I’ll let it out. RS = Rakhi Sawant”).

The eternal ciggy smoking puppet churned out a fourth film in the last 17 odd years in which he played the character and not himself , and in absence of HR or RS making news the media projected it as some sorta nationalistic crap. Jingoism at its best. It was a good movie but that’s about it. Are we so short of pride that we need such crutches to showcase nationalism or pride in our country? The idiot box isn’t any good either.. how else can u explain the box airing Rolnald Emerichs “Independnce Day” on 15th August. Its been reduced to just a couple of words now.The law finally caught up with a couple of bollywood actors but then there’s always a way out and so is Dutt.(he’s already out) and who knows the Khan may be out too…

Then the biggest one to bite the dust. “Club BCCI” has competition from another guy who’s got lotsa money. Wait and watch that one.. that’s gonna be interesting at least for some time.

The fifth estate have been giving us lessons in sleaze and grime for ages now. Ever since Rajat Sharma has got his own channel he’s gone haywire. But this time round after the blasts in Hyderabad they all went haywire. What were they doing showing decapitated corpses? I mean it’s one thing showing the scene of the incident. But then showing the gory details is just not done. What was being shown on TV was severed hands, a headless body etc.

The reality shows continue unabated with participants and judges unabashedly showcasing whatever they can. There’s yet another one called “The Biggest Loser” or something like “Biggest Loser Jeetega” the theme here is weight loss.. and the rest is the same old crap.

AHAK’s quit the organization for good in the quest for higher knowledge. Me n Komodo wish him luck in his quest in the journey ahead. So now its just me who’s remaining in the organization and I guess im gonna stay on for a wee bit more.

To round off on a brighter note... In the midst of all this coercion, apathy and chaos the ray of light at the end of the tunnel is in sight… Antya (Jr) will arrive in this world by the end of September. That’s something me n the missus are looking forward to.. Wish me luck folks..

Antya.

An Incident

2007-08-13T09:47:00.001+04:00

Firstly, a few opinions,
Friendship day: I somehow feel the entire friendship concept is a little over hyped these days. I do go around wishing my friends on that day, but somehow feel we don’t need a day for that… more like we don’t even need to wish each other. And then there’re always these people who I hardly even know who wish me and give me their opinions on what true friendship is… quite weird and unnecessary I tell u.
But then it’s quite harmless and people like it, so its fine the way it is.

Independence Day: This I’m clearer in my opinion about. It seems a big farce to me. All the pretense of patriotism, plastic (no biodegradable remember) flags and all. If you really are patriotic, then how about probably cleaning the road you live in? Or simpler how about avoiding chucking mint wrappers or cigarette butts anywhere you feel like.

The incident:
This happened when I was 8 yrs old and involved 3 characters.
A: a fairly huge kid (around twice my size then) but timid like crazy. I’d beaten him up more than a few times (and I left that place when I was 10).
B: the nice kid in that place, loved to talk to parents and all that. So was generally the voice of the group.
K: me. Generally quiet, shy chap except when it came to bashing ‘A’ up, oh that was fun heh heh.

OK, I had this habit of threatening to hit ‘A’ with the bat every time we had a fight in our cricket games. After around 4-5 such warnings, ‘A’ got his retort going. He used to stand in attention and ask me to take a swing. Now I obviously couldn’t do a thing after that.

The entire problem with all this was I was addicted to threatening him and getting my way. So it was real hard to stop that.
This one time, I threatened him and he stood in attention again and I decided to swing the bat real close to his head so he gets real frightened and realizes that I mean business.

I missed.

That is I missed missing his head.

“Clunk” Some good quality wood came in contact with some bad quality head and ‘A’ started yowling like crazy. I was stunned. Things had suddenly gotten real out of hand. I had just bashed a friend on the head with a cricket bat.

B decided to take control of the situation and dragged us both to my mom.

B goes… “auntie, do you know what K just did?”

Mom: What this time?

B: auntie, he threatened to hit A on the head with the bat and A told him to hit. So K hit him.

---------x---------x---------

Thanks mom for being such a bad actress. I mean yeah you put in your best efforts to avoid laughing. You tried to look angry and all and were fairly convincing. But you smile through your eyes mom and I knew it even then.
I don’t remember the other incident (which happened when I was 3), but I can imagine your expression when your cousin told me “hhelllelelelo… glug, glug goo…” and I told her that I know English and Kannada and please speak to me in one of those 2.

Happy mothers’ day mom (whenever that is).

Needless to say, I thoroughly deserved the thrashing I received that day (the bat incident I mean).
I mean had it been me in mom’s place, I’d have been paranoid. I’d have been more like “oh god, my son is showing signs of psychotic behavior. Will he grow up to be a psychopath?
I mean, who goes around clubbing people’s heads with bats? Something must be done… and quick.
Else he might end up like those demented people we read about…
Consider this, he might go on to perform anti social deeds like kicking out at fellow artistes in college plays, pretending to be a dad, getting caught, writing “mothers’ day” posts on some arbit date between friendship day and independence day
This is real frightening, mustn’t panic now…”

And so on… you get the drift.

-KD