The God that is Roger Waters

Well..Some people term it blasphemous to compare people especially Rock stars to God..But aah..who has ever seen God,eh?? So I take the liberty here..
I havent' been such a great fan of Pink Floyd compared to my other friends..just a few songs here and there,whenever in da mood,thts all..I am more of a Metallica fan from the beginning..but recently I did let go of my inhibition to listen to new songs and decided to ventue into a few new songs..And boy!!WAS I HOOKED OR WHAT??!!!
Pink Floyd is one of those bands who can have a profound effect on your psyche..Just Heavy metal and head-banging i have never favored..Tht's why Floyd is so appealing..Some of the lyrics are soo profound..it leaves a lasting effect on your subconscious...

The best of all I have liked is of course TIME..which was the first song I heard of Floyd..
Some time back,my friend sent me the story behind 'the Wall'..its superb...and of course..the classic: Another Brick in the Wall..
Some people accuse PF of being depressing and pessimistic..But whatever they have dished out is the hard hitting reality..If truth is harsh and bites you in the ass..so be it!!

Here are the lyrics of the timeless song: TIME

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun


And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desparation in the English way
The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say...

{Breathe-Reprise addition}

Home, home again
I like to be there when I can
When I come in cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells...

Does Afzal Guru deserve Clemency??

Finally!!Afzal Guru,accused and convicted to be hanged in the Parliament Attack case, has submitted an appeal for getting pardon to the President of India..

And the Indian Government is sitting on it prettily..waiting for another Kandahar to happen it looks like..

Afzal Guru, an ex-militant from the faction JKLF,which has given up arms now and has entered local politics in Kashmir.They don't have the mass following whcih PDP,Congress or National Conference enjoy..But they do carry considerable political clout with the Indian Union Government as one of the prominent groups which have given up arms and are not exactly Pro-Pakistan like the Hurriyat..

The present day lives of most of these ex-militants make for an interesting read..
As far as I have read,the reports suggest that they are under constant supervision of the State intelligence agencies,since there is zero trust level associated with them..and quite naturally too..

There are some interesting questions which come to my mind when I read the various accounts of all parties concerned..

Afzal too, was under constant supervision of the JK Special Task Force until he came to Delhi with the terrorsits who carried out the actual attack.How then, did he manage to cohort with the attackers who came from Pakistan under the watchful survelliance of the STF?

His wife has made some sensatinoal allegations against the STF personnel...Now what we can't be sure of is whether those allegations carry any shred of truth..or are they an attempt to cash in on the widespread discontent and mistrust, the local Kashmiri junta has against the STF and the Army in general..I think this is a strategic die played by them..Muddle the water and raise doubts..Actually,there is enough cause for concern over here..

Afzal's role in the conspiracy in providing logistical support to the terrorsits from across the border has been well documented in the Courts.This is the chief charge on which he's been convicted.
However,one cursory look at his statement in the lower courts is enuf to deduce that Afzal knew much more than he revealed in the court..Some of his answers to questions put forth by the Prrosecution are amusingly trite and laughable..One is actually reminded of the typical court room scenes from a Mithun/Jackie starrer 80s-90s ka Bollywood movie..!!

However the same prosecution failed to get convicted Dr.Geelani, a lecturer from Delhi Univ who was also implicated by the investigating agencies for planning the logistical details.
In fact,his role was considerably greater than Afzal's..

How come then Geelani was sentenced to death by the lower court,But let off scot free later on by high court and SC too?

Why did the police and intelligence agencies fail in getting Geelani convicted?
Was this trial a mere face saving excercise for them and Geelani a scapegoat??

What about Afzal in tht case?Was he a scapegoat too by the same logic?
If that is not the case,then why is Mr.Geelani a free man today and one of the loudest vioces for seeking Afzal Guru's clemency??

The actual masterminds who planned the attack are still safe sitting in their cosy abodes in Pakistan courtesy of the Islamabad govt..wht is the Indian govt doing to bring them to justice?


Some of the Communist parties are at the forefront today in voicing their support to the clemency plea of Guru..
We also have the neo-liberals and pacifists who want to abolish Capital-punishment,extending their support to Afzal..People like Jug Suraiya (Sunday TOI Columnist) is a case in point..
I wont talk abt Ms.Arundhati Roy over here..
(Somebody,told me once she was a writer-activist..but I disagree vehemently..
After all,there is something called as the 'Second Novel',if one claims to be a writer first!!)

This is not the case to debate whether Capital-Punishment shud be abolished in India!!
Terrorists are terrorists..they have no regard for human life at all..How can the rules and regulations of a civil society be applied to them,when they don't want to be part of it but follow the jungle law saying:"My way --the Only way!"???

When we had to release JEM cheif in exchange for the passengers of IA flight during the Kandahar fiasco,where were these pacifists and liberalists?Or for that matter,what shud have been the course of action according to these ppl,if say Indian security guards had failed to stop the attackers in time and they had blowed up the parliament??
If they were caught alive after that,shud we still have given them life imprisonment??Making a martyr out of them,giving more ammunition to the Jehadis??And then what next??Another Plane hijacking or some such method employed by the Jehadis to achieve the release of the prisoners?? What do these activists think??By giving the terrorists a life sentence,we are proudly claiming ourselves to be better than the Jehadis??we are not stooping to their level???
They feel we as a part of the civilised society,shud not exact the right to take away a human life legally.
That is barbaric according to them..
Hello!!What abt the cost incurred by the state in the whole process??Jails are for those who can be reformed(atleast that's the benevolent purpose for which jails exist on paper!!)
Why shud the exchequer like me pay for supporting the State in keeping these convicts hale and hearty in the Indian jails??Why shud we always be under a threat like yesterday's alert at all Airports across South India,where in there was a chance that some plane might be hijacked to rescue Afzal Guru??

If a person has been proven guilty of aiding,abetting or committing a grave terrorist act,by a fair and just trial in the lower courts,the High court and the Supreme court too,I don't find any reason to risk the lives of more Indian citizens by keeping him or her alive ..

The key words here however being the accused getting a fair and just trial!!

We all know how well documented the reports of State atrocities on innocent citizens are in areas like the North-East and for that matter even in Kashmir in the early days..
The Naxal infested parts of Central India too are no strangers to police atrocities..That's why one has to be careful..And in cases like that of Afzal,one must surely be doubly careful that no innocent has been made a scapegoat by the authorities in order to save their face in front of the public.

What I think here is Afzal's past has come back to haunt him now..Its quite unlikely that he did not know of the machinations of Mohammad and other perpetuators of the actual attack..After all he was also present when the Car for the suicide bombing was bought in Delhi...
He might have been forced to do their bidding..But the Benefit of doubt does not go to him over here..

One point raised by the group opposed to his clemency is that why are the Afzal suporters crying foul about an unfair trial now when he was awarded the verdict by the SC..why didn't they raise an alarm when and if there was actually a miscarraige of justice as they say,in the lower courts???Where were these human rights activists back then??


The terrorists who were charged with carrying out the actual attack were killed in encounter by security guards on that fateful day..
But for the timely action of constable Kamlesh Kumari,Ashok Chakra awardee(posthumous) there wud have been a major disaster..

Are we really doing justice to her brilliant sacrifice by making a farce out of this trial??

I don't think so..


P.S : http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-question-of-reasonable-doubt

Eeeewwwwww.....!!!

Today I saw the grossiest thing ever on TV as far as I can remember....

I was sitting along with some friends in front of the TV while having dinner and there was a show going on,on some channel(I think it was Sony..not sure),based on 'The Fear Factor' which is aired on AXN.

Now,I have seen many a things till today which would make an average person heave,but not me I thought!! I used to think I am immune to such things now..

But no!!How I was proved wrong today! Normally,u see people eating all kinds of worms,ants and many other insects on AXN's Fear Factor all the time..This for the sole purpose of achieving fame and prize money..
So what if it is achieved by such weird ways and means??

This was an Indianised bastard version of the show on AXN..
4 TV actors/models were competing and in the 2nd round,each one of them was shown a glass case full of different organs of the human body like the Heart,Lungs,Liver,Spinal Cord,et all..
where they were being preserved.

I couldn't believe what was the task they were supposed to do!!
Catch hold of each body part from the glass case by your mouth..YES the MOUTH..and transfer it to some other glass vessel!!!!

I was half hoping the host will suddenly crack up and tell those 4 poor souls tht he was joking..
But no..he was every bit serious abt it..
The first guy took the leap ahead and held the heart in his mouth and transferred it to the other vessel..

That's it! I couldn't watch any further..Imagine seeing such a thing while u r having ur dinner!!
Yukkkkssss!!I lost my apetite totally after I had gone and puked in the loo...

And all my friends were laughing and mocking me..I was labeled a big 'ch&%#a' for reacting this way to the show...

Well..! It turns out I am not that immune to such things after all!!
That image is gonna be stuck in my mind for quite a few days to come now..
I really hope I am not reminded of it the next time i am doing my pet puja...

Mayhem in Maharashtra

So...some good for nothing guy from Kanpur goes and desecrates Mr.Ambedkar's statue thinking it would be good time pass,and lo!!

Dalits in Maharashtra are so offended,they spill out on the streets and start rasta rokos..pelt stones at vehicles..damage and burn government buses and trains!!

We saw a spontaneous outburst from the community wherein angry protesters called on for bandhs,forcing shops and business establishments to down shutters..Curfew was imposed in so many places ..Its still tense in Aurangabad..That's an entire district..The sheer magnitude of this outburst has confounded many..Articles have been written and editorials have come out trying to delve behind the psyche of this incidence..But seriously,what difference its gonna make anyways??

We the people of India take pride in being citizens of a vibrant democracy..an economy which is growing at a rate of more than 8% per year..stock markets are soaring and Indian cos are expanding business vigorously..There seems to be a sense of complacency when we start patting our back saying all’s well when its so clearly not..

How is this related to the above violence one may ask…but its quite important to note that the masses who went on a rampage were not just Dalits..but they were impoverished Daits in most cases..Do u really think Dalits who have risen up the economic ladder,those from the Middle and Upper Middle class community, joined ranks with these arsonists and vandals?

These are the people from the typical Zopadpatti areas which are ubiquitous in cities like Mumbai, Pune and else where..The slum pockets where u will always see a board of ‘Jai Bhim’ at the entry point,along with Mr. Ambedkar’s statue or Portrait.

There has been enormous discontent amongst the lower strata all over ,which needed just a spark to kindle the kind of protests we saw.If nothing the Khairlenji killings are testimony to that.

The fruits of economic reforms and progress are not reaching these sections of the society and they are disillusioned with the entire situation.All the benefits available to the lower castes via Reservations and such other means are lapped up by the creamy layer..These are the people who are in real need of such affirmative action..but the govt and the politicians are happily ignoring the ground situation.

That is what we saw this past week where the anger in the minds of the Dalits spilled over the streets..and the mayhem resulted..

I don’t really understand why they have to burn down trains and buses…effectively those who suffer from these bandhs and riots are the people from the lower classes themselves..For many a loss of one day’s work means having to go without a meal or two..But these protesters are never concerned with that..After all,this is their only way of staging protests..If no one is ready to listen to you,take the law in ur own hand..and go on a rampage…

The politicians will have to take notice then..Well,I think that's the mindset anyways..otherwise there was no real purpose behind wht happened in past few days..

Alright,now everyone in Maharashtra has come to know that the feelings of the Dalits were hurt immensely..what next??the situation will be calm again in 2-3 days and life will be back to normal,but isn’t it time already for the govt to introspect and look at the real issues over here??

What these Dalits need is empowerment..not through Voting ..thats the biggest sham in our democracy and we all know it..

Empowerment through economic upbringing of these backward castes and communities..Unless there are Dalits at the lowest strata of the economic ladder,there will be such riots in the future over petty issues like desecration of a statue..today it’s Ambedkar..tomm it might be Shivaji Maharaj..

The sensibilities of people are hurt over many things in our nation..from Movies to Cricket to countless other things..I used to think it shameful that people need to riot and take the law in their hand to mark their protests..But one has to look at the people who are participating in such protests..Its very easy to say that India is a Banana Republic pointing to such incidences..But until the economic disparity remains and keeps on widening the way it is right now..Indian citizens can never get the real taste of a true Republic.

I am not advocating or justifying anything over here…

Just my attempt at looking at the rationale and logic behind these irrational and illogical ways of protesting over meaningless matters to you and me..

For them..its a totally different perspective after all..

P.S : Read the speech of Raj Thackerey in TOI today ..He was here in Pune to campaign for the next PMC elections.. It was very difficult no to agree with the points he had made.After all the violence in some of the pockets was seemingly pre-planned,though there is no way to verify that...But even in my office the lady sitting next to me proclaimed these were all ploys for the forthcomnig elections,since these politicians want to divert the attention of the Dalit public from their dismal failures in getting any constuctive work done for their betterment..

Well,when you put it that way..its really hard to argue wth that!!! hehehe..

04/12/2006 10:25 PM IST

Ours by Choice

Ours by Choice -- What Children's Day means to me...

We are guilty
of many errors and many faults
but our worst crime
Is abandoning the children,
neglecting the fountain of life.
Many of the things we need
can wait. The child cannot.
Right now is the time
his bones are being formed, his
blood is being made, and
his senses are being developed.
To him we cannot answer
"Tomorrow."
His name is "Today."

- Gabriela Mistral

I am feeling depressed..

Liverpool lost to Arsenal...pathetically..went down 3-0 rather tamely..

In Away games they have scored only one goal so far this season..

All hopes for a premiership title this season are lost now..

Well,they were pretty dismal looking at their away performance..But still,one always keeps hoping for miracles..

I'm sooooo very depressed rt now..

Even the Reshmiya post earlier failed to cheer me up...

Life sucks!!
Bigtime...!! :(

Himesh Reshamiya dokyaat jaato!!

Got this in a forward from a friend of mine..found it funny,so wud like to share it over here:)

हिमेश रेशामीया ची लावणी...



रेशमियाच्या गाण्यांनी
भुंकणाऱ्या प्राण्यांनी
कर्ण कसा माझा की हो फोडिला
हात नका लावु त्याच्या सीडीला

नवी कोरी कॉपी सुफि साजाची
'टोपी' चढविली रिमिक्स बाजाची
बजाची हो बाजाची
माईक आडवा ऐटिमधे तोंडाजवळ ओढिला
हात नका लावू त्याच्या सीडीला

गात जाई प्रत्येक गाणं नाकात
रसिकंच्या उठते तिडिक डोक्यात
डोक्यात हो डोक्यात
चुंबनखोर इम्रान हाशमी, आणिक असतो जोडीला
हात नका लावू त्याच्या सीडी ला

कॄपा त्याच्यावर सल्लू मियांची
बाजारात चलती आज कचऱ्याची
कचऱ्याची हो कचऱ्याची
काय म्हणू देवा देवा, जनतेच्या आवडीला
हात नका लावू त्याच्या सीडी ला

एक फायदा दिसे त्याच्या गाण्यात
गाढवही वाटे गाते सुरात
सुरात हो सुरात
न्यूनगंड कित्येकांचा, दूरदेशी धाडिला
हात नका लावु त्याच्या सीडी ला...

A Journey to Remember...

There are very few journeys in your life which u remember for a long time to come, the ones which leave a mark in your life.
And when u r a frequent Pune-Mumbai traveler like me, such incidences are indeed pretty rare...

But I’m fairly confident this one belongs to the above genre...

I was going to Mumbai a while back by my usual choice of transport---a shared cab. This is one journey which thanks to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway doesn't take longer than 3 hours and with Rs.250 you can travel at complete ease and comfort in an AC cab.

The people who travel this way are usually those who have little time to waste awaiting the Volvo buses to fill to their capacity, for which you end up wasting even 6 hours in toto at times!!
Quite normally, these types rarely bother with mingling with their fellow passengers, just happy to be busy going over their notes for their next meeting, fine tuning details over the phone for the next client meeting or sometimes a hapless papa calling his daughter and promising her he will be in town for the 9 pm movie this time for sure!!

This time was quite an aberration...

When I reached Pune station, I was immediately accosted by these agents who insist u go with them coz theirs is the best way to travel, where u r the luckiest person around since u wud be filling the last seat remaining and other such nonsense!!
But being wise to their ways I tell them strictly I want a shared cab and then they direct u to the appropriate agent for the cabbie.

I saw a TV actor seated at the front seat and another busybody going over his notes for the interview he was set to appear in Mumbai at the back seat.I was the third person then...Sigh! Wait for 10-15 mins now..No problem for me,after all who said i had to attend some important seminar or meeting in the next few hours??

But the cab was going till Dadar only and when the TV actor realised this,he got down unhappily complaining that he was told by the agent it will take him to Andheri,haha!!!

Only 5 mins since i set foot in the Pune station area and already a little bit of the drama had unfolded! More was yet to come as i realised later.

Now a lady comes along in a car which I barely noticed,but her driver is asked to step down by these rogues here and is slapped because he apparently almost hit one of them just so!!
The thing could have escalated but for the lady's hurry to reach the airport,since she had to catch the 2:50 pm Delhi flight.She told her driver to go home with the car and agreed to share the cab with us.Here comes the rider...She wanted the front seat of the car and the cab should be leaving at once!
No problem for us we thought,since she was the one insisting on the cab to leave with 3 ppl,she wud be the one paying the extra money!!

With so much of confusion going on..I think the agent conveniently forgot to mention this to her..So she takes the front seat and asks the driver whom was she supposed to pay the 250 bucks??
Wait a minute! Wasn't she supposed to pay 500 bucks??
Hell no! The agent had told her she was the last seat remaining and the rate was just 250 bucks!!
The agent was called in and she started ranting to him about the unfairness of it all..

Well,if that's the case shell up more was what he said to her..
Or wait for another person to come along..By this time,the lady's driver had already gone home along with her car and she had to make do with the public transport now.

Now,any seasoned traveller will make sure to ask basic questions like how many seats have filled already,and what's the rate before getting into the cab,won't he?
But apparently this was the first time this woman was travelling this way and forgot to ask the above questions..
What she did not forget to tell everyone around was that she was in an extreme hurry to catch the "do baje ka flight" to Delhi,since she had to attend some really important meeting out there!
No wonder she was taken for a ride! (pun unintended,haha)

Now she was insisting that the cab leave at once or she would be calling the police as she had had enough!!The driver poor guy was not able to acquiesce since he would be in a real loss if he took only 3 passengers for Rs.750
The agent in the meanwhile had disappeared to go and look for the 4th person.

The drama had begun in full fore now...Every agent,driver and passenger out there came to know in no time that this particular 50 something lady had been cheated by these goons out there AND she was late for her 2 pm flight to Delhi for an extremely important meeting!!

Now comes the ego trip!!She requested me and the other poor guy already seated in to come with her and take a different cab.I told her I was in no hurry,so no point in paying the extra bucks..Oh!!But I didnt have to pay anything extra you see..she was ready to pay any extra amount incurred all by herself for both of us!!
Hmm...why not??No harm right..?

But just getting out of the cab and leaving won't set right with her either..
She had to teach these goons a lesson,didn't she?? So she started to threaten them with a phone to the police..

Oh i forgot to mention..her majesty is an esteemed Director of the Bharti Vidyapeeth..She also carries a lot of political clout,weight whatever u wanna call it!!
So she would be able to stop this illegal business in no time!!Not only wud she get these people arrested or fined,she wud also get the PSI of the area on duty,fired in a day!!
Gosh!!
The driver was a bit scared now and asked her to talk to the agent who had offered her a seat in the first place..
No!!That won't do at all..Why shud she go and search for that asshole??Call him here,she said.So another person was dispatched in search of the said agent.

And she was still insisting the driver leave at once or she would be placing that BIG call to the DIG of police in Pune..

Here I mentioned to her,If she was ready to pay 1200 bucks to go by the CoolCab why not just pay 250 extra and get on with it??
Nope,this was a matter of principle you see.Rs.250 was a paltry sum for her..but she was not ready to take any such treatment from these vandals lying down.
She would really show them what stuff she was made of and whom these idiots were messing up with..

Now 15 minutes had passed since this started and the agent in question finally arrived on the scene.. luckily with the 4th passenger in tow...Lucky for everyone I guess.

Again we all had to hear what a big shot she was and how these agents and their nexus is going to be dismantled in one day by her one phone call..

Did I mention she was a DIRECTOR on the board of Bharti Vidyapeeth??Oh,I did..Sorry for repeating it again here..but I had forgotten the count by now how many times she had mentioned this already!!

Finally,we all commenced our ill-fated journey to Mumbai,why ill-fated u ask??
Because we were doomed to hear this woman's tirade for the next 3 hours at least!!

So in the nxt one hour we had already come to know,that this lady was a Director on Bharti Vidyapeeth's board(Sorry for the repetition,can't help it,hehe)

She was going to 'bajao the band' of these thugs who take hapless commuters like her for granted..

She was really getting late to reach her 2:50 PM flight from Mumbai to Delhi for a very important meeting.

By this time I really had to say something to shut her up..So i told her that the MSRTC(Apna Govt Corporation) runs a highly efficient bus service from Pune to Dadar every half an hour,and it takes only 3 hours and 15 mins for the bus to reach its destination.Not only that.. she would be paying 5 bucks lesser!!

She being a govt employee,should be setting an example to the aam junta and travel by that mode instead!!

But no..u see the bus being a bus takes more time than a car..obviously!!But wasn't that better and safer than the way she was travelling now??

Here comes the big revelation....Her brother is none other than Mr.Ashok Gehlot..Delhi's CM.(I know its Mrs.Dickshit,tell that to her..lol)

She does travel by this aam junta mode of transport whenever possible..After all ,thats how they keep in touch wth the ground realities and the hardships common ppl suffer in their day-to-day life..She doesn't like to abuse the power her position offers..no red carpet treatment for her and her family..

She could have easily got the ticket for a day earlier that way,but she chose to go thru the proper channel instead!

Now she takes her cell phone out and dials her home number to talk to some relative of her( I assumed it was her daughter) in a really loud voice!!

And while also informing her daughter,she was really keen on letting her fellow passengers know too,how she had taken pity on her poor driver and sent him home so he could celebrate Diwali with his family that day...Then a call to Delhi to let the junta there know she was definitely going to reach by the said flight..

No need to arrange for Dinner..Please dont take so much pains..A meeting with whom??Mr.Kashiram??Oh no..but he would be busy in a meeting with Soniajii.

She has had a talk with her brother..He is busy arranging a meeting of MLAs..No he won't be able to make it tonight..

At this point,I had managed to switch my media player on at full volume..

After completing her call,she turned back and started telling us how was not allowed to go by such means of public transport by her family,but she had disregarded her safety for a benevolent cause.

Since it would be rude to pretend not to listen to her when she is looking at you and talking to you,I had to take my earphones out and suffer!!

And then, all of a sudden she started asking me about my personal and professional details..

Where did I work in Pune?Where am I actually from?How much salary do I earn in a year?What is my educational qualification?

And without wanting to know about it,she still went ahead and helpfully informed us in detail,how both of her sons had studied in the US..I think she also mentioned the name of the University..but she couldn't pronounce it well..all i got was that it started with an 'A'..

That she didn't like the quality of education imparted in India came as a no surprise to me..

Here's some more info which I didn't want to know..

Her family has a big bungalow in the US which her husband had bought solely for their 2 sons' education purpose..

The elder son has done his MBA from another reputed university whose name she couldn't pronounce properly again and I failed to understand..

Then he got a job in AT&T where he was awarded as the best employee of the year amongst the new joinees..

This was more relevant than you think..it was during the Recession..when every company was laying off their employees en masse..

And this guy had the guts to resign and start his own software company at that time..Now he has AT&T as one of his clients..

No wonder his company's turnover was 20 million $ a year..

She even gave me a suggestion for my future career moves..
SAP is the in thing beta...U can earn a lot of money if you get into it..

So I told her I had no interest in Software..and I'm quitting soon..

Quitting??what next then,she asked me..

I don't know,I said..that gave her a pause and I could finally ignore her and listen to Metallica again..phew!!!

Next bakra was the fellow next to me..I had completed my obligation of travelling on her ego trip..Now i could blissfully ignore her!!

But why take a chance???So I slept..unaware that the driver had made a swerving cut barely avoiding a collision with a truck,when she was busy trying to draw him into the conversation too..

The luckiest bloke was the one sitting directly behind her..After all she could not make a 180 degree turn to pakao him right?

We reached Sion in 2 and a half hours itself where the Interview guy and this lady were going to get down..

Kudos to the driver for this feat..After all he had made sure Ms.Indu Jain wouldn't be missing her all important flight..

While getting off,she also gave a 5 Rs tip to the driver for his amazing speed and control..

Well,we all had a hearty laugh after she got off...each laughing at the other's expense...
Good thing for the other guy and I was that the driver had some work in Mulund..
So he could drop us at Vikhroli and Mulund respectively..

Now you can easily guess what the topic for the rest of our journey was..

There was a whole lot of dissection of Ms. Jain's behaviour and bitching about her in general..
Who knows if she was actually all those things she mentioned about herself??
It could be true...but it really goes on to show how shallow and hypocrites such people are in reality...

She didn't succeed in fooling anyone present of her good intentions or such..
Instead,by constantly harping about her position and the power she weilded she had already created an image of a buffon in front of each one of us..

What power does a Board Director of a deemed university really carries??

People like these are so egotistic that any government position carries a lustful appeal to them,where they can constantly show off in the public..

One really can't understand if one should laugh at them or pity these fools...

Inside I think these types are very insecure..otherwise they wudn't find a need to brag about their position in society in public..however pitiful or unimportant that position maybe..

That is why you see a simple government clerk in a GPO acting as if he is a king and he is doing a big favor on us taxpayers by accepting our Returns on the 31st of July...

These kinds are always searching for a chance to subjugate others to their will, but are they willing to take the responsibility for what their position of power demands of them?? NO!!

This is why we hear the likes of Indu Jains fretting about the make of a bronze statue to be installed in the college campus,than the quality of the education imparted inside the college walls..

And then we have the same people complaining about the sad infrastructure and quality of education in India..

God save us all from such important and well connected people...

Shadows of the past always hound you...

One of the few songs which touched my heart..cause it struck a chord deep down somewhere...
Yes,there's a darkness in my past too..I was a totally different person when I was thirteen..
And I have made mistakes which I regret profoundly today..mistakes I am ashamed to admit are true..
Oh! How I wish I could go back and change these..
Someday I hope I will find enough courage to seek forgiveness for those past actions of mine..




It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something NUMB

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone



Something has been taken from deep inside of me

The secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see

Wounds so deep they never show they never go away

Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played



If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could stand up and take the blame I would

If I could take all the shame to the grave I would

If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could stand up and take the blame I would

I would take all my shame to the grave



It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone



Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past

Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have

Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back

And never moving forward so there'd never be a past



If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could stand up and take the blame I would

If I could take all the shame to the grave I would

If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could stand up and take the blame I would

I would take all my shame to the grave



Just washing it aside

All of the helplessness inside

Pretending I don't feel misplaced

It's so much simpler than change



It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone



It's easier to run

If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made

It's easier to go

If I could change I would take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could stand up and take the blame I would

I would take all my shame to the grave

Kahitarich Achrat aaple..

1.

Manus: "doctor doctor, mala na alikade s@^#@$ la hot nahi !"
Doctor: Maag, palikade basun bagha.

2.

Ek pregnent bai doctor kade jate.
Doctor: Kay bai, kitwa mahina?
Bai ( laajun ): Issya, Aathva.
Doctor: aho, mi kasa aathavu? tumhich aathva !

3.

Jaani Jinke Ghar Sheeshe Ke Hote Hain,
Woh................

Sirf Raat Ko Hi Bathroom ja sakte hain..

4.

ghai gardicha kiti ha traas,
hawa mansala ekantwaas...
ekant aani waas ekatra milanyache
thikan hamkhas---
te mhanje sandaas!!

5.

Lahan mulga babanna wicharto...
Mulga : Baba, tumcha lagna zala ani tumhi honeymoon la gelat tewa mi kuthe hoto ??
Baba : jatana mazya kade hotas, yetana aai kade.

6.

Ekda baba ani mulga rastyani chalalele astat. Tevdhyat samorun ek faar motha vyapari yet asto, ani barobar tyaachi pregnent bayko pan aste.....

Mulga: Baba Baba, te samorun pot sutlele gruhastha yet ahet, te kon ahet o?
Baba: are bala, te faar mothe UdyogPati ahet.
Mulga ( tya pregnent bai kade pahun ): Baar, pan baba, tyanchya barobar ti pot sutleli bai ahe.... ti kon ahe?
Baba: Are to taar PatiUdyog ahe.

7.

Eka class period madhe tp karnarya mulala :
Teacher(Ragane) : Tula Periods che mahatva mahit aahe ka?
Mulaga :ho, ekda majhi bahin mhanali, ticha period miss zala. Te aikun majhi aai ghabarali, babana heart-attack aala, ani aamcha driver palun gela.

8.

ekda ek mulga ek mulgi pahayla jaato tevha tila vicharto...'
tula chaha yeto ka?'
tar ti uttar dete...
'isshya mala ajoon doodh pan yet nahi!!!'

9.

Mallika skin specialist kade jate ani mhnate,"Doc. mi anghol karatana kay lawu?"

Dr : " Bathroom chi kadi"

10.

Mulgi: Aaj ratri mazya ghari ye.....
Sardar: Aga pan tuzya ghari koni asel na?
Mulgi: Nahi re, konich nasel.
.
.
.
Sardar ratri tichya ghari jato..... ani bagh to taar kay .... Gharala kulup...... karan ghari konich nasta.

11.

Ek Manus: Hi bagh mazi navin car
Dusra Manus: aayla, kadhi ghetlis?
Pahila Manus: Are, kaal mi ratri rastyani chalalo hoto...... ani ek mulgi car madhun chalali hoti. Tevdhya tila kahi gundanni adavla............ maag mi tyanchya shi maramari karun tya mulila sodavli.........
maag ti mulgi car madhun baher ali ani tini sagle kapde kadhle.......... Ani mala mhanali " Mi tuzya vaar khoosh ahe..... kay pahije te ghe."

Dusra Manus: Maag tu kay ghetlas?

Pahila Manus: Maag mi tichi car ghetli.

Dusra Manus: Bara kelas.... tiche kapde gheun tula kay fayda?



Courtesy Marathi PJ comm...

Something mundane..

Just something mundane for a change:)

Had been to Mumbai for the past two days..
And the weather there is plain horrible..
I should be used to the sweltering October heat considering I have lived in Mumbai for 20 yrs..
But having stayed in Pune for the past 2 yrs,I had forgotten how unbearable sweaty and humid
it is these days in m'bai..
Man!! I really couldn't wait to get out of there..I pity my friends who are still in there,haaha

Both my sisters had been verrryy upset with me for I had not visited them since 5 months..
Well,thats not true actually..I had met both sometime in the last month at my parent's place,hehe.
So..my first stop was at my sis' place who got married 5 months back and then next day off went to meet my cute little nephew at Tarapur..

Its funny how kids like him remember small small things which we adults(I like to consider myself one,anyways) normally ignore or forget as something inconsequential..
He seems to have adjusted pretty well to a life where both ur parents are working and one of whom come home only after half a day has passed..Not a big deal u could say since scores frm our generation have been brought up in the same envt..
But he's just abt 3.5 yrs old yaar..Sometimes I feel really bad for him..

The way he greeted me enthusiastically only a 3 yr old kid can..the way his face lit up upon seeing me after a gap of 5 months..more than made up for the tiresome journey to that place..
(Tiresome..u ask??Its a 7 hour journey from here in Pune!!!)

Why he was so happy upon meeting me..i do not know..
I am so not comfortable with kids..Dont have enuf patience in me, the bulk quantity u need to be in their company for more than 30 mins..phew!!

I know i should visit him more often.. But i dont see another of these 7 hrs journey in the foreseeable future..

Response to Hitesh's comments on the earlier post..

Some anonymous person has left a comment on my previous post..
I don't understand the point in leaving ur comment, my anonymous friend, the least u could have done was post something intelligent!!

Anyways,I didn't write what i wrote in my previous post in hope that someone will agree with me and we will start a club for like-minded people..

Hitesh has posted a comment and I wanted to respond to him..I think this is better than psoting a comment myself,hehe..

Btw,Hitesh I wanted to reply to you sooner than this but have been really busy these past few days yaar..I know you won't bliv me..but its true,man!!

Alrt,here goes my 'response'...



Wow!!Such caustic remarks my friend?? What r u trying to prove out here by calling me a loser? Just coz i mentioned the truth,I am a loser?? All I said was to be open to hearing atleast some thing which is other than what u know as the truth..
I have never accepted anything blindly,my policy has been -- always ask questions if in doubt..Never stop being curious..Is that a crime?
U r calling me stubborn here..But tell me what have u said in ur comment which has contradicted the points i have mentioned??

Being loud is not the option buddy,facts are what u can convince me wth otherwise!

And FYI, there aren't 100 billion ppl on this globe..Over 1 billion in India and another 5-6 billion in the rest of the world...Hehe..i was just nit-picking...

But even here u r basing ur opinion on wht 100 billion ppl on the globe believe..not wht ur mind says..

Ppl also believed just a few centuries bcak that Earth is at the center of the universe and sun and other planets revolve around it..Copernicus and Galileo were persecuted for begging to differ..
R u trying to say tht ppl shud have carried on bliving wht other millions of ppl had accepted as truth just bcoz it was convenient?? Plz gimme a break..

U ask me if i have any relative in the British armed forces who told me and only me the real reason we got our freedom..
there goes ur close mindedness again! I have no need to see the Britsh archives from 50 yrs back..when the two reasons i mentioned in my post are sanctioned officially by the Indian govt itself in its NCERT books..Its just that i took the pains to read them ..gather information frm various sources rather than basing my opinion solely on one book or one story told to me by someone..Read any history book recommended for UPSC extra reading and u will know for urself..I was repudiating the version of Quit India movement being a success..

But if you had read wht i had actually said above..u wud knw..It doesnt take a genius to figure out wht was happening thn..
Tell me my friend how much do u knw abt the INA strugle..abt the contribution of Subhashchandra Bose in India's freedom struggle..
Do u knw Gandhi played favorites too??
Do u knw Bose was in the Congress but quit coz of Gandhi's favoritism towards Nehru..
Even Patel was sidelined by him.
If u want a specific reference go chk the Tripura session of Congress..u will knw wht i am talkin abt..

I will agree I havent read 'my expts wth truth'..thts Mr.Gandhi's autobiography in case u didnt knw..
I read Godse's autobiography coz i was curious abt their real motives for Gandhi's murder.
I am not justifying anybody's actions here..

Bliv me I have read main parts of Hitler's autobiography too (albiet translated in marathi)..
Just coz i read sumthin i dont accept it as truth..i base my opinions on credible sources..read the plural there??
Tht means i try to get diff perspectives for the same story..Since i was not present at the time those things happened ,i can only form my opinion on wht is available now..isn't it?

I ddint mean to belittle the sacrifice of those hundreds and thousands of freedom fighters in my post..Just that i don't agree on the way they chose to do so.
Do u think all tht satyagraha and courting arests made any bloody diff to the British?? After the rather spectacular failure of the Quit India movt..Gandhi gave a call for sumthng called as 'Individual' satyagraha..Try to remember it was in our history books ..i am not inventing anythn here..
Do u knw wht this was??A face saving excercise..go figure..

If Satyagraha was such a potent weapon..pray tell me why it took 14 years more after we achieved independence for the Portuguese to vacate Goa ,DadraNagarHavli & Diu-daman??
Do u knw how many Satyagrahis were killed in these 14 yrs by the Portuguese??

On a single day of 15th August 1955, 3000 satyagrahis were opened fire upon by the Portuguese army..
What did Nehru do? He sat still and watched the Goans being brutally oppressed for 6 more yrs.

In the end it was an armed struggle by the Azad Gomantak Dal(RSS ppl) who liberated Dadra Nagar haveli..
Finally Nehru reluctantly ordered 40000 Indian troops to march into Goa after his failure to convince Portugal's Premier Dr. Antonio de Salazar to depart gracefully after coming to an amicable settlement with India, similar to that arrived at by France.

It took just 26 hrs for the Portuguese army to surrender...

This is wht i meant by my statement..wht cud have been achieved in 5 yrs took 50 yrs instead...

Do u knw Bhagt Singh was an ardent Gandhi follower before he turned to armed struggle??

My whole point in relating the above historical facts was so tht u could open ur eyes to the truth..
After the first world war european nations were totally bankrupt..
Gandhi had the reins of Congress back then..
Remember the Non-co-operation movt in 1921?? It was successful beyond measures than Gandhi himself had expected..
Adn wht did he do? Killed the movt when the British govt was facing intense heat..coz of the Chauri -Chaura incident..

Did u knw tht was the main reason why youngsters like Singh were disillusioned wth Gandhi and his policies??
After the 1st WW there was high amount of discontent amongst the Indian forces coz they were forced to die for the Raj in some faroff land in Africa and Europe..
If the Congress had milked tht situation in its favor..the results i mentioned wud have been achieved in a span of 5 yrs..maybe less!!

In fact there was an attempt too,not by the INC of course..since thy preferred dominion status until 1931..total independence was demanded bowing to pressure frm the likes of S C Bose and other nationalists outside the Congress working committee

But tht attempt was curbed after betrayal and treachery and Rasbihari Bose had to flee to Japan..
There are many such examples i can give here..all pointing to the same thng..how much time and men we sacrifced in fooling ourselves..

You say i have yet to understand what gandhi giri is...Well ,we can sit with a couple of beers one day and u can explain me wht is ur version of gandhi-giri...Believe me i will hear u out wth an open mind..

What i gather is Gandhism has at its core the belief in truth and non-violence..in spirit if not to the letter..
Truth and absolute truth...just does not exist in any realm..If according to you I am a loser because I lie..so be it..

Everybody has lied abt sumthn or other at sum point of his life,rt??
Do u wish to contest this??
I dont say everyone lies all the time..

But the truth is you cant follow the path of truth all ur life..Its extremely difficult..

I wud really like to meet one such person who has never in his life lied abt anythng..be it for any damn minor thing!!

The other main pillar in Gandhism is Non-violence..here are the exacts words from Mr.Gandhi himself offering the suggestion to English people during the WW-2..

"I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions.... If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them".

Please tell me how can u not laugh at this??As i said before...u have to be practical..

If Gandhian values were to be followed the Jews shud have willingly gone to the concentration camps or rather committed mass suicides instead of letting the German Nazis kill them!


All I want to say in the end is keep an open mind..

You can always agree to disagree,but for that you have to have a fair debate on the issue..

Cheers!!

Gandhi-giri gayee tel lene...

One of the few things i don't like about myself is that I have preconceived notions about somethings,rather all things, and am rather adamant about changing my opinions when I subconsciously form them...
That was the primary reason of my going for Munnabhai,part 2 so late...
When everybody else has already seen it, judged it, reviewed it.I was in Mumbai when it released and missed the chance to watch it alongwth my frenz in Pune.Of course,by the time I had read its reviews in the papers and hrd abt it from my frenz who had seen it..I had already formed an opinion abt it..and just did not want to go for it..

Well,I love it when i can say -- 'I told u so...' to my alter ego...hehe
The movie concept was good..the acting immaculately impeccable...songs bearable..
But the approach shown here..I found it really difficult to digest..

Writing this on a day before 2nd October brings it even more relevance...
The director and the script writer has over simplified the 2-3 instances shown which promote gandhi-giri by Munna on Radio..

Come on yaar..Things aren't that simple in real life..The press has created almost a furore portraying this film as sumthng to the tune of re-inventing Gandhi..The poducer has even decided to send it as an entry to the Oscars..Hah!! Get real Mr. V.V.Chopraji..

The TOI had mentioned in its reviews the movie isn't didactic..tht was why i cud convince myself to go and watch it..But u know wht..those TOI ppl lied..There was a constant preachy undertone to the movie.
The film was funnyno doubt.. but only in bits and pieces..

I think the press expects another RDB type reaction from the ppl..

I had a heated debate once with a good freind of mine over Gandhi...
As a person,his values,his contribution to our nation as we see it today,et all..
I don't think i tried hard then to put my point across to him.
See,someone who is thoroughly convinced and brainwashed that what he knows is the ultimate truth, he will never tolerate even hearing abt any other possibility or another version of the story.
So, I let it go at tht time..
But since this is a place where i can say anythng and evrythng i want to wthout any rok-tok..i will go ahead..haha!

I never believed in gandhi-ism ever since i started thinking on my own..Things which were said in the history books were edited versions and i had known this since i was in 4th grade!
The profs i had at my tuitions in SSC gave us a list of books to read..
One of them was Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lappierre,which incidentally was a recommended read in our English texts too..
Tht was when i realised what a waste of time our freedom struggle was..
I was an ardent Anti-gandhist back then.After all it was cool at the time..
Gopal Godse's autobiography,Worshipping False Gods, and many other books gave me a new perspective..

Today,I don't hate Gandhi as I did once..One has to give credit due where it is..
The only thing I admire about wht Gandhi did..was the way he united the whole country against the British...The Indian subcontinent was divided into so many provinces and princely states back then that wat he achieved seems truly amazing..an insurmountable feat..
(Err..i cant help it..these come out on their own..*cough cough*)

The Congress was the actual reason for reaching the masses..but it cudn't hav happened without a charismatic figure at the top..And tht figure was Gandhi..
Well..thts it..I dont see any other worthwhile contribution from him as true other thn the one I mentioned above..
Ppl say he saved us from the clutches of the British,there have been many Eulogies written, stories true and false weaven arnd and abt him,which i think is all bull-shit!

The path he chose and propagated was a really difficult one,I agree..
I also agree you and me will never have that determination and guts required to follow the path of truth...
One cannot help lying --its natural to human beings ..rt from the Stone Ages,we have lied and we will keep lying..to our family,to our friends,to our future generations,to ourselves..

And there is no point in talking about Non-Violence..This policy of his got a boot in his own lifetime itself..You cannot win a fight against the likes of the then British govt,armed solely with Truth and Non-Violence and Satyagraha...

What could have been achieved in 5 yrs took 50 instead..And the death count remains the same!!
We are taught Gandhi had two words for the British----(NOT FuCK OFf...though it wud've been damn funny )--'Quit INDIA' ; And the British left us...
What very few of us know is that the Quit India Movement was a total and utter dismal failure..The agitaion was brutally curbed within no time..
It took 4 more yrs for any hope to Indians of seeing a free sunrise one day soon..
The Armed forces which were the base upon which Britishers ruled us were highly discontent and becoming Nationalist day-by-day..This was the major reason for the British to decide to set us free..The other of course was the war which had already broken their back!

Why then we credit Mr.M K Gandhi with the ultimate designation of 'Mahatma'??
His philosophical beliefs look good only on paper..no one in their right mind can follow them to the hilt..!!

His ways of practising those values were preposterous to say the least...

One example--He saw an injection to ur body as Violence..ergo..use only mud-packs!!
The victim---his own wife...Mrs.Kasturba Gandhi!!
If this is how u expect people to follow Gandhism..sorry!!U r the biggest fool in this world..
The poor woman had no one else to speak for her..wat else could she do??She had no choice but to die for the idealistic values of Mr.Gandhi, however foolish and childish they be..
After all,he was her pati-parmeshwar since the age of 13!!!

Another incident which stands out as testimony to his ridiculous behaviour was his insistence on granting the Rs. 55 crore economic aid to Pakistan after partition that ultimately caused his death..
Agreed,India was to pay Pakistan 55 crore Indian rupees as part of the partition..
Agreed,the Pakistani people...the aam junta was suffering from hunger and disease and poverty...
But every body knew the politicians there didn't give a damn about thier own people..
They used tht very same money for buying arms from China and Britain,instead for foodgrains..
The same money was used to supply training and ammunition to the army who invaded Kashmir in the garbs of the miltants...
Effectively,India supplied its arch-enemy at the time with the wherewithals to kill its own sons..
Godse didn't kill Gandhi b'coz he believed Gandhi was the cause of Partition..
He was a sensible man..No fool wud have accused Gandhi of the above..
What Gandhi died for was his adamancy in bending Nehru to his will and making him shell out tht money to Pakistan...

Gandhi might have been many things..but he was not a statesman..certainly not an able one..
For to be one,you need to be practical..Britishers always played him up and made gestures which Gandhi took up for victories ..
I think he was too much warped up in his own imaginary world..wherein everything was twisted to match its existence!!

Well..I don't claim to be an expert on Gandhi..but this is what I could make out for explaining myself his rigid,stupid and suicidal decisions..

Sorry boss!!! Gandhi-giri is not gonna work in today's world...

P.S: Doesn't sumone find an irony in Mr.Sanjay Dutt playing the role of the protagonist in this movie which preaches Gandhi-giri,coming at the time when there are convictions being handed out to the '93 blasts accused,where he himself is one of the co-aacused???

Timepass....

एक प्रवास............
एक प्रवास मैत्रीचा
जश्या हळुवार पावसाच्या सरींचा
ती पावसाची सर अलगद येवुन जावी
अन एक् सुंदरशी संध्याकाळ हळुच खुलुन यावी..

एक प्रवास सहवासाचा
जणु अलगद पडणार-या गारांचा
न बोलताही बरच काही सांगणारा
अन स्पर्श न करताही मनाला भिडणारा..

एक प्रवास शुन्याचा
जणु हीमालयाशी भिडण्याचा
शुन्यातुन नवे जग साकारणारा
अन नव्या निर्मितीची चाहुल देणारा..

एक प्रवास जगण्याचा
क्शणा क्शणाला माणुस घडवण्याचा
हसता हसता रडवणारा
अन रडवुन हळुच हसवणारा..

एक प्रवास प्रेमाचा
भुरभुरणार-या दोन जिवांचा
जिंकलो तर संसार मांडायचा
अन हरलो तर नवीन वाटा शोधायच्या..

एक प्रवास प्रयत-नांचा
सुख़ दुख़ातील नाजुक क्शणांचा
अखंड घडवणार-या माणुसकीचा
अन नवी उमेद देणार-या घडींचा..

एक प्रवास..
तुमच्या आमच्या आवडीचा
साठवु म्हंटले तर साठवणींचा
आठवु म्हंटले तर आठवणींचा
इथे हळुच येवुन विसावलाय..एक प्रवास

Interesting...

Something interesting i found while doing lukkhagiri on orkut...

BOYS are like apples on trees.

The best ones are at the top of the tree.

The girls don't want to reach for the good ones because the're afraid of falling and getting hurt.

Instead they just get the rotten apples that are on the ground, that aren't as good, but easy to get.

So the apples at the top think that there is something wrong with them, when in reality, they are amazing.

That is why we just have to be a little patient find the right girl.

The one who takes a chance to find the good, right apple, will come someday..


hmmm...the guy who posted this must be really patient,eh?

Disappointment -part 2

Didn't think it fair to club this along wth the previous post..Although the post still is sports related,
I think Hockey deserved its own rant..After all,Hockey has always been my first love..
Football came much later..In fact there was a time when I wondered why ppl cheered for local British clubs like ManU when instead thy shud be rooting for local INDIAN clubs,hehe
Then I saw a match between our local teams..i think it was Dempo and Salgaonkar..then some more..and i was totally put off..It wasn't until much later by the coaxing and cajoling by my Engg friends tht I started watching the Premeirship..

I will always be thankful to them for opening my eyes to this beauty..(ah!I luv being dramatic,sumtimes!)

No,seriously,I soon got totally hooked onto the action..Tht was the time when Arsenal were champs..Mourinho was yet to make an appearance at Stamford Bridge,ManU were wondering wht was going wrong wth them and Liverpool were languishing in the fourth place fight with mediocre teams..

Owen,the England star, was still rubbing shoulders with Gerrard at Anfield..It was this duo which had me spellbound in one of the matches (I dont remember the opposition but it was a premeirship match)..The precision passing by Gerrard and the anticipation by Owen which had him at the right place to hit the ball home simply had me glued to the TV set..
There was a Liverpool fan in the making i guess..Chelsea were boring even back then and Arsenal though classy were thoroughly arrogant,ManU was well ManU, i tolerate them only coz' of the English players in there.

Things change in football quite often..Owen no longer is at L'pool..nor at Real Madrid where he was wasted on the bench for a year..back in England for a stint at Newcastle..tsk tsk tsk

Gerrard on the other hand after much much speculation,has stayed at Anfield..sometimes money is not all that counts..Someone needs to tell Mr.Mourinho that...We have seen in the recent WC how Lampard and Gerrard instead of complimenting each other wud rather compete for the same position..Moaninho just wanted to have a back up player in Gerrard while Lampard got to play in the crunch matches...What an insult!!Outrageous!!Disgusts me the arrogance Chelsea display on the basis of Abrahimovich's money..Now they have gone and bought Ballack and Shevchenko..No point in going into this,enuf has been said and commented abt the money Chelsea get to throw around like litter all over the world!!

Gerrard is the pillar around which Benitez has built the current team..I cant imagine L'pool without Gerrard..tht wud be heart-breaking..
The way he fired up the team with his brave performance and gusto during their successful CL journey in 2005 was amazing!!

Yet,he is human too..and it shows..The recent bad patch for Pool will go away soon i hope..but yesterday's match was not an out and out disaster anyways..Chelsea had the home advantage and Liverpool were denied many times by the brilliant Cech..I expected them to come back wth a point atleast ..*sigh*
This season the team Rafa has put forth is quite good and has depth unlike the pevious season..but i wud be too optimistic rt now to expect the Premeirship trophy this season..

Well,atleast it was not anything like the humiliation we suffered at the hands of bitter rivals and neighbours N-everton in the derby match..
3-0!!WTF?? I lost my apetite tht day,man! Tond dakhvayla jaaga naahi rahili kunalach...

So,here we go again waiting for the next match ,hoping the Scousers will pull up their socks and bring back smile to our face.

P.S: India was rather lucky the rains saved them in the DLF tourney against Australia the other day..35/5??hahahahaa..wht a shame!!!

Disappointment all over again...

Right now I am one pissed off guy..and by pissed off..i mean REALLY pissed off!!
How much can one take yaar?
For all those of you who dont believe in letting the bad performances of the team u support take u down...GO AWAY..U wont be able to understand wht I am trying to say here..
Wait a min..when did I start bothering abt whoever reads this stupid blog of mine or not???
hahaha..

Some ppl feel humans r stupid to let a simple game which they themselves dont play bother them..
Some stupid ppl even say this out loud to the despondent fans rt after their team has lost..ending up being hit nasty by the said fans..

These ppl are missing out on a big part of human life..The part of us which feels like belonging to something exciting..And wht better & exciting way than the world of sports??
Be it the most famous and beautiful game in the world - Soccer or for the billions of crazy fans in the sub-continent,Cricket?

I dont want to dissect the psychological reasons here for which humans support a particular team in a particular sport,where they celebrate raucously ,party hard and have a blast after their team wins or they feel depressed and down,behave like there's nothing right in this world after it loses..but its true!!Even though we dont get paid for watching the game..(in fact its the other way round..fans are the base for any sport,innit?)..we involve ourselves on a personal level in the outcomes of these matches,letting it affect our next day in the real world of work and family life!

Well after that short(?) rant on the logic of fan behaviour,let me tell u what has got me so upset...
Let me start off with this month's major event..actually most ppl dont give a damn..so dunno how major this is in India,but the 2006 Hockey World Cup was a pretty successful event back in Germany which hosted it.

Q : hey,didnt Germany host the Football WC dude??
A : Yes man!And thy hosted the Hockey WC too..which they even won it this time..

In fact just read in a news article,the Germans even made a handsome profit of 135 million Euros in the process!!Pretty neat amount in hockey..
So,wht abt India?? Thy came 11th after beating South africa 1-0..
Hello!!There were only 12 teams in this WC..not 36!!And we are at the rock bottom..I was pretty confident in our abilities to gift chances to our opponents at the most inopportune moment,tht i wont have been surprised to see us finish last..

Not that I had any high hopes from our team...But their good performance in the recent Azlan Shah tourney had raised a teenee weenee bit of hope in my foolish mind of a decent standing in the WC..
U know,if we had lost playing good hockey..i wudnt feel all that bad..But the way Indian team played most of their games..where's the grace and natural attack which we cud see even 5 yrs back??Almost in all the matches,we conceded enuf goals in the last 10 mins to let the other team win!It was too frustating to watch..I cudnt even convince myself to continue seeing the rout..let alone expect my roomies to!Either way,a top half finish wudnt have beeen so bad..

England were the surprise package this time..well thy surely surprised me..LOL
I have a soft corner for them..dunno why..but its there..hmm..maybe coz' i root for their national team in Football?hehe
Holland surprised everyone too i guess..not in a good way,mind u..when u have geniouses like Teun de Nooijer and Taeke Taekema in ur team and u dominate world hockey,7th place is not for you..
Germany won a rather thrilling encounter with the Kangaroos(hockeyroos if u must)..thy were 3-1 down and came back to win it 4-3..Rather sad I missed the live action*sigh*

Wht can one really expect anyways from our team..
The lack of basic infrastructure,money,special attention to players,modern facilities,(24 astro turfs??Thts all??),politics,regionalism,nepotism ..u cant really blame them..
I have stopped counting the number of times the coach has been changed in the last few years..
The hap-hazard and autocratic way in which the IHF runs the game,its no wonder we are so pathetic..not in terms of class mind!!I still feel we have one of the best defenders in the world in Dilip Tirkey(thts the captain..ye ignorants)..but its the final results that count ,dont they??

I keep hoping for an end to India's misery everytime,not that it matters..
One can still hope,cant he?

Divination Ramblings...

No,I haven't turned a religious fellow all of a sudden...I just wanted to have a catchy Title for this post,but cudn't come up with anything else.Well,whoever said I was a creative genious,eh?hehe..

Theology is not a subject I dwell upon too much,not seriously on a personal level anyways.
I have declared myself to be an Agnostic on the Orkut profile,but that's because it was the closest which cud describe my thots abt religion and stuff,since I am not an out and out Atheist!

6th september was my birthday,tht was 5 days back.Incidentally,it was also the Ganesh Visarjan day.Talk abt an auspicious day,eh?Well,tht being the case,my mum tried to push me to go to the temple and offer my prayers since according to her such chances shudn't be spurned.
She knows my feelings abt this whole GOD thingie,but then i don't really blame her for trying.

I dont remember going to a temple and actually praying ever since I left school..One or two instances when I had to go to a friend's place 'coz he had Ganpati at his place..thts all.
Even then,I didnt really pray as such..Just imposing my presence for the sake of Conformity.
Ah, hypocrisy..more like cowardice,huh?But that was then,now my friends know how I feel,and I hope thy will spare me the ordeal!

My parents are your average religious ppl,we used to go to a temple every week on Fridays.For me and my siblings,tht was more like a family outing..I remember saying the 'Shubham Karoti' every day in the evening until I was in 7th Std.Not tht I was a religious person back then..It was more of a going thru the motions thing,ha!

Right since I was a kid,I had a very healthy apetite for reading..I could and used to read anything and everything I could lay my hands on in those days!Seeing this,my father had bought me some of those Ramayana,Mahabharata,Krishna,and other such story books for kids.
Boy,was I impressed..After that I can boast of even reading Shivlilamrut and other such puranas..I had started Dnyaneshwari too(Gosh!) but it was too boring to go on...

All these books and religious scriptures were ironically instrumental in moulding my present day philosophy.Then,it was interesting as a story,nothing GODly abt it..come on wat else do u expect from a 10 yr old kid?Later,when u start forming ur own opinions,when u start questioning things and stop believing in things blindly jsut 'coz someone says so in the name of god,I didnt find any satisfying answers..I had read a lot of material by then and not just these religious books.And I found myself laughing at the idea of believing in the existence of these deities and gods and goddesses...

Sure,there must be some supernatural existence which is the reason for the order and beauty around us..But attributing it to a whole array of 33 crore deities..I found it a bit preposterous .

The original Vedas prove that the Aryans were nature worshippers!Their chief deity was Indra,thts the rain god for ye ignorant ones!
Over the course of history,as their occupation changed and they became an agrarian economy,their deities changed too.Then came the rut in the society due to the caste system gaining ground..Here after we see the adevnt of Buddhism and Jainism.
Gautam Buddha and Mahavir were not gods..nor did they proclaim themselves to be the ONE or his Child as we see in Islam and Christianity..
But their followers made them out to be such..again the effect of passage of a lot of time.

Rituals began to be followed even in Buddhism and ppl were disillusioned.
The Aryan religion was revived by the upper caste Brahmins and that was the advent of Hinduism as we know it today..A rather clever ploy by the then caste Brahmins was the penning of these scriptures,puranas and Godification of some historic figures and battles(Ram,Krishna..its obvious guys!)..ppl began to take interest in this religion again.
This was the time of the codification of Manusmriti,too.

I dont want to comment on the rights and wrongs in this matter,after all it might have been a necessity a 1000 years back,we will never know.
What I know is that today you dont want to be bogged down by these rituals,traditions,stories and beliefs.

Some call it faith,well as long as u keep ur faith to urself,its no big deal!
I have been fortunate enuf to be born in a family,where they have never forced me to believe in something..The environment where i grew up was like any other typical middle class family in a city like Mumbai.
My dad had asked me just one question when I refused to go to a temple wth the family one day...
Did I believe in God??At tht time,I did..and to a some extent, i do even today.
But i was pretty sure even then,i dont believe in a particular god/deity and I told him so..Why shud I offer flowers,light a lamp and pray to a statue of stone or metal,when I dont think of it as God???I dont believe in Idol-worship...
He told me it was a way for people who don't bother abt such details, to base their faith on something or someone.As long as I was not an Atheist,he was fine wth it..
Well,I for one, was glad my dad understood me so well!!Can't say the same abt my mum,hehe..

Today,I am clear abt one thing.There's no need to name ur god as Rama,Krishna,Shiva,Allah or Jesus.If u want to pray,pray!But do it from ur heart.Just because u go to a temple regularly and recite some aarti or bhajan doesnt mean you have the right to tell others how they shud pray or wat they shud or shud not bliv in..
Intolerance which we see gaining so much acceptance in today's society is a direct result of these obsolete thought-processes, beliefs and rituals we follow blindly.There comes a feeling of smug superiority in oneself,leading to a thinking that all the rest are inferior to me while my way is the right way..
Some bastards even go all the way saying "My way or No way".Case in point..the Jehadis!

Frankly speaking tht is the only time when I pause to think abt god and such.Whenever there is a terror attack,one can't help but think of the fallacy in the basic principles,the basic values these ppl are brought up with.

To each his own,thts my funda..now if only, everyone starts following it too...*wink*

Pune roads...the bane of two-wheelers!

Welcome to the world of pot-holes..welcome to Pune..My dear friends or whoever is reading this post..I would sincerely advise you all and sundry to take note of this warning.
If you are planning to come to Pune in the near future,think again!
The sorry state of this city's public trasnport needs no introduction..The PMT is a joke which runs to compound the misery of the hapless Punekars!!The buses which ply are disgustingly filthy,one wonders if they ever heard of the word : Maintenance??
No wonder,people are forced to look out for other means of transport..
Bikes being readily available along wth the comfort thy bring..most people prefer them over other vehicles.
One report i read said that of the 14 lakh vehicles in Pune,abt 11 lakhs are 2-wheelers!!Beat that!!
And what has the PMC done to alleviate the problem??
Nada!Zilch..Zot..nuthing!!
Well,they have surely added to it!The first thing u will notice when u step into Pune is the bad roads here..Just like the first thing u notice when stepping in Mumbai is the slums..
Doesn't the local authority know anyhting abt First Impressions??
The station roads are so narrow and congested..while the Airport road is another pot-hole riddled story!
And every time the Monsoon arrives, the pot holes reappear wth them as though following a holy ritual..
One can literally experience the joys (?) of sitting in a boat right on Pune roads,when one travels in an auto..

Wht is most dangerous in Pune rt now?The cavalier traffic sense of the people or the bad roads?
Frankly speaking,the combination is deadly..The bike riders i have seen in Pune have their own sense of traffic rules..No one bothers to give a signal and suddenly cut lane thru in front of u to take a wrong left or right.
I will be the first person to admit Every time i get out to ride my bike,my heart beat rate goes up dramatically!As thy say in Marathi---'jeev muthit gheoon bike chalavto me'

Over the past few days,I have seen so many reports of 2-wheeler accidents here..I had half the mind to start a count of deaths..And most of these accidents take place due to negligent attitude,either of the PMC or the drivers themselves!The PMC blames the heavy rains for the pitiable condition of the roads,everyone knows they are only shielding the contractors and in turn themselves..Just the other day,i saw an article in the papers abt the excellent condition of the Paud-Mulshi road.here,read it for urself :

Smooth Paud-Mulshi road speaks against PMC

Once again we see how corruption by the civic authorities brings us one step closer to death!

Its so depressing..the age group of most of these casualties is 18-28 yrs...
One moment u have ur entire life in front of u, next u know u r lying in a hospital battling for ur life.That is,if u r lucky to survive long enuf to reach a hospital and not snuff it on the spot!

Normally, I am not too affected by death--even if its closer to home,but for some reason i don't know,these have left me a bit unnerved..Probably 'coz its the fact tht it could have been me??
Or maybe its because they were so young..I have never enjoyed watching those gory suspense and thriller flicks where a psycho goes abt killing the college youths in a party,precisely for the same reason..It made me sick!!

How long is it gonna take for the PMC to stop this horror story scripting on the Pune roads??

Celebration Weekend!!

Ha!!
Finally something going good for the Scousers...This week's premeirship gave me a reason to celebrate..Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League,Chelsea losing the mid-week game,and Arsenal losing yest..Things were only better when L'pool beat West Ham yesterday!
Tht doesn't mean all's well at Anfield..The CL qualifier against the Israeli team shouldn't have had the uncertainity involved,after all for a team like Liverpool it should have been a bigger margin..atleast they were in charge of the game.And then the game yesterday was a treat to watch,Kyut is gonna be an interesting signing.Can't be too optimistic here,but hopefully he along wth Bellamy and Crouch will be a solution to our longstanding Striker headaches..
Well,Chelsea --the team for the bandwagon jumpers,great signings,great money..result we have seen for the past 2 years..But this week has shown thy r vulnerable and beatable..
It was hilarious to watch their 4 defenders stumbling in front of the goal to let in the Viduka stunner..surprise Boro win,but hey i am not complaining:)Thy may have got 3 points from todays game but their play was so scrappy..pathetic waste of time whoever saw this one!!
ManU have started wth a bang,but i dont think thy will be able to keep the momentum going..these teams thy have beaten are minions..Lets see how thy fare against the midtable teams...
Arsenal were pitiable...i always take perverse pleasure in celebrating their loss,especially against a team like Man City..hehehee.I wish i had a camera ready to take snaps of 'Moan-inho ' and 'Whinger's ' faces after their team's defeats..

So i decided to celebrate this particulary satisfying week by giving into my friends' coercion to drink with them..

Alas!!!
My celebration had to be cut short in a rather embarassing way..
1/4 th of a whiskey glass was all i could manage before giving up and going to the loo to puke!!
This has only ascertained my belief that my tryst with alcohol will always have a tragic aftermath of puked remains of my previous meals...
Rum,Vodka,Whiskey...nope..never gonna even go near it again...
No matter how much i feel like celebrating,hehe...

Reserved about Reservations...

Arjun Singh and his cronies are at it again!!
That was quite a stir 3 months ago,wasn't it??Took the politicians by a total surprise!
Who would have thought the student population of India to be so active and spontaneous??
The UPA govt was caught on a wrong foot totally..Frankly speaking,I don't think it was something which came out of the blue at all..These feelings have long been simmering amongst the hearts of countless Open Category students for years now..
It was just the neta log who had their heads buried in the sands until then that hadn't noticed.

I was too young to even remember the Anti-Mandal protestations of the late 80s/early 90s..
But i do remember my parents warning me every now and then while I was growing up,to take studies damn seriously or face the consequences of not getting admitted to a decent college..
I think it started in '95 when my eldest sis' was to get admission for Junior college.Everone was happy that she got 80% in SSC boards,but it was never gonna be enuf for getting into the prestigious Kelkar..Tht was when in first hit me how vulnerable my position in society was..
I remember asking my dad why we didnt have a caste certificate,too..
Knw wht my dad said?
Firstly,we don't belong to the reserved categories..and even if we were, he wud never want me to take help of such crutches to forge my way ahead in life...
Not tht I really needed to worry so much abt getting good marks in school..Being the perennial top-ranking student of my school was a habit for me unlike my elder sisters who weren't as brilliant at mugging as me:)
But still as my parents reminded me constantly..Better be safe than sorry..
The next 4 years,Reservations was a constant topic of discussion amongst my folks..
It was in '99 wen this quota system hit me..No sir!!85%wasn't good enuf either now for Kelkar!!
And I,who had never ever set foot out of my suburb alone b4, was to go all the way to Sion in the daily rush of the local trains..Well,things turned out good enuf for me,I guess.
SIES was a pretty good college and I got a chance to widen my horizons a bit..The frog had left the well!
But,then again,I had to take Biology,my most hated subject,since there was no chance for a 85% guy like me getting CompSci or Elex..I remeber my Chemistry lab partner getting CS after 1 month of start of classes..why??She was a RC student..
One thing is for sure...i never felt any resentment towards the RC ppl,hell, 2 of my best frenz are from RC..And i came to know of this fact during the junior coll admissions..why so late??Until then noone ever bothered to ask you ur caste b4 becoming freinds wth u...
So,i was still not worried and didn't have any probs as long as I was getting along fine myself..
Only when i started Junior college I encountered ppl asking u ur percentage,Bio/Non-bio status,and if u quoted my combination..i always got a response.."Duh,u r from Open category!!"
I was miffed ..some of these ppl from RCs looked at me in a patronizing way..some tried to be sympathetic..
The most opinionated I felt abt these quotas was after my HSC results came out..
I had a 289/300 score in PCM and there was no guarantee i wud get a good college AND a good course wth those marks!
The brochure for Engg admissions showed the cutoff marks for past year..and there i saw a person from NT category getting CompSci at 146/300.This was for VGTI,the most coveted engg coll for the likes of me at the time..How can one not b shocked??

Well,in the end,it appears I was worried abt nuthin..I got into the last available OC merit seat in TSEC,Elex. See..?If u have enuf percentage,u get by somehow..
But wht abt those ppl who get those opportunities when others far deserving are still languishin behind?? I was lucky,I have seen many others who have not been..

This is when u talk abt the Junior college and graduate course admissions...
The reason for the discontent now is 'coz the UPA govt has decided to extend these quotas to the PG courses too..Well,its more like extending the quotas for OBCs(27%!!!)..The reservations for SC/STs were there all along..

People talk abt meritocracy,right to equality and such things when they oppose the reservations.
Merit does suffer a lot when u bring in people wth not even 50% marks in specialized courses like Medical and Engg..After all who wants to trust their well-being and health in the hands of MDs and surgeons who barely got thru their graduate course..??

But,I never felt the need to abolish quota system outright..Even when i was the affected party...
The rampant discrimination based on caste sytem prevalent in India had to be tackled at the outset of our Independence..The founders of our modern society were well aware of this problem..After all,who can forget the Mahad satyagraha in '27 by Ambedkar for something as basic as right to drinking water??No wonder,there were quotas for the backward castes when he helped draft the Constitution...Where did they err,then??Or did they??

I don't think thy erred in the thinking,it all went wrong in the implementation..Nehru was so enthusiatic abt buiding a modern India ready to take on the world,he forayed into too many things at the same time..granted it was necessary and we won't b able to understand things as thy were 60 yrs back..but the basic thing like Education for all was not given proper attention..
This is where we went wrong,in building the next generation Indians...

Quotas were a necessity back then..what was needed alongside was a massive effort by the politicians to start changing the mindset of the masses..o/w the higher castes wud always resent the lower castes..quotas or no quotas..But i dont think it happened the way it shud have..And the result is wht we see today..60 years later we r saying enuf of these quotas..Does tht mean all those who could have benefitted from them have??Thts not the case,is it?We still find many of these backward castes ppl denied basic human rights in a huge part of our country...
We can't abolish quota system yet..And thts wht every agitator in todays AntiReservations protests agrees to,too..
Why r thy protesting then??

Because,the quotas will now be applicable to even the Creamy layer of the OBCs..
Why do the Creamy Layer get the benefits which they definitely dont need??
Are we going to still give these sons and daughters of 'rich businessmen,politicians,doctors,lawyers,govt officers,enggs ,etc' a chance to get admissions in prestigious institutions and then look at OC students who had to actually work hard for their seat, in a patronizing and superior way??
Where's the sense in that??They have had the best primary and secondary schooling which incidentally,lower middle class OC students haven't..they have got the chance to get into the best institutes for graduate courses,where they already have gotten into 'coz of quotas and now they want reservations for PG courses too??Why??So they can party all nights at weekends wthout having to worry abt slogging like the commoners to get into the IIMs??

Not all of them fall into the above category..some rather many of them do work hard like others and think tht these quotas will be an added advantage,a fall back measure if u say..
But where is the discrimination now??Haven't they already gotten on an equal platform after getting in to graduate courses on the basis of their castes?? Isn't tht the basis behind this quota system?Opportunity to those who may or may not be denied it otherwise by the upper castes..
Isn't this discrimination against the OC students looking to do their PG??

The real benefeciaries of these quotas will be these undeserving candidates from the creamy layer..Come on..be realistic!!How many Suresh babus will be actually there in those quota beneficiaries??Even Suresh a student from BITS didnt need a crutch to take admission into IIM-A..

All tht these politicians have achieved is further dividing the society..They run the risk of totally destroying whtever little has been achieved in name of social equality in the past 60 yrs..
How are they justifying this aberrant increase in OBC quotas??By giving foolish and absurd statements..All they are concerned abt is the votes these OBCs will give them in the next elections..They are least bothered abt agitations going on rt now..since they know we may huff and we may puff..but wen it comes to vote bank politics..we r not even a force to reckon wth..why bother abt the demands of a scattered polity which hardly ever bother to cast their votes on election day???
The politicians of the likes of Ramadoss and Arjun Singh and Moily is a result of our apathy towards governance..

Call me skeptical,call me cynical..but how much ever these students protest-violently or non violently;they r not goin to be heeded...3 months back we saw the doctors being beaten up like dogs..Mr.Manmohan Singh was appalled..3 months later his cabinet quietly rescinds the promise he gave us then abt not including creamy layer in the quotas..The quota proponents vehemently opposed the staggering introduction of the quotas,thy still want in to be implemented in one go(thts a whopping 54% increase,folks!!)...Quality and infrastructure may take a toss!!
Lets see if our PM is able to keep this promise either...

In the meanwhile....start looking for better avenues abroad my friends..there's no future for our country wth the current crop of our netas...