tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205245992024-03-07T16:04:38.765-08:00hell raises a toast......and it ain't burntLife is like a fistful of sand. The harder you try to grab it, the faster it slips away.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-76728848884529143332009-03-19T23:05:00.000-07:002009-03-19T23:34:49.134-07:00Trying out graph jam....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7wYlU5CJ5x5BWksrpGk7s1SIVegg8S64Bqo3R0wZHmJtCixp03NS3Xag-YN5uSrfn1k3BstAmEtoCloAWUih0ia8xA2fpP_MvQfHCZ51Vtyhyphenhyphen-14aMCr0zLbca4OU8Ol6ANx/s1600-h/128820023878007163.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 317px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7wYlU5CJ5x5BWksrpGk7s1SIVegg8S64Bqo3R0wZHmJtCixp03NS3Xag-YN5uSrfn1k3BstAmEtoCloAWUih0ia8xA2fpP_MvQfHCZ51Vtyhyphenhyphen-14aMCr0zLbca4OU8Ol6ANx/s320/128820023878007163.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315152783377574690" border="0" /></a><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_trinity">Impossible Trinity</a>, also known as the Inconsistent Trinity, Triangle of Inconsistency or the Unholy trinity is a theory in international economics saying its not ordinarily possible to have all the three of the following at the same time...<br /><br />A Fixed Exchange Rate regime<br /><br />An independent monetary policy and<br /><br />Total Convertibility (both capital and current)<br /><br />In the original model proposed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mundell">Robert Mundell </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Fleming">Marcus Flemming</a>, no country could aim to achieve all the three of the above simultaneously and it would have to necessarily focus on two of them and leave out the third to the mercies of the powers that be....<br /><br />In the current recessionary madness the same could be said of the placements in B-Schools.<br />And this analogy was thought out by me and me alone... (too many people are claiming for this, I hear. I should write a paper on this maybe.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-24640710430326673172008-10-25T10:01:00.000-07:002008-10-25T11:17:59.563-07:00AeganI had a craving this morning, to watch a full-masala, no holds barred, dumb than dumber movie, in a theater. And KayKay was around as well. My immediate idea was to watch Karzzzzzzz.... I knew it could easily become torturous, given the kind of people they have as protagonists. I mean, I'm not racist and all, but how can you have a gujju hero? that too one with a punctured vocal chord that forces him to speak, nay sing with his mouth? So to my mind, it was a sure fire candidate to laugh my head off all the pressures at work over the last week. But KayKay was dead against it. He gave me a look which confirmed that he believed such movies could lead to parietal brain damage, and untwisting of the chiasmata of neural nerves in there.<br />And I chanced upon this ad of Aegan, playing at Arora. It's been ages since I went to Arora and a Thala movie sounded very promising... given the last few of his movies, including varalaru etc...<br />My immediate reaction was to call Kums, given that he's a walking movie encyclopedia and also big time Ajith fan. He was thrilled to pieces and agreed to come over with Krishna who was equally thrilled, despite the innumerable threats and conditions of not abusing us half way through the movie.<br />So off we went to Matunga, after gobbling up lunch. Now Arora is a one of its kind-remnant, a standalone theater, in this age of ultra-luxe suits and super clear surround sound multiplexes. A wave of nostalgia overcame me... with the smell of burnt cigarette butts and cutting tea around. I was transported to another time, some 6-8 years back... watching Speed, on the first row,with Shank in the stall, in PerinbaVilas theater in Tirunelveli. Those were the days of 10 rupee tickets, special queues for women, black tickets...<br />Well the movie turned out to be alright... not as bad as I expected it to be... It's a remake of Main Hoon Na.. but given my hatred for SRK and the Yashraj types in general, I didn't watch that one. So this one was pretty ok. But it carried the same thread of arbitrariness that was seen in Pachai Kili... and in Dasavatharam (to a very a large extent..) I'm kinda tired of parallel story lines now.<br /><br />Well as for the movie itself, a bad villain, the heroine, 9-star, who just keeps jumping out of one bikini top- chiffon saree combo, some good actors wasted in bad roles (Suhasini, Jayaram, Haneef) all typical potboiler stuff... what I was really thirsting for actually. Ajit doesn't overact thankfully, but the two other characters (Navdeep and some hazel-eyed noodle haired guy) do very badly. Nayan is very good eye candy, better than Vallavan even, and no I'm not complaining. The music though jarring, is interesting. It's got a coupla RnB beats, a jazz song (thats the flavour for the season btw, ever since Sillenru Oru Kaadhal), a rock one (with Thala trying to do a Michael Jackson...and failing). Yuvan proves again, that he can consistently surprise us with his variety.<br />The direction is third rate, dialogues are bad too... and the villain is downright irritating (too much over-acting actually). Thankfully, the end is super crisp like a Dharani movie... one fight and thats the end. No preachy stuff etc...<br />The best part of the movie is when everyone keeps teasing Thala as a student... and he retorts... <span style="font-style: italic;">adhaan thoppai irukkunnu otthunden la... aala vidungalen </span><br /><br />By the way, I was stunned to see a huge group of Ajit fans wearing a Red T-shirt (a reference to his movie 'Red') and hooting for every punch dialog. Well there were actually pretty few :(<br />I enjoyed the hooting though.. and I joined those guys some times... felt like being back in movie-mad TN again.<br />Apparently Aegan means unique and is another name of Lord Shiva. The movie doesn't suggest either of that in any way though.<br />I came back home feeling satisfied that I didn't waste a 200 buck on some brain-hurting movie.<br />Amen to that.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-58427762068504341312008-10-12T02:23:00.000-07:002008-10-12T03:02:02.093-07:00Sampoorna Kranti!No, I didn't go to the IIT, not any of them... except for giving the entrance exam.<br />Here comes their <a href="http://www.paniit2008.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=367&Itemid=216">WTF </a>moment!!<br />And if you don't find them sexist enough, read <a href="http://blog.amruthaupendran.com/2008/09/sexism-among-iitians.html">this</a>, <a href="http://albernegedanken.blogspot.com/2008/09/unbelievable.html">this</a> and <a href="http://choultry.blogspot.com/2008/09/wtf-of-century.html">this.</a><br /><br />the news was sent by an IITan friend no less ;)<br /><br />So all those who wanna learn <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_bCtxZqseqBQ/Rjky1g5Ru8I/AAAAAAAAAew/ZsdxjGYn1-g/Sunday1217+149.jpg">Kili Josiyam</a> from the best parrot brains in the country, you know whom to marry (thanks, but no thanks). In the process, you might become sampoorna as well, for it says, while your better half <span style="font-style: italic;">"chooses to inspire, innovate and transform, here is an exclusive track designed to keep Spouses and Families completely informed and entertained". </span>Consider this one of the million small mercies the IITians continue throwing down upon us.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-34107195117686365262008-10-04T20:54:00.000-07:002008-10-04T21:44:34.816-07:00HypothesisAnother one of those pondering that afflicted me at work...<br />Will the ongoing Wall St. crisis be a precursor for another baby boom? And if there is one, will the children born in this boom send the average IQ levels of America shooting?<br />Historically, a baby boom has followed every documented state of general national distress... yeah, we've never bothered to check it in India since the common man in urban India here leads nothing short of a war-like existence on a daily basis, but in the US of A, be it a World War-II, the Viet or even the recent 9/11 strikes, they have always managed to overcome the realities through their enhanced productivity. Talk of more bang for the buck! That's possibly their way of handling stress (why should our's be any different? Possibly there is no reason, but since our fledgling National Statistic Commission has far more important lists to manage (see Inflation, CPI, WPI, GDP, OBC population, creamy layer, the works), I shall restrict myself to verifiable sources of information.)<br />Hence, given that <a href="http://www.dol.gov/">jobless claims</a> are at an all time high, and Wall Street is now underwater, there should be another spike in the US and UK census statistic. At the surface of it though, it seems highly irrational that when people don't know the whereabouts of their next few months' meals, they would want to bring in another mouth to feed.<br />Assuming rational investor behaviour then, (pun intended) the latex companies should be looking to ramp up scale and ad-spends, which would be a stroke of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy economy.Yeah, literally making out in the hay while the sun shines!! Would this crisis give a fillip to the prostitution and adult porn industry? Hey, but when did that industry go out of business anyway? Isn't Hugh Hefner the one who's been holding the US out along with Berkshire Hathaway and Henry Paulson?<br />Anyways, the ramblings gave rise to two questions... the answers to which I don't have a clue about. <br />1) Why do crises lead to increased sexual activity in a nation? <a href="http://www.snopes.com/rumors/babyboom.asp">This</a> is what the researchers in the US have to say.<br />Is it because of the pervading sense of insecurity which the bedsheets cover up pretty well? Or is it because sex is possibly the cheapest (at the face of it at least, if you are willing to consider the begging / pleading costs sunk) and most assured form of entertainment for the public at large?<br /><br />2) Will the average IQ of the populace increase, given that the people afflicted most are investor bankers and the allied financial types who are typically a Wharton, a MIT-Sloan, a Kellogg or an IIT-IIM, or will the law of averages hold good here as well?<br /><br />And while pondering, pray about our placements as well!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">P.S.<br />overheard in the pantry when LB failed...</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">N: thank god! I didn' t join them despite their offering me XYZ</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A: and thanks again! they didn't take me despite my most desperate efforts! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Talk of </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory">black swans</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> ; one man's incompetence could be another man's doom! </span>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-24085610606823105692008-10-02T00:18:00.000-07:002008-10-02T00:19:30.797-07:00Here I go!<span style="font-style: italic;">"Agar aapko mera kaam accha lagta hai... aur woh gora bhi yehi samajhta hai... toh us gorey ke liye kaam kyu karoon?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Khud ke liye karoonga!!"</span><br /><br />- Guru BhaiArvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-6604796607282278122008-09-17T09:34:00.000-07:002008-09-17T09:45:55.900-07:00Suggest a book...<span style="font-size:100%;">Though my reading has gone for a toss thanks to endless streams of assignments and projects, the following are a few books I've managed to read in the following months. They are strictly unrelated to business, strategy, management, finance and the works... (those don't count anyway)<br /><br />Shadow of the wind<br />Catch 22<br />The alchemy of desire<br />vertigo (uggh...)<br />Joker in the pack (uggh... uggh...)<br />The hitchiker's guide to the galaxy (and the three other books that follow)<br />Sea of Poppies<br />Fight Club<br />Vernon God Little<br /><br />(books in the pipeline... a brave new world, 1984 (reread), Choke, the curious incident of the dog in the night time</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">)<br /><br />I am thirsting for a good book which is not dark, sinister, nihilistic, fatalistic, slap-stick, chick/cock-lit, preachy (please not the paulo coelho / robin sharma types) etc...<br />can i have a simple and light book (an equivalent of 'Little miss sunshine') which is not trash??<br /><br />Help Help!<br /><br /><br /></span>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-353245375658518292008-09-13T21:49:00.000-07:002008-09-13T21:53:03.028-07:00Tanker<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="me" style="font-size:100%;">I've been through the motions of the infamous placement procedure in an Indian B-School, for the internship - which is a farce in more than 90% of the cases. Most companies come to campuses to either trap prospective employees by giving them a PPO etc. and a few come to outsource work which they deem unworthy of their employees (a case in point: one of the world’s largest software companies). Anyway, yours truly had a fairly unmemorable internship placement routine what with no companies wanting to shortlist a mechanical engineer who hasn’t taken Investment Banking as an elective and I took up the first one which came my way. But that opened the gates to another psychologically draining experience called <i style="">tanking</i>. </span> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--><span class="me" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="me" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tank">tank</a> - </span></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" ><br />1. a large receptacle, container, or structure for holding a liquid or gas: <span class="ital-inline">tanks for storing oil.</span><br /><span class="ital-inline">2. <i>Military</i></span><span class="labset"><i>.</i> </span>an armored, self-propelled combat vehicle, armed with cannon and machine guns and moving on a caterpillar tread<br />3. <span class="secondary-bf"><i>go in the tank</i>, </span><span class="ital-inline">Boxing</span><span class="labset"> </span><span class="ital-inline">Slang</span><span class="labset">. </span>to go through the motions of a match but deliberately lose because of an illicit prearrangement or fix; throw a fight.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">In the interest of all those who had not been placed, the others were to go in to an interview and convince the panel that the best candidates were the others. Early morning, on the D-Day, the first company was an Ing-Bank, a rarity nowadays, given the way Lehmann is sinking and threatening to take Merrill along. The fact that I am the first candidate makes the work doubly troublesome, as I can’t fuck up badly, which would damage the whole process. So in I go, and speak for half an hour, weaving stories about my life, the city of Mumbai, the Indian Power Sector, NTPC: the guy is visibly impressed till I drop the bomb: Sir, I want to work in a ‘proper’ company, learn the ropes in corporate finance and then join an I- Bank. The guy’s face shrank a few inches... But he was cordial and all and wished me well (I was sure he must be cursing my intelligence or the lack of it thereof under his breath)… but nevertheless</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Next in line was a young consulting company, who wanted to meet me, despite the fact that my name was not in the shortlist. And in there I met one of the most enlightened souls, who knew about my previous work experience and he grilled me on the whole thing… actually which was a piece of cake. And then the same stuff about Mumbai and what you’ve been doing (heavens! If I knew that, what would I be doing in this muck?)… till it was time to drop the bomb… The guy asks me: so where would you like to join us? (gawd… did I really speak that long?) and then I go into a drawl… why I would like to join a bank and learn finance before joining consulting blah blah and more blah… </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">There were a few more over the course of the day, and then came the GD, in a world famous indemnity company. There was me, Amu and ambiga seated next to one other, and a few more guys: to push 4 out of 12 into the interview. The topic was “will twenty-20 replace one day cricket?” ; another reason for hating the shorter format of the game. In the end, it was the most focused GD that could be seen on earth, with each one of us (the tankers) avoiding eye contact with the rest of the world, speaking the same thing time and again, and overacting, (remember the scene in Munnabhai when Sunil Dutt comes visiting his son in the hospital?).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Opening Statement: One day cricket didn’t replace Test cricket and same will be the case with T20. I repeat the same three more times in the GD. The panelist asked me to summarize: Kerry Packer couldn’t end Test cricket and neither will Lalit Modi. It’s a different issue that I don’t care a hair what happens to Modi or his sycophantic tranche. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">So drained I was by the whole thing that</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I refused to participate the next day, for two more I banks who wanted to see me… to hell with them, there’s only so much I can lie. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">(This writer’s block is racking my nerves for a few months now and hence the dullness)</span> <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-31510209284909106892008-08-05T02:57:00.000-07:002008-08-05T02:58:40.799-07:00Keeping Quiet<span style="font-style: italic;">if we could do nothing for once,<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">perhaps a great silence would<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">interrupt this sadness,<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">this never understanding ourselves<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">and threatening ourselves with death<br /><br /> - Neruda, Pablo, highness<br /></span>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-66543424967095366562008-07-01T04:37:00.001-07:002008-07-01T04:37:55.285-07:00Dead Man Beat<p class="MsoNormal">He laid still, hair aflutter </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The only sign of life, his eyes aglow; </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The fear of death, dark and bitter</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Was a veil that shrouded his morose face </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Many a pebble had rolled down the slopes </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of the very mountains he had once furrowed</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The same flowers, the familiar faces, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">All had passed; flown around</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Circumventing him and what was theirs</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The haze was clearing, the mists tearing </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And there they stood out in the clearing</p> <p class="MsoNormal">All of them, all that he had ever cared for</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hark away! She was shouting, all of eighty one </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Run! they’re all dead<span style=""> </span>and you are the one</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">‘If they ever meant anything </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Revenge shall be thine’, he dreamt that night</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And thus started the journey </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of a million war and fight </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The first kill is the most difficult they say, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">For it’s the psychosis, the belief in virtue</p> <p class="MsoNormal">That stops the trigger </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Beyond which it’s only a matter of time </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Today, as he lay numb, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">For, the amphetamines were working </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>All the murders, the killings started seeping </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Mutilation, rape, maiming perdition, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The horrors of his crimes had come a full circle </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Streaming snapshots of life </p> <p class="MsoNormal">All the women he had widowed, girl, mother, wife</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And a few good men too… </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Damnation had arrived, a marksman who seldom missed,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Like father, like son, hell</p> <p class="MsoNormal">‘Twas the same stolen gun</p>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-41573844354390709262008-06-09T07:18:00.000-07:002008-06-09T07:22:26.942-07:00We deliver your health!<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN">I have never been fussy about food. Be it at home or outside, I have always managed my culinary problems admirably, so much so that mom always used to comment that I could survive anywhere in the world, as far as food is concerned. It is a different issue that I have never lived outside home (my parent’s home that is,) for more than a month at a stretch, in all the 23 years of my existence. Both my engineering college (VJTI) and my first job at Uhde India Ltd. were based entirely out of Mumbai and thus I easily lost the chance of migrating from Mumbai, and from home. When the rules at SP stipulated that you had to stay on campus all through, I was happy, in a quiet way that finally, I would stay away from home. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s just one of those ‘I have grown up and want to prove my independence’ thing that makes teens in the US with barely visible moustaches move out of their parent’s homes. It is a different issue altogether, that nowadays parents in the US throw them out of their homes forcing them to become independent.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN">But it didn’t take me more than a week to come crashing down back to the earth. Initially it was the mess food, which recycled the same gravy through various channels into your system, and then the food at Vrindi near the college. End of week one, I was back at home on Wednesday evening, hungry for amma’s tried and tested drumstick sambar and rasam. It was not just me, but everyone was dying for the familiar sights and sounds of home food. Initially, I was the home food provider to the guys, ferrying large boxes of pongal, idli, thayir sadham and sambar to the boy’s hostel. Then the guys themselves discovered Matunga and Mani Iyer’s mess. If there is one hotel in Mumbai which can match a Tam home feast, it has to be Mani Iyer’s mess. So every Thursday was spent travelling all the way from Andheri to Matunga, spending hours in and around Arora theatre and Anand Bhavan. Over time, I found a way, (rather, it was Amu who started it), out of this entire mess, through the famed Mumbai dabbawallah network, applauded by supply chain giants and celebrities such as Prince Charles etc. The dabbawala network is more important to Mumbai than the BMC or the suburban train network and keeps its gastric juices flowing, at more than six sigma efficiency. The biggest reason why fancy new restaurants in Mumbai continue doing good business is because the dabbawala network keeps its tummy safe during the week days. Anyway, as I was saying before, I thus didn’t miss home food even after coming to the hostel. Of course, I eventually did come to miss mom’s kai pakkuvam and that too in a short period of one month when I went to the hills of Tehri Garhwal for the internship project. In fact I missed it so much that we started cooking there itself. But that is the subject of another post. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN">Bottom line is that the Mumbai dabbawala network does yeoman service in ensuring that the city doesn’t trip on gastro-enteritis and hepatitis regularly, and is so much a part of the life of the average Mumbaikar, that many don’t even realise it. Jai Maharashtra! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-IN"><span style=""></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">this post was written in a bored-to-death presentation session in a derivatives class (that too the fifth class of the day) and hence may be just as boring! but what the heck, it is possibly the truest ;)!<br /><span style="font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-IN"><span style=""></span></span></p>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-73751248123711959302008-05-24T18:44:00.000-07:002008-05-24T18:50:06.294-07:00QThe more things change, the more they remain insane.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-53983278319201998352008-05-07T04:40:00.000-07:002008-05-09T10:18:04.965-07:00Pen Fight Club<p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">No one and I dare say, no one would ever dispute the fact that school was when we lived and our existence changed for the worse when we crossed the courtyard of class 10. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">School was also the time when were impressed upon the virtues of self righteousness and the importance of being earnest. A phase, where the whole world revolved around home works, sports, and as time went by, on gossip about whose hormones were trying to impress whom. Well, this post is not an ode to Cheran’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autograph_%28film%29">Autograph</a> or some such and was inspired by <a href="http://krishashok.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/book-cricket-age-unknown-rip/">Krish Ashok’s post</a> on book cricket; in reminiscence of another game that was played out in all its glory in <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Model</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">English</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place>, Dombivli. We used to call it pen fight. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Well, even before we had seen Fight Club, we had framed the commandments of the PFC. Somehow, David Fincher hadn’t heard about this game of ours, for why would some one want to get beaten up to the bone marrow, when a simple pen could do the same? And no one could quite kill the concept of brands and celebrity as we did, for the pen is mightier than the Knight R(a)iders’ sword. (By the way, why are they called the Knight Riders and not the Night Raiders? I mean why on earth would a team bristling with testosterone, Akhtar and SRK’s Looney tunes want to ride medieval knights? Or is SRK sending a message to the Queen, demanding his Knighthood, a la Sir Sean Connery? Or is it out of respect for polity and humanity that they decide to do all the riding at night? Anyway, I am digressing too much…it never made any sense.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">That the PFC was an underground movement was a foregone conclusion the day it was formed, being banned by all the teachers and the class prefect as well (self righteousness, get it), for as per Hindu mythology, Goddess Saraswathi resides in every pen, pencil, rubber, scrap of paper, sharpener and the myriad things that have anything to do with literacy and so she would poke your eyes out if you used her instruments of knowledge for such destructive past times (Ummachhi kannai kutthum… get the groove). And in a way, it was a great leveller as well, for no one had much previous experience or any special skills for the game.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">There was no such thing as brand consciousness, for the design of the pen or its robustness was not half as important as one’s ability to hit the sweet spot of the opponent, though, I vaguely remember Raveena Tandon becoming a superstar with her Rotomac brand of pens, (yeah, the <i style="">likhte likhte love ho jaaye</i> one) for they were supposed to have an excellent grip on the wooden bench were the combats were played out. But as I said before, the game outlasted Raveena in popularity, with new pens such as the Cello Gripper, with rubberised grips, negating the home advantage that the pens gave (that Raveena’s love moved on to Akshay and other things is another story altogether).<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Initially, all the matches were one to one combats, played during the classes, when Anita teacher would be waxing eloquent about Tanaji Malusare’s Houdini Act at the Sinhagad fort or when Mini teacher (Minnie would have been more apt a name) would be shouting her head over Pythagoras’ infallible treatise on right triangles. Soon the game became a rage, with every one and his one-dropped younger paternal uncle jumping onto the bandwagon. Individual combats gave way to tournaments, and soon became a weekly event that filled the lunch break, the time between two classes, and for some even the time in their tuition classes. So much so that the neighbouring Swagat stationers started making enquiries about the weekly fixtures and the pens that were performing well, so that he could stock them up as per demand.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Over time, the usual Reynolds, Montexes and Rotomacs gave way to pens which were four times the normal size, and were made of wood, steel and some pancha dhatus. One chap called Rohan made his debut with his dad’s super sleek steel Cross fountain pen and to everyone’s surprise won that day’s lunch time super bowl and the admiration of almost half the padips girls in the class. His happiness though was short lived, for immediately after the class we had Anita Miss’ test on moundaens, pladuus and plains (yeah, a sing-along Mallu accent) and as luck would have it, when he opened his Excalibur, it had a split tip and was bubbling with royal blood, which spoilt both his and his bench mate Rahul’s white and white PT uniform. Soon after some blackmailing by the teacher, the self righteous prefect came out with the truth behind the Excalibur’s twisted nib and for the first time the whole class witnessed Anita Teacher going hyper. In fifteen minutes we were all kneeling outside the Head Mistress’ cabin, we the champions of the inaugural pan – Dombivli Pen Fight tournament, and the bald PT master, Murali, caned us so hard, that the very padips girls who had air-kissed Rohan on his maiden triumph were half wet with fear. Those were the days when caning a wayward student was perfectly normal, and when bald PT masters were sadistic, especially when it came to punishing boys in front of whimpering nubile girls.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">That moment, was our moment of truth, and from there our PFC went on to become a major underground tournament, with even local rowdies settling their fights over a cup of cutting chai and a pen fight game on the banks of the Reti Bunder. Like all good things, the PFC was decimated slowly by its more rugged counterparts such as gully cricket, UNO cards, WWF etc… and the introduction of the Lexi 5 at Rs. 5/- was the death blow, for it was the worst pen one could play a pen fight with and hope to win. The parents of the kids, to their credit, hastened PFC’s death by buying the Lexi 5 in dozens for the hapless kids.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Many attempts to reintroduce the game at High School, <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Engineering</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place> and even the B-School have failed, due to numerous constraints, including Snake 3, certain knowledgeable professors and a certain lady whose name is frequently confused with a green leafy vegetable in Hindi. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">In case you are wondering what role yours truly played in all this, well, it is a little known fact that I was a part of the first pen fight combat to be ever played, and ended up as a winner. A pity, though, that the girl I had a crush on, refused to believe this and the opponent who was white washed, refused<span style=""> </span>to acknowledge his defeat. To that I blame my bachelorhood… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-GB" ><span style="">Oh and talking of plagiarism, does the Dombivli Leaders’ Forum sponsored Indian Pen-Fight League sound vaguely familiar? Well, it seems Lalit Modi’s son was the college mate of the Brutus faced class prefect of class</span> VI-A. </span>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-76123654575228773922008-05-04T09:15:00.000-07:002008-05-04T09:22:34.655-07:00Home Away<p class="MsoNormal">Sure indications that you have been away from home for too long! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Your society watchman asks you for the house number you are visiting.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">The dog that’s been lolling in your building compound since birth starts barking at you</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">You bump into one hell of a chick at and have no idea about her whereabouts</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">You find it difficult sitting cross legged on the floor and having dinner </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">You are informed that your cousin’s Seemantham (the Tamizh equivalent of a baby shower) is due early next month.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Every third person you meet on the street comments on your having lost a lot of weight (while you can swear that it’s the opposite that’s true)</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">You have stopped asking Amma whats for lunch / dinner / breakfast... you just wolf down wotever's on the platter</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">The songs 'Sweet home Alabama' and 'Mama, I'm coming home' start taking an altogetherly different perspective<br /></li></ul>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-32326602755169692412008-02-10T06:53:00.000-08:002008-02-10T07:11:08.426-08:00Julius Caesar – ReduxIt's been a long time since I posted in here and nothing other than laziness can stake a claim to this. Yeah MBA does this to you.... anyways here's an article which made me double up when i saw the alacrity with which it was published. And pardon me for the language... I am rusty.<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal">January 28<sup>th</sup> 2008 was indeed a black day (kari-naal) for civilization.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The extract from Outlook <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> reads “<span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;color:black;" >Amid thumping of desks by DMK members, Karunanidhi moved 'The Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration) Bill, 2008,' which he hailed as "historically significant”.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">The Bill was about changing the Tamizh New Year from the first day of Chithirai to Thai Maasa Pirappu or Pongal.<span style=""> </span>This is apparently a victory for the pro-Dravidian junta, a departure from the traditional Sanskrit (read Aryan) calendar. Forget the fact that people in the <st1:place st="on">Southern TN</st1:place> celebrate it as Chithirai Vishu. Forget that the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Chithirai thiruvizha starts on that day. Forget the fact that the entire calendar has been designed keeping in mind the planetary movements and the solar cycle. Forget the fact that this very day is celebrated as New Year in <st1:country-region st="on">Assam</st1:country-region>, <st1:city st="on">Bengal</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on">Burma</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">Cambodia</st1:country-region>, Kerala, <st1:city st="on">Manipur</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on">Nepal</st1:country-region>, Orissa, <st1:city st="on">Punjab</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on">Sri Lanka</st1:country-region>, Tripura and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And of course the fact that whether you like it or not Aryan influences on Tamizh culture will never disappear. <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">How does it matter you ask? Well it probably doesn’t… not to the scores of Tams all over the world (Mylapore, Mambalam, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Mumbai</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">Madrid</st1:state></st1:place> and all Agrahaarams included) who will continue celebrating it the way they used to. Not to all those who are used to starting the New Year with the Vishu Kani, the visit to a temple and the traditional feast (avial, chakkara pongal, mangai pachhadi included). Not to the age-old panchangams (Tirunelveli, Thanjavur and Naga) which will continue doing brisk sales in the run up to April 14<sup>th</sup>. And most of all not to me, who, despite living all his life in this city of dreams continues to long for his roots. However what it does reflect is the sheer audacity with which the DMK government has decided to run amok with its Dravidian agenda without considering the public viewpoint.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unsurprisingly, except for the VHP and Tughlaq owner and political satirist Cho Ramaswami, no one has come out opposing this move. A few years ago, the DMK and ADMK used to play with Chennai bus routes (JJ vs KK), then came their leaders arresting themselves, and invoking new schemes to promote their popularity such as 2 rupees rice and color TV for all. The latest medium for proving their one-upmanship is the Tamizh culture which has been flourishing despite and not because of such antics inflicted upon it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, really, the powers that be believe that this change has brought justice to the down-trodden brethren of the state for whom Dravidian culture is more important than two square meals a day. More so, the architect believes that this soul saving benediction of his can absolve him of a century of misgivings and will promote rationalism amongst his bloodied blood (pun intended). And what’s the rationale behind all this? Thiruvalluvar, the patron Tamizh saint, was born in this month and hence it is the most logical choice for this auspicious occasion. However, how certain are we that it is indeed so, when the saint is supposed to have lived some 2000 odd years ago, without any written records for the same? It is indeed a matter of shame that most Tamizh scholars endorse this view. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is no doubt a kind of sadism, one that makes me cringe. Who on earth gave governments the power to change calendars? Well Caesar did do that on an ego trip and made himself immortal. But he was a person who respected his people’s wishes and did not make Romans flee their nation and settle in droves in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in search of a ‘good’ life. And Italians still love their last names (Corleone, Capello, anyone?) for he did not make his people conscious enough not to include their own surnames in their names. (Strangely this is observed only in TN I guess). But Caesar's wife (?singular?) must be above suspicion you see.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> I can clearly see someone desperately trying to play Zeus here, but in the long run people’s beliefs are stronger than governments. To put things in perspective, there is actually no harm in this change of dates, for no government can ever change people’s emotions and beliefs through legislation as long as they don't serve as hindrances to peaceful human existence and the more atrocious the government behavior, the harsher the backlash, and the farther the alienation . The autocratic behavior of the architect only insulates him further from the so called Tamizh culture of which he believes he’s the supreme commander and protector. Legacies and heritages are things that outrun Emperors and Empires – the British Government will vouch this for sure. Emperor Ashoka learnt it the hard way in Kalinga. Perhaps the only place this blunder will make a difference is in government records, and the poor (!!) government servants will enjoy one holiday less. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Trail Caesar! </p>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-42584009274553106422007-11-24T08:39:00.001-08:002007-11-24T08:39:59.255-08:00<embed src="http://odeo.com/flash/audio_player_midsize_gray.swf" quality="high" width="150" height="60" name="audio_player_midsize_gray" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="audio_id=1957323&audio_duration=348.499&valid_sample_rate=true&external_url=http://media.odeo.com/4/7/0/g6_-_3_-_chinnanjiru_kiLiyE__R-raagamaalika_T-roopakam_C-SMB_.MP3" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></embed><br /><a style="font-size: 9px; padding-left: 37px; color: #f39; letter-spacing: -1px; text-decoration: none" href="http://odeo.com/audio/1957323/view">powered by <strong>ODEO</strong></a>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-92072773120821140752007-09-12T09:27:00.000-07:002007-09-12T11:53:05.921-07:00Moon shine<span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;" >Aachooo!!!..sniffle.. Here i am, on a wednesday evening, (which is to us like what saturday night is for the normal world), sitting and wasting my time on this sweet blog 'o mine ( this is probably the only original thing I do now-a-days), not knowing what to do. Three months into a B-School (amongst the top 10 mind you) and I am still wondering what am I here for. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;" >As i start doodling, the theme of the '</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bomb.tripod.com/dsom.html">Dark side of the moon</a><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;" >' struck me, and how!! Every song in that album is filled with gems. When I was in engineering college, the album had a different 'context' and altered my 'behavior' forever. When I started working, it had a different meaning in itself making me understand the fact that the world is too dangerous a place for non-conformists like me. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;" >And now that I am in a B-School each and every song makes sense; to the core. I am increasingly convinced that Roger Waters wrote DSOM seeing the plight of a HBS student (since our college was not around then). Now let me elaborate on this using pieces from DSOM</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">a) </span><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;">.......</span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun</span><br /><br />This is a song which remains true for each and every moment of my life... and I think of more than 99% of the ppl around me... how many hours do you waste thinking that the time will come when you will spread your wings and soar... only to be pushed back into lassitude with another one of those endless assignments, group works, presentations et al. Time to sleep is much less than the time to do hat swapping or a movie analysis for that matter. Did I mention how they murder a fantabulous movie in here?? I'd rather not!! When we can' t get beyond the mundane, where is the time to fly?? I leave the reader to interpret the rest of the song... i can't commit sacrilege here...<br /><br />b) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > Run, rabbit run.<br />Dig that hole, forget the sun,<br />And when at last the work is done<br />Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.<br /><br />For long you live and high you fly<br />But only if you ride the tide<br />And balanced on the biggest wave<br />You race towards an early grave.</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />Again self explanatory. Those who think of doing quality work are generally the ones derided and who become frustrated at the apathy and fake sympathy of others. Trying to be honest with your self is next to impossible, forget with others. And need I say more about the work we do? ?<br /><br />c) </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Money, get away.</span><br /> <span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.</span><br /><br />This is perhaps the only motive of the whole MBA populace... (and I have this feeling that I am kinda falling into their gameplan too)</span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Money, it's a hit.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> And I think I need a Lear jet.</span><br /><br />Yeah right. And here we can't pay our Vrindy bills. Having your home in the same city as your B-School is a blessing in disguise no doubt; given that your parents give you a weekly allowance for all and sundry ;)! And who would not have come to this place without a similar dream like the one above??<br /><br />d)<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Black and blue </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> And who knows which is which and who is who. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Up and down. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> But in the end it's only round and round. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Haven't you heard it's a battle of words </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> The poster bearer cried. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> Listen son, said the man with the gun </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;"> There's room for you inside.</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><i> "I mean, they're not gunna kill ya, so if you give 'em a quick short,<br /> sharp, shock, they won't do it again. Dig it? I mean he get off<br /> lightly, 'cos I would've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!<br /> It was only a difference of opinion, but really...I mean good manners<br /> don't cost nothing do they, eh?" </i></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />Us - Me and like minded souls who have been sacrificed in this so called 'altar of knowledge' for wanting to understand business<br />Them - I would like to call them as Max and MadMax and i hope everyone understands who they are. By the way don't even bother to understand why they are... it's one of the world's biggest unsolved mysteries: bigger than sighting an UFO or Osama Bin Laden or both...<br />Also, don't forget to listen to the whole song... you will understand it a lot better!!<br /><br />The remaining songs will not have any explanations for they are very vivid and hit the hats on the head!<br /><br />f) </span><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> The lunatic is in my head. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The lunatic is in my head </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> You raise the blade, you make the change </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> You re-arrange me 'til I'm sane. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> You lock the door </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> And throw away the key</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> There's someone in my head but it's not me. </span><br /><br />g) </span><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><i> "I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been<br />over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands..."<br />"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the<br />most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even<br />if you're not mad..."<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></i><span style="font-family: arial;">h) and possibly the only saving grace; the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel (did i hear some one say it could be that of an oncoming train??..well it could be one for all that you know !!)</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > All that you touch...<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: times new roman;">...All that's to come</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">and everything under the sun is in tune</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">but the sun is eclipsed by the moon</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><i><span style="font-weight: bold;"> "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark.!!" </span><br /><br /></i><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Thank you ladies and gentleman... for going through this post!!<br />Floyd and Zep will continue to rock the world till apocalypse.<br />Anyone who shares my feelings, please do comment. I don't like publicity and so would depend on you people for bringing together like minded-people who feel as concerned as I do!!</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br />PS: I wonder why a running nose is possibly the only inspiration for me to blog??<br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><i><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span></i></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-92170617400001053812007-08-09T09:55:00.000-07:002007-08-09T10:03:54.165-07:00And who said man doesn't care??<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijVuNx0CqaJ0TIadAVCpxYGyQn8zxA2Odl-RAYKVIMpWGRJy-WpK8f6-AP9nt2zVzZbN_mc27lMfHpIQDLv8yHU4qORVC5vtpa1JancD8GgmM9hbwmc8ffPq2aT5RjhGSlbIsn/s1600-h/_44048728_dayinpixap4416.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijVuNx0CqaJ0TIadAVCpxYGyQn8zxA2Odl-RAYKVIMpWGRJy-WpK8f6-AP9nt2zVzZbN_mc27lMfHpIQDLv8yHU4qORVC5vtpa1JancD8GgmM9hbwmc8ffPq2aT5RjhGSlbIsn/s320/_44048728_dayinpixap4416.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5096746372931637698" border="0" /></a><br /> Source: The BBC<br /><br />So who needs to be more thankful?? the monkey who clambered upon the man for safety or the master for whom the monkey waited??<br />point to ponder, huh?Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-56188720513341245092007-08-07T11:09:00.000-07:002007-08-07T11:26:53.235-07:00The circus!!<p class="MsoNormal">I frigging hate the Indian media, more so the ones based in Mumbai and <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Delhi</st1:place></st1:city>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Having lived in this city of dreams for 21 years now, I still fondly remember the days when the TOI was still the Old Lady of Bori Bunder and the newspapers had a lot to look forward to early in the morning.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Compare this with what we have today: reams and reams of newsprint talking about news which is possibly irrelevant to a majority of the public.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well you say this is what the majority of the earning populace (read: yuppies) want; well you are mistaken. I am sure not all of today’s youth is so interested in seeing blown up photographs of nubile young ladies who possibly don't have a living or a moral or both. You call me boorish; well may be I am, but more than that I am concerned about where we as a society are being pushed to by these so called partners in nation building.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Is it necessary that any developed society be unabashedly hedonistic?? Materialism is alright but does it include narcissism too?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Maybe I am confused as always but I am getting increasingly confident that it's the truth.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Consider the newspaper and media reports of the past few days. (To admit the truth, I have been kind of insulated from the news channels for the last month or so as there isn't much time for TV in a 'Top Ten B-School' but I do follow their websites regularly (oh by the way we have a great IT infrastructure in place in here <span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span> ...)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The main preoccupation of the ToI and HT, Mumbai seem to be freeing their demi-god Sanju baba...He is innocent they say. He erred then but has more than made up for it. Poor Sanju baby can't eat jail food and sleep on the floor there. And the restaurants in the city are so very excited that they have a chicken sanju baba on their menu. How truly innovating!! And another article goes on about how so much publicity is actually bad for his case...Guys do you even think outside Bollywood? What about all the others who were also held guilty and hence given heftier punishments than him? Do they not have a family? Don’t they repent? And to top it all someone says Gandhiism (and not -giri) has gone to jail... Bapu (God bless his soul) must be turning in his grave.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another article that came in today's paper was how the chief minister of <st1:place st="on">Maharashtra</st1:place> is coming to Cafe Samovar's rescue. What’s so imposing about it you ask? Well apparently this hotel or lodge or whatever it is, is just outside Jehangir Art Gallery and is where our film luminaries have spent their worst and best times mulling over coffee and hence is important, the Gateway of India restoration plan be damned. Also this was the place where AB and his wife dated for the first time...Think about it guys, replace the Unknown Soldier’s gun and cresting helmet at India Gate with AB's bib... after all he is our national hero right?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am not personally against the film stars or their hedonisms... but I can't take the media making a hue and cry about it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The function of the media should be humanitarian. Consider the continuing floods in <st1:place st="on">South Asia</st1:place>. The UN calls it the worst flood in living memory. 1200 lives lost in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> alone, 11 million affected, 6,000 villages flooded and at least two million living outdoors. The BBC, the UN, Reuters, all major international media houses cover it with a sense of urgency that is palpable. And our glorious world's No. 1 English daily doesn't find it worthy of mentioning in its first six pages. This is nothing short of a pathetic and ridiculous attitude to titillate the senses of the common man, so what if <st1:place st="on">Bihar</st1:place> becomes an antithetic Atlantis? <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Economic Times (same media house as the ToI) reports the same tragedy on its front page.Why? Is it that the economic effects of a flood are much higher than the human loss?? Or is ET a better newspaper in terms of news content?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This attitude represents the highest form of apathy to a tragedy that is unimaginable in magnitude. And I am sure that these media houses are going to come out with a national donation program to help the flood affected once all is hunky dory…After all you are contributing to a natural cause... imagine how much public frenzy can be worked up... after all aren’t we a caring corporate? </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As long as such short sighted media centric issues continue to dominate our psyche through the media, it is very difficult to build a proactive public opinion on issues of national importance.<br />I have this sinking feeling that they are taking us back into the western culture of the late '80s when the world grooved to the sound of money. Well money is still important and pleasant and will always be but what is not is the attitude of voyeurism that prevails in here. If such newspapers are to play their self-proclaimed role of nation building through the idea of building public opinion, then we are way off course. Who do you think will have the courage to steer this rocking ship back to its charted route?? To unquote Queen, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“God save the people”!!!<br />At night 12.00 'o clock with a nose that is overflowing like the Bhagmati in Nepal... this is all that I could manage. Maybe I'll correct the errors later...<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-33332849605971651932007-07-28T06:16:00.000-07:002007-07-28T06:36:46.761-07:00Sez who?Ok. i am in a lull right now...<br />so for the time being i'll try to put up a quotable quote every day...and maybe my comments too<br />I'll start with the Shaman himself<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal">28.07.07<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Some people surrender their freedom willingly but others are forced to surrender it. Imprisonment begins with birth. Society, parents they refuse to allow you to keep the freedom you were born with. There are subtle ways to punish a person for daring to feel. You see that everyone around you has destroyed his true feeling nature. You imitate what you see.</span></p> <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">- Jim Morrison - band member, the doors~</span><br /><br />The Peace frog was always right!<br /><br />When i look at the people around me (yours truly included), all bright, ambitious young lads and lasses with the fire for success burning (in) them - i realise the meaning of all this: somewhere down the line you lose your innocence. Why o why should everyone be a winner??? Is it not normal to play the game, well, just to have fun?? Is winning more important than playing itself??<br />Do you have to cheat for a game as simple as 'Treasure Hunt' ??<br />Why on earth should I not enjoy my Sunday?<br />Why is a B-School made out to be the monster that it never was, is or will be?? Will the hype ever phase out??<br />Or will I phase out faster?? ( will I - the eternal rebel, play straight into their hands??? Only the master of them all - Time, will tell.)Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-76366535045877094272007-04-17T09:35:00.000-07:002007-04-17T09:37:34.148-07:00An ode to a boy band - IThis is no ordinary listing but then the subject ain't ordinary either. Welcome to the world of music of Jones, Bonham, Plant and Page – the inimitable quartet that changed the meaning of the word rock music and were the true fathers of crossover music, much before the Beatles and other Johnny-come-lately types. Anyone who has seen the live performance video of the Stairway will testify that no one could match them for the sheer energy of their performance in the drug filled haze that was everywhere- on stage and off it too.<br />In this limited space I have tried to come up with what zeppelin means to me as a band, as a breathing and living entity in itself years after its demise, as a tool of emancipation for all who care to lend an ear or two and a piece of their soul. Given below is an alphabetical listing of a few songs of zeppelin (I am still discovering the music you see…) that I have to come to love and will continue all through my life.<br /><br />Achilles’ last stand<br /><br />This is one helluva energetic song what with the drum beats that break into a frenzy.<br />This song also helps one go on an ego trip with ‘the mighty arms of the Atlas hold the heavens from the air’ line. Awesome solo piece towards the end… all in all a great number.<br /><br />Bron-Y-Aur Stomp<br /><br />Led zepp prove that they are equally adept with the folksy kind of songs. The foot starts tapping and soon breaks into a stomp!! One of the best crossover songs to ever come out of mainstream rock music!!<br /><br />Black Mountain Side:<br />Whoever says that an acoustic guitar doesn’t suit rock needs to listen to this. Catch Page at his best with the lilting yet arrhythmic rhythm. The tabla in the background makes it difficult to believe that this one too is from Zeppelin’s stable. However variety has always been their trademark… and this one just takes it one notch higher!!<br /><br />Carouselambra –<br />Carousel == drunken revelry. Need I say more? One of the very few songs in which jimmy, using his Gibson EDS-1275 is very muted and underplayed. The song is characterized by the heavy synth-work of Jones. The song almost reaches progressive proportions and is characterized by the three sections each being distinctive in tempo and sound.Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-5911191514347199422007-02-10T05:20:00.000-08:002007-07-28T06:39:39.794-07:00The Police Story!!!!<h1><span style="font-size:100%;">Excerpt from www.in.answers.yahoo.com<br /></span></h1><h1 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Dr. Kiran Bedi:</span></h1><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div id="up-member-about"> <span id="up-member-about-header" style="font-size:100%;"> About Me:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span id="up-member-about-text" style="font-size:100%;"> I am a serving member of the Indian Police Service (IPS). As destiny would have it I became the first woman in India to join this service, in 1972. I have believed in Policing as a 'Power to Correct and the Power to Prevent'. Therefore my whole approach to policing has been around this belief. Be it in district police, or prison management.<br />Without working for rewards, many came my way. The most coveted being the Magsaysay Award in Government Service, also called the Asian Noble prize. My belief in the concept of 'Welfare Policing' made me institute two non-profit organisations, namely, Navjyoti and India Vision Foundation which reach out to thousands of children and women in education, training and counselling in slums, villages and prisons. Besides also running residential drug rehab center for drug addicts. I am a Doctorate from IIT delhi, A Law graduate and a Nehru fellow. I have authored five books besides being a regular columnist in national dailies. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kiranbedi.com/" title="http://www.kiranbedi.com">http://www.kiranbedi.com...</a><br /><br />Her Question :<br /></span><h3 class="question-title"><span style="font-size:100%;">What measures would you like to see to make the Police Forces more accountable to citizens?</span></h3> <p class="insert-margin ks-question-answer-container"><span style="font-size:100%;">Tragically, the Police force today is seen to serve the best interests of political parties, bureaucrats, businessmen and other such entities. For most police personnel, this is a way of survival. The purpose of police in any society is to maintain law and order and ensure public safety. Policing, like teaching and medicine, has a very intimate connection with social life and social change. Yet, the Police are hardly seen in such terms by citizens. At best, there is a sense of cynicism and at worst, even fear of the Police forces. How do we insulate policing from such negative political and bureaucratic interferences to make it fully accountable to law and civil society?<br /></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p class="insert-margin ks-question-answer-container"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="insert-margin ks-question-answer-container"><span style="font-size:100%;">My Answer:</span></p><p class="insert-margin ks-question-answer-container"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The sense of cynicism and fear, both are not misplaced, mainly due to past experiences and media reports. Also I think if even if a morally upright and honest police offer wanted to be that way, he wouldn't be able to last very long, especially if he happens to be from the lower rungs of the constabulary, mainly due to peer pressure and due to insufficient monetary compensation. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">To improve the accountability of the police forces, a few measures could be, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Insulate the forces from the bureaucracy and the politicians. This would include bringing about an enhanced level of professionalism</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Make the policemen people friendly, change the image of the everyday policeman we meet on the streets by making him aware of the people's problems in approaching him. Equip the police force with more soft-skills and lots of sensitivity in handling matters which are emotional to the people. Also needed is a change in the attitude towards women especially the vulnerable ones. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Some sections of the society such as prostitutes, eunuchs, street urchins need to be looked at not as just another case but as people who are really disadvantaged socially and otherwise.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">These skills need to be followed up with more serious and important activities of reducing crime rates, faster action in cases involving homicides, rapes etc… where evidence collection is extremely time-bound.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Another important aspect to be addressed is the removal of corruption by effective self-redressal mechanisms (the ACB not being as effective as it should be).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Lastly an increase in the remuneration to the policemen in keeping with the current inflationary trends should be provided if necessary so that a policeman can also provide a decent life to his wife and children.</span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span id="up-member-about-text" style="font-size:100%;"><br /> </span> </div>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-62793259896669303932006-12-22T05:01:00.000-08:002006-12-22T23:26:41.118-08:00Blank Noise Project!AVI supports the blank noise project people.<br />http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-85459883668554077272006-12-15T06:42:00.000-08:002006-12-15T06:49:41.289-08:00news...At last as fiat and tatas have formed a JV I believe the tata cars will sport a better engine than the truck engines they have right now. ( no offense meant but thats a fact..)<br /><br />Did you know that the state bird of Maharashtra is the green pigeon??<br />or that Nagpur and the surrounding areas have almost 7-8 places of interest for the wild life lovers..<br /><br />In view of the current controversy regarding statues... I think the security of the statues must be the responsibility of the very people who deem it necessary to have one in the first place..<br />Or else how about a law to remove all statues from the country...??Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-24116216178520148062006-11-30T17:37:00.001-08:002006-11-30T17:40:50.175-08:00Ain’t you greedy Billy**?This week I had an interesting conversation with Billy… it revolved around his aspirations; how he wanted to pursue further studies in Engineering, how he liked quantum mechanics and non-linear dynamics so much, and he was wrong in trying to enter the IIMs through the CAT… he felt that doing so was to indulge in greediness and that the end result of a high profile MBA would be piles of money.<br />Well as much as I would like myself to believe that Billy’s aim in life was to indulge in technological game play and invent something that would be a life saver for human kind… my mind wasn’t able to comprehend his so called philanthropic version of leading a life. I mean thinking of dedicating your life for the good of society is not a bad thought at all… but is it really so easy to defeat all your desires and is it as easy to throw yourself above that harbinger of industry, that feeling that makes you aspire for another man’s butter, that base instinct that makes you want more….<br />If you look at the life process and the straitjacket thinking that engulfs an average human being from youth to old age... it would involve something like this. If the young man fresh out of college is from a background that has seen a lot of poverty and squalor, his immediate aim would be to earn money, oh yeah lots of it and somehow or the other bring his family out of the hellhole that they have been residing since eons. Further down the line it would go on getting modified but the nature remains the same… the same old materialistic desires<br />A roof to cover your head, a decent life for your parents and one for your own…. (They need not be the same; read <a title="will i be your father when you are one??" href="http://zoanked.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">vinay’s post</a> on the same), further getting materialized into a new house, a car, a this and a that; a cycle which would go on and on within itself….<br />What starts as a simple wish of seeing your loved ones live a better life (and this I agree is a fundamental one and a person who does not have this is not fit to live in this society) degenerates into something much more potent and fallible: greed.<br />My argument that day in our conversation was that human being by nature is greedy (you call it by any other name, the song remains the same:)) and what varies is only the target of his greed. Consider the example of a business tycoon, a member of the Forbes Power List, who decides that he has had enough of all the money and good will that he has earned/ inherited and so is going to start a new venture… Is he doing it because he wants to further his business interest and increase his bank balance? Or is he doing it because he feels that this venture would offer employment to hundreds and thousands of individuals and would help them endear themselves to their individual greed? I mean is the guy really philanthropic after all… if he were, is starting a new venture really necessary? Couldn’t he have doled out the money to those individuals himself (as loans of course people)? Or is it because, as Billy said again, he is so very adventurous that he doesn’t mind playing such a high stakes game with a few billions of his money (not only his, of course…) and just the thrill of accomplishing a gargantuan feat? Or is it simply because Mr. Moneybags wants to that just a wee bit of extra pocket money and that dinner with on the plush yacht on the Riviera with the swish set…<br />So what is it if not materialistic desires (a milder way of putting greed to the champions of humanity…) that drives the world and its entire baggage … May it be societal, economic, political, geo-political, socio-economic etc.<br />I am not to say that materialism is wrong for that would mean we have been barking up the wrong tree since the inception of humanity and without it there would possibly be no reason for economics as a subject and consumerism as a byword to exist; but pray tell me, does a real philanthropist (the like of whom Billy claims himself to be) exist??<br /><br />** Name changed to protect the subject’s identity :))<br /><br /><br />P.S. <em><span style="color:#3333ff;">Take hope from the heart of man, and you make him a beast of prey. </span></em>Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524599.post-1161783141019203162006-10-25T06:32:00.000-07:002006-10-25T06:32:21.023-07:00<b>9 year old on the Stairway</b><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/cwpGLxBktyQ"></param><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/cwpGLxBktyQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br>Am Speechless.. hope this is not a fake!!Arvind the terriblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08830671354689405536noreply@blogger.com0