Reality TV!!!

As it is, the bearded n yelling anchors in the late night news editions reminding u of every crime tht took place in every nook n corner of the country have taken over the space on telly at that time, media is going bonkers on anything they get to show live n gory under the banner of breaking news. Sunday being a peaceful day meant for leisure, we all had to witness how it took 50 hours to take out a 6 year old kid, Prince, out of the 60 feet deep n around 1 feet wide hole (had it not been for mom n the 2 ladies for lunch I would have watched something better). The kid was playing around when he slipped into the hole, which was meant there for lifting up water. Cameras were pushed in to enable the ppl working outside to bring him up safely, but more for the world to see how tht child seeing the camera for the first time in his life wept for his parents. They wanted to show the world how ppl across the country prayed for his safety by sending in mssgs for him to be brave and the whole country was waiting for his birthday to be celebrated (coincidentally it was his b’day). Every news channel wanted an exclusive comment frm the parents tht how they felt tht their child had fallen in tht damn hole n the whole country was waiting for the moment he comes out. Every news channel beamed ppl praying for his safety n then later the lead of the praying group used to thank the specific news channel for showing the fishing-out-the-boy scene live (as if others were still discussing whether Materazzi abused Zidane’s sister, mother or both). Some political organization has declared 2 lakhs for the boy’s family n one news channel has taken up the burden of the cost of his education. A media n political gimmick I would say! How many kids will be thrown in holes now by a poverty struck family? I sincerely hope none.

What was more infuriating was tht ppl frm neighbouring areas of Delhi poured at the scene to have a first-hand look n some went on a special air-time commenting spree how they were traumatized by the news n came here for help. In fact they possessed a problem to the army personnel who were trying not to let the soft soil fall in. Now tht Delhi has come into the picture, a panel of experts was discussing the sudden rise of some vegetable from Rs. 8 to Rs. 10. Ppl protested, took to streets n the price went back to the original. In Pune, we pay (mom told me) Rs. 20 for the same stuff. The media doesn’t come out of the capital n we ppl here don’t make any attempt to take our lazy asses off the couch n protest. We just pay n pray to God after a gud meal tht don’t let the price go to Rs. 21 tomorrow. Hey I was on media-bashing .. how come it is becoming self-bashing.

Okk.. lets talk of 'soft' violence inflicted on us .. the sports news section is not worth watching either with Ganguly coming back haunting Dalmiya this time with emails. An ex-captain of a local football team commits suicide; on another channel Sania Mirza loses again n they discuss why she isn’t winning these days; meanwhile Ajay Jadeja comes to rescue of Kumble saying he is the best bowler n will play in world cup even if he is not selected for the upcoming series. Entertainment news is devoid of any entertainment. Nowadays everywhere u see the evergreen gay guy Karan Johar promoting his new tear-jerker Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna with his star cast. On some channel some stupid critic is reviewing some more-stupid film completely unaware tht this task has been entrusted by God himself to Vaibhav n me. Almost every entertainment channel has 2-3 reality shows where either the participants are made to sing n cry or celebrities r made to show their strengths off n bring tears of appreciation in eyes of their faithful fans. One day I went home early n had to witness such a singing duel but instead found tht the judges were using their epee on each other to decide who the best was. Last month my company celebrated its Foundation Day n we all were harassed to the max when some of the colleagues were vying for the Company Singing Idol spot. Before the gal who won shrieked in surprise, the audience started crying tht the trauma had come to an end just within 2 hours.

Thts why, to unwind myself frm the daily work I just watch Bugs Bunny on POGO n Midnight Hot on FTV. Atleast it glorifies wht it shld n does not contain even an ounce of violence or boredom. The trick is to stick to the right channel at the right time :))

Testing waters!

It is so easy to copy if u are made to sit tht close in exams and tht too besides such a ‘helpful’ partner. The day before the exam I had casually glanced at how much each student had covered and then decided to sit besides a guy, who I felt had done his homework well enough. On the day of the exam I luckily managed to come a few minutes before the scheduled paper n luckily I see one chair besides him is vacant. I scurried my way to tht chair n as soon as I sat there, the teacher felt something fishy n ordered me to occupy the vacant chair next to the whiteboard in the conference room. Now the word teacher might give u an idea of an old, fat lady with specs n a cane/ruler in hand but this teacher is just around 2-3 yrs elder to me n I have worked with her on a previous project too, but it is impossible to argue when u r a student there n not a frnd. Anyways I had to move my ass over to tht chair n then began the ordeal when the papers were distributed. Luckily the questions were objective (some with alternatives too) but the topics which I had done well were asked for half mark.. yeah a mere half mark each question n the ones which I thought were not deserving enough to be studied were for two marks each. There I was left stranded with another guy sitting next to me who knew more than me but I was sure he was a dumbo.

So whatever he wrote or selected from the options I did just the opposite.. he he. Guess what, I scored 80 out of 100 n tht guy was the lowest with marks in some fifties. The first guy who I thought was the studious of the whole lot got a whooping 97. The top three scorers were made to give the whole class a party.. now tht shifting of chairs was a blessing in disguise ;)

Zidane n Materazzi have been banned n fined but this historical moment in the world cup has been the source n inspiration of many mails nowadays. On an average 2 out of 10 mails are on this topic. One mail says tht Materazzi asked Zidane “Bhaiyya hum Chloromint kyun khate hain” on a very famous ad on Indian television or then another shows a gif image how Zidane actually meant to save Materazzi from a bullet, aimed at him, in true heroic style. But the best was tht just within 2 days of the incident (even before I finished sulking ‘bout my prediction gone wrong) some person came out with this stuff. One can be in Zizou’s place in this small game n head butt not one but many Materazzis’. Even if u r fan of Italy, u can enjoy the game n hey in the end Zidane gets a red card not you :). Don’t play so much tht u go out on the street n start head butting everyone…have a gr8 weekend.

EDIT: The Prez has received a threatening letter. I am scared! :D

Who came up with tht law?

I guess it was Newton .. for every action, there is an equal n opposite reaction. After a memorable day sometime back it had to be this one which goes tumbling down the drain leaving a ripped heart n a battered soul back to think over. It was painful even to delete it from the computer but had to snap myself back to reality .. *wakes up frm a deep n peaceful slumber*

The sky isn't always blue
The sun doesn't always shine
It's alright to fall apart sometimes
I am not always you
And you are not always mine
It's alright to fall apart sometimes
After all is said and done

One and one still is one

Yeah it was Newton.. this time no guesses. I am sure.. dead SURE!

Google shld sue them!

I will bring both those Russian n American kids to India n tell them look how awfully we are being censored (as if they aren’t in their countries but still). I hate this censorship coz then I have to surf thro proxies which makes surfing very slow.

On a serious note, this censorship issue is just to divert attention frm wht measures are being taken to curb terrorism. A blanket ban on sites is no way to deal with terrorism. In fact wht u will get is a rebellion within ur own ranks. Thnx to Aditi, got the mail id of President of India. It is presidentofindia@rb.nic.in in case u want to drop a mail to protest against the block. First I had thought of sending an invite of orkut to him so tht we could have settled this matter over a couple of scraps but then as it is I had to reply to my back-frm-vacn-happy-happy client so wrote a mail to the Prez as well. Here goes wht I wrote..

Respected Sir,

Hello! I severely condemn the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and J&K. Though we all, as common people, can’t do much against terrorism directly, we are quite sure that the government agencies are working round the clock to ensure that such acts don’t recur. Probably one of the measures taken by some government agency is blocking some sites which are said to be anti-India or pro-terrorists. Sorry that I haven’t gone through the whole list but one of the sites which has been blocked is blogspot.com on which many Indians have their personal blogs (blog = web + log). This is one of the best contemporary mediums of expressing our thoughts to the whole world. The nature of blogs ranges from personal to political and entertaining to educative. Being a blogger for the past one and a half year I have gathered tremendous knowledge and a group of great friends all over the world which I wouldn’t have if I were not blogging. There are some blogs which are helping the people affected by the recent bomb blasts. There have been blogs which have helped Tsunami victims too earlier. If all this is curtailed then there is really no meaning to our lives by just paying homage to the victims by maintaining silence for 2 minutes.

I do not disagree to the fact that some blogs might be intentionally created to threaten our nation’s security, but does that mean all blogs will be termed as anti-India and a blanket ban be imposed on them? Certainly NOT! As a citizen of India, I feel that I have the rights to express my views on my personal space and also the right to freedom of speech too. If my personal space is labeled as pro-terrorist then it indirectly means that the government is labeling me as a terrorist. If such is the case will I ever trust our own government? This is an earnest appeal to you to step into this matter and not let some agencies sweep off the issues under carpet. As the President of India, we all look up to you with great respect and a man who respects peoples’ rights. I am not sure you personally will be reading this mail, but whoever reads this and brings it to your notice will be helping all sane bloggers get back their blogs.
Thank you!

I know he won’t be reading this but lets hope he gets bombarded by such mails n then the freedom of speech n all stuff is restored back. I know ways to log in to blogspot since we are playing with proxies after the company blocked sites, but it is shameful tht for expressing my own views on my space I have to use a server in some country abroad. I think Google must sue the govt for the decline in their revenue. Wht say google? How much ‘cut’ do I get for this wonderful suggestion?

Also have joined a Blue Ribbon campaign. U can also display the image on ur page n check the sidebar for the Bloggers against censorship icon.

Meanwhile if u r stressed reading on the same topic on each n every blog then visit this link. Viewers are free to use their discretion to watch a few scenes. I hope this video is not the real scenario coz then I was thinking of calling blogspot customer care. Also let me know if the link is working coz it is .swf link n not .html link.

If tomorrow never comes..

I thought Hobbes was kidding ‘bout tht being a superstition and so I did not study for the exam tomorrow (Saturday.. today). Now, even if the world does not end tomorrow I m doomed for sure coz I haven’t studied.

Like I had mentioned in an earlier post tht we were being taught basic Japanese in the company to interact with Japanese clients, we (atleast me) never expected tht there would be a test at the end of the course. Exams take away all the fun out of learning. Also they don’t tell in the beginning tht there will be an exam but when they see tht all are attending regularly (for the dearth of work) exam is declared and you just can’t escape frm it now. Moreover its not only a written test but also an oral exam. As for me I had started attending the lectures only coz I believe Japanese are smart ppl for making my name-combo.

The SENSEI (teacher) is frm Mumbai. So, when she had gone on a leave (after declaring the date for test) some of them had started preparing. But, rain gods were benevolent and she got stuck back at her home in Mumbai. So the exams were postponed by a few days. I was very optimistic tht the rains would be continuing the same way but it seems tht lady luck was not on my side this time. So she came back and the new date which was declared is tomorrow. Actually even if I flunk the company won’t be showing me the door out but Zoonie scared me saying tht she might be knowing Sumo wrestling. Now she looks dainty but looks can be deceptive too.. so thts the main reason I m worried about the test. Also, as a self-proclaimed latecomer in company the first question she used to ask me in Japanese when I entered the conference room (our classroom) was “What time is it now?” and the next would be “At what time does our class start?”. I m so used to answering these questions now tht if she asks something different in the viva I m damn sure I will rattle off the usual answers. Rest assured I will definitely get 5 marks for cleanliness in the written paper :D

After spending almost the whole day trying to read n mug up this stuff I have hand-selected a few words esp for all u wonderful readers... why shld I be the only one to be tortured? So read along..
KONNICHIWA – Hello (so all of u who used the name translator in the sidebar before shld now know it was not ur name but a greeting)
ARIGATOO GOZAIMASU – Thank you!
DOOZO IRASSHAI – Welcome!

GOMEN NASAI – Sorry

Instead of wasting half hour writing this post I shld have studied more… Shit! Have a gr8 weekend.. updates of how the test went in next week.

EDIT: Kathy, Anand n Ekta pls enlighten me with some Japanese swear words coz the teacher refused to divulge any.

Something else..

First of all are the ppl I know who are in Mumbai safe? From my blogroll I can see tht Divya, Vaibhav, Raj, Puneet, Prasanna, Nessa, Pinky, Aditi n Kalpz r frm Mumbai. Some of u have confirmed of being safe. Others I hope are safe. I don’t have their mail ids/phone nos. so can’t contact them but will pray for their safety alongwith their families. Yesterday not only Mumbai suffered blasts but there were also 5 explosions in J&K. Till a few years back militants never targeted civilians n tourists ppl but they attacked the army forces, but since last year common man has become their target. Can we do something to curb this? Terrorism is a menace to the whole world n let us pray tht God puts some sense in the heads of those bastards. Why cant they go home n lead a peaceful life.

Death is wht we all have to face someday but such deaths r really sad. We just cant imagine the trauma of a housewife who was expecting her husband home n gets the news of his death. We can’t feel the pain of a brother sitting near the dead body of his sister in a hospital after identifying her body frm the remains.

Gangadhar had said in one of his posts tht all bloggers have become a family. In my early blogging days I met a few wonderful human beings but one fine morning they deleted their blogs (see the striked names) n I was like now wht? Find a new family member? We meet many ppl online in chat rooms but we do not connect with everyone there. But here, atleast I feel a strong bond within bloggers with whom u almost live ur life day by day. This also reminds me tht though I share the same bond with all, I have contact with just 3-4 ppl frm blogger outside the blogsville. If at all something happens to me noone will know where I have vanished. My family doesn’t know ‘bout this blog so neither they will be able to update this space why I have gone away frm all such wonderful ppl here. I think this same fear can be related to the fear in the minds of ppl living under the threat of terrorism. They just don’t now which will be the last moment they spent with their loved ones. Wishing this fear goes away... tht too very soon.

This is the first time I just couldn’t write wht I had planned to write yesterday morning. That is why the title of the post reads like tht. Most of the day was spent in replacing the header u can see up there. Thnx a lot to Parag for making tht beautiful image for me. I had jokingly asked him to create one for me after seeing his blog header and one day he mailed me two headers. Now if you want a header created for ur blog u will have to take the appropriate channel, i.e., me coz now we have started a header business. For many hours I tried replacing it but it just didn’t show up on the blog and thts when Deepa helped to sort it out. Actually, since the pics are blocked here I wasn’t able to see the new header. But, sincere thnx to both of you. Sorry Parag coz I wanted to write a full post on this but most of the post space was taken up in venting against some fuckers who don’t deserve a place in this world.

Sunday Movie masti

Had written this post on Monday itself but was waiting for the pics frm a frnd. The pics r not clear coz they were taken using a cell n tht too in rains

Starring: 10 guys n 5 Pulsar bikes

Shooting Location: Mulshi-Tamhini ghats (around 70-80 kms frm my home)

Plot: After watching the 2nd football match n Wimbledon (Agassi-Nadal) on Saturday night, everybody almost slept at 4 n next morning 2 guys came knocking at others’ houses at 7 in morning to go biking. Atleast I (an ardent sleep-lover) was successful to postpone it till 9:30 (sorry guys for the worst excuses made). Gaurya helped the things by ‘getting dressed’ till 10. Indra/Zeus, god of rain, was shooting arrows of water drops frm above n trust me they were hurting like hell. Completed almost 150 kms of biking through well-paved roads (yes they r better now) n through the wet n green surroundings. Had 2 plates of mouth-watering misal-pav at Quick Bite n were ready to get wet (though we already were) under the waterfalls. Had an awesome time under the 3 waterfalls. Back to pavilion at around 5.

Best scenes: All except the worst scenes

Worst Scenes: No chicks with us.. I guess we r destined to singleton for life :((
A bunch of drunkards driving away the gud looking gals away frm the waterfalls. Suckers!!

Narya insisting on stopping n shopping at the sardarji’s ‘branded yet cheap’ shop.. oh boy I respect Sardars even more now. Imagine a shop in midst of the ghats.. only a sardar or a marwari can do tht n m ashamed tht inspite of being the latter, tht thought didn’t come to my mind. He is minting money there.

Item Song: Mika Singh n Rakhi Sawant's modified version of Mika’s Saawan mein lag gayi aag song
Sawant ko lag gayi aag dil mera haaaa..
Chume hasina pagal deewani re
Chume hasina pagal deewani re

Cake na katu agli baar dil mera haaaa..

Total Cost: 140 bucks :)

Turnover: Priceless (thinking tht we shld have got it sponsored by MasterCard)

Ending: The satisfaction of spending a Sunday in a gud way rather than watching some shitty Bollywood flick n then wasting Monday writing review on it :D

Kind advice to fellow actors/directors/spot boys n gals: Don’t drink n drive. If u drink n die I would definitely feel sad but if u kill a sober person in ur drunken stupor u better commit suicide before I kill u. Enjoy life... :))
Few more pics r posted here ...

Any suitable name for the movie?

Tarun Johri in record books!

I haven’t met any guy who lives with gals wearing skimpy clothes but last Saturday had the privilege to meet a fellow blogger, Tarun. He had come down to Pune frm Gujarat to catch up with his classmates. U can read more of his trip n the short meeting in his post n see the pics too on his flickr accnt. This was the first time I met someone in person thro’ blogs n trust me it is a gr8 feeling to see someone in person whom u know online n read ‘bout their life on their blogs. Going by the last post it was a horrible time exchanging our mobile nos coz of the blocked sites. He didn’t know my official id n I wasn’t aware tht he was coming to Pune over the weekend. Luckily on Saturday, one of the proxies worked n I could access gmail where Tarun had left his mobile number n so I could contact him n met up at McD for ‘bout half an hour coz ltrz he had to go out for dinner with frnds n I had to catch up with the football match with my college frnds. Though the meeting was short it was a nice time spent :). So now who is next on the list? :D

This week I was really feeling to leave the house n make a TV selling shop my abode. With so many things to watch at one time, it is impossible to get it all on one screen. Football WC, Wimbledon, Formula 1 n India beating WI in the test match… now why didn’t my dad get me a TV shop instead of making me study n getting into this job :( . Ofcourse if I go n ask him this then definitely my television privileges will be revoked too. So better I rant it off here itself. Btw, my prediction tht France will defeat Italy 2-1 in the finals is almost coming true. Lets see how my fav team plays tonight. Meanwhile last night my mom almost killed me after Germany lost coz she was supporting them just coz she has finished a course in German language a few mths back n I was rooting for Italy.

I too have some questions like Sean (but these r not imaginary like some of his ques). When Mumbai (capital of the state) had already suffered last yr due to the heavy downpour why didn’t the authorities make arrangements this time to drain the water? Don’t they know how jealous we ppl in Pune feel when they get holidays on the pretext of blocked roads? I m kidding but all u ppl living in Mumbai tk care of urself n ur dear ones. Why no spam comment is registered on the blog when I have my gmail id in the mail-comments section n as soon as I put in my office id all sorts of spam start pouring?

P.S.: If anyone knows a guy (other than Hugh Hefner or Vijay Mallya) living with scantily clad females pls let me know. I want some tips frm him :P

Mails n Males

Project completion is such a gr8 thing n greater is tht the next one will be taking some time to start. I remember last month or the one before tht, I had to really find time to update my blog and had to devour around 4-5 posts, I had missed, at one go on many of the blogs. Now tht I have ample of free time (yes I have to start working on my KRA sheet yet) the Systems dept. in the company has sworn to keep all of us begging for net. I can’t see pics of babes on Sean’s blog, pics of recent trips of fellow bloggers’ like Dave, Kavita n Ishita, can’t listen to songs on any blog, can’t access mails other than the company id, can’t check links of sites given in posts of Pinky n Aditi, blah blah.. in short totally out of work n nothing to do for timepass either. So wht do I do..

Some ppl r born for making my day better. One of them is Suraj, who sometimes sends my fav cartoon character, C&H strips to me n reading them is the best thing to start my day in the office. Some of the recent strips he had sent are

*meanwhile glares at the person who was assigned to send me one strip everyday n even after failing miserably in it has guts to demand a pizza*

I really hate all those ‘Good Morning’ wishing mails with flowers n waterfalls as backgrnd n some inspiring quote to go along with the wish. AXE n Amul butter ads’ r the best ones which circulate in mails. Got this pic a few days back in one of the mails.. he he.. awesome, isn’t it?

My headphones started troubling me suddenly last week. Have u seen the Mr. Bean episode where he brings in a TV set n it works only when he sits in a particular position to watch it? Same is the case right now with me. I have to tilt my head to the right n then only m able to listen to the music. It is not possible to sit tht way the whole day so I tried tilting the headphone. It looks a bit weird tht way on the head but have to use it tht way till I get a new one.
Since the mssngrs got blocked, orkut is the last source of entertainment n getting in touch with frnds.. so to keep this running all r busy in finding proxy servers to login n when someone finds one of the proxy which got skipped frm the systems the word spreads n even cubicle partners start speaking to each other via orkut.. lollz. Till someone finds tht elusive proxy, we have started keeping record of who has highest/lowest in beating a penguin (not the real ones.. flash games). Some nerdy kinda colleagues update their vocab skills by taking ‘Check ur vocabulary’ tests. Luckily for me blogspot has not been blocked so I pass away my time by blog-hopping n sometimes go to the sidebar-listed blogs 4-5 times n curse them for not updating every hour :P

Some of u r working (I mean have jobs atleast), so wht do u do when u r outta work?