Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Go India!! Go

Found this hilarious link. entrepreneurs wanted :)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Looking for a dream career, Think no more

There are many boys like me who have been inspired by great Antara mali epic "Main madhuri dixit ban na chaahti hoon" and we too have imagined ourselves in the role of "Main Imraan haashmi ban na chaahta hoon". Of late, i've heard that our "pappi raja" won't be doing any kissing from now on in his movies. i wonder what work will he do then in the movie. If any of you has thought even in his dreams that "Mr. serial kisser" can act, then do post a comment here.

Anyways, money being the ultimate goal, i'm thinking nowadays about becoming "serial suer" - guy who keeps on sueing serially.

Following are my inspiration behind pursuing this career:

paul doyle on Guardian's world cup blog

As anyone who's ever sued a supermarket after tripping over a stray piece of broccoli knows, societies are increasingly litigious. Football clubs and players are not excluded from this trend, nor would we expect them to be, given the amount of money now swishing around the game. Manchester United reportedly threatened to hold Sven-Goran Eriksson personally liable if Wayne Rooney suffered a recurrence of his metatarsal injury during the World Cup, and Newcastle are said to be considering launching proceedings against Fifa to force the global governing body to pay Michael Owen's salary for the duration of his latest convalescence, which apparently could last up to six months.

and closer home, Sahara-Jet divorce before marriage

Sueing is fun. koi shak!!! (himesh reshammiya's sucking line.. yuck yuck!!)

Sorry

Monday, June 26, 2006

half rebel

Indian express writes:

"In fact, Indian society has a particularly hypocritical attitude towards teachers’ pay: the loftiness associated with teaching is seen as some sort of a justification for low salaries. This is bunkum, of course. We won’t get either enough teachers or, more important, good teachers unless we make the profession attractive materially. And while doing this we mustn’t make the mistake some Western countries like the US and Britain have: try to hike pay at college and university levels while keeping school teaching a low paid job. There’s no point talking of quality education, if well-paid educators aren’t central to the discussion."

This is one issue i've always felt about. I, as a child, used to adore my teachers. i believed them when they taught me that we should be morally right. I used to listen their stories with awe and admiration. i trusted them and believed them, they gave wings to my dreams in the stories which they taught us in class.

But now, i'm a grown up. i think of teaching as a profession, just as any other profession. In fact, frankly speaking i've become so much cynical that i almost refuse to believe the age old logic that people doing teaching jobs, at least in india, are doing it to serve society. In this fast paced and demanding life of today, money has become a very important factor for choosing any career. I, being from an IIT, can't imagine any of IITians engaged in low-paying teaching jobs in schools. There are a few who go into coaching institutes for the lure of the money But there isn't one who teaches in Schools.

But when i start thinking about the future of India, i am scared at the prospect. If underpaid, unsatisfied and lesser-competent persons only will take to teaching profession due to its low-paying status, In the long run, we might be creating a hollow future.

Perhaps, youths like me do get inspired by watching movies like 'Rang De Basanti' but when it comes to taking a choice for lifetime, we are just unable to choose, unable to think on our own. Our society is so much bound by stereotypes that, making your parents and relatives understand your choice, to accept a life of lesser money than your colleagues, just to do good for the society doesn't really charges anyone to change life's paths.

Well.. i know i'm a half-rebel.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

janmat zindabaad

Yesterday, i had my friends were having free evening snacks in our canteen. By chance, we enjoyed a great evening at i-flex :)

It consisted of two parts. first was the food. Now, my company never wants its employees to become fat. that's why the taste of the food is always such that even if you are hungry since last two days, you won't be able to eat more than two chapatis. Yesterday, i think by some mistake, we had some nice tasting snacks on our tongue-buds. Ok, that was the first part.

In our canteen, we are having two flat screen televisions so that whenever an outside visitor would visit our company, He would be led to believe that we employees enjoy so much freedom that we can watch television also. Obviously, there is a catch. The television is 'ON' between 7 to 7.45 p.m. only. you can't change the channels nor the volume (due to god damn Child lock.. hail i-flex).

And the biggest advantage being, the channels shown on these televisions. yesterday, One of them was showing 'Janmat' and the other was showing 'Channel 7'. Now, definitely i-flex doesn't wants its employees to watch television even for half-an hour. Who the hell on earth watches janmat or, channel 7??

So, i along with my friends was enjoying my free snacks and then, something happenned. The television beside me started showing images of bikini-clad women shaking their bodies vigorously while doing samba. Now, that was a sight for us. all the women sitting nearly started blushing. But obviously, the television was child-locked so, nobody could do anything about it. So, we guys kept on enjoying the beautiful brazilian females while women sitting around tried to behave as if nothing was happening :)

Well.. at that moment i cried loudly (obviously, i wasn't caring about women employees. i don't think i have any chances of making any girl-friend even here in i-flex. curse of ITBHU :( ). So, coming back to my crying loudly.. i cried "JANMAT ZINDABAD". (hail janmat). "junta ka mat" :) (public's view)

Hehe

mum-bhaiyya

I've been living in mumbai for about 1 year now. i've went through all kinds of emotions about mumbai. i've loved its diversity - endless people everywhere, endless faces with wrinkles, sweats, rich and poor, its one of its kind life in india - the city respects every individual. Here in mumbai, Nobody asks you questions, you are free. your next-door neighbour won't ask you about your personal life. you live life in mumbai, you die and you are forgotten, still the pace of the life moves on.

And then there are scenes of traffic jam, pollution, utter chaos and waste of time due to roads and flyovers being constructed in every nook and corner of the city.. it just makes me sad and sometimes cringe for shifting to some other city.

Perhaps i haven't really understood mumbai in its totality. still when i found this link on flickr on photographs of mumbai, i again went through all those emotions and those memories.

When you live in mumbai - you have all kinds of questions in your mind. Everyday, the pace of life remains same. you get up, you run and you do your job in office. your only interaction with the city being the long traffic jams and broken roads. you find yourself crying for some relief.

Sometimes, there are reports in mumbai newspapers regarding mumbaikars loving their city the most in India and i wonder what might be the reason behind it. There is no space to live in the city. Even a 1 BHK in far suburbs would easily cost 25 lakhs. infrastructure of the city is collapsing.

Still, people love it. i've talked with my friends - my room mates and they love this city. Anurag said to me - This is the only city which is alive no matter when you step out of your home. Even at 3 am in the night, one would find roads filled, highways being plied upon by vehicles, you can always find a roadside cigarette and coffee-wala at this time, sitting beside the highway.

There would be girls and boys enjoying and partying in pubs. Even at 12.30 in the night, i've found girls walking alone while they are in tee shirts and low waist jeans. i don't know whether such girls are call girls or not as it rather seems strange to find a girl being so much prepared with make-up. But then, i think that i respect the city's attitude - rarely any man would dare to approach the woman. you are respected. "mumbai mein har koi apne kaam se kaam rakhta hai" i had heard this line often before coming to mumbai but now, i realize it.

In cities like bangalore, i've heard from my friends that the native people of city don't accept the outsiders like me, ridiculing us as north indians. There is no such attitude in mumbai. Regarding pune, it closes down at 10 p.m. in the evening. no open shops, nothing.

I think we all have a tendency to curse the system sometimes. Even when we are satisfied and things are going according to us, our basic system cringes for a change. that's why we humans rebelled in the first version of The Matrix :)

i think i cry because i try to go down into my memories of my college days of BHU. its a completely changed life now. i get up, i go to office, i come back, watch TV, chat to my friends for half an hour or so and go to sleep. i think the 'the fun part' of the life has become rather subdued.

i'm slowly trying to make a sense of all this. i no longer cringe for that night life. however, i do get bored whenever any newspaper brings out an article regarding night life of mumbai. i know that i can be blamed as a case of sour grapes as i myself am not living a very active life, i might be termed 'sour grapes'. But still, with the kind of job pressures, crumbling infrastructure and roads which keep you stuck in traffic jam for 3 hours daily, one might think that night life is only for the sons and daughters of the ameer junta (super riches).

Still, watching those flickr images and the time which i spend in my balcony watching the blue sky, watching slums stretched across many kilo metres, and just observing the passing time and life, i think i forget all my complaints. The city has its charm. i might not cheer up whenever i listen "Mumbai" but yes, it's a different kind of city.

Perhaps we don't know how to live the life. perhaps if i had more money and a less hectic job, i would have enjoyed mumbai more. perhaps if i lived in the posh areas of mumbai - bandra, juhu or south mumbai.. i would have complained less as there would be lesser traffic jams, better roads and infrastructure.

i've never made an effort for anything in my life. i've slowly become a mumbai wallah. i've never watched a sunrise or sunset in mumbai. my balcony faces west and from ground there are tall building everywhere that i can never watch the sun setting in the mountains.

I think we all keep on running for getting something in our lives that has been eluding us. But i don't know whether achieving money, time, life-partner will make me reach there.

PS: the title of my post is mum-bhaiyya. we north indians are called as bhaiyya log in mumbai. that's why i'm calling myself as mum-bhaiiya :) but still i believe that i am always accepted and forgotten in mumbai :) the city doesn't care for you. it won't stop. it won't bleed for you. it would just keep on moving. this is mumbai, and i'm a mum-bhaiiya

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Cinkara

Cinkara, the energising tonic has changed its punchline in its new Ad campaign. In its earlier Ads, There was this poor man having no energy left in him and being made to to loads of work. its jingle went as:

"Yeh bechaara..
kaam ke bojh ka maara
ise chahiye
hamdard ka tonic
Cinkara"

in english -

This pathetic man
is so much saddled by work.
He needs
Hamdard's tonic
Cinkara

finally in the Ad, our protagonist drinks a spoonful of cinkara, suddenly jumps from his office chair and breaks the office's cabin glass with his new found energy from Cinkara.

Now, i've always been a lazy boy (activation energy in my case has an infinite value.. everybody around me always seems to wonder.. what's wrong with me) . So, when i was young. My father always used to scold me - Why are you so lazy. Why don't you seem energetic like other boys?

and then, there was this Ad of "Cincara" in television commercials. My Dad used to bring Cinkara for me so that i would change at least some bit. Now, i don't really remember my childhood much. So i don't know whether became charged with the energy of 1 photon or not but, recently when i saw the Ad again.. childhood memories came back to my mind.

This time the jingle was:

kamjori se chhutkaara
Cinkara

in english:

relief from weakness
Cinkara

The scene of breaking of office glass were the same this time too.

Why i am writing this. well, now a days i'm doing job. My parents are no longer with me due to job's location constraints, i being in mumbai and they in jabalpur. However, this time, i myself am thinking about buying a bottle of Cinkara :) as it is becoming obvious to me that if i don't change myself soon, i might become extinct (following the Darwinian Principle of Survival of the fittest, i think i am not doing anything for which anybody will give me even a single penny for any job)

So, my appeal to the Readers..

CAN PLEASE ANYBODY BUY ME A BOTTLE OF CINKARA :)

well.. i'm too lazy in even going to the medical store. i think i should talk to some museum where i can get some money by standing as a homo-sapiens specimen. i don't think there is anything else that i can do.. huh... i'm so sad :(

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli

This is a poem by late Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Father of legendry Amitabh Bachchan. Although it would be a great dishonour to Harivansh Rai Bachchan if i take his name along with Amitabh Bachchan only as he in himself was an Amazing Personality.

Here's one poem of his. I am sorry to english-reading viewers of mine as this poem is in hindi. Here are the lines:

Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyar, tumne.

Faasla tha kuchh humare bistaron me
Aur charon or duniya so rahi thi.
Tarikayen hi gagan ki janti hain
Jo dasha dil ki tumhare ho rahi thi.
Main tumhare paas hokar door tumse
Adhjaga sa aur adhsoya hua sa.
Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyar, tumne.

Ek bijli chhu gayi, sahsa jaga main
Krishnapakshi chaand nikla tha gagan me.
Is tarah karwat padi thi tum ki aansoo
Bah rahe the is nayan se us nayan me.
Main laga doon aag us sansaar me
Hai pyar jisme is tarah asamarth-kaatar.
Jaanti ho us samay kya kar guzarne ke liye
Tha kar diya taiyyaar tumne!
Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyar, tumne.

Praath he ki oar ko hai raat chalthi
Auh ujaale mein andhera doob jaata.
Manch he poora badaltha kaun aise
kkoobiyon ke saath parde ko uttatha.
ek chehra sa laga thumne liya tha
aur meine tha utharaa ek chehra.
vo nisha ka swapn mera tha ke apne
par gazab ka tha kiya adhikaar thumne.
Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyar, tumne.

Aur utne faasle par aaj tak
Sau yatna kar ke bhi na aye fir kabhi hum.
Fir na aya waqt waisa, fir na mauka us tarah ka
Fir na lauta chaand nirmam.
Aur apni wedna main kya bataun!
Kya nahi ye panktiyan khud bolti hain?
Bujh nahi paya abhi tak us samay jo
Rakh diya tha haath par angaar tumne.
Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli,
Ek ungli se likha tha pyar, tumne.

- Harivansh Rai bachchan

Rebel motto - II

Here is my rebel motto, which I wrote myself. This gives me the spirit that i will never give up.. never give up. i plan to make it my tee-shirt caption someday. Right now, its my status at google Talk





Rebel motto - I

This is from Apple's think different campaign. Once upon a time, it gave me the spirit to rebel and still gives. found these lines at wikipedia for "Think Different". Here are the lines:

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do.