Me, myself and no Irene

The wait began on Friday. And it began after a flurry of emails and messages from the school and friends bombarded my inbox warning me against one of the possibly most destructive hurricanes the East Coast would have ever seen.

I was delighted. After all, it would be my first ever meet with Irene. I had to be prepared. It had to be an experience to cherish as I would watch her strut down towards me with unmatched grace. As everything in her way would fall apart or get out of the way to let her through. And so I prepared. They told us to stay indoors. I did with all the patience I could muster. They advised us to stock our refrigerators with supplies that could last an eternity. I emptied all the CVS shelves. And then I waited.

The news channel was sure it would blast through the skies on Saturday. I watched the skies all day but nothing happened. A few drops tickled my senses in anticipation of bigger things to come. But that never materialized. The news then warned us about the Super Sunday- when we could be blown away. And so I waited again for her. Maybe she wasn't ready enough to meet me, I thought, as I lay awake all night. Sunday arrived. And Sunday went by. With a lull, but a lull without the storm. And so the wait continues to meet my Irene some other day.

Mirror

What would you do if you stood in front of the mirror and were unable to tell which one is real- you or your reflection? Could you ever be the reflection of your own reflection? An unassuming statement by a friend made me reflect upon it and realize that we could actually perceive ourselves to be reflections of our reflections!

It was a very simple observation made by him. In the middle of B-school frenzy and mad partying, he says, "Aren't we just behaving just like we do on FB?" He was quite right. Random Hi's, comments on unknown people's issues, and attempts to meet/"befriend" as many people as possible. So we were mirroring FB in real life.

But wasn't FB created to mirror what we really want from life or are doing in our lives? Is it actually possible that we may treat online networking media like FB as our primary or the "real" means of communication in the future, with our bodies acting as pure machines fixed to their slots in the houses while our minds meet virtually, work virtually, play virtually and "live" virtually?

Kat Scan

Its become an unsaid rule of sorts...the moment you talk to a woman about pretty faces..the question props up- Why does everyone like Katrina so much??
And everytime you just look at them with that wry smile and tell them..samjha karo yaar...
well today I'l give a shot at making them "samjho" this and pave the way for a new smarter stronger killer question...
So here's the explanation:
There are three main measures of beauty for any damsel: Whether she is pretty or not, whether she is hot or not and whether she is beautiful or not.
Not what on earth is the difference between these? Go look up the dictionary dude! (yeah, thats the reply you generally get if you mention that). So for the benefit of the not so knowledgeable about the intricacies of the male brain world, the difference in the fewest possible words: A pretty girl is just pretty! no explanations for that...the beautiful girl is the one who has all those inner qualities guys look for...modest, intelligent, mature, adjusting etc etc etc..) and a hot girl is the red hot stuff tabloids keep throwing out at us evey morning...the type you just wanna take to bed ;)
Now that doesnt mean that a girl has to be in just one of those categories..she can be a mix of two or all three (I'm leaving out the ones who dont fall into any and hence I wonder what fraction of the population) and thats where the real difference comes in! So here goes the list of all categories possible and an example or two for each..mind you thats my opinion and every guy is entitled to his own classification!! So dont come barking at me....
Pretty: Catherine Zeta Jones, Jessica Alba, Tulip Joshi, Aishwarya Rai, Martina Hingis
Beautiful:Mother Teresa(though I'm still doubtful :P)
Hot: Gisele Bundchen
Pretty-Beautiful (the one you should take home to mom!):Still looking for her...
Pretty Hot:Megan Fox,Salma Hayek, Monica Belluci
Hot-Beautiful: I wonder if any!
Pretty-Hot-Beautiful: Katrina of course :) (Yeah i know the question you are asking..so lets just say her interviews have helped me so far..but hopefully the face-to-face meet is not too far away)

Once Again

Once again we are exposed. Once again we are shattered and tattered. Once again, we are angry.
There have been quite a few observations I have made this time around though, which I'l list down in no particular but make an attempt in the end to connect them through one single thread.
1. The so called "Mumbaikaars" thronged the Television Channels. The so called "elite" found a new hangout apart from their Page 3 parties and king-size lives - the news channels. 1,2, 10, 100 .. no matter which key you pressed on the remote, all you found was the furious elite hurling abuses at one and all for how unsafe, how irresponsible, how unprepared this country is. We were at war, they said. Our children are afraid they said. Do these feelings arise only when someone hurls bullets at you in your fav 5-star joint? When "small" bombs blow up "street" kids in "inconsequential" places on "rickety" cyles, it really doesnt matter. Hmm. Afterall there has to be some solution to this burgeoning population, isn't it??

2. An SMS hurled at the beloved gunda-mawalis of Maharaqshtra which said " Where were your Marathis when the terrorists struck? It was NSG commandos from the South and North who made it possible that you sleep peacefully in your homes these past nights". I wonder if this was at all read by "you know who". And if it was, I hope it has left him sleepless for the rest of the nights he has left.

3. Our "amazing" reporters "risked" their lives to bring live coverage of "the war that had struck us". They hadn't slept for 50 hrs, they mentioned. "They worked tirelessly to keep us informed" they said. I ask them: was it they did something free of charge? was it something they did out of their own prerogative? Or was it a single line sleep-disturbing SMS from their supervisor? Or was it the chance of "making a mark" in this mad age of journalism where there are only limited ways to rise up the ladder when thousands are waiting to fill up your position, waiting for you to take just a short 5-minute nap when they can sneek in and have you thrown out.

4. The blame game has begun as always. While political parties get back to the business of abusing each other and communalising the issue, we keep wondering as to what were the loopholes in our system? Was it the politicians? Was it the policemen?Was it the bureaucrats or the intelligence agencies? Why can't someone once and for all , explain the whole procedure that we go through in such a situation? We focus on only finding the terrorist or the source. Why not find out exactly where the fault lied? Why not look deeply in to this system of collective responsibility with zero accountability?

5. We usually blame our army or police for being what they are. Fat goonies surviving on bribes, hiding away from terrorists, partying with criminals and torturing innocents. Have we ever thought why does one join the army or police thses days? Is it because they have this heightened sense of "patriotism", the desire to "serve the country"? Have a long hard look at ourselves. Barring a small fraction among us, we join these services (especially the police if not the army) today because either we dont have anything to eat or we have not been able to achieve what we wanted in life or because our fathers and forefathers have done it and we are expected to do it. Do we expect someone in that frame of mind, to be something else from what they are?

6. How many times have we now heard about the cliched "Spirit of Mumbai"? What spirit do we talk about?? The morning after a blast we find each one of us back at our bus stands waiting to catch the blue line to reach our destination (except ofcourse the poor souls who reached their final destinatipon thanks to the blasts). And we call it the indomitable spirit. Is it spirit or is it pure helplessness? We have families to feed. How many of us can just sit at home and keep our families well fed?

Each one of these observations induces such strong emotions that it becomes tough to write of more. But when I look at these again and again, the only thought that crosses my mind is the immensely selfish lives that we lead these days. We may give global 'gyaan' to each other, but the fact is that we can't look beyond our own benefits. It's how successful 'I' can be, its how happy 'I' can be, its how important 'I' can be, that matters to us.
Its the "I" we somehow need to replace with "We".

Surpise Serene

Sometimes surprises can be simple and serene, yet so effective that it may surprise you that they can be so surprising! Surprised over such writing ? Well this is what happens to you when you aren’t exactly Sulman Rushdie but you are thrust into a place which gives birth to anyone’s inner Tagore or Naidu.
It happened one fine day, when life continued to seem to suck- Employing my limited intellectual prowess to mighty levels to show impact of lowly levels, working with a huge team of 1 and trying to enjoy my new found free bird status, and wondering how a good nights sleep is! I finally decided I needed some change and voila, a brilliant idea struck- rather than going to the same old hotel, lets try out a different one (now you can understand my intellectual prowess). And off I shot a request. But for some reason, my firm realized after one and a half months, that they actually had a guest house in the hills which they had so easily forgotten and could save money by sending this poor employee over there. And then came the evening while I shrugged, that my one effort for change is down the drain. Maybe life itself just wants to suck! And then came the surprise- an absolute gorgeous apartment with a terrace garden! Here I am swinging in the chair, on plush green grass, with only the sound of men and women stringing their hearts out at rocks built strong over centuries of metamorphosis while sweat would be dripping out of each pore, apart from the sweet chirps of the colourful birds hiding somewhere careful not to come oin front of me. While fresh winds blow and the red faced homes on the gorgeous hillocks stare at me, life just seems to be on a different high altogether, literally! What follows next is a sumptuous dinner tonight in the bright lights of the hills with my friends and a wish to be back here every week.
These hills need me and I need them.

Change we need

I should certainly begin with my amazement at the victory of Mr. BHO. Hats off to him for the brilliant way he marketed himself to reach the 'safed daftar' despite the craze over his alleged middle name and lineage.
It ain't surprising to see the ripples this has created the world over.
Personally, it doesnt get any better when your prediction gets right. But what I don't understand is our fixation with the change he promises, rubbing off on India. When the elections were on, we wondered who the Indian Americans were supporting. During his transition, we are wondering how many Indian-origin smarties he's gonna recruit in his team. We heaved sighs of relief when he finally called our dear Sardarji.
We wonder when he's gonna start interfering in our brilliant relationship with Pak and influence the way we have been handling them so far. We are wondering how much he'll bring down the immigration limits affecting the poor IT souls here.
All this reveals a really sad psychological sense prevailing in Indian minds. Though on one hand I do believe that most of these views are just babies of our media trying to fill space (and their pockets), there is still another point to mention. Should we really get concerned if another country reduces the limit on the number of people who can run out of here and settle there. As it is, people flying off there are mostly driven by their own selfish reasons (to get rich ofcourse). So why should we care and project it as if this nation is being affected.
When it comes to our neighbour-handling issues, why should we be concerned if Mr.BHO is gonna influence our decision our not. For how many years do we still have to rely on outsiders or be influenced by what they think or be mindful of their support or not. To put it simply, just be independent. Just getting some free space on a map is not enough, we need to be free in our minds and actions as well.
Thats the change we need.