Me iz bak

Yes, It's me again. After a fairly long time, though I doubt if anybody did miss me. Whatever. No need of bothering with excuses, except the really genuine one. My laptop has stopped being disturbed from its self-induced coma. Again. So it is surfing from office and cyber café. I don't think my manager reads this blog. But my lead does (sometimes), but being a avid blogger and netizen himself, I'm sure he'll forgive me (Sandeep-san, I am counting on you :).

Whatever, let's come to the point. I mean my post. We all know what is the biggest news right now. We have seen the terrors and horrors with bulging eyes, endless shifting between the national news channels and/or refreshing the websites. Almost in an infinite loop.

Check NDTV, oh it's Barkha again chasing some poor survivor just out of Trident,

OK, go to CNN-IBN, Sagarika Ghosh in her weired accent trying hard to make sense what is happening (sounding like Arun Lal in an IPL match in the process... "It's a SIX... Yes, it's a HUGE six... He has managed to score six runs of the last ball.."). Change channel.

Good, Times Now. Exclusive telecast of the NSG operation at Nariman House. They are preparing for the final assault on the terrorists. OK. Back to NDTV...

(Nothing much to say about the other channels. See it here)

Sigh. Finally it's over. We are now busy with the usual blame-game, talk-shows, Mahesh Bhatt-Shobha De-Shabana Azmi crowd giving their expert opinions, candlelight-march and what not. I don't have much to say in this regard. Being a true software engineer used to copy-pasting code, I'll link to my not-so-old-post. Things haven't changed much. Yeah, it's bigger, scarier, more international (after all some white-skins have died this time). But the end result is yet to be out. We are waiting.

And still amidst this high volatge, out-of-Warner-Brothers'-latest-summer-flick type drama, where the daredevils from NSG, ATS and hotel staffs have won our hearts, our politicians came into the fore. And they showed, the species called Indian politician is not be under-estimated. At any cost. In any situation. So what if they have failed miserably in securing the lives of the people of our country. They can give statements. Statements which are so bizarre, you forget about the sorry state of this nation. It becomes a black-comedy. Or, maybe 'comedy of errors' is a better term. Read this one from the funnyman of Chennai, and have a laugh at ourselves (yes, we elect these people).

And yes. One more thing. After having 3 whole days of 24/7 live telecast and soaring TRPs, media, i.e. the news channels are being questioned for their apparent lack of sensitivity and restraint. Look at Barkha Dutt's answer to these questions and one beautiful article from The Telegraph.

So... what is the point of typing these things again, you might ask. After all you have more-or-less same thoughts in your mind, and hearing the same thing from every corner. Well. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. It's just that this my rant-box and I have nowhere else to express my rants. So thanks for going through this. Comments, any comments, rants, links, insights, on this event (historical as some people are saying) are welcome. Please feel free.

Btw, If anybody is wondering about the apparent lack of grammer and spelling in the post-title, check this. You might skip some of the links in this link-infested post, but don't miss this.

:)

KTHXBYE.

Memories and Play Things

It's good to be home. More so if it's Pujo. And more so if you meet old friends. Endless addas. Taking stock of each others lives. Looking back at those days. You know, those were the best days of my life... oh yeah...

Memories...

After a long time I read some fiction. First it was the Bengali Pujo-specials.

Then I read Norwegian Wood by Murakami. I had one PDF of this novel in my laptop for a long time. Never felt like opening it.

Till last week. And finished it in one sitting. 12 to 5. A.M. Yes. It was worth.

And there is this small piece which struck me.

"

True, given time enough, I can remember her face. I start joining images...

It takes time, though, for Naoko's face to appear. And as the years have passed, the time has grown longer. The sad truth is that what I could recall in 5 seconds all too soon needed 10, then 30, then a full minute - like shadows lengthening at dusk. Someday, I suppose, the shadows will be swallowed up in darkness. There is no way around it.

...

"

I liked the imagery of lengthening shadows and fading memory. And the inevitable darkness which lies ahead. Well, liked is the wrong word. I was saddened by it. Maybe this is what will happen to our memories.

Memories which are sweet and that's why sad. Someday they won't make you smile and cry like today.

But there are another type of memories. Like small wooden splinters.

We had a small storeroom in our backyard (we still have), filled with many uselful and useless things. There were lots of wood-pieces. Flats. planks, plys. I used to play with them. Short wooden planks. Breaks easily. And small wooden splinters (very small, 5-6 mm) used to get stuck inside the skin of my palm. It was a pretty routine affair.

First it pains a lot. Then it subsidies and a dull ache remains.

Until Mom notices and takes it out with a safety-pin.

Time has gone by. We have grown old, and came far. We play with different things. But still things break. And splinters remain. Big and small. Some come out easily. But some remain. Stuck inside. Somewhere deep.

Embedded.

Safety-pins can't reach there.

At first it pains. Aches. Then it reduces. Slowly. You stop noticing it.

You have got used to it now. It's still there. Under your skin. Stuck in the flesh beneath.

Maybe bones.

Now it pains only when you touch it.

And you like the pain.

Memories...

If You Insist...

No description is required for this. Just check out the video.



Yeah that's John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin with Pakistan's PM Mr. Asif Ali Zardari. In case you missed some words here is the transcript.

Zardari: “You are even more gorgeous than you are on the [inaudible].”
Palin: “You are so nice. Thank you.”
Z: “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you.”
[A Zardari aide tells the two to shake hands again for the cameras.]
P: “I’m supposed to pose again.”
Z: “If he’s insisting, I might hug.”
...

Hilarious... Benazir Bhutto must be turning in her grave. God bless Pakistan.

If you want to know what happened afterwords, read this. :)

Deja Vu

May 13, July 25, July 26, September 14. All in 2008. Sounds familiar? Well these are the dates of major bomb blasts in our country in this year. I won't put the number of people killed and injured or the amount of damage done. Because whether it is one bomb or a serial blast, low-intensity or high-intensity it does not matter. Even if one person has lost her life or limb it is the same. It is an act of terror. With the sole aim of taking some innocent lives and creating panic. I don't know what kind of political or ideological point is scored by blowing up common men on road. I doubt if it really serves ant purpose whatsoever. India has lots of common people to spare, 110 crore of them. So we are pretty much used to it. We see the news for 20 minutes, murmur some curse words and switch to our daily dose of reality shows and bollywood item numbers. Sleep. Go to office. Exchange our views about the state of nation.

"8 blasts... can you believe? These scoundrels should be hanged from the lamp posts".
"Yeah man... psychopaths..."
"By the way, how's the market today..."
"300 plus... Good na? Did you see Chelsea versus City"
...
...

Yeah that's how it is. We have become immune. There are much more pressing matters for our politicians to discuss. Should forest land be given to Amarnath Yatra Committee or Jaya Bachchan should speak Marathi in promotional events... you know. Important topics...

Back to square one, aren’t we? Same scenario, same arguments and same results. Even the word déjà vu sounds familiar… A few hours back “We The People” was going on NDTV, with Arun Jaitly and Abhishek Singhvi in guest’s chairs. I was curious to see the blame-game and what argument they place. And just as expected BJP has found their argument in anti-terror laws like POTA/TADA which Cong opposes and Cong is harping about a Federal Anti-Terror agency which is not possible because of opposition from BJP-ruled govts (according to Singvi). Same story as we know...

I don’t have much knowledge about Indian penal code and exactly how much power is given to a law will make it a fascist law, prone for misuse. I think the line is blurred as always. But don’t we know all anti-crime laws can be misused this way or that way? Aren’t we aware that law-enforcing agencies can and sometimes do misuse their powers, be it the Army (technically not a law enforcing agency) or the Police? Does that mean we won’t have those agencies/forces or we won’t have stringent laws to tackle crimes? In an ideal world we don’t need an Army, but we know the world we live in is not ideal. I think we need a complete overhaul with the security agencies beginning with an Central Anti-Terror agency. From Kargil to Parliament attack to these blasts we can see our intelligence capability is non-existent or ineffective at best. The time has come where the need of a strong body with strong laws outweighs the danger of potential misuse. It’s just not worth to sit back and argue about pros and cons. How much blood can we shed? Till when?

Do we realize these people who are doing this ghastly acts are not even bothered. They are doing it at will. When they want, where they want. Sending emails before the countdown to proclaim their superiority over the nation and its administration. It is like people bully the weak kid in school just to show that they can. No political or economic gain. Just to throw stone and laugh. This is where we are now. All we can do is watch in horror. Shake our head in disbelief. Sigh and get on with our lives. And pray tomorrow it's not me or someone I know. I am thankful to Christopher Nolan for how he showed Joker in the latest Batman film. I mentioned about this in a previous post and say it again here. Global terrorism and its projection as we are seeing in India does not need any reason, any justification. There can not be any rationalization. Only a psychologically demented person can do this and take pride in it. Words are not enough to condemn this and words mean nothing. We need some action. Some tough decisions. Soon. It is already late.

Having said so much, I’m pretty much sure we will not see any action. None. Blame-game? Yes. Endless debate? Yes. One more blast in Hyderabad/Kolkata/Pune/Lucknow? Very much possible. Another post in blog from where I can copy-paste from this post… Did anyone say 'déjà vu' ?

P.S: Most of this post is cross-posted from the comment I made in Greatbong's blog. After putting my comment I could not resist to share my rant in my blog.

P.P.S: See this not-so-old post from Greatbong (again) to witness the sad and comical aspects of this continuing tragedy.

Dream On!

I think you can guess the title has something to do with last week's release "Rock On". There are host of jokes/pjs going around, based on the film's name. The idea is simple. Random word + 'On' = PJ! This one from MTV Tickr goes like this,

Question: What would have been the name if the movie was based on girl bands?
Answer: Frock On!!

I know, I know, bad PJ... But that's the fun... :D

Anyway, the topic of this post is not pun on Hindi film titles. But it has

somethong to do with the said film. I have not seen the film yet, but what I have heard/read so far, it's a very good. Definitely worth a dekho. Maybe I'll catch sometime next week (badly screwed up in work for this week :( ). By this time you must have known the theme/storyline of the film, so I'm not going to waste screen space for that (if not, try this and choose one). It's about doing what you want do do in life and pursuing that dream. I saw this post on the film in PFC and really liked the way the writer has identified with the film. But, why I'm talking so much about a film I haven't watched yet? Because, very recently I came accross this ad in adoholik.com, and I wanted to post about it...



The caption tells "Put your skills to better use". Got the connection? There are some lucky people who are doing what they want to do. And some are not. Stuck somewhere else. And of course there are some who are not even sure what they want. Confused souls (I'm one among this category). And I really liked this advertisement. Other than being a fabulous piece of sketch, I saw something very familiar in it, a pert of me to be precise... Maybe, just maybe, someday I'll stop being an engineer and then be... Well, I don't know... something else. Till then, Dream On....