The Blunder of All Blunders...

There are some days where you wake up and feel "What a day!" and when you go to bed the same day, you would wish you had never actually gotten up. Well, I'm pretty sure that the Infosys "Chief Mentor" Narayana Murthy had one of those days over the weekend. How on Earth one could condone his actions - I do not know. When we make mistakes in stats in our college, our prof. says "You are blunder!" Well, I would think that he'll say to Narayana Murthy "You are Big Blunder!"

So, what's the fuss really all about? A man in the position of Narayana Murthy should, at the very least know what he's saying. I mean, being a potential presidential candidate - he's made one of the dumbest statements. He said that he didn't want to embarrass the foreigners by making people sing the Indian National Anthem. I mean, to use the word embarrass and National Anthem in the same line is down right idiotic. He might have not meant it, but he's drawing flak from various quarters and in all honestly - he deserves it!

Even if his statement was not misconstrued, why would foreigners be embarrassed at listening to the National Anthem of India? In football, before a match both sets of National Anthems are played – and when one country’s anthem is being played, the players from the other country stand and listen. That’s what the foreigners could have done. Why do something which makes the foreigners look bigger than our National Anthem? Narayana Murthy is a member of the management of the IIM in Ahmedabad, the 4th employee of Infosys and yet he comes out and says something as stupid as this... unbelievable!

This happened days after reports of Sachin Tendulkar cutting a cake of the Indian tricolour. Maybe this case was a bit different, but again we have High Commission officials preparing cakes of an Indian flag. I heard someone say that we cut birthday cakes with people's names on it, so what Tendulkar did was fine. Has anyone ever cut a cake with a god or a goddess on it? Of course, then it comes down to "holy" issues. So, isn't our flag holy? Shouldn't the flag considered to be sacred?

When your national ambassadors go out and make a mockery of the very identity of country, we have every right to be angry. “Sorry” is not going to make amends for a thing. Going to court will barely make a difference. These people can easily say that it was not their fault or that they weren't "thinking at the time", but that will not change what they've done. As my stats prof. would say - They are Blunder of Blunders!

The Priceless Profs...

College life is meant to be fun. I'll be one of the first people to tell you that it isn't as much fun as people tell you it is! That said, my college has brought in some professors who initially made life so very awkward for us - today, they are the most hilarious people on Earth. This is about those people who make my day, everyday.

Being in Chennai, a lot of the conversing in colleges and schools is done in Tamil. Some of the English that is spoken will make people who know the language forget every single word of it. Some of the English that is spoken though can make us laugh so loud that we would cry laughing! The first day this professor walked in and he said - "You peoples must learn imbortance of commnication because it will help in the cambus intrview". That is roughly what he said - given the content, it was even funnier. Then he said "Don't expect me to talk properly, I only know Butler English". Butlers in this context I guess meant Indian butlers, at least I hope it meant that.

He is so funny at times that I cannot even believe the fact that he did a post graduation in Mathematics. Here's another funny thing he said a few days ago to my friend who is the class representative. He was in charge of collecting assignments on a Monday. I'm guessing the prof. wanted to tell him that his presence was indispensable on that day. He said - "On Monday, you be here or don't be here..... you have to be here!" On another day we had a test, he wanted us to staple the papers together and for this he said "Please make the papers stabling and give it" That was ultimately funny, at least to those who know syntax and English vocabulary! He also refers to time pass as "dimebaussing" and often says "Don't come here for dimebaussing".

When he teaches, he does a good Bharatnatyam performance - because that is how much his hands move when he explains. Occasionally he moves his entire body to synchronize the movements with his hand. Whenever I ask him a question in English, he always says "Ah...?" He never gets me! He also always comes up with nicknames.. pretty much like Sawyer used to do in Lost, although this is quite a different "genre" of nicknames. He once called a guy who is pretty fat, "Potato Boy". Another time, when a guy was talking when he was, he said "When I talk, you no middle middle talk, ok?” This was obviously met with all of our laughter when he said "Butler English!”

If this wasn't enough there was another professor who said something which made me laugh my heart out. Unfortunately it might not be as funny when I write it but still - he said, "I went to Bangalore.... and saw ladies conductor (bus) - I astonished!", then reiterating his astonishment he said again "I.....Astonished!" I never quite knew how an insignificant word, 'was' could make to a sentence!

I joined college almost a year ago and I never thought that I would come across such characters. They honestly make us laugh everyday and that is not an exaggeration. Hopefully they will make more people laugh in their classes and make their days in college, like they have done for me!