Bangalore Beckons...

At last.. something to look forward to. I'm going to Bangalore in a couple of days, the city where I resided in for 2 years. Whatever I remember of the city is good.. so my hope is that I will come back with better memories.

There's nothing like a trip that can take your mind off all the nonsense going on in your life. So, I'm going to go out and have a blast. Who knows? I might get more than I expect out of the trip.

So, in that spirit I would like to recall the theme song of "Felicity" - A New Version of You.

Can you become
Can you become
A new version of you

New wallpaper
New shoe leather
A new way home
I don't remember

New version of you
I need a new version of me

New version of you
I need a new version of me

Yes, that is what I want.. a fresh start, a new beginning. After all, where's the fun in life if there is no change?

Who Can I Trust?

Belief. Yes, that is the word that I think is the backbone of every relationship. Without belief or trust, no relationship can ever go on. Once the trust has been broken, it is hard to even contemplate trusting anyone again. You feel like you're falling into a deep, endless pit your trust has been broken. Can I give another chance? Is it worth trying to trust the person who in my view has blatantly broken the backbone of any relationship?

The mind boggles as to what can be done in situations like this. Maybe I can move on, act as if this never happened. Maybe I can say "go to hell" and part ways. All my life, I have been inclined to do the latter. Any breach of trust would lead me to believe that the person is simply not worth living, let alone talking to. I don't even care if that is right or wrong. My beliefs on this issue are strong and I don't ever think that they will change.

Why is it that today, I feel like I can trust people who I would have never associated that word with a couple of months ago? How can I feel like not even looking at the faces of people who I could have said anything about my life to at any time? Is this just a knee jerk or am I over reacting about the whole thing? I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't even know how to react properly.

One thing is for sure, things will never be the same ever again. I realize that and I'm sure everyone would realize that. Sometimes people don't really think rationally in certain situations, but can that be an excuse for whatever is said? I think not. Time might be able to put a band aid over a fracture, but the fracture will never heal. That's where I begin to think that its all futile. I guess then, that it is all over. Once the trust is gone, so is the relationship.

Life's never Easy....And It's getting Tougher!

Whenever there's been a bad week, you think - this has been the lousiest week of my life. I've just had one of those weeks. The thing is that I've had so many pathetic days in the span of 7 days, that I can't help thinking - was it coming all along?

Is there anything called a rut? Well, I'm strongly of the opinion that boredom and things related to it are brought about by one's mentality. How can you think that a person is inactive by just looking at him? Can anyone look inside the brain of a human?

If there's anything I've learnt in the past 2 days - I judge. I judge to no end and that makes me a pretty bad person. I always felt that opinionating is good. I thought expression of thoughts, whatever they may be is healthy. Well, I have news - none of that is good. There are some things which should be said, the others should be locked tight in a compartment in your brain. Saying your thoughts aloud is never going to help.

Where's the place for genuineness in the World then? How can I behave in a way different to my beliefs? This is a dilemma that I will face and I'm pretty confident that I will never come to a proper resolution on it. Sometimes, opinions are uncalled for - I realize that. Why do these issues pile up and bury you under though? Why can't things be said to your face when there's a clear wrongdoing?

That is why most of us are pathetic. We don't have the bottle to say whatever we want to anybody fearing for their reaction. That is why many of us will definitely face psychological disorders before we die. That is why we will never be able to say anything to anybody, no matter who they are - family members or friends for the sole reason of fear.

Only when such fears diminish can we be a transparent society. There are no grey areas in this World, they're either black or white, yin or yang. I hate people who beat around the bush. Only when people communicate can we make things easier for everyone. Life's already tough enough and with such trash happening, not only in my life - it is definitely becoming tougher.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

I'm Bored and Its OK!

Life is filled with a bunch of rotten ironies.. yes I'm going to get all philosophical about the whole ironies in life but it is true! I don't think that in any situation can anyone say.. "I'm happy and completely satisfied". There's always a void, something to fill and that something has kept on eluding me and probably will continue to do so forever.

What is boredom? Boredom is a really pathetic state of mind where we're so inactive that we can barely think of anything else other than how bored we actually are! We never feel the need to do anything in such a rut. It is probably the most frustrating time of my life because as much as I would want to get off my bottom and do something - I just can't! Why on Earth isn't that possible?

I'm beginning to get so bored that I'm reading stuff about boredom. Apparently, boredom is a symptom of depression. Wow, now there's something scary - it makes me want to get up and do something! I have so much to do and no will to do anything. Without motivation and and any inspiration which would make me see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am starting the painful process of self evaluation. What's the void? What can that gap be filled with?

That is, I guess the real million dollar question! At a time where life seems to simple, I want something complicated to come along to spice things up and of course at complicated junctures, I need clarity and simplicity! One of the zillion ironies of life I guess.

The other irony is boredom. When you have loads of work to do, you feel bored because you have the same old routine and want to break away from it. When you don't have much work to do.. you wished you had all the work in the world to do!

At this point, the rambling ends.. and so will the boredom (or so I hope). Hopefully my boredom is not rubbing off on others. At the end of the day, I guess I am always bored but just don’t know it. Not knowing is the best thing.

It is said that “empty vessels make the most noise”…. I’m just beginning to wonder how much noise I’m starting to make.

Happy 50th!

There's an anniversary for everything these days, be it a wedding anniversary or an engagement anniversary or an anniversary for which 2 people have been together! The list seems to be endless! The most common anniversary is the Birthday, without question and today I just found out that there is an 'Anniversary', but not for a person.

This was invented in 1957 in Switzerland. American Airlines, Gap, Panasonic, Lufthansa and Tupperware are among its users. It is one of the best known in its field, both in a positive and negative way. I'm even astonished to say that a book has been published about it.. which is an emotion you might also share with me when I reveal what I'm actually talking about!

I've looked at a bunch of descriptions of it and they seem to be so similar to a way you would describe a car or something... "It has smooth, clean lines, and an unobtrusive geometry that almost suggests it was designed not to stand out." It has also made an appearance, if you can call it that in the sitcom "Friends" in Season 10.

We all use computers and take so much for granted. Don't you think that a font should be given a birthday too? Well, apparently this incredibly popular font is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year... so here goes - Happy 50th HELVETICA!

Whatever has been mentioned before is true. This font has hate clubs and has followers. Every brand mentioned before also has its 'typeface' in Helvetica. It even makes an appearance in Friends Season 10. It is truly incredible that we miss so many things which are right in front of our very eyes! There are so many anniversaries we celebrate these days that adding this one would barely make a difference. After all, Helvetica is a true Swiss beauty!

I Salute Man Utd, Not Their Fans...

The Premier League is all done and Manchester United are the champions contrary to what many others and I said. They deserve it without a doubt - playing fantastic, consistent football which they lacked in the previous years. They have a good manager in Sir Alex Ferguson, a man who was criticized so heavily in the last 2 years by his own fans all over the world.

I've managed to step onto the topic of fans then - this in reference to the ones I know and the ones in India as a whole. The thing is that these 'fans' actually became fans after the 'glory days'. I know people who became supporters in this millennium where they won only once before this season. So, these people have it in their heads that it is their god given right to roll over anyone else and that whatever happens - the other teams are useless and there is only one team in the world, Manchester United.

The fact is that, as an Arsenal supporter I do get a lot of stick. It is part of being against a brigade of pompous and arrogant fans who believe Arsenal will not do anything significant in the future and that Chelsea are a team made by money. On the face of it, everything looks correct because they've just won the title and are basking in the glory of victory. It wasn't a long time back when Manchester United kicked an Arsenal team out of the park at Old Trafford and then scored the most undeserved penalty of the century. So, not all of their achievements are creditable.

I hate Manchester United, not because they're the arch rivals of Arsenal, but because of their incredibly useless fans who believe that they are the sun which all teams revolve around. I guess they've never been introduced to a word called modesty... and they probably will never know what it is to be modest.

Chelsea might have been built on money, but money cannot buy the spirit and courage that their players showed yesterday. Mourinho might be criticized heavily, but the fact is that he protects his team superbly by stealing the limelight. He has excellent tactical acumen and in my opinion is a brilliant manager.

Arsenal have had a tough couple of years and could well have some more to come. The test for a fan is to stick by his or her team when the times are tough, not to just give up all the possible hope there is for a comeback. I love Arsenal and whatever Arsene does, I will take it in the right spirit and get on with life. I will not call for him to be sacked for whatever reason! We might be bad losers, but the Manchester United fans are bad winners. You guys are just going to create more hatred for your team. I just hope that next year something incredibly drastic happens to Man Utd and then, we will see the real fans stick around because the others are just pretenders.

Congratulations to Manchester United and at the same time my commiserations - you might have won the title, but your fans down here in India are just pathetic winners!

Is Cricket a Dying World Sport?

India is said to be a multi cultural, multi dimensional country. Looks can be deceiving and while you hear things like "great economic growth" and "population of 1 billion plus" we also see the disastrous performance of India in sport.

India is a one dimensional country in many ways. Cricket is the only sport which is either followed or played. Watching a debate yesterday on TV has inspired me to write this and I feel very strongly about this issue. We've witnessed the most boring World Cup in the history of World Cups and this is, in my opinion was the final nail in the coffin of a dying sport.

Let’s look at the big picture. Cricket may be a young game, but the way it has "evolved" has not left a great taste in people's mouths. Cricket is the only sport which has more than 2 formats. Why change? If test cricket is the only format which matters to cricketers, why make them play 50 overs and why 20 overs? It is ridiculous! The development of the sport on a global basis has degenerated and the quality of the teams which participate are reducing rapidly. In which other sport today would we see 3 consecutive World Cup wins by the same country?

Cricket's revenues are also heavily dependant on the sub continent. Apparently, 65-70% of the TV revenues come from India. So, India's failure in the sport would lead to a potential loss of 60% of the overall TV revenue. This coupled with the lack of crowds makes things very disastrous for the sport.

I also heard the guys on the debate talk about Indian genes not being able to withstand the physicality of a game like football or hockey. This is the biggest load of garbage I've ever heard. The simple fact is that nobody is taking an effort to develop the infrastructure for sport in our country. The media gets only 1 sport to focus on, cricket. The advertisers get only 2 types of endorsers, cricketers or bollywood actors - both of whom are overrated and not worth a single penny to any brand.

The simple fact is that for a person who has never watched cricket - watching it for the first time can be a painful experience. The sport has too many rules, is too ‘stop start’ and quite honestly is a snooze fest. A football manager once said "How can you tell your wife that you're going off to play a sport for 5 days?" He might not understand the traditions of cricket, but honestly nobody who watches it for the first time will. Furthermore, the disastrous World Cup is going to reduce the number of people watching the sport.

The younger generation today, albeit in cities are switching over to football. The English Premier League is a much more attractive viewing option for many, including me. We love watching Arsenal vs. Man Utd or Chelsea vs. Liverpool. I cannot say the same for Bangladesh vs. India.

At the end of the day, India will remain a cricket crazy nation. News channels will allot 28 minutes for cricket and 2 minutes for other sports. That just shows that we as a nation are not progressing on all fronts, sports wise. Finally - my commiserations to ESPN-Star, as they have the rights to broadcast the next 8 years of ICC tournaments. I wonder how many more formats this game will bring out by then!

20 Things About Me..

Found a set of interesting questions on another blog... thought I might have a go and answer them.. So, here goes...

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.

Hmm.. I have a few.. a couple on my left arm after an accident and one on my right hand after I fell down while playing football... ouch!

2. What is on the walls in your room?

A key holder, a considerable amount of switches and plug points and a 3D picture of some temple in Japan... plus a calendar!


3. What does your phone look like?
 
Moto Razr V3i with a crystal case.. so basically looks like an over protected, heavy phone... take off the crystal case and you will see a beauty!

4. What music do you listen to?
 
Mostly alternative rock.. stuff like Evanescence, Staind, Audioslave, RHCP.

5. What is your current desktop picture?
 
Waterfalls... sounds totally serene - the complete opposite of my personality!

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

This may sound far fetched but, I want to own Arsenal F.C. That's never going to happen but what's the harm in dreaming? ;)

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?
 
There's nothing to believe or not to believe in gay marriages. I'm not against them at all. We live in a multi cultural society and I believe we have to be broad minded enough to be open to everything and I believe I am totally open to gay marriages.

8. What time were you born?
 
7.15 a.m. I wonder what the relevance of this question is!

9. Are your parents still together?

Absolutely.

10. What are you listening to?
 
The Reason Why - Rachael Yamagata.

11. Do you get scared of the dark?
 
Absolutely terrified of the dark! 

12. The last person to make you cry?
 
I don't think I can even remember the last time I cried... I might have cried while watching something on TV... but I honestly cannot recollect a person making me cry!

13. What is your favorite perfume/cologne?

Don't use perfume or much of cologne.. but I'm using Brut cologne now and it's quite good..

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?
 
Ahh.. anything will do as long as that person looks good!

15. Do you like pain killers?

This is a strange question.. but, no I don't like pain killers. If I'm in great pain, then I might be inclined to use them but they are mostly a last resort.

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
 
Hmm.. shyness might be one thing but I feel it is more the fear of being told "no" to my face. 

17. Favorite pizza topping?

Love all kinds of pizza.. the more cheese the better!!

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

I've just finished eating dinner.. so this is not exactly the right time to answer this question.

19. Who was the last person you made mad?

I have no clue. I honestly cannot remember! 

20. Is anyone in love with you?

Nope.

There's Always Place for Hope...

The tragic events which took place in Virginia last month raised a lot of eyebrows back here in India with regards to security of colleges in the USA. The fact is that this troubled individual was at Virginia Tech. and not at Harvard or somewhere else. This sort of incident can happen anywhere in the world.

I have aspirations of studying in the USA one day. There's absolutely no doubt that the USA has good institutions where students want to apply. So, when we see institutes like Virginia Tech. and a guy shooting 33 of the university students - it does send a shiver down our spines! The laws are about guns may not be as strong, but you do feel that it is the Institute’s prerogative to check up on its students especially when they are as troubled as the one who carried out the shootings.

The underlying fear now in India is that any university in the USA is susceptible to such an event. The fact is that India is in itself a very unsafe country. There was an incident recently where a bunch of 15 year old boys kidnapped and murdered an 8 year old to buy a mobile phone. Does that sound civil? These boys were probably not even psychologically challenged and yet such an unfortunate event took place. The Nithari killings are also proof of the pathetic state of safety of young children.

Even my mother, after watching the news one day told me - "Don't go abroad to study, stay closer to home". While I can understand her concerns, you've got to take some risks to achieve something in life. We cannot look at the number of road accidents before getting on our 2 wheelers. We can't look at the casualties on flight accidents or hijackings before travelling on a plane. It just can't be done! We have to stay positive and keep believing that things will end up fine. If you stay in the comforts of your home, you're going to end up a protected, spoilt brat.

At the end of the day, the world is not the best place to be but, can anyone suggest an alternative? Every place in the world has its flaws and if you are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunately anything can happen. We all live in a fragile world where is very little margin for error. All we can do is be optimistic, hope that the day will go on as planned and pray that nobody gets caught in a dangerous situation.

It is this hope, which at the end of the day makes us all live every single minute of our lives... which is why we must never lose it.

Bollywood Weddings.. Over hyped?

It has been awhile indeed since I was able to muster up some sort of composure to blog.. and I have absolutely no idea why! This was something I wanted to blog about when it was actually the "in thing".. and 2 weeks later, it has been all but been forgotten.

The royal wedding between the "princess" of Bollywood and the son of the "emperor" of it has been quite a well publicised one. There have been many cynics, totally rubbishing the wedding altogether and questioning the very presence of such "hyped" events in the media, and fair play to those people. The problem is that these people go on to criticize the couple themselves, who in all fairness have tried to keep a lid on the way things have gone on. I don't think either one has even spoken about the wedding since it has been over, clearly suggesting that the media hype was just that - not some publicity stunt by either of them.

I have though, felt inclined to slam a certain action of the entire "wedding troop" after the wedding's completion. This is in reference to their visit to Tirupathi, which was not wrong but, the time at which they made the trip caused inconvenience to many. Waiting in Tirupathi is one of the toughest things that people going there have to do - and we get to pray for just a few seconds. These people, by virtue of their position and sizeable donations got to pray to the very same deity for longer and got perks while the ordinary layman was standing outside in a stagnant queue and in the sweltering heat. That was downright pathetic and inconsiderate of what many people consider to be the "first family" of Bollywood.

The media often makes a hoopla about many events, and this wedding between Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan was no different. No one asked for their presence or their hyped coverages. The fact is, that it is this very media which these actors and actresses rely upon to get their fame! Critics, news channels, newspapers are all what make "box office hits" - and nobody will deny that. There are always 2 sides to a story, and this is no different.

At the end of the day, we're 2 weeks down the line and the media has some other "important" issues to focus on - like India's tour of Bangladesh or how farcical the World Cup was.. they've moved on! This vicious circle will never end. At the end of the day, Bollywood weddings are hyped... and so is the release of every "star studded" film.. so I feel everything evens out!

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!

Road Sense... Nonsense!

Human beings have come a long way in understanding most of the complexities on earth. India has been in the forefront of many innovations, especially in mathematics. All in all, we are considered to be fairly intelligent people. What many people don’t know is that intelligent people don’t necessarily have what is most common – common sense. One of the things which requires a considerable amount of it is road sense – in Chennai, we call it nonsense.

I have a two wheeler and have been riding it for almost 2 years now. In India, the easiest thing is getting the license. We either bribe the Road Transport Office officials or get them through driving schools – either way our road sense is not tested much. Even if it were, there is a lot of difference between riding a two wheeler or a car on an empty street and driving them in the crowded roads in this city. It is hard enough driving/riding on a road filled with cars, but when those cars have drivers who barely know road sense – you feel your longevity is reducing by the minute.

In Chennai, the policy of the public whether you are a pedestrian or otherwise is that there are no rules. People cross the roads as if they were cows, people on their bikes and cars ride or drive as if they wanted to die very soon. Let me illustrate with an example. After I got my vehicle 2 years back I was going somewhere with my father. I was going to take a right turn off a road and so as any sensible person would do, I switched my right indicator on and was about to make the turn when an imbecile overtook me from the right side! Before I could recover from the fact that I nearly collided with this person and hurl a couple of abusive words, he was gone. I think he thought that putting on the right indicator meant that he had every right to overtake me from the right!

There is a popular style in which many of the 3 wheeler (auto rickshaw) drivers work. In a very busy junction, they would be waiting on the left corner of the road. It will strike the genius that he has to actually make a right turn. So, when the signal turns green, he will try to make a right turn from the left side of the road, blocking off the others. This guy also has a ‘thick skin’ so whatever insults any of the others are shouting do not make any significant difference to him. The same driver will make the biggest fuss of his life when a two wheeler overtakes him at a fairly high speed. You know what he’d say then? “Who gave this guy a license?”

As a child, I learnt that zebra crossings give you the right to cross and that any vehicle should stop in front of a zebra crossing when people are crossing over it. In Chennai, very few zebra crossings remain and even they are being erased by cars speeding over them while pedestrians wait on the side. The irony is that if you try to exercise the right I mentioned above, the driver who is speeding towards the zebra crossing says something very popular in Tamil which translates to “Have you informed your family about your intentions to die on the road?” It is a very short sentence in Tamil though, believe me!

The belief in India is that whenever a new traffic rule is implemented, it just means that the traffic police are going to ask for more money when you are caught. I remember another little incident. I had just finished my board exams last year and was going for a movie with my friend. At a signal, the green light was on and I was to make a U-turn after I had passed the signal. So, as I saw green I took the U-turn only for the traffic police to feel that I had made some sort of an infringement. He told me that I had jumped the signal and then told me to go and see if the signal was red, which it obviously was by then! The signal must have turned red after I had crossed it and the brilliant man had this incredible opportunity to extort me. I was in a hurry; I paid the guy some money and rushed for the movie. As I was making my way home today, I saw that another traffic policeman was standing helplessly as he saw a motorcyclist speed his way past the red light! I was stunned.

A new rule has been introduced for 2 wheelers – the helmet is now compulsory. It is a great rule without a doubt. I ride a 75cc two wheeler, the scooty pep and once a guy came and asked me – “You’re only riding a pep, why do you need a helmet?” I wanted to ask if my head wouldn’t exist if I rode a scooty pep. I mean, there is not point in seeing what kind of vehicle you’re riding and then deciding whether you need a helmet or not. You’re still riding on the same road! It is this kind of ignorance which costs many peoples lives on the road.

There is a very popular instance through which we mock the traffic rules here in India. A driver sticks his right hand out as if to go to the right side, switches on his left indicator and goes straight! I mean, mathematically that is perfect, isn’t it? A minus of a minus is plus! That’s what we are really good at, mathematics!

'Men' In Blue?

Lazy, incapable, overrated, sloppy and toothless are just a few negative words in my vocabulary which I can hurl at the Men In Blue. No one quite ever knew how apt those 3 words would become come the 23rd of March. Let's face it, India were not going to win the World Cup of cricket - but to go out in a humiliating way as we did does hurt.. even though I'm not much of a cricket fan!

Cricket is a sport which almost gives Hinduism a run for its money as a religion in India. Every ball, every run, every mistake and every selection is looked at very closely by vast majority of the public. In a country which treats cricket with so much regard, the players are under immense pressure. You feel sorry for them sometimes without a doubt. That said when a country treats the sport as a religion - the players are surely not less than godly figures! They get hefty pay packages, both from the BCCI and their endorsers. You need to hit just a couple of centuries or take two five wicket hauls to get a solid endorsement. The players are kings when they win, they are all devils when they lose.. and when they are able to enjoy basking in the glory and the adoration of all the fans during the good times, they should also learn to cope with disappointment, and the very valid anger of the fans during the bad times.

Yes, cricketers are human beings. They are prone to their fair share of mistakes.. but, they are also professionals. That word is something which Indian cricketers have not heard of for sure. Professionalism is lacking in every area in India - be it education or cricket. With the amount of money these guys take home, the heart and commitment that they showed for their country - the country which they represent was appalling. Indian cricket is suffering at every level.

The BCCI is the richest cricket board on the planet, that's all it is capable of being. It cannot make firm decisions and choices, something which I felt Greg Chappell was willing to make at tough times. The Asian mentality though, is that some players have the god given right to be in the team, just because they happen to be 'dada' or the 'little champion'. Let us rewind, the little 'champion' is champion of nothing - he has not won a single World Cup. 'Dada' is a great cricketer, but at times I felt that his ego and pride came in the way of making Team India champions. He was overly vocal during the end of his captaincy and was selfish in his last match as captain, period.

We cannot expect a bunch of "yes men" as selectors and coaches who simply nod their heads in front of players and fans. They aren't hired for that. Greg Chappell failed in trying to bring the World Cup back to India. He experimented too much at times. No one noticed the rotation policy when India beat Sri Lanka 6-1 two years ago. He made tough choices even though the public didn't endorse it. He was brave, something which I cannot say for the Indian players.

In my opinion, he is not completely responsible for the pathetic performance of the team in the World Cup. You cannot teach a team with so much experience how to bat 50 overs. You cannot teach them how to show commitment. Of course, as a knee jerk reaction - he will not remain coach and Rahul Dravid will be removed as the captain of India. Dravid is a brilliant batsman, but cannot be the captain of our team. Here's the question then, who can be? It cannot be Ganguly, who has been too selfish and thinks of nothing but himself. Tendulkar has already demonstrated that he cannot be a leader of a team. We might well be in for a South Africa style appointment of a captain, maybe Yuvraj Singh?

What the 11 players have to be taught is that they are not 11 individuals. A collective effort has to be made in order to win anything. We saw disjointed performances devoid of any sort of cohesiveness, not only in the World Cup but matches leading up to it. If India cannot play as a team, we will continue to fail and perhaps in 2011 we will lose to Bermuda too. We aren’t playing tennis or golf, this is cricket – a team game.

Cricket in South Asia has to change drastically either way. We don't have strong enough domestic leagues. We don't have people who are capable of making tough choices and when they do, they're ridiculed. The fans' expectations are unrealistic at times, but India's disaster was something which very few expected. Many people are asking for the senior players to quit. Get real, that isn't going to happen.

As always though, there will be a thorough 'review process' and the appointment of a 'world class' coach is imminent. Then, the Bengal tigers and Nawabs of Najafgarhs will definitely 'learn' a lot.. for instance how to bat for 50 overs and field properly. They will hit a couple of fifties, make their money by dancing in front of the cameras and live a happy life. For Indian fans though, the dreams of winning a World Cup are proving to be elusive.

The Men in Blue are not only IN blues, they're giving us fans a lot of the blues too!

My Reservations on... Reservations!

India has long been hailed as the largest democracy in the world.. yes that's true in terms of population. Our constitution is very in depth and our policy making has been superb. The judicial and educational systems have all been based on the British model. Indians are thus, known to be fairly well off when it comes to planning and policy making.

The beauty of policy making though, is that no matter how great the policy is - the implementation has to be done equally well. India is pathetic at implementing policies. Our constitution is based on us being secular and that no one should be discriminated on the basis of caste, creed or race. That's very fair, as we are a very much a secular nation. In striving for 'equality', our leaders today are making huge mistakes - one of the biggest in my opinion would be the reservation or quota system in education.

Reservation is a certain amount of admissions withheld for a certain class of the society by an institution (which can be up to 50% of the total admissions). After the Mandal Commission released their reports in 1992, Backward Class and Other Backward Class got a considerable amount of concessions and exemptions and the Forward Community has been suffering since. Reservations discriminate in a very subtle way. They are based on the premise that people in the Backward Communities don't have money and that the Forward Communities do. Fair enough. What about the brains though? A university in Chennai requires the people of the forward community to get 98% (agg) to enter. Backward classes need around 70% - and all the students will invariably be mixed up in the same classes!

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have now implemented a 33% OBC reservation. The entrances are tough enough as it is, with people needing to score the 99th percentile to get in. Where do people from the forward communities get a chance then? Then, people look abroad and it is said 'brain drain is a big problem in India!’ Brain Drain isn't the problem genius; it is the absurd reservation policies we have in place which are.

Reservations also have their impact on the quality of students who are eventually 'produced'. They also provoke forgery of certificates of various individuals in the forward community. Educational Institutes ask for obscene amounts of money in the name of 'capitation’ for those students who didn't make the cut off - an impossible mark to get for an average student. The ramifications of reservations are thus undesirable.

The rates of poverty have declined at a slower rate than the increase in the rates of educational reservations over the past 20 years. If you want to support the backward classes, you must alleviate them from their dire situation. We have been slow to do this and now reservations have been put firmly in place to satisfy political needs. The quality of education and quality of students will definitely be on the decline. India will still produce very enterprising individuals due to the sheer density of population, but the potential of many people will be wasted by a political issue.

So then how is this in line with our constitution, which strives for a secular republic? How are we ignoring the class, caste and creed of the people? The reservations which were intended against discrimination are now unfortunately a medium of discrimination against a certain sect of people.

At times the implementation of the policy does not reflect what the policy makers set out to do.. we certainly see that in India.

Bollywood Movies = Expensive Mistakes

Movies were, once upon a time a way through which people were entertained. They were a shift from the daily routine and a movie would take people's minds off things. Actors were people who were dedicated to their profession. They rarely ever cared about
what they were going to get paid.

Today, where every profession is in an 'industry' - we have the "Bollywood" film industry in India. This industry probably has the least critically acclaimed films anywhere in the world. The "stars" are mediocre actors at best with the exception of a few. The movies revolve around a soundtrack. The "box office" is the sole determinant of whether the movies do well or not. It is more of a business than an art and that is saddening.

Of course, when we come to the actual crux of what a movie is in India - we realize why Bollywood is not an acclaimed industry abroad. 50% of the movie's popularity is determined by the quality of the songs (There are 4-6 which are almost 5 minutes each). One of these songs is almost definitely an 'item number' for the pleasure of all the male viewers. These songs have very little connection to the actual theme of the movie and the item numbers are out of place. Very less emphasis is actually on the acting or the plot of the movie. In fact, there are more clichéd endings in Bollywood movies than most other film industries in the world. There is no appeal or intrigue which English movies depict with a certain amount of consistency. Also, there are movies like Salaam-e-Ishq which try to kill the audience with lengths of up to 4 hours. It's sheer madness!

Naseeruddin Shah, in an interview to the BBC after the Bafta awards said, "I really don't think we make films that can match those from other parts of the world. And I am not referring to Hollywood - we make copies of Hollywood. We can't match the types of films made in Iran for example, Poland, Japan, Mexico or Brazil, Vietnam or Korea. These countries are producing the most incredible movies and we are still plodding on with our boy-meets-girl safe, old formula. That is the reason I think our films aren't taken seriously".
This was after Rang de Basanti - one of the better made Indian films in recent times failed to win the best foreign film award.

Movies were made for entertainment and were never made solely for money. The passion and commitment to make a good film is lacking in India - a country where models end up becoming 'film stars' and film stars have more endorsements to make than movies! No wonder none of our movies even get nominated for the major international awards. We can keep on talking about the wonderful costumes worn by Hrithik in D2 or his dance moves in any of his movies. Very few people actually talk about his acting. People in India don't even know what a good movie is! I went to watch EkLavya, an art(ish) film - and the acting performances in the movie are sterling. Many people told me "that movie is no good, there's just one song!" That line sums up the public’s expectations of what a movie should be.

In a country with over a billion people, I'm convinced there's someone who wants to make a creative film. It is just that the public just want to watch a nice happy ending so there is very little chance of an Indian film making the grade abroad. Also, we don’t have people who are daring enough to take risks and make movies which tickle our grey matter. The Indian film industry's net worth is quite high, and it is growing an audience base to rival Hollywood. That said, the soaring budgets of Bollywood movies and the ever so boring/predictable endings are quickly making them expensive mistakes.

An 'Ode' to Commercialism

Even words cannot define how business affects our lives today. No, I'm not actually going to write an ode to commercialism but I sure am intrigued at how we are all caught up in a whole load of rubbish and how easily we fall prey to business ventures.

Business is defined as an activity performed to make profits. Profits are all that businesses strive for. Making profit out of selling mobile phones - acceptable, making surplus from selling merchandise of a football team - also acceptable. Making profits from selling cards and flowers and so on....... for a very conspicuous celebration every year - February the 14th is genius! How people get trapped into buying things for people they 'love' today and fight with tomorrow is hilarious to see.

Here's an interesting stat - today people in India spend a whopping 12 billion rupees, yes that's right RS. 12 BILLION on February 14th. While I support the spirit of making profit - trying to influence youngsters by making them buy gifts for people who they might like or love might be a marketing wonder, but is a disaster on the ethical side of things. The reason being that the people who they like or love most probably might not even feel the same way about them. So, then these businesses try to make people buy love... make it an activity of materialism.

I was really outraged when a guy from Hutch, soon to be Vodafone came up to my door and said there’s some special Valentine’s Day offer and that he had a special scheme which was only available today. Why? What on earth is so special today that people end up getting new mobile phone connections today? What does that have to do with Valentine’s Day?

My belief is that marriage is the ultimate symbol of love. Whether it actually is or not is a completely different matter altogether. When you commit to another person for the rest of your life (or at least at the time of marriage), it is impossible to match that feeling with a gift, a card or a bunch of roses - they might supplement that feeling, that's it! Here we are though, in a world where we simply don't know what will happen tomorrow - trying to make people buy a whole bunch of gifts for their boy/girl friends at that time is just another indication of what a materialistic world we live in.

Valentine's Day, by the way is a day where people express their love for each other WHILE exchanging flowers or a symbol of their love, not gift hampers! The problem today is a rush of feelings is considered strong enough to buy those hampers and while I have no problem with Valentine's Day per se, how people get impinged by the commercial side of it baffles me... and so I have to pay my respects to those people who have masterminded such a phenomenal rise to the National Income for a so called developing country! You deserve your profits, because people are foolish enough to believe in the rubbish you sell! I just hope such sort of money gets pumped back for the welfare of our country rather than producing more teddy bears and candy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Who are ya??"

I've just witnessed a cracking week of football.. a week where Arsenal did the 'double' over Man Utd ("Manure"..?). In what was the "blockbuster" weekend in the Premier League, Arsenal and Liverpool pulled off what they would call invaluable results. How Liverpool actually manage to win games really baffles me. They are just a richer version of Bolton with a Steven Gerrard. That's about it. How Arsenal continue to perform well against the top 3 and still remain 4th baffles me even more! This time, Manchester United showed the lack of concentration which I've only seen Arsenal possess in games against Sheffield Utd, West Ham and Bolton.

The biggest news of the week though, would be the announcement of the new President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) - Michel Platini. The French legend's helm is sure to be a stormy one, with reforms in the Champions League being promised. He also wants to impose salary caps - how that will be possible with players like Lampard, Ballack, Terry, Cole (Aren't they all at Chelsea?!) earning over a 100g (pounds) per week is really the big question. The main debate will be about the Champions League though.

Platini wants to trim the number of participants from the major nations (England, Italy and Spain) and trying to increase the number in the so called minor ones (Poland, Bulgaria). As far as I'm concerned - the current format is alright. If teams from Poland and Bulgaria start competing in the group stages, the knock out rounds will become down right boring. There will be no intrigue left in the competition which is really the best in terms of quality of football played in the world. The whole idea of "Champions League" will be spoilt. Teams which are weaker will be easier to play against for the big guns and in all honesty trying to reduce the number of 'big guns' will only reduce the quality of football.

The format of the Champions League already provides enough space for upsets to happen. We, as football fans really want to see Barca vs. Arsenal, Man Utd vs. Inter and Bayern vs. Liverpool - not Sparta Prague vs Wisla Krakow or Slovan Liberec vs. Legia Warsaw! Platini should consider other alternatives to improve football - not decrease the value of the Champions League. The teams which participate from England, Italy and Spain are top class, period.

If this proposal does get ratified, who knows what the G-14 of teams would do? Start a new competition for themselves? He better look at all these consequences before he pushes for such a radical change in European Football.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to all the Arsenal players who played against Man Utd. They never gave up and in particular Rosicky and Fabregas were outstanding. Van Persie made a huge impact and he really is the new 'Van the man'. Henry scored with his head, which is a really rare occurrence! The Arsenal fans were magnificent and after the 94th minute, they were chanting to Manchester United and their fans -- "WHO ARE YA?!" and rightly so!! We beat the Red 'Devils' twice this year and we deserve to celebrate 2 magnificent results!

A New Year.... Many New Problems....

When it was the 1st of January 2007, many people actually wanted to forget their problems and brush them under the carpet - under the illusion of a "new year". The end of last year was eventful - the beginning of this year seems like it's going to trump last year in terms of happenings in the world. That is just down right frightening.

I'm not one for politics - but unfortunately, politics does have its impact on society! So, then I have to discuss this particular issue. Capital Punishment.. the debate probably has been going on for decades. When a certain dictator was subject to this on 30th December, the world yet again opened this unfinished chapter. He probably deserved it at the end of the day, but the way things were carried out were not supposedly in the best of interests of all parties involved.

It is very peculiar this - when I thought the US had caught him, they would send him off to The Hague. That's what happened to Slobodan Milosevic. Instead he was tried by a court in his own country, which was inexperienced in dealing with such cases and was sentenced to death. Consistency in law is something every human deserves and I don't know why 2 dictators were dealt with so differently. They both were accused for genocide, weren't they?

Capital punishment still exists in 69 countries. Some countries have imposed a moratorium, some have abolished it altogether. Is it wrong? I don't think so. It should be used in the rarest of rare cases and must be used when a certain individual deserves it no matter what.

Laws are so strange in the sense that a man who has raped a woman and killed her might not be sentenced to death, but a man who has smuggled drugs into a country might be! That was a very very general statement because only a few countries actually do the latter. I remember watching a certain case on TV, where the man had raped and killed 40 odd women and he got a 'plea bargain' and didn't face death. That, in my opinion is the hypocrisy of law itself. Capital punishment should have been used in this case, and it wasn't.

A person should be sentenced to death for 2 things essentially:
1) For the extremity of his/her actions (obviously, against law) and
2) To show others not to try anything of that sort. Those are what I can say as a layman, I'm no lawyer. Abolition of capital punishment unfortunately is impossible. The EU has this rule wherein a country cannot become its member unless it scraps capital punishment. That is rather absurd.

Capital punishment should and probably will exist. The frequency and reasons for which it is used must however be correct. The consistency of the application of law also should be done properly. As far as I'm concerned, capital punishment should exist - but the frequency of its use should be restricted. Human Rights Activists can harp all they want about their facts, but how can a person live in a society which he has caused considerable damage to according to law?

About my title - every new year we make resolutions, resolutions which are supposed to change our lives and our society. We end up not doing anything and within a week feel "Ah, I might do it next year". Violence is on the rise, bloodshed is on the increase. Every time I turn to a news channel I see murders, mass murders and so many things which end up disturbing me. New Year? What New Year?

On an optimistic note though.. I hope everyone's New Year is prosperous. 2007 will be a great year for most of us.. as long as we don't watch the news often!